Why is the Autism/Vaccine debate still going on despite any proven link

I鈥檓 interested in meaningful answers from people with autism in their lives so please no Wikipedia definitions on what autism is-I am well aware of what autism is, thank you.

That being said, my question is why do so many people still buy into the vaccination causes autism myth? I mean, seriously, this hypothesis has been disproved over and over yet people still believe there is a connection. Why is this?

I guess what I鈥檓 asking is what will it take for the mercury believers to reconsider their position? When can we put this myth to rest and move on? I鈥檒l agree that mercury is not safe for consumption for anyone but the symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism are not synonymous.Autism is not easy-nobody said it was. I believe as a parent, my time is better spent making the world more accepting and accommodating for my child and not hunting down the autism boogeyman whose existence is disproved time after time. The mercury militia will bash me. Fine-but give scientific evidence

My 4 yr old is autistic, and has never, and will never, receive a vaccine. So, I don't believe it's ONLY immunizations, but there is evidence out there that there are connections. You just have to do more than look to the people benefiting financially from the vaccines, and the govnt. who would stand to lose millions in lawsuits due to the fact that they pushed them. I believe that autism is a genetic issue as you stated, but that there are environmental triggers that 'set it off', and it's my responsibility to do what I can to avoid those. Pretty much what I do for my 2 yr old with severe asthma. It wouldn't be very kind or responsible of me to take him places that is going to set off his asthma. I have poured through this issue, and have found many studies that correlate the two, but I didn't save the links. If I can find them online, anyone can. The biggest factor for me, and this is a no-brainer, is the amount of mercury that was being put into our infant's body was a safe amount, IF you happened to weigh 500 lbs. That OBVIOUSLY is going to cause problems, whether it's autism or some of the other disorders that have drastically risen in the last 20 years or so. If a child is born with a weakened immune system, as is typical with autism, and you put that much mercury into the body, along with antibiotics and formaledehyde that is in the shots, it's only common sense that you're asking for trouble. Most of us who are against the mercury, rely more on common sense and our own ability to think rather than what the medical community feeds us. I mean, come on! This is the same community who, I think it was in the 20's but am not positive, told people with asthma and other lung disorders to SMOKE! That bit of info came directly from my dr., not some anti-mercury basher. This is the same 'business' that 30 yrs. ago told parents to put their autistic kids in institutions because they would never have a chance at a normal life. Again, same business who can't even make up their mind on whether eating eggs is going to kill us or not. If this was a more sound, reliable field I 'might' take what they say more seriously, but they just don't prove themselves to be trustworthy in that dept. Now, you want to know why, after the mercury has been removed and the numbers continue to go up we choose to still believe it's the mercury? I can't speak for all, but for most of us, we realize it isn't JUST the mercury issue, but that is one contributing factor and again, it's about removing all factors that might contribute. The problem is, the vaccines are pushed by dr.'s and the govnt., and that is a bigger issue than any of the others. We can choose to avoid things like toxic products (read through manufacturer's labels on the products you use in your home, and see how many of them state they can affect the central nervous system. Better yet, contact me and I'll send you a sample of the ingredients and how they affect the body.), but a lot of parents don't realize they have a choice in not vaxing their kids, because it's pushed on them. That is why we have a beef with this issue. Don't force us, or manipulate us, to use something that can be toxic on our own children and then not take responsibility for it. See where I'm coming from with that? The bottom line is this. When you have a child that is developing totally normal, talking, social, the works, until 2-3 days after receiving a shot and then the child completely changes, wakes up and can't talk any more, you don't have to be a scientist, or even a genius, to realize that something had to cause it. Those are the cases, not the rising numbers, that started waking a lot of us up to the possible connection between the two. And, I don't believe it's just the mercury, but all the other crap they put into vaccines, that does the job. Not to mention the fact that they're giving so many of those stupid things at one time. How much do we think an immune system can handle anyway? Now, for the record, with my son I knew the day we brought him home from the hospital that something was wrong, I just didn't know what. I didn't know much at all about autism, but knew that it wasn't normal for a 1 day old to have night terrors and be afraid of the dark. He had night terrors every night, until he was a little over 3 yrs old. The real changes for him came when we moved to a new house, that was his environmental change, so to speak. It threw his world upside down. He started doing all the typically autistic things, like spinning, lining things up, started gradually losing his vocabulary, and the 'wonderful' tantrums. It was very obvious, because of how sudden the symptoms came on, that the move was what really brought out his issues. But even that isn't as drastic a change as some kids go through when it's related to the shot itself. Anyway, I hope I answered your questions on why we continue to believe the possible connection. I won't sit here and say it's definitive, even after reading all the reports I have read that make a strong connection between the two, but my point is, we can't afford to rule out anything, because there isn't a single person out there who KNOWS all about autism, what causes it, what it's triggers are, so therefore nobody can say definitively that something doesn't cause it. Make sense? And no, I don't think any of us spend our whole lives talking about this issue, only when someone brings it up. I personally spend my time doing my own therapy with my son and the one I babysit, doing everything I can to help them adapt to their world, their 'disabilities', while using their abilities to boost their self-esteem, to give them a direction to head towards for their lives. But, when asked, I am vocal on the vaccines, and was so even before my son was ever thought of. If I run across those reports and studies again, I'll contact you and send you the links. I really should have kept them, but was studying just for my own purposes and so didn't worry about saving them. Besides, if someone is REALLY interested in learning about something and not just looking for an argument, I feel they should do their own research. But true research involves hearing and reading ALL sides, not just one side. That, to me, is brainwashing. I spent my whole life being told the medical side, so 15 yrs. ago I decided to learn the other side, and base my opinion on what made the most sense. I think you know what I chose. Good luck to you, I'm sure this won't be chosen as a best answer but I honestly could care less about that. I just wanted to really answer your questions, something that most don't take the time to do.