My uncle had the measles as a child and developed encephalitis, which left him profoundly mentally retarded, although he didn’t suffer hearing or vision loss. I honestly feel really sorry for the first kid you discussed, whose parents induced some kind of anti-vax hysteria around him. You CAN’T catch whooping cough from the vaccine they use for that, because the vaccine doesn’t contain actual pertussis bacteria. DTaP means diptheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis. Argh.

I know dealing with autism can be very difficult for parents, but the measles left my uncle in much worse shape than about 99% of kids with autism, and certainly way worse than all the people who now get diagnosed as being “on the spectrum,” which I believe is simply and expansion of our need to be able to define/diagnose folks whose personalities seem odd or quirky.