But What Are They Thinking About?

Emily from A Life Less Ordinary?, one of my favorite blogs, recently had an email conversation with Kelly Barnhill of Thoughtful House then she blogged about it. Here's the money quote:

I'm deeply skeptical of using approaches to address disorders of an undefined etiology that result in promotion of a cottage industry of opportunists who take advantage of desperate parents willing to try anything--and spend almost anything--to see some change in their children.

Hell, yes.

Another precinct heard from on autism "cures"

The always-awesome Mind Hacks has a post on on a paper written by Dr. Carlos Pardo and his colleagues which they prefaced by asking people not to use their findings as the basis for treatments.

Guess what people did. Yep.


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Orac on the Biomed Movement

The autism “biomed” movement: Uncontrolled and unethical experimentation on autistic children.


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Remaining Omnibus decisions upheld.

The latest Consumer Health Digest has some great news about the Autism Omnibus. I'm just gonna quote the whole thing:

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has affirmed the Special Master's decisions that the families of Colten Snyder and Michelle Cedillo had presented no credible evidence that vaccination had caused him to develop autism. The decision is part of the Autism Omnibus Proceeding in which more than 5,000 families who claim that vaccines caused their children to become autistic are seeking compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). In February 2009, Special Masters ruled in these cases and one other selected to test how similar cases should be handled. The decisions completely debunked the alleged vaccine/autism connection and implied that the doctors who promote them are acting unethically. Autism-Watch has posted key findings at
http://www.autism-watch.org/omnibus/overview.shtml

and links to the hearing transcripts and decisions at
http://www.autism-watch.org/omnibus/document_index.shtml

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Positivity is the Ultimate Rebellion

Two of my favorite bloggers have written similar posts both inspired by an annoying Age of Autism rant (that I won't link to for the same reason that Emily didn't). Also, their reactions are great!

Emily's post on Anger Management exemplifies good parenting and a good attitude and everyone should read it.

Hammie's discourse about Shiny Happy Mummies does the same thing and has a link to a student who wants to study the positive perceptions of parents of children with autism.

The two bloggers above are among my role-models. They tell it like it is, the good and the bad and you know what? It's mostly good.

Jenny McCarthy Bodycount

Things have been slow over here at Homologous Trend HQ for several reasons. The largest of which is that my laptop died. It has recently been fixed and it works so much better than before.

Actual, factual content will come but until then, check out the Jenny McCarthy Bodycount site.

Thank you and be excellent to each other.

Alison Singer: My New Hero

Alison Singer has stepped down as a senior vice president of communications and strategy for Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism charity. Here's why:

"Over and over, the science has shown there is no causal link between vaccines and autism. It's time to look for answers in new and different places."

She sits on the Autism Coordinating Committee which voted against committing money for two new vaccine studies. This does not fit with official Autism Speaks policy. She also said:

"...every dollar spent looking where we know the answer isn't is one less dollar we have to spend where we might find new answers,"

Good for you, Alison Singer!

Extra-special thanks to the Quackwatch newsletter for this information.
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Quick note

You know? I looked all over www.huffingtonpost.gov and I can't find that David Kirby post that everyone's talking about.

Must be a hoax.

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Vaccinate Your Kids

I know I'm always on about this but it's important. Vaccinate your kids.

Here's a little fine tuning on that message: Vaccinate your kids according to the schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Still need some convincing? Have you read Bob Sears's book and it's raised some questions?

This article from Pediatrics by Paul A. Offit and Charlotte A. Moser should answer those questions. They take Dr. Sears to task for threatening the herd immunity of our entire species by recommending the delay or withhold certain vaccines.

Thanks to Dr. Stephen Barrett from Quackwatch for writing about this in his latest newsletter.

Yes, more links

I have some things to say about parenting an autistic child but lately I've been so busy helping to actually do that parenting (along with my day job) that I haven't had a chance to blog about it. The good news is that everything's going great and B loved the holidays. His mom and I did, too.

And now, some links:

If I can't talk about my personal experiences with an autistic kid, I can at least post a link to Orac's recounting of an awful episode of The Doctors which looks like it might just be an awful show. The subject was vaccines and they had that total douche Jay Gordon on there. Nuff said.

Mindhacks brings us news of a report on spurious correlations between behavior and brain activity. The report is amazing and the blog post does an excellent job of breaking it down. This is why Mindhacks is one of my favorite sites.

Finally, Pure Pedantry keeps us in the holiday spirit by talking about lying.

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Added to the blogroll: Irish Autism Action

Just a quick note to bring your attention to Irish Autism Action. A new blog about, well, check out the title. It's a welcome and excellent addition to the autism community.

Today is Autism Twitter Day

Autism Twitter Day is Today. There are already a lot of tweets up that you can follow by going to http://search.twitter.com/ and searching for #ASD. That will let you follow everyone who is participating.

The thing I like second best about the recent workshops Perky and I have been attending at TRIAD is the sense of community we get from being around other parents of autistic kids. My favorite thing is the amazing education we're getting. Anyway, reading the tweets from other people in the autism community gives me that feeling, too.

Check it out.

Autism Twitter Day

Autism Twitter Day is Tuesday, December 16th. Check it out. No, seriously, check it out.

Autism Links

If you've been reading this blog much you've noticed that Autism Awareness is kind of a big deal for me. If you're just joining, "Hi! Welcome aboard. Autism Awareness is kind of a big deal for me."


Here are some links to help spread the word:

Dave Angel from the Parenting Asperger's blog has some excellent advice for teens who want to explain Asperger's to their friends.

Casdok describes herself as a "single parent of C a 20 year old non verbal autistic young man". Her blog Mother of Shrek contains beautiful, honest writing about what that entails. She also runs the Faces of Autism blog which is comprised of pictures of autistic people (mostly kids) from all over the world.

I can't pick a single post from A Life Less Ordinary? because they're all good. Emily's posts are well-written, slices-of-life with which I identify. Her experiences are a lot like mine.

Then there's Hammie. Her blog is so much fun to read. One of my favorite things she's done is her series which interprets AA's twelve-step program in terms of being the parent of an autistic child.

John Elder Robinson, the author of Look Me In The Eye talks about his trip to the TMS lab.

A Photon in the Darkness has a post called Secretin Rises from the Grave just in time for Halloween.

Orac keeps bringing the truth with posts such as David Kirby admits that mercury in vaccines is no longer the smoking gun.

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Revenge of Homologous Links

Stephen Geddes' exhibition at the Sandra Small Gallery in Covington, KY will feature a piece called "Jurassic Ark," (pictured to the left). It just so happens that it's down the road from the creation museum. Go, Stephen!


I've been meaning to link to What's the Harm? for a while now. If you've ever had anyone ask you what the harm could be in believing in some bit of woo-woo or another, point them to this site.

Peter Lipson and Orac have lots to say about Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Jay. No, not the awesome basketball player, the lame anti-vaccination apologist.

Finally: Maybe Jesus was a snail.

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Stop Jenny McCarthy

Stop Jenny McCarthy is a new site which seeks to, well, stop Jenny McCarthy. "Stop her from what?: you may ask. Check out Friday's post for a hint.

Thanks to Skeptico for mentioning this on his site.

EDIT: Liz Ditz from I Speak of Dreams is compiling this awesome list of anti-Jenny resources as well as a bunch of anti-vaccination organizations and their boards of directors. Go, Liz!

EDIT #2: Kimball Atwood provides even more information about the AMAB. The AMAB is the fake certification board that has Mrs. Michigan on it.

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Focus on the Real Problem

I left a comment on this post by the awesome Emily of A Life Less Ordinary?. My comment, which contained an agreement with someone else's, made it clear that I am not fond of Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vaccination crusade.

This caused someone to reply with the following:

Why rip into Jenny? You may disagree with her beliefs about the cause of autism and the best way to treat it but she is a loving mother who works tirelessly for her child and others like him. She doesn't spew hate for innocent children and their distressed parents.

Why not keep the focus on the real problem: unfunny so-called comedians who say cruel and hurtful things about disabled children.

I say 'someone' because this brave soul remained anonymous. I am responding to this comment here because I don't want to crap up Emily's comment thread with an argument. Also, this response is a little long.

Let's look at the comment:

I agree with the first paragraph almost entirely. I have no reason to believe that Ms. McCarthy is not a "loving mother who works tirelessly for her child and others like him". And I have seen no evidence that she has spewed hate.

The second paragraph, however. Hoo, boy! Dennis Leary is the "real problem"?

No, I don't think so.

Dennis Leary's words will piss some people off (they sure made me livid) but they won't cause anyone physical harm. Anti-vaccination campaigns led by people such as Jenny McCarthy and Andrew Wakefield, on the other hand, have harmed innocent children.

There is no scientific evidence that the MMR vaccine causes autism. The fear that these people have spread has driven down vaccination rates and increased cases of measles in both the UK and the US. This is unconscionable.

Also, people searching for a cure for autism are unwittingly harming their children and there are lots of doctors who are taking advantage of the fear to rake in tons of money.

I am the father of an autistic child and I understand the helplessness and fear that goes with it. I love my son more than words can express which is why I would never do anything to harm him. I don't think Jenny McCarthy is a bad mother but I do think that she is horribly misguided and that she is unintentionally doing great harm to all kinds of children. Some of the doctors who subject children to harmful treatments are well-meaning but that does not mitigate the harm.

So, "Anonymous", that is why I'm ripping into Jenny. I will take a thousand ignorant assholes like Dennis Leary over a single loving mother who is doing real, physical harm.

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The American Medical Autism Board

From the latest Quackwatch newsletter:

Autism "pseudo-board" launched.

Practitioners of "biomedical" autism treatments have formed the American Medical Autism Board (AMAB), whose stated mission is "to promote safe, ethical, efficacious medical autism treatment to the public by maintaining high standards for the examination and certification of physician as autism medical specialists." The relevant treatments, none of which has been scientifically proven to be effective, include chelation therapy, dietary supplements, and various dietary approaches. AMAB is not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which is the recognized standard-setting organization for physician-certifying boards in the United States. AMAB is little more than an attempt by unscientific practitioners to make their credentials look better.

--Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Board Chairman, Quackwatch, Inc.

I couldn't improve on what Dr. Barrett said so I quoted the whole thing. I did, however, do a little digging of my own.

The first odd thing that I noticed about this board is that Heidi Scheer serves on it. Heidi is Mrs. Michigan United States 2008. I'm not sure how that qualifies her to be on a medical board. She is an advocate of biomedical treatments for autism but I'd think you'd want doctors on a board that certifies, y'know, doctors. But, if the ABMS doesn't recognize it I guess they can put whoever they want in there.

Next up is the board's chairman, Dr. Phillip DeMio. I found a few references to his practice online but the most damning evidence is from Dr. DeMio's own website. His treatments page contains a list that looks strikingly similar to the ones Dr. Offit listed as being ineffective "cures" in Autism's False Prophets.

Also, the VitalChoice Healthstore site (which sells homeopathic remedies) lists Dr. DeMio on their Find a CAM Practitioner page. Nuff said.

Related link: Autism Watch.

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Autism Shirts

I was poking through the links on Hammie's Blog (which is excellent) and I ran across a CafePress Store with tons of autism-awareness shirts. Some of the designs are visually atrocious thanks, in part, to the Autism Awareness symbol being comprised of multicolored puzzle pieces. Others make it work, though.

So, I'm flipping through the pages, nodding in agreement and laughing, when I run across a couple of Mercury In Vaccines Causes Autism shirts.

Argh!

No!, It fucking doesn't. If you believe this to be true, please go to my post about Autism's False Prophets to get pointed towards some resources which use actual scientific studies to back up their claims.

Anyway, there are only a couple of those lame shirts among a few thousand cool ones. Here are some of my favorites:

Duck Family

My child has autism. Questions are appreciated. Parenting advice is not.

This is a cat.

I have an IEP.

I'm with neurotypical.


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