As far as vindicating their way of life, I don't see much with their simple way of living that needs
vindicating.
I disagree. I worked with midwives that worked with the Amish, and there are many problems. We tend to romanitcize it from the outside because it appears quaint. My midwife friend said she sees a high number of genetic defects because the communities are closed and inbreeding just happens. One midwife has absolutely no problem with her "English" patients not gettnig immunizations but she pressures her Amish people to get them because their nutrition is very poor. I know that doesn't seem likely because they are farmers, but their diets are not balanced. She doesn't mind if "English" mothers don't want their newborns to get eyedrops (at birth), but she gives them to the Amish babies because the mothers so often have chronic untreated infections.
To the Amish, higher education starts after 8th grade. Amish dairy farmers have been pressed by government to install running water for sanitary reasons because if left on their own, they would not do this. Alcoholism is a problem among the Amish, and maybe worse because they are unlikely to reach out for help. I read a book by a midwife who attended the Amish, and she told the story of a young woman who everyone treated as though she was mentally disabled. The midwife figured out she was deaf---something they would have known had they reached out for help. THEN after the woman got married, her husband asked the midwife to check his wife's ears. He had heard a story of someone who got their ears cleaned and could hear. She actually cleaned the womans ears, and the woman could hear.
Of course, the story may not be true, but the rest of the book was believable so I tend to think it is. I did have a friend who could only hear out of one ear, and she seemed to be going deaf in it. It turned out that there was an unbelievable build up of wax, and she was much better after they took care of it. So I know it happens.
Then I heard that the community I lived near was no longer shunning young woman for getting pregnant before marriage. This is a good thing, of course, but it shows that our perception is not the reality. They are running away for a reason.
