Autism Rising: Autism Rates Higher Near Toxic Dump Sites

The ideologically based belief that autism is entirely genetic has been taking a beating in the past few years as an Autism Research Paradigm Shift has been taking place which focuses more attention on the possible environmental factors involved in causing autism disorders. And the evidence of possible environmental causes or triggers of autism disorders continues to accumulate.

The UC Davis Mind Institute study is a recent highlight of this shift towards open examination of environmental triggers and factors contributing to the increasing diagnoses of autism disorders. The The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research - January 26, 2009 essentially codified the Autism Research Paradigm Shift with numerous elements of its Strategic Plan emphasizing possible environmental contributors and causes of autism disorders.

Now Catherine DeSoto has published a correlational study, Ockman's Razor and Autism: The case for developmental neurotoxins contributing to a disease of neurodevelopment, at Neurotoxicology doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2009.03.003 which finds that:

"within the state with the highest rate of ASD, the rate is higher for schools near EPA Superfund sites, t (332) = 3.84, p = .0001. The reasons for the rise in diagnoses likely involve genetically predisposed individuals being exposed to various environmental triggers at higher rates than in past generations.

The study is the subject of a synopsis by Heather Patisaul, Ph.D. of North Carolina State University, at Environmental Health News. Ms Patisaul explains that the Superfund sites frequently contain such pollutants as chloroethelyenes, benzene and metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, chormium, arsenic). She reports that the study found autism rates signficantly higher near the toxic Superfund Sites:

Rates of the disorder were one and a half times higher in the districts within 10 miles of the toxic sites. That translates into 1 child in 92 in districts closer to the sites compared to 1 child in 132 in the districts farther away. Schools within a 20-mile radius of Superfund sites had similar autism trends as the schools with 10 miles of the sites.

Ms Patisaul cautions that correlational studies such as this might first identify possible causal relationships but will require further information to verify any such association. Hopefully the studies necessary to verify or refute possible connections and causes will be conducted without unecessary delay.

autism

Autism Awareness: More Einstein Was Autistic Nonsense

The formula for concluding that an historical genius was autistic is simple:

Genius + Eccentricity + Aversion to Small Talk = Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism researchers in the UK and Ireland are at it again. Not finding causes of autism or developing knowledge of treatment and possible cures. No our good friends on the other side of the Atlantic are busy promoting the "Einstein was Autistic" picture of autism spectrum disorders. When it comes to autism, our English and Irish friends have no qualms about abandoning scientific certainty and the realities of the severely autistic living today for ideological, historical speculation about whether Einstein, and in addition Newton might have been autistic.

The bold headline on World Update News declares that Einstein and Newton ‘had autism’. In the article Cambridge University researchers are reported to have stated that Einstein might have had Aspergers. The article itself is fairly balanced and cites Dr. Glen Elliot from the University of California at San Francisco as stating that the eccentricities of both esteemed scientific geniuses can simply reflect their high intelligence without indicating that either was autistic. Professor Simon Baron Cohen of Cambridge University, however, clings to the genius as autism speculation. In February Professor Michael Fitzgerald offered his latest in a very long list of historical geniuses that he specultes were autistic - Charles Darwin. Professor Fitgerald even speculates that Mozart was autistic. This is the same Mozart who married, had several children and was a member of more than one lodge including the Freemasons in which he achieved the status of Master, had many friends and was well regarded. Just your typical autistic?

In the formula above "learned" professors like Mr. Baron Cohen and Mr Fitzgerald simply disregard some uncomfortable realities in making their historical speculative diagnoses:

1) Total lack of observation of the "patients"

2) Reliance on second and third hand accounts of persons no longer alive many of whom were not health care of psychological professionals.

3) Contrary evidence concerning ability to form intense interpersonal relationships iincluding marriages.

4) Lack of discomfort in public speaking.

Professors Fitzgerald and Baron Cohen are academics. They are of course free to speculate about any subject that flits through their consciousness. But it seems strange that these two learned men do not find it worthy to mention that there are many severely autistic persons living lives dependent on the care of others, some with limited intellectual and practical skills.

It seems, for one reason or another, that the learned professors are ashamed of the plight of the severely autistic who live with us today, preferring to speculate about long dead historical geniuses.

autism

Autism's Phony War

Autism has almost become a synonym for controversy.

The role that vaccines play, or do not play, depending on which camp one is a member of, generates the most heat and is often described as the vaccine-autism war, on this blog, generally, and by respected experts like Dr. Bernadine Healy. One issue that also generates controversy, and has been described as a "war", is the issue of whether autism should be cured or not. Unlike the vaccine-autism war though this war is a phony war, one that does not involve a serious contest between legitimate interests.

In the vaccine-autism war the public has a legitimate interest in ensuring the continuation of public vaccine programs. Parents concerned about their children also have a legitimate interest in ensuring the safety of substances injected often and directly into the bodies of their young children at early ages, including the first day they are born, and even while in the womb through vaccination of pregnant women. These intense and legitimate interests, generate much legitimate controversy.

Even the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies and vaccine patent holders like Dr. Offit are legitimate. Vaccines have saved many lives and without the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies and vaccine patent holders vaccines would not be produced. These competing, but legitimate interests, generate a real "war" in public discussions.

In autism's phony war there are no legitimate competing interests. The heat that does exist in public discussion of autism cures is generated largely by those with no legitimate interest in whether a cure for autism is found or not. The anti-cure "movement" is essentially the ideology of a few persons with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Aspergers. These are generally intelligent, articulate people who can speak for themselves and who do not want to be cured of their autism disorders. All well and good. The thing is ....... no one is trying to force a cure on them for THEIR autism conditions.

No one, to my knowledge, is trying to force Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs, Alex Plank or any of the other HFA or Aspergers media regulars to seek a cure. These people speak about their opposition to curing autism in the abstract at best. At worst they are trying to interfere with the rights of other autistic people to obtain a cure and the rights of parents to seek a cure for their childrens' autistic disorders.

Jonathan Mitchell author of the Autism's Gadfly blog is a person with an autism disorder who has received the hostility of the anti-cure Neurodiversity autism bloggers because he does not accept their ideology. He has expressed the desire to be cured of his autism disorder. That is his right and his right alone. Harold Doherty does not have the right to tell Mr. Mitchell to be cured or not of his autism. Neither do Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs, Ari Ne'eman, Alex Plank or any other anti-cure autism ideologues.

For daring to express a desire to be cured of his autism Jonathan Mitchell has been described by one Neurodiversity extremist, "Timelord", as an autistic Joseph Goebbels. Timelord has also started a blog site specifically to target Jonathan Mitchell whom he smears wrongfully as a coward and a traitor, Mitchell's Gadfly. Timelord is a 40 year old unemployed Australian with Aspergers as described on his posted profile at another site he authors:

What right does Timelord Phil, an unemployed 40 year old, diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, have to tell Jonathan Mitchell, an autistic adult, that he should not seek to be cured of his autism? The obvious answer is: none. He has no right to oppose Mr. Mitchell's right to seek a cure. Period. When an autistic adult seeks a cure for his autism disorder other autistic adults have no legitimate competing interest and there is no real conflict, there is no real "war".

Some autistic persons, including children and adults, lack the cognitive and communication skills to live independently in the real world. Some injure themselves. Parents have a legitimate interest, a responsibility and a duty, to act to help their children develop to their fullest potential and to prevent injury to their autistic children when they seek to injure themselves. There is no competing societal interest. To the contrary society has an interest in ensuring that autistic persons are able to be cured of a disorder which causes serious pain and suffering and results in lives of dependency, often at state expense.

Self-injury is a problem for many people with autism disorders. I have seen it and shown it on this blog site with pictures of my son's self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists. Neurodiversity icon Michelle Dawson also testified about her personal autistic self injury in her Canadian Human Rights Tribunal proceedings Dawson v. Canada Post Corporation, 2008 CHRT 41. In that cased Ms Dawson brought several complaints against her former employer Canada Post Corporation alleging that CPC discriminated against her based on her disability: autism. The Tribunal rejected some of her complaints but found that some CPC employees had harassed Ms Dawson because of her disability and that CPC was responsible for the acts of its employees and officers.

In rendering its decision the CHRT summarized Ms Dawson's evidence and in particular Ms Dawson's own testimony about her self injurious behavior:

[58] Ms. Dawson testified that after she disclosed her diagnosis to Canada Post, everything went wrong. Before that time, even though Ms. Dawson came to work with self-inflicted injuries, this did not seem to create any qualms or concerns with respect to Canada Post. Things started to change, she stated in her testimony, after some Pierrefonds employees felt threatened by Ms. Dawson and sent a letter to that effect to Ms. Daoust in July 1999.

...


[97] In her testimony, Ms. Dawson spoke about her self-inflicted injuries. Ms. Dawson testified that, at the very worst, there was probably a week or two weeks where two weeks in a row, she would have something, that she would injure herself. She added, however, that this would be rare. According to her, she would self-injure about once a month and never more. She testified that for cuts, it would not be more than one small area affected and not more than one or two cuts, but they would be in the same place.

[98] Ms. Dawson testified that, well before Canada Post knew she was autistic, she would show up at work with self-inflicted wounds, that she did not suddenly start showing up with obvious signs of self-injury in 1999. According to her, any time after 1990, she would have had at times signs of self-injury, sometimes more than at other times, sometimes with long gaps.


Even the expert witness Dr. M, who, based on the Tribunal's description, was obviously Dr. Laurent Mottron, and who promoted his own pet theories about autism intelligence, acknowledged that autistic persons "sometimes" engage in self injurious behavior:


[110] Dr. M. testified that, while the ordinary person will become aggressive when anxious, autistic individuals will sometimes self-injure. This is especially the case, according to Dr. M., when an autistic person cannot understand a situation or cannot get an answer to a question. According to Dr. M., self-injury is the most extreme response to a psychological impasse that has no solution. It is a response to a disorganization of the world. It is the way for an autistic person to respond to negative situations whereas non autistic persons will show anger. Dr. M. stated in his testimony that he was aware of Ms. Dawson self-injury behavior. He had seen one of the wounds she had inflicted upon herself. For Dr. M., a self-inflicted injury is a sign of a deep psychological suffering.

I can't pretend to have any great respect for Dr. Mottron's views of autism generally. I don't care how many learned articles he has written based on his studies of persons with High Functioning Autism, Aspergers and Autistic Savants, his views about autism generally are inconsistent with what I have seen in my son with Autistic Disorder, with the knowledge that I have from working as a lawyer with families with autistic children and Aspergers, my involvement in autism advocacy in New Brunswick and my visits to psychiatric facilities where some autistic adults live out their lives in the care of strangers. Nonetheless even Dr. Mottron acknowledges that self injury is "sometimes" a feature of autistic behavior.

For the record here is a re-post of a picture of my son's self inflicted bite mark on his hand. (Dr. Mottron should also be informed that with ABA we have been able to increase our ability to communicate with Conor, he with us, and reduce such self injurious behavior) :


Those who oppose cures for themselves or for their autistic children have no right to oppose the development of autism cures for autistic adults like Jonathan Mitchell or for children whose parents seek a cure for their disorders. There is no legitimate basis for fighting to ensure that autistic children, particularly severely autistic children, should be prevented from being cured of a disorder which results in some cases in cognitive impairment, lives of dependency, and self injurious behavior. There is no legitimate basis to oppose the rights of parents to help their children live the best life possible without suffering from a debilitating neurological disorder.

Autism has many wars the cure or don't cure controversy though is a phony war between those with a legitimate interest in curing themselves of their autism disorder or their own children and those who oppose that right on abstract, ideological grounds.

Autism's phony war generates unnecessary heat and gives governments and service provides an excuse to refrain from providing needed services and funding for research. It does a great disservice to autistic adults seeking cures and for autistic children whose parents, acting in their children's best interests, and with the responsibility to do so, seek to cure them.

NOTE: At the request of Timelord Phil his picture has been removed from the profile posted above. The picture seemed innocuous to me, a picture of a guy in a black and white striped referee's jersey with his arms crossed, but it is his image and his request.

autism

Mozart's Requiem In Fredericton

In the "nothing to do with autism" department I was able last night to attend, with my oldest son, a performance of Mozart's Requiem by the The Fredericton Choral Society and the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra at the Wilmot United Church in Fredericton. It was my first time attending a live performance of any classical music; unless you count my attendance at a Rolling Stones concert in Moncton a couple of years ago :-)

I do not pretend to be musically learned or sophisticated. As a child I did enjoy the classical music sometimes featured on Bugs Bunny cartoons . My interest took a leap forward with the release of the multiple award winning Amadeus. The internet, better computer sound quality and good quality CDs and DVD's have all made classical music more accessible and enjoyable. Last evening though I attended my first live classical performance and I was excited to see and hear one of Mozart's most famous compositions, Requiem, as completed by Süssmayr and performed by the Fredericton Choral Society and the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra.

We arrived early and were able to sit only 3 rows from the front of the orchestra and the conductor. It was an amazing experience for me and my son. The Fredericton Chamber Orchestra will present Robert Schumann's "Spring Symphony and some other pieces at the Wilmot United Church on May 2. I hope to be there again with my son.

Never too old to experience something new and amazing.

autism

Autism Is A Neurological Disorder Not A Culture or Shared Communication Style

When Neurodiversity blogger Dora Raymaker at the Neurodiversity (Autism) page of Change.org says "we autistics" and pretends to speak on behalf of severely disabled autistic persons she doesn't know, and has little in common with, she is misrepresenting her authority to speak on their behalf. Autism is a spectrum of neurological disorders distinguished by very substantial variations in intellectual and communication abilities.

Dora Raymaker in Deaf Culture, Autistic Culture, and Language refers to what she calls "autistic communication styles" and "autistic culture":

While autistic people don't have a formal language like ASL, we do have some shared communication styles, shared ways we use language or other types of communication, and some shared preferences for communication styles that are different from other groups of people. In terms of community-building, someone once said to me "the Internet is to autistic people what sign language is to deaf people."

Some severely autistic persons, unlike Ms Raymaker, have very limited communication skills and very limited understanding of language and abstract concepts. She has no legitimate basis on which to speak for them or to claim that they all share a common communication style or are part of an "autistic culture".

Dora Raymaker is misrepresenting autism disorders to the general public. My son has a serious neurological disorder, Autistic Disorder with profound developmental delays. He requires 24 hour adult care. He is severely autistic. He is not part of Dora Raymaker's "autistic culture" or "shared communication style". And Dora Raymaker does not speak for him.

autism

Conor and Dad's First Spring Trail Walk - Sort Of

After a long winter I have been trying to get out walking on the trail system with Conor. Today we got out for a very, very short walk when the cold wind by the river persuaded us to try again tomorrow. Still it was nice to get out in the fresh air. The gentleman playing the horn in the pictures below wasn't phased at all by the weather. Conor had other ideas though, like heading home and getting warm.

autism

Severely Autistic Child Assaulted By Care Worker Margaret Garvey

Liverpool Echo Photo of Margaret Garvey
Convicted of Assaulting Severely Autistic Child
By Dragging Him Across Floor By His Head

As the parent of a severely autistic 13 year old boy who grew at an astonishing pace this past year, and who now stands somewhere around 5' 10" tall, I am well aware of the challenges facing care workers who provide care for severely autistic children. I love my son but I am realistic about the challenges his Autistic Disorder presents and I am very appreciative of all those who work, and have worked, with him. Those who work with autistic children choose a rewarding but not an easy path. Challenging behaviors though are not an excuse to assault an autistic child as English care worker Margaret Garvey was found to have done by an English court on March 17, 2009.

On April 7, 2009 Ms Garvey was sentenced to 120 hours of community services and to pay compensation and costs. Laura Jones at Liverpool Echo reports that Ms Garvey assaulted the boy by dragging him across the floor by his head:

Magistrates heard their son, who is suffers from so many learning disabilities he cannot speak, was assaulted on April 17 last year. Garvey’s co-worker Dominic Butler raised the alarm after witnessing the incident as Garvey, of Priory Close, Formby, got the child ready for bed.

Marina Jay, prosecuting, said: “The care worker [Mr Butler] looked up and saw the child run across the corridor – with Garvey right behind him – and out of sight.

“The next minute, Garvey has hold of the right-hand side of his helmet, pulling his whole body with the helmet.

“His face was grimacing. He had his hand up as if he was in pain.”

The court heard after the boy was dragged across the corridor and into his room, he got to his feet and walked slowly to bed.

Ms Jay said: “He had gone from being a livewire to cold and upset.”

The boys parents were upset that Ms Garvey did not receive a custodial (jail) sentence, or at least a suspended sentence for the assault. I understand their feelings. The description of this assault indicates that it was very serious. The boy was in pain and could have suffered serious physical and emotional harm.

It is probably no consolation to the boy's family but there are two positives in this story.

One, Margaret Garvey is no longer employed with the agency. Hopefully she will never again work with autistic, or otherwise vulnerable, children.

Two, Ms Garvey's co-worker Dominic Butler deserves recognition, and praise, for speaking up about the assault; not always an easy thing for a co-worker to do.

autism

When You Have An Autistic Child

Any reader of this blog knows of my disgust with some of the high profile media coverage of autism disorders and autism realities.

From the CBC, command central for the "positively unrepresentative of autism disorders" Neurodiversity ideology and the quirky, quarky rhetoric of Michelle Dawson and Dr. Laurent Mottron, to CNN star Dr. Sanjay Gupta's odd obsession with Amanda Baggs, an alleged autistic person whose ""autism insights" and scripted autism videos seem contrived to many autism parents, the most prominent television "news" machines seem intent on Hollywood "Rain Main" style coverage of autism than on reporting the grim realities confronting many persons with autism disorders and their families. The print based media offers more diversity of autism coverage. While the barely autistic, we don't want a cure, movement gets glossy magazine coverage there are some reality based autism news features in the print media.

Faces of Autism is an excellent, reality based, spectrum wide, treatment of autism from journalist Pete McMartin and photographer Glenn Baglo in the The Vancouver Sun which first appeared in April 2007. And today the Montreal Gazette offers an understanding report on some realities facing parents of autistic children. Reporter Elaine Creighton and the Gazette tell it like it is in Raising an autistic child is not easy featuring Ghislaine Noé the mother of a young non-verbal autistic man now living in a rural residence.

The story tells of frightening moments like realizing her then 5 year old son was walking on the roof top to the everyday challenges of brushing teeth and public behavior issues to the sad fact that her son was at some point too much of a challenge for her in an urban environment.

Ms Crieghton and the Gazette tell of the love and compassion this mother has for her autistic son and provides a rare understanding of the challenges of parenting a child with autism:

"When you have an autistic child, you must be mindful of everything. "


autism

Fredericton Flood Redux?

The sump pump has been busy in the Doherty house in Fredericton (Nashwaaksis).

We took turns, including shifts last night, managing the water flow in the basement which has been receiving water the past week. The police dropped off Emergency Measures Organization flood planning information.

This evening I took a brief walk around the end of our street closest to the Saint John River and on the North Riverfront Trail near our home. The water has started to come up over the trail and over the back yard of a neighbor's yard a couple of houses down across the street. Hopefully Fredericton is not in for another flood like last year. There has been a lot of snow fall this winter and the CBC reports there have been ice jams up river on the Saint John, the Nashwaak and some other New Brunswick Rivers.

Time will tell.

autism

Autism Action NOW! Contact Your MP to Support Bill C-360 An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

Contact your MP - TODAY - and urge him or her to support Bill c-360

An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

Canada, like the US and the UK, is experiencing a national autism crisis. In the UK the latest figures report that 1 in 60 children have, or will have, an autism spectrum diagnosis. In the US the figure is reported at 1 in 150. Both of these figures are shockingly higher than the 1 in 1000 figure that existed prior to the change in diagnostic criteria in the 1993-4 DSM revision period. Even since those revisions which do account for a significant increase the numbers have risen dramatically. It is long past time to stop pretending that we are not experiencing an autism epidemic.

Here in Canada it is long past time that we stopped pretending that we are not experiencing a national autism crisis with families relocating from province to province in search of funded effective ABA treatment for their children and ABA based education when they reach school age. This is not a partisan political issue. Both Liberal and Conservative governments have ignored the autism crisis in Canada. NOW is the time to do something about it. Andy Scott, Peter Stoffer, Shawn Murphy and Senator Jim Munson have been valiant advocates begging their political colleagues to take autism action. Now Glenn Thibeault, Sudbury NDP MP, has moved to introduce Bill C-360, an Act to amend the Canad Health Act (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Canada's National Autism Crisis is a matter which ""goes beyond local or provincial concern or interests and must from its inherent nature be the concern of the Dominion as a whole" as the Privy Council said in upholding the POGG, Peace Order and Good Government, constitutional authority of the federal government to act to address national issues beyond the scope of the province's ability to address. The National Autism Crisis begs for a national solution. The Government of Canada has to stop ignoring this crisis.

Ask your MP to deal with Canada's National Autism Crisis and support Bill C-360. Your MP can be contacted via the link provided at this site:

http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

.......................................................................................................................................................................

40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 040
Friday, April 3, 2009

Canada Health Act

Mr. Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury, NDP) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-360, An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

He said: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the seconder of this bill, the hon. member for Nickel Belt.

I am pleased today to introduce this private member's bill, an act to amend the Canada Health Act, and to look at how we can include autism spectrum disorder in it.

Yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day. I still wear my awareness pin proudly. We as parliamentarians need to work together to provide individuals with ASD and their families with the right supports. IBI training is a step in the right direction, but we need a national strategy.
I look forward to the day when all parties can stand together and show our support for individuals and families dealing with autism.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)


SUMMARY

The purpose of this enactment is to ensure that the cost of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) for autistic persons is covered by the health care insurance plan of every province.


BILL C-360
An Act to amend the Canada Health Act
(Autism Spectrum Disorder)

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. Section 2 of the Canada Health Act is renumbered as subsection 2(1) and is amended by adding the following:

(2) For the purposes of this Act, services that are medically necessary or required under this Act include Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) for persons suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder.


"Peace, Order and Good Government" (POGG)

In particular, the "national dimensions" (originally called "national concerns") doctrine was an alternate means of applying the POGG powers that found use in the mid 20th century. It allowed Parliament to legislate on matters that would normally fall to the provincial government when the issue became of such importance that it concerned the entire country.

The doctrine originated from a statement by Lord Watson in the Local Prohibition case, wherein he stated:

"Their Lordships do not doubt that some matters, in their origin local and provincial, might attain such dimensions as to affect the body politic of the Dominion, and to justify the Canadian Parliament in passing laws for their regulation or abolition in the interest of the Dominion".

After this case the doctrine was completely ignored until 1946 when Viscount Simons brought it back in the case of Ontario v. Canada Temperance Foundation, [1946] A.C. 193 (P.C.). The test as stated in Temperance Foundation was whether the matter "goes beyond local or provincial concern or interests and must from its inherent nature be the concern of the Dominion as a whole".

Find your M.P. at:

http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E


autism

Autism Epidemic Denial : The Flip Side of the Autism Services Obtainment Argument

Reported cases of autism spectrum disorder diagnoses have risen dramatically in the past 15 years. There can be no dispute that the expansion in the definition and diagnostic criteria of autism disorders in the DSM play a significant part in that rise. Another argument often made by those who would argue against any real increase in autism disorders is that the increasing availability of autism related services results in more autism diagnoses as physicians assign an autism diagnosis in questionable cases in order to qualify a child for receipt of those services.

I suspect that such incidents do occur but I have no idea whether "service obtainment" diagnoses occur with such frequency as to have a measurable impact on the numbers of autism diagnoses. I have never seen any reports of studies which accurately measure such an impact.

On the flip side I have never even heard anyone mention whether the provision of services specific to autism could result in children who actually have autism being denied an autism diagnosis as a result of autism service providers placing pressure on diagnosing physicians or psychologists. If it sounds too bizarre to contemplate read the story of Alex Thompson and his family in the UK where Alex's treating physician was subjected to pressure to give Alex a different diagnosis for his autism disorder by the local service provider.

In NHS trust apologises to newsreader after changing son's autism diagnosis the Telegraph reports that the chief physician in the organization responsible for assessing Alex admitted to having withdrawn his autism diagnosis under pressure from organization's education officer. The story also indicates that the physician discharged Alex from her care because his parents, who fought a years long legal battle to have his services restored, had made it impossible to continue.

The Thompson's are certainly not unique in being labelled by officials as difficult because they fought for their child. And according to Alex Thompson's father their situation in fighting for proper care for their child is not unique in the UK:

“We are certainly not the only family to have gone through this. It is happening up and down the country and it has got to be stopped.”

The autism service obtainment argument speculates that the push for autism specific services by parents results in more autism diagnoses being provided in order to qualify children for receipt of those services. The Thompson case illustrates the possibility of a push back factor - autism diagnoses being changed or denied under pressure from service providers seeking to avoid funding of autism specific services.

autism

Autism Awareness and Action Needed for Autistic Adults

Linda H. Davis in Still Overlooking Autistic Adults in Saturday's Washington Post reminds us of our neglect of autistic adults and the bill that will come due more and more with each passing day. She describes very colorfully the realities facing the United States and by extension Canada where we too have neglected to seriously address adult autism issues. She describes a US population of autistic adults larger than the city of Minneapolis. I recommend that everyone with an interest in autism issues read Ms. Davis' commentary and I commend her and the Washington Post for raising this issue.

How will this Autism Metropolis be funded? Who will provide the necessary care and attention that many autistic adults, including my son Conor, will need? Ms Davis describes the difficulty in drawing attention to the plight of autistic adults as compared to autistic children. She suggests that we all have a tendency to avoid contemplating the cute autistic child as a full grown adult and imagining the future. For Ms Davis, growing frailer with an incurable cancer, and the mother of a 22 year old son, the future is now, right now.

Ms Davis being the mother of an autistic adult male does not describe the challenges of caring for an autistic adult in the abstract, feel good nonsense of the joy of autism ideology. She describes some harsh realities:

A well-behaved, relatively high-functioning person such as my son could manage in an environment that has a ratio of three clients per staff member. But many autistic people require a one-to-one ratio. This is a serious hurdle, not least because of the high turnover rate among those who provide direct care, which stems in part from their low wages. Not everyone is temperamentally suited to this work. People with autism present myriad challenges: They can sometimes be violent, sometimes are self-abusive, suffer psychological meltdowns, or behave in many socially unacceptable ways, to say the least. Women, traditionally cast in the caregiver role, are at risk of greater physical harm when caring for autistic adults than for children. At expected rates, we will need to find an additional million caregivers, people who must have the right personal qualities to work with autistic individuals but who are willing and able to work for low wages. This is no small challenge. We not only must train people but also show that we value this work by paying them better.

Linda H. Davis calls for the discussion to begin now about how to care for autistic adults and she is right. She calls for such a discussion to take place in the United States. But we are also in dire need here in New Brunswick, and across Canada, of engaging in the same discussion. Such discussion is in fact long overdue.

autism

CBC Misrepresents Autism Disorders, Yet Again

The CBC - Not Aware Of Severe Autism Realities
Misrepresents Autism Spectrum Disorders

If there is an opportunity to present the Neurodiversity, autism is beautiful, perspective on autism disorders the CBC can be counted on to use its publicly funded broadcasting might to help this ideologically driven group confuse public understanding of the seriousness of autism disorders. The CBC is at it again this week helping misinform the public about the seriousness of autistic disorder and the challenges faced by those who aren't capable of granting interviews to diletantte CBC journalists, those who actually live in institutional care and are not "capable of doing things, with a little support here and there". The lazy and incompetent (I am trying to be kind in my choice of adjectives) CBC journalists once again misrepresent the realities and opinions of some persons with Aspergers and high functioning autism as representative of the autism spectrum of disorders.

Fresh on the heels of World Autism Awareness Day, CBC has not one, but two features designed to reinforce the Neurodiversity perspective while ignoring the realities faced by those with more severe autism challenges. As I was driving home from working in Campbellton, New Brunswick this week I was listening to CBC Radio 2 and head that Quirks and Quarks would be featuring the amazing life of an autistic savant this weekend. Quirks and Quarks has previously featured Neurodiversity icons Michelle Dawson and her student Dr. Laurent Mottron. I knew that the Nova Scotia Autistic Self Advocacy Council would be holding an event this weekend including an appearance by the CBC's favorite "autistic" Michelle Dawson so I expected the CBC to be in attendance to promote the Neurodiversity mischaracterization of autism spectrum disorders. The CBC did not surprise.

The CBC in Canadian adults with autism host Halifax conference once again presented the views of the high function adults with Autism and Aspergers without mentioning that those at the severe end of the autism spectrum face lives of hardship and dependency. By all means such conferences are good when they provide useful information about services to help persons with autism. And when they give persons with Aspergers and high functioning autism an opportunity to express their realities. But when they misinform the public, when they exclude the realities of the severely autistic who are unable to be part of the audience at such conferences they are committing acts of discrimination against the more severely autistic members of the autism spectrum of disorders. They are driving from the public consciousness awareness of the challenges facing the more severely autistic, they are in fact suppressing knowledge of the existence of the more severely autistic.

The CBC simply does not present these harsher autism realities. The CBC will not visit the hospitals and psychiatric institutions or the more secure level group homes where the more severely autistic live. The CBC will continue to present, not once, but multiple times, feel good fluff like Positively Autistic as being representative of the full spectrum of autism realities.

When it comes to autism spectrum disorders the CBC is both incompetent and dishonest. As the next decade approaches look for the CBC, in 2010 and beyond, to provide more Positively Autistic style coverage of the autism spectrum disorders. And do not hold your breath waiting for them to provide features on the serious challenges faced by persons with severe Autistic Disorder and their families.

That is a reality of World Autism Media Coverage.

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Today, On World Autism Awareness Day, Pledge To Continue

Conor Doherty, 13, diagnosed with Autistic Disorder

Today, on World Autism Awareness Day, pledge to continue;

Pledge to continue to fight for the availability of effective autism treatments;

Pledge to continue to fight for a real education for your autistic child;

Pledge to continue to fight for decent residential care for autistic adults;

Pledge to continue to fight for a cure for autism;

Pledge to continue finding joy in your child or autistic loved one but not in the autism disorder that restricts his or her life;

Today, on World Autism Awareness Day, pledge to continue to hope for a better life for your loved one with autism, through accommodation, care, respect, treatment, and some day a cure;

Today, on World Autism Awareness Day, I pledge to continue to fight for the best possible life for Conor, my son with autistic disorder.


autism

Autism, Fevers and the Locus Coeruleus - Autism Might Be Reversible

A new theory advanced by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggests that autism may be reversible. Science Daily reports that the brains of persons with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated:

The central tenet of the theory, published in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews, is that autism is a developmental disorder caused by impaired regulation of the locus coeruleus, a bundle of neurons in the brain stem that processes sensory signals from all areas of the body. ......... "On a positive note, we are talking about a brain region that is not irrevocably altered. It gives us hope that, with novel therapies, we will eventually be able to help people with autism," says theory co-author Mark F. Mehler, M.D., chairman of neurology and director of the Institute for Brain Disorders and Neural Regeneration at Einstein.

According to the Science Daily article the locus coeruleus is involved in producing fever and in controlling a number of complex behaviors such as attentional focusing. It activates higher order brain centers involved in cognitive tasks. There have been reports of autistic persons speaking better during periods of fever. I have commented before that I believed I saw such a result in my son Conor. Dr. Mehler believes that future treatment using drugs that target this region of the brain may be able to help people with autism:

"If the locus coeruleus is impaired in autism, it is probably because tens or hundreds, maybe even thousands, of genes are dysregulated in subtle and complex ways," says Dr. Mehler. "The only way you can reverse this process is with epigenetic therapies, which, we are beginning to learn, have the ability to coordinate very large integrated gene networks."

"The message here is one of hope but also one of caution," Dr. Mehler adds. "You can't take a complex neuropsychiatric disease that has escaped our understanding for 50 years and in one fell swoop have a therapy that is going to reverse it — that's folly. On the other hand, we now have clues to the neurobiology, the genetics, and the epigenetics of autism. To move forward, we need to invest more money in basic science to look at the genome and the epigenome in a more focused way."

Dr. Mehler advises proceding with hope and caution. Sound advice. The call for investment in more scientific research in this area should not be ignored. In the meantime autistic persons, parents and professionals seeking effective autism treatments should read the Science Daily article and the study reported in the March issue of Brain Research Reviews.


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On World Autism Awareness Day Respect Parents of Children with Autism Disorders

On World Autism Awareness Day respect the parents of autistic children and remember the role they play in helping their children realize their fullest potential in life.

From the days of Bruno Bettelheim when mothers of autistic children, based on one man's musings, were blamed for causing their children's autism disorders by being cold and lacking affection for their children, to the present, parents of autistic children have been vilified. Today anti-cure ideologues attack parents of autistic children for trying to treat and cure their own children.

Parents who speak openly about the negative realities of their children's autism disorders are condemned by the ideologues who praise autism disorders as a natural variation. Parents of autistic children concerned about the safety of what is injected into their children are mocked and ridiculed, behavior condoned and joined in by vaccine patent holders and ill informed journalists alike. Parents of autistic children who tantrum publicly are scorned as bad parents by ill informed strangers in shopping malls. Parents of autistic children are perhaps the only set of parents who have ever been so vilified by so many for trying to fulfill their responsibilities as parents and care for their children. Today the attacks continue albeit disguised under other labels "anti-vaxxers", "autism advocates", "behaviourists" etc.

Why whine about attacks on parents of autistic children instead of focusing on the children themselves in this post? Because, it is parents, with some exceptions, who protect and advance the interests of autistic children. Not advocates on behalf of abstraction, on behalf of a medical disorder generally.

When Ari Ne'eman says "we don't want to be cured" of our autism who is he representing? He is not representing my son with autistic disorder. I do that. Ari Ne'eman, Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs, Jim Sinclair, none of these people represent my son. None of them cleaned his butt as a baby, went to work each day to provide for him, took him to the hospital to have his fractured arm taken care of or to have dental filling work done. None of them got out of bed when he screamed at night or take him to school every day. They do not laugh with him every day, walk the trails with him in Fredericton, New Brunswick, or rise with him every day to hug him and watch the 7:10 sun.

It is parents who represent our children, protect them and advocate for their best interests. We are not advocating for an abstraction, we are not advocating on behalf of "autistics", whatever is meant by that expression when used by people who claim to be autistic but claim that autistic disorder is not really a medical disorder. Attacks on parents advocating for their children with autism disorders are attacks on autistic children by attacking those who protect and advance their children's interests.

The UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1959, stated:


Principle 7

The child is entitled to receive education, which shall be free and compulsory, at least in the elementary stages. He shall be given an education which will promote his general culture and enable him, on a basis of equal opportunity, to develop his abilities, his individual judgement, and his sense of moral and social responsibility, and to become a useful member of society.

The best interests of the child shall be the guiding principle of those responsible for his education and guidance; that responsibility lies in the first place with his parents.

The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavour to promote the enjoyment of this right.

The responsibility for the best interests of autistic children lies in the first place with his or her parents. Attacking parents of autistic children, in most cases, will be nothing more than an attack on the autistic children for whom they are responsible.

On World Autism Awareness Day I ask that you respect the role and responsibility of parents in representing their autistic children's best interests.

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