Corina Becker originated the idea for Autistics Speaking Day November 1, 2010, ad proposed the hashtag #AutisticsSpeakingDay. But that takes up 20 of the 140 characters in a tweet, so earlier today she proposed a shorter hashtag, #ASDay.
Even if you don't use Twitter, you can see what is going on by going to
I now request that any and all skeptical bloggers out there also take advantage of Vaccine Awareness Week to do the same...
Joe Mercola and Barbara Loe Fisher want to declare a week "Vaccine Awareness Week" in order to bury readers in a deluge of pseudoscience? Surely we can do better than they can and make sure that when anyone Googles "vaccine awareness," what is found is not the current list of anti-vaccine pseudoscience but rather a flood of rational, science-based discussions of vaccines and refutations of the lies of the anti-vaccine movement. What I'd love to see from November 1-6 are a tsunami (word choice intentional) of posts that:
Include science-based discussions of the safety and efficacy of vaccines
Include science-based refutations of anti-vaccine misinformation
Specifically refute posts by Joe Mercola and Barbara Loe Fisher during that week. (You can throw in Age of Autism, too, if you like.)
There have been several indications that there will be one or more aggregators, but it never hurts to have more.
I have two lists going in this post: "Autistics Speaking Day" -- posts written by people with autism; and "Autism Shout Out" -- posts written by people who do not have autism but love and/or support people with autism. If I've missed a link or otherwise erred: (best)-- leave a comment; email lizditz@gmail.com, or tweet me --@lizditz.
If you don't know about the communication shut-down issue, scroll down to the bottom of the post and start reading there.
Today is November 1, 2010, Autistics Speaking Day: Posts by People With Autism
There's an Australian-based enterprise to "shut down" Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media on November 1. You can find the site at https://communicationshutdown.org/?view=home.
It's a global initiative to raise much-needed funds for autism groups in over 40 countries. By shutting down social networks for one day on November 1, we hope to encourage a greater understanding of people with autism who find social communication a challenge.
I think that the organization's intentions are good, but misguided.
I won't be participating.
I think it perpetuates the stereotype that people with autism "don't communicate" or can't speak for themselves.
Others who will be speaking up on November 1. I encourage you to go visit each of these blogs and study their reasons for speaking up.
Update: for those of you who use twitter, there are two hashtags in play: #AutisticsSpeakingDay (for people with autism participating in social media on November 1) and #AutismShoutOut (for autism allies on the day)
Even if you don't use Twitter, you can see what is going on by going to
Terry Mauro at About.com:Special Needs Children has two blog posts (one, two) covering the issue. She is not claiming to participate in Communications Shutdown or the alternative #AutisticsSpeakingDay (for people with autism participating in social media on November 1) and #AutismShoutOut (for autism allies on the day)
Zdogg MD, Dr. Harry in the 0-1-0 Talking bout the ills that'll chill the biggest mobsta These aint that kinda crabs you can buy at red lobsta Though you can probably get a helpin' from the chef...on the house. You feel me?
[Verse 1] It's Friday evening, you're chillin' with your homies when you spot this shorty You brought your dance moves but forgot your Jimmy-hats Forget it brutha, what could happen, she looks clean to me...
[Rap 1] When you don't use a condom then you pull out and pray That her twenty other lovers didn't play the same way and better pray that prayer bears fruit And your chosen deity don't put your prayer on mute See this ain't no gusher like BP, it's a drip-drip, from the tip, of your pee pee, an S to tha TD, Infects your wee wee, what you can't see can lay you out, inflamed like gout Doc used to rout it out with a q-tip in you tip Gonorrhea, chlamydia? You sank my battleship!
[Chorus 1] When you pull and pray The blisters on your privates may not go away The burning that you're feeling isn't love, per se Think twice before you pull and pray.
[Verse 2] It's Tuesday morning Something down there's burning so you check your Johnson What the heck man? What's this dripping In your pants? You do a search on Google, oh snap! It looks like VD!
[Rap 2] When you are barin' it you're sharin' it, every little bit o' ya Gonorrhea, syphilis, warts, lice, and chlamydia But at least these beasts have leases that expire If treated they're less dire and cures can be acquired But like Steven Seagal, herpes is hard to kill, there's a pill that'll maybe get the ill to chill But you'll still have to tell your future wife That those blisters on her Mister spell "simplex for life!" What's the solution to this conundrum? Time to introduce my homie, Jean Claude ConDom!
[Chorus 2] When you pull and pray The cabbage on your crankshaft won't just go away The creepies in your crawlspace might be here to stay You'll pay if you pull and pray
[Verse 3] It's 9 months later there's a message on your voicemail From that shorty It seems she missed a visit from her Auntie Flo Around the month you two hooked up, yo! Looks like you're a daddy!
[Rap 3] Don't make a mistake that takes 1.21 gigawatts to make the Delorean take You Back to the Future to suture your pants shut (While you'r e there don't be a man-slut and accidentally date your mom) WHAT? One sperm to rule them all is all you need so keep your seed wrapped in plastic, G Like Gollum with his precious, you front like you're a playa But like the One Ring, Pull and Pray'll betray ya!
[Chorus 3] When you pull and pray A fate worse than an STD may crawl your way It doesnt burn or itch or drip, but cries all day Why'd you have to try to pull and pray?
"Yo Z, we forgot to hit HIV" "Why homie, they cured that see?" "Naw, you're thinking of impotence, G. Better get tested ASAP."
Why'd ya have to pull and pray? (repeated) Why'd ya have to play pull and pray today? Clap your hands but don't get Clap on your glans, OK? Why'd ya have to play pull and pray today? And don't forget about HIV, OK?
writer, jazz singer, and stand-up comedian in San Francisco. She’s also a proud member of an often-misunderstood minority-within-a-minority: a woman on the autism spectrum — or as she prefers to call herself, an “Aspergirl.”
Simone has recently published Aspergirls:Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome (available from Jessica Kingsley and Amazon).
Steve goes on to write:
Aspergirls is partly a personal memoir, and partly a book of practical advice and support for women on the spectrum and their parents and friends. Simone has asked a chorus of Aspie women to speak through its pages, and this personal testimony is deeply moving. Instead of the bulleted lists of traits and diagnostic criteria that fill many other books on the subject of autism, Aspergirls offers memorable snapshots of autistic lives from the inside.
Beginning today and continuing until November 10, Steve Silberman will be hosting
a group interview with Simone on the Well, one of the longest-lasting online communities. Most of the Well’s discussions are only open to paying members, but as part of a series of author interviews called Inkwell, my conversation with Simone about Aspergirls is readable by anyone on the Web. Interested readers can send their own questions for Simone to inkwell@well.com. When I get your questions, I’ll post them into the topic so Simone can respond. Indicate clearly if you want to remain anonymous.
I don't know who created the image but it's been around since 2008. Often paired with the quote from Swami Beyondananda
“The primary practice of Tantrum Yoga — holding your breath until God gives you what you want — has been found to be largely ineffective.” ~ Swami Beyondananda (check out his book, Driving Your Own Karma).
Personally, I am not a fan of Waldorf / Steiner education. My sense is that the entire philosophy is founded on principles that are irrational and anti-science. However, if the Waldorf approach resonates with your family's values, feel free to pay private school tuition for a Waldorf education.
However, the deal is different when "Waldorf-inspired" charter schools are proposed. I'm very much opposed them, for (at least) two reasons.
The first is on First Amendment principles. The Waldorf philosophy is based on a religion, anthroposophy.
Publicly Funded Waldorf Programs Violate the First Amendment in the United States
The second is that the Waldorf/Steiner particularly pernicious for children with educational special needs such as dyslexia, ADHD, and autism. Because of the underlying beliefs in karma and reincarnation, teachers at Waldorf/Steiner tend to believe that such educational challenges are part of child's destiny to "work out". The Waldorf/Steiner attitude does not satisfy US laws relative to educating students (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).)
Twitter has many vocal Waldorf/Steiner critics. Two notable ones are a UK-based former Waldorf/Steiner parent, ThetisMecurio, and Lovelyhorse_, who I believe is a former Waldorf/Steiner student.
In the UK, there is a movement to expand the number of publicly funded Waldorf/Steiner schools.
David Colquhoun is a senior British pharmacologist and Fellow of at University College London. He is also a long-time blogger, running the site DC's Improbable Science, in which he criticizes alternative medicine and pseudoscience. Earlier this month, he wrote:
I have to admit that until a few years ago I had thought of Steiner schools as being rather cuddly experiments in progressive education. Perhaps a bit like Montessori schools or A.S. Neill’s Summerhill School.
But then I discovered that they advocate "biodynamic farming". That includes utterly barmy doctrines about how the phase of the moon affects crops and such like astrological baloney (as well as some possibly sensible stuff about compost). Then I had a series of mails from a correspondent that made me realise that Steiner schools have some much more unpleasant ideas than a bit of astrological baloney, including the dangerous ideas about anthroposophical medicine.
The matter has acquired new urgency now that Steiner schools are seeking government support via the Tory’s "free schools" programme. It is important that both ministers and parents should know what goes on in these schools.
I’ve wanted to write about it for a while, but was deterred by the sheer amount of information. My only contribution so far was to add Rudolf Steiner to my Patients’ Guide.
"Anthroposophical medicine: followers of the mystic barmpot, Rudolf Steiner, for whom nothing whatsoever seems to strain credulity"
Luckily I became acquainted with two of the most knowledgeable people on the topic. They are known on Twitter as @thetismercurio and @lovelyhorse_. After meeting them it occurred to me that I should ask them to write a guest post or two.
The true nature of Steiner (Waldorf) education. Mystical barmpottery at taxpayers’ expense. Part 1http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3595
I do hope that the good people of Oakland will ask pointed questions of the Community School For Creative Education (CSCE), specifically:
Will CSCE teach science from an evidence-based approach, or will they teach Steinerian "science"? As Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education observed: If schools follow Steiner's views on science, education will suffer. Steiner believed that materialism was insufficient for the understanding of nature. He believed that science needs to "go beyond" the empirical and consider vitalistic, unobservable forces, a perspective also common in 20th century New Age healing approaches. Anthroposophical medicine, similar to homeopathy but even less scientific, claims that disease is caused only secondarily by malfunctions of chemistry and biology, and primarily by a disturbance of the "vital essence." Anatomy and physiology a la Steiner are unrecognizable by modern scientists: the heart does not pump blood; there are 12 senses ("touch, life, movement, equilibrium, warmth, smell," etc.) corresponding to signs of the zodiac; there is a "rhythmic" system that mediates between the "nerve-sense" and "metabolic-muscular" systems. Physics and chemistry are just as bad: the "elements" are earth, air, fire, and water. The four "kingdoms of nature" are mineral, plant, animal and man. Color is said to be the result of the conflict of light and darkness. Typical geological stages are Post-Atlantis, Atlantis, Mid-Lemuria, and Lemuria.
What are the faculty and staff's position on karma and reincarnation? As Thetis Mercurio and LovelyHorse_write: The pedagogy of Waldorf schools is informed by Steiner’s esoteric scheme of karma and reincarnation. The child ‘incarnates’ in 7 year cycles: the ‘etheric’ body is born at 7, the astral body at 14 and the ‘ego’ or the individuality that returns from past lives, at 21. Abstract reasoning is discouraged too early (before 14) because it interferes with the anthroposophical – spiritual – vision of human development.
Will the CSCE curriculum begin teaching reading and writing in kindergarten, or will it follow Steiner's prescription of waiting until the child begins losing baby teeth? Steiner wrote: ‘'People will object that the children then learn to read and write too late. That is said only because it is not known today how harmful it is when the children learn to read and write too soon. It is a very bad thing to be able to write early. Reading and writing as we have them today are really not suited to the human being till a later age - the eleventh or twelfth year - and the more a child is blessed with not being able to read and write well before this age, the better it is for the later years of life. A child who cannot write properly at thirteen or fourteen (I can speak out of my own experience because I could not do it at that age) is not so hindered for later spiritual development as one who early, at seven or eight years can already read and write perfectly’.
Will CSCE police students' out-of-school experiences dress code?From Carol Wyatt, a former Waldorf parent in California: I received a call from [my daughter's] kindergarten teacher alerting me to the fact that parents were upset about my daughter's singing. Not only was she corrupting the other children with music, but it was pop music. The teacher told me that parents were complaining because their children were coming home singing pop songs. In addition, could we put a stop to her wearing sparkles to school. No sparkly tennis shoes, headbands, or shirts of any kind. She was 5 and 6 at the time.
Can a school influenced by Steiner escape Steiner's racist ideas? As Roger Rawlings writes at Waldorf Watch: Steiner made many more such statements [see "Steiner's Bile"], and teachers at my school echoed them in my presence. Today my old school, like most Waldorf and Steiner schools, says that it is guided by the " insights" of Rudolf Steiner. Until these schools explicitly cite and renounce Steiner's racist teachings, nothing they say or do concerning race can have any moral standing.
I've been going through not such a sunny patch, which also includes difficulty falling asleep and difficulty staying asleep.
The other night I got into bed, together with not one but three books. Books I've read at least once, and several I've read more than once.
This morning I finally really made up the bed, including sorting out all the pillows. I found seven books (some frivolous fiction, some non-fiction, and one not amenable to categorizing).
When I was in elementary school, I had a significant number of stuffed animals decorating my bed. Some went on the floor at bedtime, but more than...well, three or five or more were pillow decorations or cuddle objects or whatever. The ones on the bed were companions into the dreamtime and companions when awake in the night.
I don't have any stuffed animals now, and haven't for over forty years.
But it dawned on me that the books in my bed this week served the same purpose as those long-ago stuffies: deep night companions when wakeful.
That's the title of a UK-based website, http://www.ebm-first.com/ Here in the US, "alternative medicine" is also known as "complimentary or alternative medicine", or shortened to CAM.
This has become a truism: You know what "alternative medicine" that has real, positive effects is called? Medicine
A newish UK-based website, created and maintained by Blue Wode
This web site has been created as a voice of reason in response to the substantial amount of uncritical media coverage currently being given to alternative medicine.
Despite the fact that a large number of alternative health therapies lack any scientific validity, the perceived benefits of such therapies continue to be promoted. In reality, claims of therapeutic success can usually be attributed to an ailment being self-limiting (i.e. it will resolve itself in time without any treatment), or to an unpredictable placebo response brought about by the patient's deep belief in the therapy and/or the practitioner's sympathetic attention. In both these cases the practitioner will normally take the credit for having elicited a cure and the patient will become a believer in the therapy.
Although most alternative health therapies are seen as being relatively safe, this is not always the case. It is known that some can be potentially harmful. Also, unlike fully qualified medical doctors, many alternative health practitioners have not received adequate training in the skills of differential diagnosis (i.e. the determination of which two or more diseases with similar symptoms is the one from which a patient is suffering based on an analysis of the clinical data). Consequently, this can place patients at risk of not receiving proper medical attention. Other factors such as patient dependency, misleading information, and patient exploitation due to an undefined and/or unlimited scope of practice can also cause a delay in appropriate medical advice or treatment being sought.
With these concerns in mind, it is the aim of this web site to alert consumers to questionable alternative health practices whilst encouraging them to always seek evidence-based medicine (EBM) first.
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