9. The Amish Anomaly
We are continuing our list of autism facts and statistics: autism rates in Amish, countries that don’t vaccinate and more with a historical one. Three hundred years ago, a small Amish community migrated from Europe and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Today, they are well-known for their religiously-focused culture, plain dress and life without access to (most) modern inventions. Although immunization is not forbidden, vaccination rates are generally low in Amish communities. This is the reason why Amish children are often hospitalized for vaccine-preventable diseases. However, it is interesting that Dr. Frank Noonan who has been treating Amish children for over 25 years once said, “You’ll find all the other stuff, but we don’t find the autism. We’re right in the heart of Amish country and seeing none, and that’s just the way it is”. This suggests that autism in Amish community is minimal or non-existent. This was confirmed by Dan Olmstead who studied autism prevalence among Amish and discovered that it is almost non-existent. He called this phenomenon “The Amish Anomaly.”
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