I Speak of Dreams

My Child Has Autism and I Vaccinate | BlogHer

My Child Has Autism and I Vaccinate | BlogHer.

We live in a culture where some people make critical health decisions for their children based on the opinions of self-proclaimed celebrity graduates from "The University of Google." I'm asking you to help right the balance, to ensure that science-based viewpoints counter earnest but misinformed sensationalism in the autism -- and parenting -- communities' information flows.

I know that some people will never vaccinate their kids, no matter the argument or evidence. Herd immunity will compensate and keep the rest of our kids healthy *if* enough other children get vaccinated. That is why it is so important to reach and talk to parents who are still formulating their immunization opinions, to educate ourselves with facts rather than furor, to have the confidence to spread the word about what we know and believe, to tear down the wall of harm that Jenny and co. have erected, and to shout it loud:

There is no proven link between autism and vaccinations! I believe it is my social responsibility to vaccinate my children!

Update March 8, 2010. Following a vile attack on Shannon, her son, and the rest of her family at a blog I will not name or link to, Shannon has given me permission to post this. It is hardly a secret that Squid is Shannon Rosa.  Shannon Rosa is an autism advocate not only for her son and her family, but for all parents of children with autism and all people with autism.  Read her blog at  BlogHer: Shannon Rosa's Blog

The Best Kept Secret in Special Education

SF Special Education Examiner: The best kept secret in special education.

Most college special education masters programs do not include comprehensive instruction in reading for dyslexics.

Yet, dyslexics or children with reading disorders make up 70-80% of the special education students. Is there any wonder why special education reading scores are so low?

How does this happen?

Oprah Enables Jenny McCarthy's Dangerous Woo

The best snark at Oprah Winfrey... : Respectful Insolence.

Still, when celebrity gossip rags start ragging on you for supporting antivaccine lunacy, you know you have a problem. Oprah has a problem. Not that she cares. She's rich, and she's Oprah. Why should she care if some more kids die because she gives a platform to an anti-vaccine loon like Jenny McCarthy. There's money to be made!

The Life of Jay Turnbull

Autism Nostrum: Jay Turnbull.

Jay was in many ways severely handicapped.  But he (and his parents) found a way for him to live a full and rewarding life.

That, my friends, is dignity, respect, and inclusion. And exactly what we all want for our kids, no matter their level of ability. And that's what neurodiversity advocates are trying to say when they defend themselves against accusations that the movement doesn't include those with the lowest functioning level.

My condolences to the Turnbull family and Jay's many friends and admirers.

Time Magazine on Early Signs of Autism

Researchers Find First Signs of Autism Even in Infancy - TIME.

the child who is not taking part in the typical parent-child dance — exchanging smiles and glances, pointing at something of interest, seeking attention — is missing out on a lot of learning and failing to lay the foundations for more complex social behavior. Rather than become experts on social cues, as most humans are wired to do, these children, observes Klin, tend to focus on the physical world — the opening and closing of doors and the properties of inanimate objects.

Do You Believe Everything You Read In The Huffington Post?

The Huffington Post (HuffPo) opened online in May, 2005, styling itself "The Internet Newspaper: News Blogs Video Community".  Politically, HuffPo has a liberal tilt.

However, the HuffPo's science and "wellness" coverage has, well, a loony tilt.

The "wellness" editor is one Patricia Fitzgerald, who believes that "cleansing" is the road to health.  Fitzgerald's "wellness" qualifications are, well, questionable.

Lately, there's been a movement in the science/medical blogosphere reacting to the, well, looniness of the Huffington Post's science/medicine coverage:

• April 24,2009  Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy publishes Anti-Vaxxers Make Me Sick
• April 26, 2009: The Skeptical Teacher: Huffington Post Medical Woo: Political Ideology vs. Science Redux
• April 28, 2009: The Loom (at Discover) The Swine Flu Is All In Your Head: Is Anyone Awake at the Huffington Post
• April 29, 2009 Science-Based Medicine: Steve Novella MD, The Huffington Post's War on Science
• May 1, 2009: Orac at Respectful Insolence asks: What To Do About The Huffington Post's Support For Anti-Vaccine Nonsense and Quackery?
• May 2, 2009: Orac at Respectful Insolence: Another HuffPo Atrocity Against Medicine
• http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/05/antivaccination-rhetoric-running.html

There is a pattern of the Huffington Post publishing medical opinion presented as fact, written by persons without any medical or scientific training.

• May 2, 2009: HuffPo published Kim Evans' defensive and deceptive post Health Care: Scientific or Rational?
• May 1, HuffPo published Lisa Sharkey's  What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Preparing for the Swine Flu Sharkey is Senior Vice President and Director of Creative Development for HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide.
• May 1, 2009, HuffPo published Kim Evans'  Antibiotics Cause Cancer?
• April 27, 2009: HuffPo published Marianne Williamson's wishful-thinking paen: Pray Away Swine Flu
• April 23, 2009, HuffPo published Kim Evans' dangerous advice: Reversing Diabetes Naturally
• April 22, 2009, HuffPo published actor Jim Carrey's mendacious and manipulative screed on vaccination and autism, The Judgment on Vaccines Is In???
• April 23, 2009 HuffPo published Patricia Fitzgerald's infomercial for Jenny McCarthy and Jerry Kartzinel's new book in Jenny McCarthy's Autism Crusade: Healing, Hope... And Controversy
• April 21, 2009, HuffPo published Margaret Ruth's Intuitive Scanning for Health: An Interview with Medical Intuitives
• February 24, 2009, HuffPo published David Kirby and R.F. Kennedy, jr.'s particularly idiotic response to the Vaccine Court rulings:  Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues
• February 11, 2009, HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's On Vaccinations: Consider the Source and Follow the Money  an ad-hominem attack on Paul Offit, MD
• January 27, 2009:  HuffPo published Autism, Vaccines and the CDC: The Wrong Side of History
• January 14, 2009: HuffPo published Doctors, Vaccine Dissent and The God Complex
• April X, 2009: HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's CDC Under Siege insisting that CDC is "covering up" the linkage between vaccination and autism.
• October 30, 2008: HuffPo published David Kirby's Mercury Other Toxins May Cause Autism
• June 2, 2008: HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's A Timely Truth Untold Again  -- another chapter in Mrs. Imus's fact-free insistence that autism is caused by vaccination.
• January 2008: HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's Spins of Omission (insisting that autism is TOO mercury poisoning)
• September 26, 2007  HuffPo published David Kirby's CDC: Mercury in Vaccines Damaged Your Child. Or Not.
  
• November 19, 2007: HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's Overmedicated and Overvaccinated
• December 21, 2007:  HuffPo published Deirdre Imus's Missing the Mercury Threat: An appeal to New Jersey's Governor

The Huffington Post also publishes anti-public-health advocates:

• Kim Stagliano  (don't miss the particularly vile If The First Child Had Autism)
• David Kirby

Paul Offit's official website

Vendetta! : White Coat Underground

Vendetta! : White Coat Underground.

I'd like you to consider writing to HuffPo with specific examples of their malfeasance, and asking them to consider altering their editorial policy on health issues, for the sake of morality, health, and humanity. In your own words. Yeah, it's not as fun as a knife fight, but you'll get used to it, and you'll save yourself from waiting in an ER with all those coughing people in masks.