Many parents, politicians and some researchers cite a [[mercury]] preservative used in vaccines, thimerosol, as the cause of injury in many recipients, including a cause of increase in autism rates. Thimerosol is a inorganic form of mercury that has widely been used as a vaccine preservative, and still is despite widespread calls for its removal. Most of the influenza vaccines contain thimerosal equivalent to 25 micrograms of toxic [[mercury]], an amount that would be safe under [[EPA]] limits only if the recipient weighs 550 pounds.
Autism is a spectrum disorder which means there is a range in how it effects different people. Every child is also different. There is the fragile x syndrome, [[Asperger's syndrome]], pdd nos, mild autism, moderate autism, severe autism, and some [[idiot savants]]. Autistic children will not all act like the character portrayed in the movie ''[[Rain MainMan]]''. Nor are all autistic children uncaring or unable to show emotion, in fact many are very caring.
There is a rare form of low functioning autism called ''idiot savants'' in which the people who suffer from it cannot brush their teeth or take a bath or dress themselves or do any other basic activities but are extremely good at one thing, usually mathematics but sometimes also involving music, memory feats, or hyperlexia.