Age of Autism

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'''Age of Autism''' (often abbreviated to '''AoA''') is a site that hosts the blogs of the [[Ableism|ableist]] leaders in the field of [[anti-vaccination]] [[crank]]ery and has little to do with actual autism other than the false claim that vaccines cause [[autism]].<ref>http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/Autism/Index.html</ref> Their bloggers include the likes of Mark Blaxill, David Kirby, J.B. Handley, and, of course, [[Jenny McCarthy]]. They also peddle "treatments" for [[autism]] produced by [[alternative medicine]] [[woo]]-meister Lee Silsby, which consist of [[vitamin supplement]]s and other [[nature woo]]. Age of Autism, being the cesspool of the craziest of the anti-vaccine movement, has invoked several arguments horrible in both quality and in taste, which, of course, involves the typical [[PRATT]]s of the anti-vaccine movement that can probably fill the entire [[Fun:Anti-vaccine argument bingo|bingo card]].

In a pathetic attempt at being reasonable, they proclaim themselves as "[[Concern troll|not anti-vaccine, just pro-safe vaccine]]", even though they have aimed their fear-mongering cannons at [[Gardasil]]<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/05/14/age-of-autism-and-gardasil-whats-that-ag/ Age of Autism and Gardasil: What’s that again about not being “anti-vaccine”?] ''Respectful Insolence''</ref> and the meningitis vaccine,<ref>[http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/05/action-alert-ny-to-mandate-meningitis-vaccine-for-7th-graders.html Action Alert: NY To Mandate Meningitis Vaccine for 7th Graders] ''Age of Autism''</ref> which are irrelevant to autism, since they are administered long after when autism is typically diagnosed.

Not surprisingly for an anti-vaccine crank website, Age of Autism views itself as a champion for the so-called "medical rights", including the "right" to refuse the vaccine, because they think the misinformed parent can make a decision better than a professional government-sponsored medical organization that takes science seriously. They draw depressingly awful analogies of vaccines to things like [http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/02/vaccine-trafficking.html human trafficking], [[rape]], and, of course, [[Godwin's Law|Hitler and nazism]]. They also push conspiracy theories about [[Big Pharma]] (among others) and, interestingly, still believe they're "winning".<ref>[http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/02/i-will-accept-your-surrender.html I Will Accept Your Surrender]. This is beyond delusional.</ref> Like any fringe vaccine conspiracy site, they fear and hate the [[CDC]] like [[Alex Jones]] does [[FEMA]].<ref>http://www.ageofautism.com/cdc-whistleblower/</ref>

Bottom line, if not implied a hundred times here, they're the to-go site for the lowest parts of the anti-vaccination movement, and blaming [[mercury]] — then [[aluminum]] — as the wholly responsible factor behind their child’s condition, ignoring all other environmental factors.

==Transphobia==
AOA members, especially in the comments section, have attacked transgender identity, especially against AFAB autistic people, and many AOA members also attack non-cisgender people who give birth.

==AoA Members==
*'''Mark Blaxill''': Also a member of SafeMinds,<ref>[http://www.safeminds.org/ Safeminds - Resolving The Autism Epidemic]. A spin-off of Age of Autism, they try to gather funding for curing "the plague of autism".</ref> where he pretends to be a doctor and epidemiologist… despite his lack of a medical degree.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/01/08/another-very-bad-day-for-antivaccination/ Another very bad day for antivaccinationists: Yet another study fails to find a link between thimerosal and autism]</ref> But that's OK; he's self-taught and so not a Pharma Shill! Suffers from massive amounts of [[Dunning-Kruger effect|Dunning-Kruger]], unsurprisingly.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/08/better-late-than-never-the-dunning-kruge Better late than never: The Dunning-Kruger effect meets an incompetent anti-vaccine “analysis”]</ref><ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/09/mark-blaxill-and-dan-olmsted-polio Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted: Merrily confusing correlation with causation for polio]</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.ageofautism.com/ AoA's] website. Warning: contains garbage.{{fact|joke}}
*[http://kwomblescountering.blogspot.com/ Countering Age of Autism]
*[https://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/05/02/the-reverse-pharma-shill-gambit-applied The Reverse Pharma Shill Gambit Applied to Age of Autism], by [[Respectful Insolence]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{stub|anti-vaccination movement}}

[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Autism woo]]
[[Category:Clogosphere]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Webshites]]
[[Category:Ableism]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]

Categories: Anti-vaccination movement, Autism woo, Clogosphere, Pseudoscience promoters, Webshites, Ableism, Transphobia