{"id":2041,"date":"2018-01-17T18:12:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T18:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autistic.wpengine.com\/?p=2041"},"modified":"2019-12-15T23:48:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-15T23:48:59","slug":"causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/causes\/","title":{"rendered":"I asked my followers to share the most ridiculous \u201cautism causes\u201d they\u2019d ever heard. Brace yourselves."},"content":{"rendered":"

Once in a while, I invite Autistic Not Weird\u2019s Facebook community<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 to contribute to my articles. Most of the time, the results are either funny<\/u><\/a>, informative<\/u><\/a>, or actually worth publishing in a book<\/u><\/a>. [All links open in new tabs, by the way.]<\/em><\/p>\n

But this time round, I went with something different. And I never thought the phrase \u201chilariously depressing\u201d would apply to anything on Autistic Not Weird\u2026 but I asked my followers for the most ridiculous \u201ccauses\u201d of their (or their child\u2019s) autism they had heard.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Looking for causes is objectively no bad thing, but be wary of what attitudes people have when researching. Seeking discoveries out of curious fascination is different to seeking them out of contempt. (Picture borrowed with permission from Joy of Autism<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So\u2026 what (apparently) causes our autism?<\/u><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Well, er\u2026<\/p>\n

EVERYTHING.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Most of the alleged causes involved a \u2018failure\u2019 on someone\u2019s part, which hardly helps autistic people in our quest to be seen as perfectly valid human beings. Other suggestions were just plain silly. Others even claimed to be scientific, but were just silly suggestions wrapped up in slightly bigger words.<\/p>\n

All of them had been said to the contributors of this article, and here are the best of them for your reading \u2018pleasure\u2019.<\/p>\n

Like I said, brace yourselves.<\/p>\n

Cause #1- an autistic diet.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI read that a cause is baby formula.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lorraine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNot enough fermented food in the diet. And adding such will \u201ccure\u201d autism too! Sigh.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Risa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne of them had suggested it was drinking too much coffee. Another said red and green cordial causes autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Suzanne<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAntibiotics during pregnancy depleting the baby immune system leading to gut issues which cause neurological change? Anyone else hear that one?\u201d<\/p>\n

-Kiki<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Drugs were a common answer, from antidepressants to Disprin. Tylenol was mentioned by three separate people, and even folic acid was mentioned twice.<\/p>\n

Tobacco was also mentioned twice, but in both cases it was because the baby’s grandmother<\/em> smoked. (It was refreshing to see someone other than the mother get the blame, but the accusers still couldn’t bring themselves to blame a man.)<\/p>\n

Oh, and if you\u2019re tempted to go vegetarian, prepare to feel confused.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot eating meat while pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Heather<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNot being vegetarian did it…\u201d<\/p>\n

-Julie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cVegetarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Claire<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRed meat. I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life, Mom went vegetarian about 10 years before her first pregnancy. I\u2019m still autistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Liz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI’m vegetarian and some people have told me that could have compromised my personality, making me more susceptible to \u2018autistic traits\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Elisha<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And finally,<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve seen PETA claim that eating dairy leads to autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Dave<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They literally did, by the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"
For the record, that sad face doesn\u2019t represent autistic people any more than PETA represent typical animal rights advocates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cause #2- a thing, and also its direct opposite.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cBreastfeeding, and not breastfeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Jennifer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI don’t discipline them enough, and I discipline them too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sue<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne thread I followed started out saying that formula feeding caused Autism (breastmilk gives babies what they need, so lack of it must cause Autism- right?)… and then after answers someone decided, no, it’s extended breastfeeding (because…. Autistics don’t like to wean?)\u201d<\/p>\n

-Shayna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the following two:<\/p>\n

\u201cMaternal indifference and lack of bonding.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Denise<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBeing spoiled as a child and having an overprotective mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Linda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If people want to claim our parents are awful, they should at least make their mind up on which kind of awful they are.<\/p>\n

Cause #3- God Himself.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The big guy sure gets a bad press from his fan club at times.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a practising Christian<\/u><\/a>, but I don\u2019t recognise the God I worship being referenced in any of these.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been told \u201cGod was just looking the other way when you made him.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

-Allyson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was told that my son has autism because God is punishing me for forcing vaccines on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Niki<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLack of faith and prayer. I just don’t even have words for how astonished I was to hear this said to me. I’m thankful the God I believe in isn’t vindictive, firstly, and that I don’t believe autism to be a curse but rather a beautiful diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sarah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBecause \u201cGod\u201d knew I could handle a special needs child.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Carolyn<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYep. I get that one too! (Like God has this quota of autistic kids \u201cup there\u201d and spends all His time looking around until he finds homes for them – like kittens. Except I’m also a teacher and I’ve seen plenty of rotten parents with ASD kids as well as all those \u201cspecial\u201d parents.).\u201d<\/p>\n

-Jean<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My personal view? Well, this funny picture comes close.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cause #4- Refrigerator mothers. Even now.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ah, Bruno Bettelheim. One day, we\u2019ll repair the damage you did to our community.<\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t know the story, a school director called Bettelheim extensively claimed that autism was caused by cold, uncaring mothers. Due to the lack of knowledge surrounding autism at the time, and Bettelheim\u2019s expertise at being fraudulent with his credentials, the \u2018refrigerator mother\u2019 theory became standard belief among professionals.<\/p>\n

(Note- the theory was originally let loose by Leo Kanner, but it was Bettelheim who picked up the ball and ran with it. By 1969 Kanner had changed his views altogether, denouncing his old ways at a parents\u2019 convention with the extremely kind words \u201cI officially acquit you people as parents.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

History has not judged Bettelheim too well. Since his death revelations have surfaced of him faking almost all his credentials to gain influence in the field of psychology, plagiarism in some of his high-profile works, and committing emotional and physical abuse against his young students (to such an extent that three of them have published books about their traumatic experiences there).<\/p>\n

But all the same, nearly thirty years after his death, some followers replied to my post having been labelled as \u2018refrigerator mothers\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome psychologists are still spouting this nonsense. I got told just a couple of years ago by a psychologist that it’s due to lack of attachment.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lorraine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMom got this fridgemom stuff in her face in the late 1990’s. Still can’t get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Hilda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(But, of course, the complete opposite causes autism too.)<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently it was because I practised attachment parenting when he was small and worry too much about him now. So the opposite of cold mothering then!\u201d<\/p>\n

-Tash<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cause #5- oh bloody hell, not vaccines again.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yes, Andrew Wakefield\u2019s MMR vaccine scare from the late 1990s. You\u2019d think that claim would have gone out with the Backstreet Boys, but it\u2019s still going.<\/p>\n

Sadly, falsifying data was not a practice confined to Bettelheim\u2019s era. No matter where you are in time, where there are profits there\u2019s the risk of profiteers. Thankfully they get struck off the medical register these days, but not before causing a worldwide scare (which can\u2019t be so swiftly dealt with).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to waste time discussing the vaccine \u201cdebate\u201d, because it only exists among those of us who aren\u2019t immunologists. It\u2019s similar to how man-made climate change is considered a \u201cdebate\u201d among the general population, even though 97% of scientists believe it is real. Or how 40% of British people don\u2019t believe Jesus existed, compared to 1 in 10,000 professional historians [n.b. this is regarding his existence, not his divinity]. These debates barely exist in their actual fields of study, and are only \u2018controversial\u2019 topics in the public domain.<\/p>\n

Instead, all I\u2019m going to do is provide this link<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to a 21-page report on vaccine safety by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and this link<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to a fantastic infographic that describes how the vaccine-autism link has been comprehensively debunked since Andrew Wakefield was struck off the medical register for falsifying his data.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccines\u201d was an answer given by twenty different people<\/em>, one of whom added that none of her five children were vaccinated but apparently vaccines caused their autism anyway. So yes, I\u2019m afraid Wakefield\u2019s scaremongering lives on. (Because it\u2019s such an emotive subject, I almost never discuss it. My personal opinions, for those who are curious, can be found somewhere in this article<\/u><\/a>).<\/p>\n

On a lighter note\u2026<\/p>\n

Cause #6- Peppa Pig.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s face it, half the people reading this clicked the link because they saw Peppa Pig and thought \u2018\u2026what?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cPeppa pig! No joke, someone told me not to let my baby watch Peppa Pig because the show was causing toddlers to become autistic. (I’m autistic, so that didn’t go over quite the way they planned as a conversation topic.)\u201d<\/p>\n

-Mae<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI once read somewhere that kids watching Peppa the Pig would supposedly give them autism, but it sounds like something posted by a real troll.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lora<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eight different people<\/em> referenced this. Some were making reference to the faked \u2018Harvard\u2019 study linking Peppa Pig to autism. Others were reporting their friends actually believing it.<\/p>\n

Lora has it right: the reporting of a Harvard study was fake news (shortly before \u2018fake news\u2019 became a thing) and a satire of how obsessed people are with finding causes for autism.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, by then the internet had been conditioned to so many other ridiculous causes that many believed it was serious news. I think that alone sums up how ridiculous the situation truly is.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Peppa Pig isn\u2019t the only autism-inducing fictional character out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarney the dinosaur. I read an article last year on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Aston<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
When the Peppa Pig story came out, this was my reaction. Click the image to see the full-size version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cause #7- evolution.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI’ve been told I’m the next stage of human evolution… More focus and less attachment to people being better for a species that is isolating itself in computers…. Wasn’t sure how to respond, but suddenly felt like an X man!!\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sara<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Opinions were kind of split on whether autism evolving is another stupid claim or a fairly accurate one. After all, if we believe that autism is genetic then at some point evolution has to come into it. (However, my understanding of evolution tells me that adaptations happen very slowly over thousands of years, rather than a knee-jerk reaction to the world suddenly being more technological.)<\/p>\n

With that said, several responders had been told that autism is the result of two intelligent parents having a child, and others referenced the \u2018Silicon Valley\u2019 effect: where a hotbed of geeks and nerds kickstarted a disproportionately high number of autistic children. And the sheer amount of people who can see autism elsewhere in their family does imply it\u2019s genetic.<\/p>\n

Cause #8- everything the parents ever did.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In my experience, the average parent has two default settings: guilt and worry. This leads to parents blaming themselves a lot. For example:<\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure from other people, but I wracked my brain for all the ways I might have done to cause Autism and ADHD in my son. Did I eat the wrong things during pregnancy, was it my gestational diabetes, is it because I drank too much on New Year\u2019s Eve when I didn’t know I was pregnant, was it because of my post-natal depression, was it because I was so tired afterwards that I impacted his synapses firing correctly, did I have a baby with the wrong person (yes but that’s a different story!). Mummy guilt is strong in this one!\u201d<\/p>\n

-Mel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But with that said, society doesn\u2019t shy away from giving parents extra reasons to blame themselves (as if autism is a subject that needs blame assigning to it at all).<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccines, GMOs, I gained too much weight in my pregnancy, c-section, because I didn\u2019t breastfeed, that one time he bumped his head as a baby… any which way you put it it\u2019s my fault that my son has autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sabrina<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMothers who have yelled during pregnancy (I almost peed laughing when I read that!!)\u201d<\/p>\n

-Letto<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWell… if we read to him more, he wouldn\u2019t be nonverbal.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Allyson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBedrest while pregnant deprived the baby of stimulation from mother’s movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Janet<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was told I had my two sons too close together, and my second son didn’t get enough nutrients and vitamins from me in the womb.\u201d<\/p>\n

-April<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI am ASD as are my 5 children, my brother, several cousins and the traits were obvious in previous generations as far back as we can go… but it’s all because of bad, detached, cold parenting or so I have been told.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Catherine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBad parenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Andrew<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBad parenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Vanessa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBad parenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Jennifer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLack of discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Leanna<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLack of discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sarah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNot enough discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lisa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBad parenting. Not enough discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Alexandra<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(And naturally, the complete opposite:)<\/p>\n

\u201cBossy mothering.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Fiona<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And two comments that absolutely must be included:<\/p>\n

\u201cI laugh and ignore all \u2018cause\u2019 articles because they are yet to explain twins with one autistic and one NT. If it were anything the mother did, how does it only affect one?\u201d<\/p>\n

-Carrie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIf my son’s autistic behavior is because of my parenting, then his success is because of me too.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Terri<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, some causes to make you go \u201cwow\u2026 thanks.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYour womb is defective.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Rebecca<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cA frigid mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Liz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was told by someone that the reason I’m autistic is because I’m fat. I’ve seen a lot of dubious claims around but this one took the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Andrea<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTold by my ex-husband upon leaving the professionals that it was because I didn’t cope with our separation.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Julie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cElderly parents. My dad was 26 and my mum was 20 when I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Rhona<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe mother’s toxic digestive system\u201d<\/p>\n

-Martha<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHaving depression, because depressed people need more reasons to blame themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lisa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne person actually told me that it was because my black husband’s blood didn’t mix with my white blood, resulting in my autistic child (offensive on so many levels).\u201d<\/p>\n

-Zoe<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was told I suffered \u201cMunchausen\u2019s by proxy\u201d thus making my daughter a spoiled brat – so much so, that I turned her autistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Ren\u00e9e (Leaving aside that this isn\u2019t how Munchausen\u2019s works, I can only imagine how hurtful that one was to hear.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And to finish, a bunch of inexplicable one-offs.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cChurch lady told me not to give my son Skittles because that causes autism. Same person also told my son was just possessed by demons and needs holy water poured on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Andrea<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTraffic fumes!\u201d<\/p>\n

-Callie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI heard someone say that tattoos cause it.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Lisa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy daughter \u2018caught\u2019 it from paddling in the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Julie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRear-facing carseats.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Shannon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMobile phone tower radiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sandy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNon-stick cookware. Seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Shannon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was told that I caused it in at least one of my kids because I talked about it in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Dwight<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMinecraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sarah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cGMOs and Chemtrails. Oh! WiFi devices as well!\u201d<\/p>\n

-David<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe were told our son has moved schools too many times. Who knew moving schools could cause autism?\u201d<\/p>\n

-Pam<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI didn’t get enough sunlight while pregnant so my daughter has autism.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Julie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy older child had a lot of plastic toys. So, you know, that’s why.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Jacqui<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLiving below overhead power cables when pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Daniel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cCats.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Tori<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAir pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Irene<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“I read a comment once that plug in air fresheners release autism causing toxins into the air.”<\/p>\n

-Tracey<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPesticides.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Irene<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMicrowaved food, cell phones, taking depression meds while pregnant or up to a year before becoming pregnant, not enough folic acid while pregnant (could have sworn that caused spinal bifida, but whatever), circumcision (hmmm and yet girls are autistic).\u201d<\/p>\n

-Jennifer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHot tubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Rebecca<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Honestly, that last one makes me sad that I was born autistic and didn’t even get a hot tub out of it.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/u><\/strong><\/h1>\n

I can think of a few lessons to take from this pile of chaotic misunderstandings.<\/p>\n

First off, we have a long way to go regarding public understanding of autism. That much is obvious.<\/p>\n

But it goes beyond that. Each one of these autism \u2018causes\u2019 furthers the stereotype that autism is supposed to be inherently A Bad Thing. An automatic negative rather than a difference. A problem where causes need to be sought in order for solutions to be found.<\/p>\n

A number of autism advocates claim that it\u2019s not \u2018autism awareness\u2019 that\u2019s needed; it\u2019s \u2018autism acceptance\u2019. And they have a very good point. People who are \u2018aware\u2019 of autism can still believe it\u2019s caused by Peppa Pig. What\u2019s needed is for society to see autistic people as people in their own right, rather than failed versions of non-autistic people. Who may struggle with difficulties (and also with having their strengths overlooked\/assumed not to exist), but are much better served by assistance with those difficulties than by an internet-ful of people looking for someone to blame for their existence.<\/p>\n

There is one more conclusion I can draw from this exercise though. I deliberately saved these answers until last:<\/p>\n

\u201cSugar was one I heard. Yep, sugar?\u201d<\/p>\n

-Ann<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cGluten.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Manda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDairy and wheat.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Sarah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMilk.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Brenda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEgg whites.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Robert<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The most striking conclusion from this article?<\/p>\n

You can make a cake out of the alleged causes of autism.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

An autism cake. Wouldn\u2019t that be something.<\/p>\n

\"\"
I know I\u2019m gluten intolerant, but I\u2019d still be tempted to eat an autism cake to gain some extra autism powers or whatever.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019d like to thank the members of Autistic Not Weird\u2019s Facebook community<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for taking part in this article and for sharing such interesting results. For those not already a part of it, feel free to check it out because it\u2019s a lovely place. I also do YouTube videos for autistic people young and old<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0there are lots of rewards on Patreon<\/u><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for those who enable me to write for this site as an actual job!<\/p>\n

Take care,<\/p>\n

Chris Bonnello \/ Captain Quirk<\/p>\n-\r\n\r\n
Chris Bonnello is a national and international autism speaker, available to lead talks and training sessions from the perspective of an autistic former teacher. For further information please click here<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(opens in new window).<\/em><\/strong>\r\n
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\"\"Chris Bonnello on LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n
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Copyright\u00a0\u00a9 Chris Bonnello 2015-2025\r\n\u00a0\r\n

\"\"\r\nAre you tired of characters with special needs being tokenised and based on stereotypes, or being the victims rather than the heroes? This novel series may interest you!<\/p>\r\n

Underdogs<\/em>, a near-future dystopia series where the heroes are teenagers with special needs, is a character-driven war story which pitches twelve people against an army of millions, balancing intense action with a deeply developed neurodiverse cast.<\/p><\/a>\r\n

Book one can be found here:\r\n

Amazon UK<\/a> | Amazon US<\/a> | Amazon CA<\/a> | Amazon AU<\/a> \r\n
Audible (audiobook version)<\/a>\r\n
Review page on Goodreads<\/a><\/strong>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once in a while, I invite Autistic Not Weird\u2019s Facebook community\u00a0 to contribute to my articles. Most of the time, the results are either funny, informative, or actually worth publishing in a book. [All links open in new tabs, by the way.] But this time round, I went with something different. And I never thought the phrase \u201chilariously depressing\u201d would apply to anything on Autistic Not Weird\u2026 but I asked my followers for the most ridiculous \u201ccauses\u201d of their (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,48,56],"tags":[13,14,15,16,163,87,23,165,164,113],"class_list":["post-2041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autism","category-everything","category-other","tag-asperger-syndrome","tag-aspergers","tag-autism-2","tag-autistic","tag-causes","tag-chris-bonnello","tag-funny","tag-humor","tag-humour","tag-poll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autisticnotweird.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}