I do not support thrusting health treatments onto any person without health conditions though I support the right of those with health disorders to treatment.  Health treatments of a person with autism should be based on relieving their health issues – gut, immune, metabolic disorders and perhaps the neurological and psychiatric fallout of these disorders.   Trying to alter an autistic personality through health treatments is ridiculous but one can have an autistic personality with or without serious health disorders and their associated challenges.

I have never used HBO though have been offered it.  I have had a live blood analysis before treatment of two primary immune deficiencies which showed around 80% of my blood damaged by Oxidative Stress and unable to sufficiently transport nutrients, including to my brain.  And I’ve been on the immune booster, Glutathione several times to oxygenate my blood as part of treatment for immune disorders, and I’ve been one of its amino acid components, Glutamine, for 20 years.

As part of my treatment for gut, immune and metabolic disorders, I was formally diagnosed with 5 times the high level of inflammatory cytokines so I can comfortably say that I’m one of those people with autism who nurse an inflammatory state.  So, it was interesting to me when my husband Chris showed me a BBC report of a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled study of the effectiveness of HBO in children with autism and that it demonstrated marked improvement in socialisation, speech, eye contact and behaviour in 30% of those who received it compared to only 8% in the control group who were seen to improve in the same time.

Do I support work published in peer reviewed medical journals?  Yes.  Therefore, clearly I must now support the use of HBO in that 30% of children with autism with inflammatory states for whom it was found to result in significant improvements.  But I also feel it may have indicated that 70% of the children with autism involved in the study did not have inflammatory states.  That too is worth knowing so we don’t project the findings onto all people with autism.

With another recent study published in New Scientist showing genetic testing has found a percentage of people with autism do in fact have a gene for inflammatory bowel disease, it is time we accepted that whilst autistic personalities exist, and that Synethesias, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia can make people think and process information in weird and wonderful ways (also commonly termed ‘autism’), that there are also those for whom significant learning disabilities, severe sensory perceptual disorders, imbalanced brain chemistry resulting in severe co-morbid mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders, are exaccerbated by gut, immune and metabolic disorders which deserve treatment.  It also means the curists need to face up to the reality that treating health issues will not, nor should it, erradicate autistic personality traits as a valued part of social diversity.

Clearly there is no one thing called Autism.  It’s time we all accept there are serious health issues integral some people’s autism which deserve treatment.  Equally,  we must recognise that it is healthy for all with autism to celebrate their equality.  And if that goes so far as someone wanting to define themselves by and celebrate their autism then that is valid from how they experience their autism even if it shouldn’t be projected onto all and sundry.

Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons

International author, public speaker and autism consultant

http://www.donnawilliams.net