It’s interesting to hear that the boy who plays the autistic character is himself autistic. He’s really seen very little in the program (although we’re meant to understand that he sits next to his mom and draws through pretty much the whole trial).

In the scenes where he does show up, he’s very quiet and composed (no “Autism Every Day”-type melodramatics here). He seems like quite an impressive young man, and he gives Eli a nice wave at the end.

Two things struck me in particular about the show. First, there’s an instance in which the boy’s mom says to the lawyer (who has been balking at taking her case): “For the first time I feel sorrier for you than I do for me.”

The suggestion that this is all about the mom’s suffering seems telling — particularly since we see so very little of the boy and what his life is like.

Second, the mom makes a point of saying that it was the “mercuritol” preservative, not the vaccine itself, that caused her son’s autism (although she seems to fudge on this later). This might come as a disappointment to Kirby and others who have been backpedaling into the argument that it’s “something else” in vaccines besides thimerosal/”mercuritol” that’s the REAL problem.

Related to that: The mom also says that the boy became autistic within a week after receiving the mercuritol-containing flu shot. I refer you to the following 2006 statement from a National Autism Association press release, distributed as a response to a study into the safety of flu vaccines. The study had used a six-week follow-up period on the children who received shots:

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“Following-up with these children for a mere six weeks is ridiculously inadequate,” according to National Autism Association (NAA) executive director Rita Shreffler. “The neurological injuries that result in diagnoses such as autism do not typically occur immediately after getting shots. Exposures to vaccine toxins such as mercury are cumulative and symptoms of injury may not be apparent for months or even years. Apparently, this is yet another CDC-drug company collaboration to whitewash thimerosal and ensure that flu shots are as profitable as possible, regardless of their long term adverse effects.”

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Of course, that was thimerosal, not “mercuritol” …

I’ll bet Olmstead, Kirby, and the rest are sick with envy that they didn’t land the part. Or at least a guest shot. Now the only hope they have is to get picked up by talk shows flogging the “controversy”.

Joe