Lightening the mood a little...
My six year old daughter is autistic. This does not change the fact that she's an amazing little girl, and incredibly bright for her age - one of her primary autistic behaviours is hyperlexia: she was "reading" (decoding written words into their correct sounds, but not understanding) at the age of two. We've always approached this as her "superpower" and that she has a special brain that is very good at working out some things that other children find hard, but also sometimes finds things challenging that other kids find easy.
The other day, she showed me a drawing she'd done of some bottles of medicines - I asked her if they were for COVID-19, as this whole situation has had a big impact on her, and she's needed a lot of reassurance, a lot of which has been me explaining to her that "a lot of very clever doctors and scientists are working on a vaccine".
She said "no, they're for illnesses we don't know about yet" - basically, she'd put two and two together about her "superpower" brain and those of the scientists, and decided she wanted to be a medical researcher when she grows up. She was afraid that I would laugh at her - I made a point of telling her that I wouldn't laugh, and if that's what she wanted to do then I would do everything I could to support her dream.
Whether she does go for it when the time comes, time will tell - but I will certainly be encouraging her, as with her brain it would be a crying shame for her not to be in some science-related job, plus she loves the idea of doing something that will make the world a better place.
And if she does, and she ends up working on innoculations for new or existing diseases, then I will take great delight in telling every anti-vaxxer I meet that they've got it backwards and in fact, it is "autism causes vaccines"
Biting the hand that feeds IT
