An appalling situation met with an even more appalling (and frankly juvenile response).

And if you’re using that question to push anti-vax myths or shame families—
You’re not exposing a crisis. You’re exposing your ignorance. 5/5

This isn’t a sudden epidemic. It’s a long-overdue shift in awareness, diagnosis, and inclusion.

So when someone asks, “Where were the autistic kids back then?”
You can answer:
“They were there. You just weren’t taught to see them.” 4/5

Key context:
• Before the 1950s, Canadian schools didn’t have to serve disabled kids.
• “Autism” wasn’t added to the DSM until 1980.
• The idea of a spectrum didn’t exist until the ’90s.
• In 2015, autism was identified in 1 in 66 kids in Canada. 3/5

Autistic kids have always been here. But in the past, they were often punished, excluded, institutionalized, or mislabeled as “bad,” “difficult,” or “weird.” Some masked. Some stayed home. Most were unseen. 2/5