My oldest son has autism, and much more than "lightly". My youngest son may or may not have it, he seems to be right on the edge. I am aware of how disabling it

My oldest son has autism, and much more than "lightly". My youngest son may or may not have it, he seems to be right on the edge. I am aware of how disabling it can be, which is why my wife and I employ the mitigating techniques we can get our hands on to try to help our oldest son navigate a neurotypical world, without turning him into just another lab rat. My point stems instead from a question: If the "cure" is attempted, and does not succeed, is that because the parent was a failure? Or did the "failure" we see reflect an even better outcome for a child who might have been even more severely autistic without that intervention? We live in a world where a not-insubstantial number of people honestly believe that vaccines cause autism, so whatever the answer to the previous question actually is, I can tell you the perception of the answer may very well be much different. The "Refrigerator mother" concept pointed out by makomk is precisely what I was referring to in our past. I hope that such slanders will remain a part of our past and don't pop up again.