From dark, sound-proofed rooms to clever storage solutions, families with autism and ADHD are finding inspired ways to adjust their environments

In the middle of Cherie Clonan’s bright Melbourne home sits a room in total darkness “for our son to retreat to”, she says. “It’s all black in there. You wouldn’t believe it’s the same home!”

The space, lined with sound-blocking panels, is a sanctuary for her autistic son: a quiet cocoon for decompressing after school. “He loves to go in there to game online with his mates,” Clonan says.

Diagnosed autistic at 37, Clonan lives in a weatherboard cottage with her husband, David, and her two neurodivergent teenagers. Since buying the house five years ago, she has been reshaping it around their needs. “Our family’s split half-half – 50% sensory-seek versus sensory-avoidant,” she says. “I chase light. I love light-filled everything. But my son really is the opposite.”

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian

© Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian

© Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian

The health secretary has walled himself off from government scientists and empowered fellow activists to pursue his vaccine agenda.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

“Masking” is part of life, especially for those with autism or A.D.H.D. But hiding your true self comes with a cost.

Before casting a crucial vote for the health secretary, the top Senate Republican laid out several specific commitments he had secured, some of which appear to have been breached.

© Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

With ardent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the country’s top health official, a federal webpage that previously laid out the ample evidence refuting the misinformation that vaccines cause autism was abruptly replaced Wednesday with an anti-vaccine screed that promotes the false link.

It’s a move that is sure to be celebrated by Kennedy’s fringe anti-vaccine followers, but will only sow more distrust, fear, and confusion among the public, further erode the country’s crumbling vaccination rates, and ultimately lead to more disease, suffering, and deaths from vaccine-preventable infections, particularly among children and the most vulnerable.

On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website titled “Autism and Vaccines,” the previous top “key point” accurately reported that: “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).”

Read full article

Comments

© Getty | Win McNamee

Two reporters wanted to witness firsthand how doctors and families navigate mixed messages and unproven claims.

© Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

Lab-grown “reductionist replicas” of the human brain are helping scientists understand fetal development and cognitive disorders, including autism. But ethical questions loom.

© Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times

The consumer products giant reached a $40 billion deal to buy Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, despite a barrage of unproven claims from President Trump and others that use of the pain reliever during pregnancy can cause autism.

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images