February brought on winter doldrums and also a topic that came to dominate 2008, the presidential election, starting with a post on the candidates’ views on autism prior to Super Tuesday on February 5th.
There was more evidence refuting the vaccine-autism link—and specifically the MMR vaccine—from the Archives of Disease in Childhood. We need to get the word out about the evidence that there is no link, as it’s been reported that more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children, because they fear that vaccines or something in vaccines might cause autism. And measles cases have been on the rise …read more

It’s so often said that
If you’ve met one person/child with autism, you’ve met one person/child with autism.
And of course this is true. It’s why, for one thing, I (like many others parents) emphasize the “I” in “IEP”—”Individual Education Plan.” Many’s the time that Jim and I have sat at the table with the Child Study Team and insisted that Charlie needs to be taught as he needs to be taught, not as “autistic children in general.” It takes awhile—weeks, months—for teachers and therapists, for anyone—to get to know Charlie’s patterns of speech and his way of doing things; to know …read more

The claim that vaccines can be linked to autism suggests that a child became autistic and was somehow “damaged” by a vaccine. According to such a view, not only is autism something that happened to a child; it is something bad that happened—-a recent CBC News special feature, Positively Autistic, says that “since the early 90’s, an autistic rights movement has sprung up, challenging the official view of autism and working to change how the world sees autism.” Interviewed are: Amanda Baggs, Estée Klar-Wolfond of The Autism Acceptance Project, Michael Moon, Michelle Dawson, Dr. Laurent Motron, and Ari Ne’eman and …read more

Are people with autism trapped in their own world? Or are the rest of us just trapped in ours?
asks Tara Parker-Pope on the New York Times, regarding the the Wired magazine article on autism featuring Amanda Baggs and Michelle Dawson.
Parker-Pope asks a chicken and egg kind of question about autism: Is it a disease and a disability? Or is it a difference, a different way of being human? And who decides—autistic persons themselves, “experts” in autism, those who live with autistic persons—or who should decide?

Writes Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing about the Wired magazine article on autism featuring Amanda Baggs and Michelle Dawson:
The article looks into the long-held belief that autism and retardation are tied together and concludes that this just isn’t true — rather, that people with autism have been incorrectly classed as retarded for generations.
Yes.
It’s very obvious to me why people would think my son is mentally retarded; his academic performance and testing reveal this. But anyone who’s spent any time with Charlie knows that—-while he is very limited in his speech and while it often takes a long time (minutes, …read more

Go here to read Wired’s article, The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know. The article closely profiles Amanda Baggs—-who notes that “‘I don’t fit the stereotype of autism. But who does?’”— and Michelle Dawson—-who says “‘There’s such a variety of human behavior. Why is my kind wrong?”‘.
And some words by Mike Merzenich, a professor of neuroscience at UC San Francisco:
Mike Merzenich…….says the notion that 75 percent of autistic people are mentally retarded is “incredibly wrong and destructive.” He has worked with a number of autistic children, many of whom are nonverbal and would have been plunked …read more