“I am a special education therapist who works with children with autism.
Many parents state that vaccines caused their child’s autism.
My nephew is autistic and my sister says that vaccines caused his autism.”
a. While it is nice that you have chosen a field of helping children that can use therapy, being a special ed therapists does not lend you the position of authority on this matter.
b. You do realize by now that what many people state have no bearing if it were true, it would have been measurable if is not measurable than it does not exist. In fact, so much effort is being put in by the radical anti-vaccine and anti-medicine movement, that if there were any data that would link vaccines with autism it would have been all over the news.
c. While that may be what your sister claims, it may not be the actual truth. Therefore before a policy is decided there needs to be more than just what your sister claims.
At this point, I respect your passion, however, it is very clear that you are not interested in any data unless it supports your already made up decision.
It would have been better if you would have stated at the beginning of this discussion, that your sister’s claim has convinced you that it is vaccines that have caused her child’s autism. No data would satisfy you, as that is not what you are seeking. Anything that goes against vaccines you would immediately disregard, we would have clearly understood the reason for this, without having to initially think that it is data or research that has driven you to a conclusion.