Vaccinations – Autism; A Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Increasingly parents are refusing to vaccinate children making such decisions often based on the ‘advice’ of people who do not have a high-level, medical, scientific background. This group includes people with a background in everything from soft porn to stay-at-home parents who like to read a lot and building engineers with strong maths backgrounds.  Some years ago I trailed along behind a much lauded researcher into SIDS.  Spending this time with him I learnt that whenever a parent discovers that their child has a serious medical problem the natural, very human response is to try to find something or someone to blame.  The truth is, in SIDS, even if it is environmental issues that cause these tragic deaths it is something we do not know how to prevent at the moment.  Big difference between this and a parent who leaves a toddler unattended who then wanders off and drowns in a pool – too late then to say ‘but it was only a minute’, ‘it was an accident’ – no it was not an accident it was neglect!  Parents of children and teens with autism or Asperger’s do not have anything to explain to themselves or to anyone else.  When I began psychological studies a lecturer said ‘what we know about the brain is equivalent to a pin head on a pumpkin’.  This is something that parents and carers must never forget. We do not know what causes autism in any form.  However, we do know that many children die unnecessary from contracting diseases that are easily preventable.  Where I live we have serious problems with whopping cough; dear little babies dieing horrible deaths because someone somewhere did not want to get a vaccination.  Yes, vaccinations have some ingredients which may be highly toxic substances; but then if you ate things like ice cream not that long ago you might have been consuming rat poison and other ‘nasties’.  Do you know that some special margarine type spreads are one molecule away from been paint? Even the traffic fumes in your local area contain deadly toxins. Been for a plane trip lately; a short journey gives you a dose of radiation. Indeed just going out in the sunshine exposes you to radiation.  Is the toilet paper you use bleached, dose your child use bleached toothpaste, do you eat or drink food stuffs from packages – all have ‘toxic’ contents that we do not know what the long term damage to humans is likely to be – we only think we know.   The point is; anyone can read any scientific documents and journals and make what they will out of such information.  To understand this liken it to a person deciding to defend themselves for murder before a court – you can read all the textbooks, look up all the precedent law, and then write a wonderful defence. However, since you have never been in court, do not have legal training and do not have training in justice, court or trial proceedings you will be fighting a hard battle.  Please get your children vaccinated – if you do not and your child contracts something he or she may die; but before they die they may spread that illness.   Do you really want to be responsible for another child’s death?

Autism - A warning to parents and to high level sufferers deciding their own pathway

I caution parents and those who know they suffer any level of autism, from relying on what is termed ‘experts’.  Generally, experts study about autism through a university programme of learning.  I am not against university; having myself acquired both undergraduate and postgraduate studies.  It is like a person blind from birth trying to teach a sighted person how to paint, or someone deaf from birth trying to conduct an orchestra. If the experts had their way I would never have attended university, never have become one of the youngest radio announcers in the country – at a time when there were only five or six other women in similar positions.  

There is one question I like to ask when I hear about an ‘expert’ in autism.  Generally such speakers or authors are referred to as ‘world leader’, ‘leading expert’ or similar.  Parents and sufferers should ask this question – according to whom; their mom or the person who wrote the copy?

The greatest difficulty in autism at the moment; and I have both the business sagacity and training, the education and experience in teaching parents and the personal experience of high-functioning autism to comment, is the not-for-profit status.  Effectively people teaching and training in the area of autism know it is something that requires very little ‘evidence’ that you have been highly successful or achieved an outstanding or even minor result. This means that the industry is attractive to people who want to work one-on-one or in small groups; there is already some work done that suggests these people may not be the most suitable conduits of knowledge or training for either parents or sufferers at of any age or stage on the continuum of autism. Many people who ‘teach’ autistic children and or teens would simply not survive in the real world of face-to-face teaching; and yes I am sure if that raised your hackles you are one of the rare exceptions. Indeed, even psychological therapy is fraught with similar questions – after all the client rarely pays their own fees or gives strong opinion on who they are going.

Yes I have high functioning autism; and yes it gives me an insight that others do not have – into the world of the autistic experience.  One example is when I worked training the ‘almost’ unemployable for a badly run international organisation who supposedly were supporting autistic people but really wanted just to keep them in courses so they got continued government funding.  One young man about 24 years of age appeared next door to my office with his mother for an assessment for a place in my class.  The psychologist ‘an expert in autism’ and the mother were desperate to get him into my class. So; since I was not in class, and in my office next door, the psychologist asked if I would assess him as she could not decide.  Jason, was a tall, delightful young man whom I liked immediately-even if he did look at the lights, focus on the fans and stretch his fingers around in the air-all the usual characteristics of an autistic person.  The class required students to write; material similar to what they would in the work place.  To begin with I asked Jason to write a couple of paragraphs about home; even his special interest if he wanted to do so.  I gave examples of the work I wanted and discussed it with him.  This took a very long time and before I had finished chatting with him his mother was complaining that she did not have time to stay. The psychologist was saying that I had far more patience than she did – personally I think the reactions of the mother and the psychologist were exactly what had held Jason back. We who live in the autistic world do not have a neuros time frame – until we begin to work successfully in the world of work or participate fully in school.  Jason eventually wrote the paragraphs I wanted and the work was at a standard far beyond what his mother and the psychologist said he could produce.  Jason was not suitable for my class because he needed a lot of concentrated one-on-one work to give him the skills in focusing on a goal and achieving that goal.  This is something the parents could have taught from the day he was diagnosed, but the mother said it was just too much to do for so little result.  Be very careful whom you choose to assist you with your child’s or your own journey in autism.

A Warning To Police and Parents

Sadly, the Morcombs will soon have to bury the remains of their son who disappeared about eight (8) years ago.  The couple have very deftly managed the media getting publicity not normally due parents of a missing child or teen; and wanting to do this is only natural-that is keep everyone looking for your missing child. However, when an alleged offender for the crime of murder of their child was caught, the Morcombs changed.  Suddenly they were not as willing to speak to the media. When one reporter asked (perhaps without an understanding of the impact of the question) 'do you expect to find more remains'?. One parent mumbled disrespectfully under their breath - 'what a stupid question'. The point is once Police advise or encourage parents of missing children and/or teens to open the door so widely to the media; be very aware it can never be closed again. The door remains wide open for the rest of the lives of the family. The Morcombs have now told the media that people should be aware that reporters are talking about the remains of their son. Well, yes; but the Morcombs wanted the publicity and this has generated an at times annoying amount of publicity and focus on the case.  I heard several comments from people in the centre of the area where the publicity was focused along the lines of 'I'm Daniel Morcombed out'.  Again, open the door to the media and the door to your lives and it stays open.   The media cannot be managed or controlled.  The media in the Western world is not something that you turn on when it is useful and off when it is not.  The funeral is yet to come and the Morcombs must realize that this will start the publicity circus all over again. Is it healthy healing for them or their adult children? No, but the door cannot be closed!  After the funeral the Morcombs have said they want to continue to advance the cause of their foundation keeping Daniel's name alive.  Well; good. However, again, it requires the media to turn up when wanted and to go away and mind their own business when not wanted.  Police and others who work with parents and families of the missing and those who suffer in similar ways should be very, very, very careful before encouraging zealous use of the media; because lives will never be private again.