Parents of Autistic Kids Take Income Hit

You know, they put the mercury and aluminum in vaccines to save fifty cents per dose, to keep it clean (ugh, or clean-er) in these multi-dose vials where they could put it in individual doses for just a little more money.

And for parents who have children with "autistic-like" symptoms due to vaccine damage, the psychic cost is overwhelming, there's an over 90% divorce rate, and this study confirms that vaccine damage/autism is so overwhelming that it even affects a family's earning power. I can attest to that, given the endless visits (hospital all day Wednesday, osteopath Thursday, social worker home visit next week etc.) we have to do, and, the thousands and thousands of dollars we pay out of pocket (hello, home equity loan!). We know this, but in case you don't:

Study Shows 14% Lower Income Among Families Facing Autism

By Miranda Hitti, WebMD Medical News

April 2, 2008 -- Parents of children with autism earn 14% less than parents who don't have autistic kids.

That news appears in April's edition of Pediatrics.

The finding is based on 11,000 U.S. children in kindergarten through eighth grade. The group included 131 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to their parents.

The kids' parents reported their earnings -- including salaries and interest on investments -- along with their education level, age, and other factors.

The survey results suggest that "families with a child with autism attain lower income than expected based on their educational and demographic characteristics," write the researchers, who included Guillermo Montes, PhD, of the Children's Institute in Rochester, N.Y.

"The average loss of annual income associated with having a child with autism spectrum disorder was $6,200," Montes and colleagues calculate.

That figure is only about income. It doesn't include expenses related to autism, such as out-of-pocket costs for therapies and schooling.