A Dose of Controversy Breezes Over Most Autism Vaccine Issues But Was Fair to Wakefield

I was actually pleased with the Matt Lauer/NBC coverage of the Wakefield/Deer and MMR/Vaccine Issues in A Dose of Controversy. I thought he was fair to Dr. Wakefield, giving him an opportunity to address allegations made against him. The program didn't go after Brian Deer for some of the allegations against him. While the program did give Paul Offit a free run to say what he wanted about vaccines and autism I thought he, of all people involved in the program, looked the most emotional and overwrought.

The coverage of vaccine-autism issues was light and glossed over many important issues including the "science disproving vaccine autism causal connections". The show did give Dr. Healy a brief spot to point out what is my main concern with the vaccine autism war - the obvious attempt to stifle scientific inquiry on vaccine autism issues that has been going on expressly since the IOM 2004 Report and the insufficiency of the scientific investigation to date of these issues. I don't know if Dr. Healy's sensible observations will make any impact on important audiences like IACC members but you never know.

A major criticism is the continuation of the characterization of parents as desperate, hysterical, dangerous, ignorant and unable to understand the issues or the science. It is a belief genuinely held by figures like Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Thomas Insel and it is a belief which prevents them from being able to make their case persuasively to parents.

These criticisms aside I was pleased that NBC tried to air both sides of the Wakefield/Deer MMR war instead of following recent trends and simply giving a one sided account based totally on the medical establishment position.

autism

Invisible Autistics

[Picture of 11 year old Conor Doherty, my buddy. Conor is a low functioning autistic person diagnosed with classic Autism Disorder, assessed as "severely autistic with profound developmental delays"]

The Mainstream Media loves to present feel good stories about autism. With 1 in 150 persons suffering with autism spectrum disorders the mainstream media invariable gravitates towards the higher end of the autism spectrum. Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN is a classic example with his interview of an autistic person who writes very sophisticated articles from a keyboard and is a prolific internet blogger. In the US April is autism Awareness month and the heartwarming stories and interviews with high functioning autistic persons will hit the media again.

Katie Couric and NBC's Today Show will feature a charming intelligent and high functioning autistic teen. These are nice stories and they are stories that SHOULD be told. But where are the MSM interviews wih, or visits to meet, low functioning autistic persons? David Suzuki took a realistic look at some persons with more severe autism in a 1996 episode of CBC's "The Nature of Things". But that was Canada (the CBC) 11 years ago. In today's ratings driven "entertainment as news" media world, there are unlikely this April to be any mainstream media visits to mental health facilities or residential care facilities where severely autistic youths and adults might be found; often living minimal custodial existences.

Stories about autistic persons with limited language skills, who engage in self injurious or aggressive behavior, or are sedated by medications, aren't likely to make the Mainstream Media coverage of autism this April. Low functioning autistic persons living in custodial care are not the stuff of feel good stories. They will likely remain hidden away out of sight, unseen in our modern media society.

They are our invisible autistics.