The Causes of Autism

May 12, 2026

1999-
“That night, back at the hotel, I finally got Sonny on the phone. He said he’d decided not to meet me but wouldn’t tell me why. When I asked him to put me in touch with his family in Clover, he told me to go there and find them myself. Then he laughed and wished me luck.”

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot

An Autism Librarian memory:

Sonny appeared at ease before the audience, like he was used to it by then. He was warm and kind. When taking questions from audience members, someone asked him if he had been testing Rebecca by refusing to initially meet her.

Sonny laughed and joked that he might’ve had a “hot date” instead, he couldn’t recall.

The audience laughed.

A fellow Psychology grad student smiled and made a statement about literature majors reading too much into things. A fellow grad student with us laughed.

I too smiled, but said nothing.

…

Years later, I graduated with my Master’s but didn’t attend commencement.

The memory of Henrietta never quite left me.
How could it?
HeLa cells…

The book began to gather dust in my parent’s old home.

April/May 2026- personal notes

Revisiting the book, the old memory of Sonny flashes before my eyes after re-reading about his initial refusal to meet with Rebecca.

The literature major’s question actually made more sense now.

Sonny passed away a few years ago, says the world wide web.

And now Henrietta’s story is back in my life.

The story of Elsie, Henrietta’s daughter, hits much harder now; by 2026 standards she could’ve been diagnosed with autism. How much overlap did Elsie’s symptoms then have with present day behavioral symptoms of autism, in particular the communication and social deficits that Elsie seemed to also have? Back then the diagnostic term was ‘idiocy,’ undoubtedly impacting the term ‘idiot’ or vice versa, perhaps also connected to present day shedding of terms like ‘retarded’ and shaping the “Autism Awareness” movement toward a kinder approach in communication regarding such individuals.

Henrietta and her husband worked on the tobacco farms…did pesticide/insecticide exposure have anything to do with Elsie’s condition?

I feel obligated to do a historical analysis on the rates of ‘idiocy,’ as the old term may also shed awareness on a condition with symptoms similar to autism.

Some blame solely vaccines for the increase in autism rates, but the reality is that prior to 1986, there were many other pollutants impacting symptoms similar to autism that may have been diagnosed as ‘idiocy.’

It will come down to reviewing the diagnostic criteria of the old terms and determining the parallels, as well as any data available on toxic exposures impacting the rates of those old criteria.

It seems that with each literature my dissertation keeps becoming larger and more complicated, but now returning to the story of Henrietta Lacks, I feel scientifically/ethically obligated to conduct such an analysis.

Autism Librarian