Autism Society Canada Misrepresents Autism On Its Web Site Makeover By Hiding The Many with Autism AND Intellectual Disability

The Autism Society Canada web site was down briefly and I had hoped, notwithstanding past experience, that once it was back up the ASC would have started presenting an accurate picture of autism disorders to the Canadian public and families with autism disorders. My hopes, faint as they might have been, were dashed again.  ASC, on its "new" web site face, once again misrepresents autism disorders by hiding some harsher facts, in particular the fact that  as much as  50% (World Health Organization) of persons with autism disorders also have an intellectual disability:

"Q: Do persons with autism always suffer from intellectual disability?

A: The level of intellectual functioning is extremely variable in persons with ASD, ranging from profound impairment to superior non-verbal cognitive skills. It is estimated that around 50% of persons with ASD also suffer from an intellectual disability."

(World Health Organization, September 2013) 

Canadian families of children with autism disorders should be aware of the very high % of persons with autism disorders who also suffer from an intellectual disability.  Those families should also be aware that many with autism and intellectual disability have very high rates of seizures and increased mortality.

Statements below from a more reliable source that takes autism disorders more seriously than the Autism Society Canada appears to:  the American Academy of Pediatrics in a statement concerning Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders published in 2007 and reaffirmed in 2010 and 2014. 

American Academy of Pediatrics 

Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders,  (2007)

Statement of reaffirmation  126 (6): e1622. (2010)

Statement of reaffirmation 134 (5): e1520. (2014)

Comorbid severe global developmental delay/mental retardation and motor deficits 

are associated with a high prevalence of seizures (42%)

Health care utilization and costs are substantially higher for children and adolescents with ASDs compared with children without ASDs, and available data suggest that mortality is increased as well. The increased mortality in ASDs is thought to be largely, but not completely, accounted for by the increased mortality associated with mental retardation and epilepsy.

Self Injurious Behavior, Seizures, Reduced Life Expectancy Are My Son's Severe Autism Disorder Challenges Not Concern Over The Expression #MSSNG

Self Injurious Behavior, a  common occurrence  in some with severe autism, can appear in  a flash and transform a happy, fun filled moment into pain and suffering as it does above with my son Conor.  The very high functioning autistics who do not share my son's disorder and challenges have no right to dictate what autism research will or will  not be conducted,  research that may someday help my son and others with severe autism disorders. 

The world has recently seen the very talented, successful  Jerry Seinfeld "identify"  with autism before retracting his statements. More recently John Elder Robinson and other high functioning autistics got very upset over the use of the expression #MSSNG coined for the Autism Speaks research campaign and demanded that autistics must  dictate the course of autism research.  My son Conor with his severe autism disorder, intellectual disability and epilepsy has no understanding of this high functioning autism outrage.  His problems are more in the nature of the serious self injury engaged in often as set out in the pictures above. 

Today, with the holidays disrupting his routines, Conor engaged in one of his most serious meltdowns in some time hurting himself and the walls and when Dad intervened I felt some of it too. I honestly can't relate to the concern that #MSSNG is somehow an insult and travesty to those with autism disorders not when I am trying to restrain my powerful, 210 lb  6'1" son without hurting him and at the same time protect myself in the middle of a serious meltdown. 

Statements below from the AAP.

American Academy of Pediatrics 

Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders,  (2007)

Statement of reaffirmation  126 (6): e1622. (2010)

Statement of reaffirmation 134 (5): e1520. (2014)

Comorbid severe global developmental delay/mental retardation and motor deficits 

are associated with a high prevalence of seizures (42%)

Health care utilization and costs are substantially higher for children and adolescents with ASDs compared with children without ASDs, and available data suggest that mortality is increased as well. The increased mortality in ASDs is thought to be largely, but not completely, accounted for by the increased mortality associated with mental retardation and epilepsy.

Conor's Back Yard 2014 - Fredericton's North Riverfront Trail

"Professor" John Elder Robison's Limited Understanding of Autism and Autism Research

MIT Technology Review:  John Elder Robison is a professor at the 

College of William & Mary and the author of Look Me in the Eye.

John Elder Robison is a former "free ranging "Aspie", a successful businessman, writer and now apparently a professor as indicated in the MIT Technology Review article Fixing Autism Research We need to come to grips with what autism really is.  I met Mr Robison briefly at the IMFAR conference in Toronto a couple of years ago. It is not clear in what sense he suffers from a DSM5 ASD clinically significant  functioning impairment (mandatory criterion D) in relation to his "autism" symptoms so as to qualify for an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis but he has embraced the autism label nonetheless and presents himself as a voice for the "autism' community.  John Elder Robison may well be a voice for the extremely high functioning "autism" community but he certainly does not speak for my adult son who suffers, and I use the word "suffers" intentionally, from his severe autism disorder.  Nor do Robison's comments indicate in any meaningful sense that the understands what autism is in a general sense.

My adult son with severe autism disorder like many with autism disorders also have an Intellectual Disability diagnosis and suffers from seizures.  In recent years the CDC has estimated between 41-44% of persons with autism disorder also have an ID.  The WHO estimated that 50% with an ASD also suffer from ID. Many also suffer from epileptic seizures.  The estimates in that regard  vary widely but 30% is a number often cited with an even higher number of that percentage located among the severely autistic end of the spectrum. 

Like many with ASD, ID and epilepsy my son suffers meltdowns, self injurious behavior, reactive aggression, sensory issues and extreme obsessive behaviors.  Changes of any kind can be very challenging. His health is affected in many negative ways by his limited communication abiliity of any kind and no computers do not reveal an inner intelligence which he can communicate via keyboard.

Professor J E Robison complains that autism is not a disease.  I assume he means that autism is not contagious and I am sure the world appreciates that insight.  It is recognized medically as a neurological DISORDER. More recently well informed autism experts like Lynn Waterhouse have acknowledged that autism is very heterogeneous in nature and may better be viewed from a symptom perspective rather than as a uniform disorder.  Many parents of children with severe autism including me have long complained when extremely high functioning persons like JE Robison present themselves as autism experts and present a view of autism to the world based on their considerable abilities and gifts.

"Professor" Robison's life experience as an extremely high functioning free ranging Aspie gives him no  insight into severe autism disorders and the potential benefit down the road, admittedly far down the road,  for persons with severe autism,   It would be nice if the good professor Robison would wake up some day and realize the harm he is doing to people like my son by his misrepresentations of what autism means,  I am not however holding my breath waiting.  

SUDEP The Global Conversation Combating The Myth That Seizures Do Not Kill

Many with autism disorders also suffer from epileptic seizures and should be aware of the risk of SUDEP, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy.  The following is a News Release about SUDEP the global conversation a joint effort of several epilepsy and SUDEP awareness ogranizations in the US, Canada and Australia:


Families, researchers, clinicians and organisations unite to promote a global conversation on sudden death in epilepsy

A global collaboration of charities, researchers and families has created a unique online knowledge resource on sudden deaths in epilepsy. This new, web-based ’Global Conversation’ combats the myth that seizures do not kill.

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) is when a person who has epilepsy dies suddenly and unexpectedly, with no other cause of death established. It accounts for the majority of deaths in people with chronic epilepsy. Deaths are also caused by accidents, status epilepticus, and suicide. 

Jane Hanna, one of the editors, who has campaigned for awareness and action on epilepsy deaths since her partner died suddenly in his sleep, aged 27, in 1990 said: “The mortality burden of SUDEP alone is high, second only to stroke amongst all neurological disorders because so many of the sudden deaths are in young people. Most people with epilepsy will live a full and normal life but we need to acknowledge the risks, especially with convulsive and night-time seizures. There are simple measures that can be taken that are known to reduce risk that people may want to know and try.“

The new ‘Global Conversation’ website www.sudepglobalconversation.com combines the latest research by international experts with the powerful accounts of bereaved families making it easily accessible to anyone in the world.

The ‘Global Conversation’ will also be promoted at an exhibition at the American Epilepsy Society annual meeting in Seattle, between 6-8 December, 2014 which will be attended by about 4000 delegates. 

FACTS

For over 100 years, a myth that seizures were not fatal hindered research and action to prevent epilepsy deaths worldwide. The myth was first broken in 1996, when the hard and long journeys of some tenacious families collided with those of pioneering researchers and clinicians from all over the world.

The success of the ‘Global Conversation’ is attributed to a powerful three-way collaboration between SUDEP Action, Epilepsy Australia and Canada’s SUDEP Aware which, together, reach out to research teams from many countries and over 60 experts from around the world, to gather and disseminate the latest information worldwide. It follows SUDEP Action’s (the working name  for Epilepsy Bereaved) campaign during the 1990s, which sparked a partnership between the UK charity and Epilepsy Australia in 2005.

The new, web-based resource follows the success of two books that were produced by the partnership with more than 16,000 hard copies distributed to epilepsy communities around the world at international conferences held in Paris, Rome, Chicago, Montreal, London, Glasgow, Singapore and India, between 2005 and 2014.

The original books online have received more than 300,000 hits. 

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) is the term used when someone with epilepsy dies suddenly, often after a seizure that involves a loss of consciousness.

Dr Rosey Panelli, International Research Officer at SUDEP Action, who alongside Tamzin Jeffs, from SUDEP Aware, is promoting the resource at the Annual Conference of the American Epilepsy Society said, “By working together we can push forward the global conversation on SUDEP, which is vital to research and action on SUDEP wherever we are in the world.”

In 2013, SUDEP Action launched a Call for Openness on SUDEP, which is supported by the partnership and by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE); the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) and 13 other epilepsy organisations around the world. 

Visit https://www.sudep.org/call-openness-campaign.

Click here to follow the SUDEP Global Conversation on Facebook

So Called Autism Brain Study Excluded 50% of the Autism Spectrum, Those With Intellectual Disability

Credit (or Discredit) Carnegie Mellon University

What's Wrong With This Picture? It Omits 50% of The Autism Spectrum, Those with Intellectual Disability

The picture above, credit (or discredit) to Carnegie Mellon University,  is from a Science Daily review article  Brain representations of social thoughts accurately predict autism diagnosis which reviews an MRI study published in PLOS ONE, December 2014, Identifying Autism from Neural Representations of Social Interactions: Neurocognitive Markers of Autism,  purporting to demonstrate different brain responses to social interaction stimuli in what are described as "autism" brains as compared to control brains of persons without autism. The review article states that it is based on materials supplied by Carnegie Mellon U the institution that conducted the study in which fMRI imaging was used to compare brain reactions of 17 persons with high functioning autism with the brain reactions of 16 control subjects with similar IQ  levels:

As the father of an almost 19 year old low functioning son with severe autism, profound intellectual disability ... and epilepsy I understand why it may not have been feasible to include intellectually disabled autistic adults in an fMRI study.  What the study authors and the journal articles reviewing the study could have done would have been to describe the results as applying only to those with high functioning autism. After all they expressly and intentionally excluded the 50% of the autism spectrum with intellectually disability (WHO, September 2013) and should have claimed that their results applied only to high functioning autism.  Arguably they could have talked about a "high functioning autism brain" but they certainly can not assume their results apply to the low functioning half of the autism world.  

The study authors should have been more accurate .... and honest ... in what they tell the world about their high functioning autism study.  They could have started with the title of their study and called it:

"Identifying HIGH FUNCTIONING Autism from Neural Representations of Social Interactions: Neurocognitive Markers of HIGH FUNCTIONING Autism".