This and Last Week’s Top Posts

We’re on the beach and I look up and see a small airplane pulling a banner that advertises a certain movie whose words have been under discussion here.

Kind of sums up much of the past two weeks.

• A “Feral Child” Found in Florida?
  In 2005, a girl named Danielle was found amid the most literal squalor and neglect; she was diagnosed with “environmental autism.”
• The Parent Activist
  Once the parent of an autistic child, always the activist (and I don’t mean about mercury).
• Amanda Peet Says Something Sensible
  “My main message to parents is that they should not be taking medical advice from me or any other celebrity. They should look to their pediatrician, the AAP and other experts.”
• Autism, Representation, and the Case of Hannah Poling
  The words one uses to describe and represent autism can profoundly shape our understanding of it.
• What Sound Does a Color Make?: Auditory Synesthesia
  Synesthesia is an “involuntary joining in which the real information of one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense”—-and now it’s been found that some people “hear” colors.
• Beyond Anecdotal Evidence: Clinical Trial of the GFCF Diet
  The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has begun one of the first double-blind, clinical studies about the gfcf diet.
• The Skies Aren’t So Friendly For Autism Assistance Dogs Either
  Karen Shirk, the director of 4 Paws for Ability, and three trained autism assistance dogs were blocked from boarding a Qantas flight at the Los Angeles Airport, en route to traveling to Waikato in New Zealand.
• On the “Autism Card” and a Deficit of Compassion
  About “compassion deficit disorder” and Michael Savage, and college admissions.
• A Thunderous Slight: Disabilities Groups Call for Boycott of Movie, Tropic Thunder
  More than a dozen disabilities groups—including the Arc of the United States, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the American Association of People With Disabilities—-are calling on Monday for a boycott of the movie Tropic Thunder, for its used of “the r word.”
• Changes at the Beach House
  Another year at the beach house with a boy who’s growing up.
• Mitochondrial Disorders Common in the General Population, But What About for Autism?
  An article in the July 31st American Journal of Human Genetics suggests that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are “common in the general population” and the usual suspects offer the usual over-rhetorical “interpretation.”
• The Last Acceptable Prejudice?
  Hollywood’s got the “developmental delays”—is being “a little slow to get it”—-at least when it comes to understanding why mocking the “retarded” may be the last acceptable prejudice.
• YouTube May Be Evil, But Thanks for the Memories
  Charlie discovers YouTube and its seemingly infinite store of old kids’ videos.
• Genetic Predispositions and Environmental Triggers
  How often have you heard it said that a child may have a “genetic predisposition” to autism, but that it’s an “environmental trigger”—-it’s something in the environment—-that leads to a child “having autism”?