A CLONAKILTY disability activist has hit out at Independent Deputy Danny Healy-Rae for comments he made in the Dáil suggesting autism may be linked to vitamin deficiency, writes Martin Steinmetz.

West Cork campaigner Evie Nevin described the remarks as misleading and damaging to autistic people. Nevin said greater recognition and understanding, not new causes, explained increased identification today.

She said: ‘Autism has always existed. What has changed is our ability to recognise it. In the past, autistic people were hidden away, institutionalised, or simply dismissed as ‘odd’.’

Evie drew on her own lived experience, adding: ‘Even though I wasn’t diagnosed until adulthood, I have always been autistic. It was noticed when I was a child, but there was fear around being ‘othered.’

She pointed out that experts  agreed autism was a neurodevelopmental difference with no single known cause, and focusing on baseless theories distracted from urgent needs like timely assessments and proper supports.