Hey guys, so I know that I said my next Disability
Discourse video would be how to refer to people
who are disabled and a disability glossary,
however, that's gonna have to wait for just
a short time, because this just keeps getting
more prevalent, I keep getting linked to articles,
in particular I was linked to one article
yesterday that was just absolutely rage-inducing,
and I need to talk about it, and I think it's
really appropriate for this channel and this
conversation, because it is something that
really disproportionately affects disabled
people.
So, today we're gonna be talking about Anti-Vaxxers,
as you can probably tell from the title.
I realise that this is probably going to be
a controversial topic, and if you have any
thoughts or feelings, whether you agree with
me or disagree, or just think that I've missed
things out in this video, which I almost certainly
have, please let me know in the comments.
I really want this to be kind of an open communication
and conversation, rather than a lecture, so
please let me know anything that you have
to say down in the comments, and I'll have
a chat with you.
Okay, so if you happen to have been lucky
enough to avoid meeting an Anti-Vaxxer or
avoid hearing their opinions in your entire
lifetime, I'm gonna give you a brief rundown
of what an Anti-Vaxxer is and what they believe.
So, as you might be able to tell from the
name, Anti-Vaxxers are people who believe
that we shouldn't vaccinate people, and especially
children.
If you're hearing that for the first time
you're probably thinking "well, that's insane",
and you'd be absolutely right.
However, it is...it does seem to be an increasingly
popular opinion, and I feel like this subsect
of people is growing.
I don't know if I'm just being more aware
of it or if it really is growing, I certainly
hope it's not, but lord, I've seen so many
things about it recently.
So this is why I feel like I have to talk
about it, I feel like it's gaining some traction
and I don't like that.
So, why would anyone say that we shouldn't
get children vaccinated?
There are two main reasons that I've found
looking among the Anti-Vaxxer community, and
the first is the one that you hear about all
the time, that vaccines cause autism.
Um, so this is just demonstrably untrue.
Um, there was actually one study done a long
time ago, and it turned out what had happened
was that they didn't have a control group,
so the study is completely worthless and scientifically
unsound.
What had happened was they, um, didn't have
a control group like I said, so there was
no group that wasn't getting vaccinated, and
then were testing how many kids in that group
had autism.
What was happening was almost every kid was
getting vaccinated, and so almost every kid
who had autism had been vaccinated, and they
called that a correlation, which is ridiculous
as I'm sure you can tell.
Every study since then, every scientifically
sound study that has had a control group,
has shown absolutely no correlation between
vaccination and autism, so...seems pretty
clear cut to me.
So before I go over the next reason that Anti-Vaxxers
think what they do, I just want to talk a
bit about this reason, the autism reason,
um, because this is part of the reason I feel
like this is an important discussion to be
having as a channel or as a...series that
deals with disability issues and neurodivergent
issues and things like that, because...the
way that they go about this and the way that
Anti-Vaxxers talk about this is so incredibly
harmful to people with autism.
It's really really really not okay, and I
think this is probably the biggest victim
in this whole discussion is people with autism,
because the way that it gets thrown around
and weaponised in this really bizarre and
gross way is terrible for people with autism.
Basically what Anti-Vaxxers are saying is
that they would rather have a dead child,
because they didn't get the vaccinated, dead
from a completely preventable disease, than
an autistic child, and many Anti-Vaxxers actually
have autistic children and this is what lead
them to be Anti-Vaxx.
So think about that for a second.
That's even worse, because not only are they
saying in a nebulous, kind of what-if way
"I would rather have a dead child than autistic
child", which is already freaking terrible.
But they have an autistic child, and them
lobbying against vaccination is telling that
autistic child "I would rather you were dead
and I'm warning other parents to have a dead
child rather than an autistic child", and
that's really messed...that's just more messed
up than I can even express in words, I think.
So that's really really awful, and whenever
I see that kind of sentiment, I just...what
kind of a parent are you?
You decided to become a parent, right?
Like, you knew the risks involved in being
a parent, right?
You knew that your kid might turn out not
neurotypical, or not able-bodied or whatever.
You knew that.
That's what you...that's what you accept when
you decide to be a parent, right?
So be a damn parent!
Who would rather have a dead baby?
Oh my god!
So here's my thing.
Even if vaccinations did cause autism (which
they don't!
Which they don't!), even if they did, wouldn't
you rather have an alive, happy, healthy child
with autism than a dead child?
Really?
You're telling me you'd rather kids die than
have autism?
That's...that's some ableist bullshit, if
I'm being totally honest.
So that is the first way in which it's harmful.
Um, the second way in which this particular
line of thinking is harmful to people with
autism, is that often when Anti-Vaxxers think
autism has been "caused" by something, they
also think it has a "cure", because if it's
causable, it must be curable.
Which is not even true, but I mean, these
people clearly aren't scientifically or logically
based, so we'll just ignore that that is not
the way it works.
Um, and so because they think that autism
is curable, they will try all sorts of things
to cure autism.
I'm not going to go into some of the treatments
that they try here, because it's pretty graphic
and pretty awful, but if you want to look
into it yourself, please feel free.
Be warned: It's child abuse, it's torture,
it's terrible.
So like I said, I think the autistic community
is absolutely the biggest victim of this Anti-Vaxx
mentality, and the fact that...the fact that
people can just go around saying this about
like human beings, like "oh, I should never
have got you vaccinated, then you coulda just
got polio and died and not had to have been
autistic!", like the fact that anyone would
think that's okay to say is just like mind
blowing.
So that's the autism argument, um, from Anti-Vaxxers.
Uh, the other reason that a lot of people
say - well, not a lot of people, I hope, a
lot of Anti-Vaxxers - uh, say that you shouldn't
vaccinate your children is because some vaccines
contain a tiny tiny part of the live bacteria
or virus that it's trying to protect against.
Um, and they say that because of this, the
vaccination will actually cause that illness.
Nevermind that we've all but wiped our several
illnesses with vaccinations, I don't know
how they think that that's happened if the
vaccinations are causing these illnesses,
because it doesn't really make any logical
sense, but once again, we're clearly not dealing
with rational people here, so let's ignore
that for a moment.
They think that by getting vaccinations you
will give your child the disease.
Um, once again, just demonstrably untrue.
Actually this is another place where I feel
like the disabled community is disproportionately
victimised by these people.
I myself have an auto-immune illness, and
I'm immune-suppressed, and I can't get certain
vaccinations because they do contain a part
of the live virus or bacteria that the vaccine
is protecting against.
That's the only case in which getting this
vaccination is dangerous - if you are very
very immune-suppressed and your immune system
is super weak, a very weak version of the
bacteria or virus could still do a lot of
damage to you.
Apart from that, there is so little chance
that you will get this illness from the vaccination
if you have a regular immune system, um, there's
a very small percentage of people who do get
the illness, however, even if you get it,
you get a much reduced version of it because
the bacteria or virus itself is much reduced
in the vaccine, so you get a very weakened
version of it with much less symptoms and
therefore much safer.
Great, right?
Apparently not.
So ironically, people like me are the only
people for whom the Anti-Vaxxer argument makes
sense, where they say you shouldn't get vaccinated
because you'll get sick, but the thing is,
the only thing that protects people like me
from getting these illnesses, is other people
being vaccinated.
So if your perfectly healthy, not immune-suppressed
child isn't getting vaccinated, they could
get the illness in its full form and give
it to someone like me who isn't vaccinated,
and I would have a very hard time fighting
that off.
Like, you will kill people like me by not
getting your children vaccinated.
That sounds harsh, but that's the truth of
it.
Herd immunity, which is what, um, like mass
immunisation is designed to do, herd immunity
is the only thing that protects people like
me, and the reason that we are able to survive
so much longer and live such better and longer
lives than we ever have been in the past,
is because of herd immunity, and if this Anti-Vaxxer
continues, herd immunity won't exist anymore.
So immune suppressed people are basically
just screwed.
So that's the other argument, and as I said,
it's ironically true that some people, immune
suppressed people, can get the illness from
the vaccine and can't get vaccinated.
So I guess it is right in a way, but your
perfectly healthy child will not get the illness
from the vaccine, and...I believe it's one
or two percent, I'm sorry, I should have looked
up the statistic before this, because I sound
really unscientific right now, I'm so sorry.
But there's a very small percentage of people
that do get the illness from the vaccine like
I said, and when they do, they get a way easier
version to fight off than what you would get
if you didn't get the vaccine, so there's
no downside.
There's literally no downside to getting vaccinated
and getting your kids vaccinated.
Please, just do it!
Okay, I'm gonna have to wrap this up before
I get like, super annoyed, because this just
makes me so so angry.
I'm sorry.
Um, so basically what I would say to Anti-Vaxx
people, and especially Anti-Vaxx parents,
if you're watching this: do some research.
Please.
Please do some research.
Not on websites called things like vaccinescauseautism.com.
Do your own research, just look up scientific
studies, don't look up anything that like,
uh, presents these results in a kind of...um,
emotional or...don't know how to put this...um,
don't look up anything that presents these
results in anything other than their pure
scientific form.
So just look up the numbers.
All you need to see is the numbers, and I
promise you you will find no correlation between
vaccinations and autism, and no correlation
between vaccinations and children dying from
the diseases that they're getting vaccinated
against.
So, what I wanted to end on was this: We live
in the twenty-first century, and we are incredibly
fortunate to be able to be this blasé about
illnesses that, in previous centuries, killed
so many children.
We live in a time where you can expect most
of your children to live past the age of ten.
Like, the vast majority of your children will
live past the age of ten, and that is only
due to medical science.
That's...like, vaccinations are a huge part
of that.
We've all but wiped out some diseases that
used to kill thousands of children, like all
the time children were just dying of these
diseases that we couldn't stop and now we
can.
And now, because we've had a couple of generations
where these diseases haven't been a huge issue,
we've forgotten what they look like, we've
forgotten what it's like, and so suddenly
people can go "it doesn't seem like it's that
big of an issues, so like why are they pumping
my kids full of chemicals?
'cause it doesn't seem like...I've never seen
anyone die of polio, I've never seen anyone
die of measles".
Well yeah.
Because of the vaccinations.
That's why!
Come on!
Like we are so fortunate that we have the
luxury to now turn down medical treatment
that like a century ago was considered incredible
groundbreaking, life-saving medical treatment,
we can now just be like "doesn't seem real
to me, seems like it probably causes autism!".
Like we are so fortunate and we just don't
see it, like these people really don't understand
how incredibly lucky we are to have vaccinations.
It's just...it's like exhausting to even think
about.
Okay, I'm sorry for this rant.
This is the end of my little spiel about,
um, Anti-Vaxxers.
Uh, the last thing that I will say is just
that even if your child did get sick from
a vaccine, like got the illness that the vaccine
was supposed to protect against, it's still
a much better version of the illness than
what they'd get if they weren't vaccinated,
and even if, even if vaccinations caused autism
(which they don't, once again just gotta say
that again - which they do not!), even if
they did, it's your child, and they're alive
and they're not dying from horrible diseases.
Surely that's worth something.
Okay, anyway, as always, please let me know
what you think about this in the comments,
I'm sure there's so so much that I've missed
out, um, and I'm not an expert on this topic,
I only know what I myself have researched,
and I can only speak about the, um, victims
of this movement, in terms of people with
autism and people who are immune suppressed,
based on my own experience of it, so please
tell me of your experience, tell me anything
that I've missed out, I would love to hear
it.
And thank you so much for watching my ridiculous
rant, I'm sorry for getting a little heated
here.
I hope that you can understand, I'm sure that
some of you have found this just as frustrating
as I've found it, so, until next time, where
I hope we'll be talking about much more positive
thoughts and feelings - thank you very much
for watching, and I will talk to you then.
Bye!
