While the vaccine lobby move forward despite so many per cent of this illness and so many tens of per cent of that disease we see the cluelessness on just about every front of 21st century science.

Another top team of scientists found harm to organs and risks of cancer from GMO foods.

What was the response? The research shouldnt have been done. And can we have these ten or so new GMO foods put onto the market to cause more illness, more disease and of course eventually lots more cancer.

Pre clinical signs of diabetes now top 47 per cent with no one who advocates vaccines or the goodness of GMO food has a clue as to why this figure has arrived from zero percent.

Clueless is no excuse but clueless seems the norm for even knowing what illness we have and how much.

The last proper USA check for many illnesses threatening the country is now over 30 - 50 years out of date.

1913 Nobel Prize Winner found repeat vaccines cause normal and expected adverse reactions.

Nearly 100 years on its flu vaccine while pregnant and often repeat them several times and dont forget after a year its round we go again.

The miracle isnt that 47 per cent are suffering from just one of three million or so illnesses but how and why are there ANY healthy people left alive.

And how many more vaccines and or GMO food to push us over the top?

60 years ago it was time to save the insects, today the bees, bats and so on are nearly done for and its time to start to think about us!

It's rather comic that AoA are being painted as proponents of coercive medicine. If Mr Carey doesn't like what 'Taxpayer' said - which are not the expressed views of AoA or its staff - he only needs to look at his cherished vaccine programme.

Autistic Lurker
The source of all this aggro is an article written by Matthew Carey aka 'Sullivan' in his LeftBrain/RightBrain website:
http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/
"The disabled don’t have a moral right to refuse a cure or treatment?"

The above comment has been attributed to Age of Autism by Carey, but of course, AoA has little responsibility for anonymous views posted on their comments threads. As has been pointed out below, the person calling him/herself 'taxpayer' could be anyone, even Carey or Gorski themselves. This is just a pathetic attempt to manufacture 'smears' against AoA.

@Jen, I'm not in a position to defend forced treatment, as far as I know, only Taxpayer brought it to the table. Now if scienceblogs picked it up and ran with it, I missed it because I've only been there this morning and now (I ran a cursory check). If you have more specific, let me know and I'll handle it.

A.L.

~Finally there are simply no words to address Taxpayer's stunningly ignorant comment or why AoA endorses this kind of nonsense:

"So yes, unless a disabled person is financially and physically independent they do not have moral right to refuse a cure or treatment. And they especially don't have any right to sit on a panel that was created to COMBAT that disability"~

I missed that endorsement Jefferey P.; perhaps you could point it out. For all we know, Taxpayer is just another poseur from Orac's team. I don't see how any person/group that is against forced vaccination would be okay with forced medical procedures of any kind. So I'm calling BS on Taxpayer AND the faux outrage it has caused with the ND's.

"IACC" = International Autism Cover-up Committee

Shain@"Weirdly enough, though, the things having to do with my actual comfort like sensory or stomach things never got addressed, and things that made me "embarrassing" or "weird" to others around me did."

Sorry to hear that Shain. That was actually my point too, amongst others, but apologies for writing in shorthand. I would never advocate for 'treatments' that merely serve to bandaid embarrassing or weird or even aggressive behaviours. When I use the words ‘treatments’ or ‘cures’ that refers specifically to things that would address underlying problems, issues like gut problems, chronic inflammation, autonomic or sensory dysfunction etc, things that drive “autistic” behaviours. It is not those behaviours that I view, or that I think society should every view, as a problem to be addressed, but rather the underlying issues that cause an individual to exhibit those behaviours. Without those medical issues there would be no weird behaviours or impairments of autism. Hope you are following? See http://www.treatingautism.co.uk/why-biomedical/

Autism doesn’t just happen, it doesn’t fall from the sky. Children don’t lose all the language and developmental progress overnight through Divine Intervention. Something is causing it. Even if it is purely genetic, lets find those gene/s and correct pathways that have gone wrong. Advocate for that. If some children are born with autism, so what?! Some children are born with Congenital Heart Disease, do we leave them as they are? Or do we advocate for treatments. Just please don’t say that autism is ‘alright’. Because it isn’t. There are billion and one monetary reasons why autism isn’t alright (see my previous posts), and that is without even mentioning the human element of the tragedy.

So we can discuss and disagree or agree on specific treatments (I might even agree with M on stem cells etc), on what treatment trials should be funded, what tests and protocols are most promising etc, but I take a huge issue with someone saying that autism is ‘alright’ and that it should not be treated or cured at all, and voting in principle against research and scientific progress that would lead to better, safer and more individually-targeted treatments that address the underlying issues.

Parents in the biomedical community do not advocate for medicating by force, or medicating at all in order to control symptoms. That is not the point of my posts. What I am arguing against is the general ‘neurodiverse’ attitude that there is nothing wrong with autism, that it shouldn’t be treated, or combatted (while at the same time asking the State to pay for support services). To have people who take that view sitting on the IACC panel, which is being funded by the taxpayer in order to combat autism, is beyond ridiculous. Imo it is downright fraudulent (misappropriation of funds and so on). Criminal.

That's too bad for you,Shain, assuming you are telling the truth about your situation; here I see people concerned and very compassionate with issues like gut discomfort, sensory issues - my God that's a huge topic here! I think they discount that kind of thing more on the "science"blogs. I really don't see people favoring the whole 'anti-psychotic meds here, either, so I wonder if you are lashing out at the wrong spot?

Re:

So yes, unless a disabled person is financially and physically independent they do not have moral right to refuse a cure or treatment. And they especially don't have any right to sit on a panel that was created to COMBAT that disability.

Posted by: Taxpayer to Do-not-cure-my-autism brigade | July 12, 2012 at 03:25 AM

I'm not sure you absolutely meant the first sentence above, Taxpayer, at least I hope you don't. This is where the industry machine trends toward, removing the right to refuse "treatment" (they seem to assign the word "CURE" to realm of charlatanism) particularly for those assigned to the realm of psychiatry, and in the realm of "disease prevention."

I can understand why some advocating ND balk at even the hint of "cure," especially given what they've been offered and how it is offered, though I don't understand how they are comfortable working with the "mainstream" system--maybe they are not. In possibly unrelated health difficulties, I usually do no better, and often worse, with the "established" mainstream treatment.

I personally think the problem of the matter is that no one has the right to force, nor to deny, a procedure that might help, nor the right force nor deny someone else to fund it, but that is what our government is doing.

Even if industry standards for treatment were high in both efficacy and safety, which they are not, even if they had what they felt they could term a "cure," they would never be able to come up with a magic silver bullet that works for everyone, or is worth the cost for everyone. I don't think alternative medicine could either, and I hope those who find benefit there resist the urge to advocate force.

But, I do find the whole taxpayer funded coverup of some of the effects of an essentially forced "treatment" and avoiding looking at "treatments" or "cures" that don't follow the pharmaceutical profit-driven or elitist-driven agenda, while instead channeling those funds into that agenda, beyond adequate description of immoral.

I think people need to understand that Regressive Autism is not some neurodiverse difference in brain wiring. It is a disintegrative neurological condition. Something has happened to children in this sub-group so I'll never be all oh that's okay whatever it is let's keep it up in the name of neurodiversity. I do want my son to be comfortable in his autistic skin, though, since it did indeed happen and he is a little old for complete recovery. I struggle daily to balance those nuances.

Who was it, UC Davis maybe, that found Regressive Autism counts for 30% of Autism cases? That makes them a minority, even within autism. Yet researchers typically study autism as one monolithic condition. Could problems affecting sub-groups get missed under such a research model? Case in point - the Rochester GFCF study excluded autism patients with GI issues then concluded that GFCF diet is not helpful in autism (how does this happen when it is pretty much only the parents of kids with GI issues that ever found the diet helpful?) Then Penn State studied autistics with GI issues and concluded GFCF is helpful in autism.

Sub-groups researchers. It is all about the subgroups.
Why do I have to tell YOU that?

M@"Taxpayer funded support sometimes allows people with severe physical impairments to get out of bed, toilet, shower, dress and then go to well-paying jobs."

Yes, I would stress the word SOMETIMES !!! (I'd argue that even SOMETIMES is a very optimistic word to use to describe chances of ASD affected individuals ever going out to ANY paid jobs, let alone well paid, support or no support).

What about all those millions of other times when that doesn't happen? When all the support in the world will leave an individual somewhat better functioning, but nowhere near independent?

And who said anything about stemcells ;-) ? Many ASD adults are chosing to treat themselves, there are lots of treatments out there that are safe and work for many etc, so the bit about 'early days blah blah blah' is a strawman. That line of argument just doesn't cut it. You are giving is a very lame excuse for sucking up taxpayers dollars for the mere reason of 'wanting to stay who you are'.

"M", Autistic Lurker said, "we are the PRIMARY stakeholders in that debate." I just feel it's odd and plain unfair that some parents of children who are more severely affected are not asked to represent their children. I believe one of your fellow Aspergerians (Ari Neeman) even spoke against wandering codes at a public meeting- someone else may be able to clarify this. As an educational assistant I find this very upsetting.I think 'Dictionary help' put it in perspective well when they said if you're not interested in 'combating autism' then perhaps a different advocacy group would be a better fit. I honestly do wish you well.

M@"Does focusing on access barriers rather than cure make a wheelchair user less of a stakeholder in discussions re physical disability?"

From my taxpayer perspective the answer is No, they don't have a right to be there. No one has the right to refuse a cure or a treatment that would make them less needy of state-sponsored services.

I would much rather see my tax dollars going towards a CURE, I would rather be paying to ERADICATE autism than paying for your wheelchair access barrier and many millions of wheelchairs to come.

So yes, unless a disabled person is financially and physically independent they do not have moral right to refuse a cure or treatment. And they especially don't have any right to sit on a panel that was created to COMBAT that disability.

Jen says that autistic adults "do not serve a place at the table when they call themselves the 'primary stakeholders' in the debate on relieving, improving autism symptoms. The primary stakeholders would be the kids who can't actually speak (even with assistive devices!), the kids who bolt, the kids who wander, the kids who can't toilet themselves, the kids who have sensory impairments and pain that causes them to scream and wail". Many suggest that autistic adults don't have health issues.

Every single autistic adult I know (either in person or online) has significant sensory issues - hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity (particularly to pain), processing problems or some combination. Some did not have functional communication until mid-childhood. Some currently lose speech when overloaded. Some self-injure (at least occasionally), even as adults. Some bolted/wandered as children. I'm probably not the only one who repeatedly hit others, and was restrained/secluded as a result. At least half have chronic health problems (I have refractory epilepsy - multiple daily seizures for 20+ years, including many episodes of status epilepticus). A significant proportion either can not live independently, or have great difficulty doing so. Services for high functioning people? At least 2 'high functioning' autistic bloggers have written about experiencing severe malnutrition: http://www.existenceiswonderful.com/2009/06/on-feeding-of-quirky-mammals-part-1.html (I have some similar difficulties, and found that series of posts very useful). Check the stats for eg sexual assault or financial exploitation of autistic adults. Check the unemployment stats (astronomical amongst 'high functioning' autistic and Aspergers adults). And so on.

Tell me again how we're not stakeholders?

The overwhelming majority of adult wheelchair users aren't interested in walking robot suits or stem cell treatments (Christopher Reeve was a *very* controversial figure in the disability rights movement). Rather, they argue for things like accessible buildings and transport, funding for wheelchairs and communication aids, not having to live in an aged care facility, and having support for more than 2 showers a week. Does focusing on access barriers rather than cure make a wheelchair user less of a stakeholder in discussions re physical disability? Why are the rules different for autistic adults? (yes, I'm not like your child. I'm also not like myself as a child, and - like many autistic adults - my ability to write online does not match well with my abilities in other ways).

Thanks for the great article, Dan. It's refreshing to hear someone tell it like it is. The IACC for six years has been mostly bureaucrats. With Dr. Francis Collins at the head of NIH, autism research will continue to be too focused on genetics, at a time when people are realizing the environmental impact is much bigger than previously thought.

I agree with the Mark Blaxills, Lyn Redwoods, and Jennifer VanDerHorst-Larsens who advocate more research into environmental causes as well as vaccines. I applaud their efforts and those of the Canary Party, and believe that through social media much can continue to be accomplished.

@Lurker, you need to understand something since you are so "into" needing services. The services people like you need are for higher functioning people. My child and many others like her have Down Syndrome and Autism. Not one child I know with the dual diagnosis is high functioning. At least with just DS, there is a good chance for school, for friends, for jobs, etc. For kids with the dual dx, it is almost guaranteed that it won't be the case. So while you may need some help, kids like mine (and the estimates are now anywhere from 18.2% to as much as 22% of the Down Syndrome population) will need MUCH, MUCH more. And it will be devastating if the rates increase in our population (and it is.)

Thanks to everyone that went to Washington to protect, and speak up for those who can't, you guys really stuck it to them, as they all appeared to be stunned.It seems like all the suggestions made to much sense to the IACC, in-fact they couldn't handle it, they just wanted the meeting to end, it couldn't end quick enough for them, they didn't like hearing about how they are FAILURES in the autism communities eyes.

Dan,

Love reading these scathing reports of the events that so many of us miss due to our sick kids needing us at home. It must have been painful to have witnessed this chosen assembly of deniers, liars and those guilty of malfeasance. This sounds like a surreal Twilight Zone episode yet hearing that Lyn Redwood and Jan Crandy were the shining lights of sanity gave me some hope. Thank you and to all the other heroes trying so hard to stop this epidemic of autism and help those already affected. We appreciate you all so very much.

Thanks Kim for the welcome but I'm not really sure you'll like my position in the debate; essentially, I worked for a research group who was researching autism's strength with a widely varied clientèle (LFA to HFA and aspergers) and is now working on an educational program destined for the autistic clientèle (in replacement for ABA). The educational program rely on autistic strength to improve learning abilities.

On the subject of vaccine, I am pro-vaccine and thus, I don't believe vaccine cause autism. It can certainly bring physical or neurological problems but not autism. On the same length, I don't know what cause autism, there seem to be some genetics but genetics is not responsible for everything.

I'll follow for sure but I don't comment a lot because I am very busy in a given day and I don't have enough with 32 hours per day :)

A.L.

Hi, Lurker - we have adults on the spectrum who read us - and you're welcome to unlurk - IACC has failed adults who need support with myriad issues too - housing, jobs, insurance - medical care - we're as devoted to helping those who are HERE as we are to those who may follow. I have 3 girls with autism, one almost 18 - so adult issues are important to me.

Best, KIM (Managing Editor)

I wish I had been invited to sit in on this little Comedy of Errors. Maybe I'd have spoken about my 14 year old, who went undiagnosed until his little brother was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months free being erroneously delivered the ADULT dosage of the flu vaccine (which I'd have remained blissfully ignorant of had a naval hospital doctor not called two weeks later - while my then 6 month old was already beginning to show the lack of eye contact, disappearance of mastered skills, you know the drill - to inform me of the snafu, but to assure me that everything was all right, because it was "the same thing they give to children, just in a different version not FDA approved for use in children. Gee, doc, I wonder why? Did I mention that neither the flu shot nor the phone call appear anywhere in my child's medical records anymore? Curiouser and curiouser...). My oldest was instead diagnosed with ADHD and early onset bipolar disorder at age 5...a diagnosis that he carried until his brother's diagnosis and my subsequent devouring of every printed material on every form of PDD, leading me to Tony Atwood's work on Asperger's Syndrome and finally, a correct diagnosis at age 12. This past January, we found him hidden behind his bed with a bathrobe tied around his neck in the early stages of suffocation. During the time that he was hospitalized, we learned that although he can walk and talk and is deemed "high functioning" within our community, he felt so isolated and alone within the confines of his own existence that he sought to end his life. To me, that's not "functioning" at all...and I'd bet that my teenage son would tell anyone that would care to listen how much he dislikes not neo able to relate to others and being shunned by his peers, who he desperately wants to engage with, but lacks the skills necessary to properly do so. I might also have talked about how it has become a full-time job to fight for ANY services for my older son (we were shot down by the Regional Center after over a year - and a formal Admin Law mediation - with an offer to "come back when he graduates high school, if he is still lacking in independence and self care skills as he is now," and they will reassess him then), as well as the continued battle to retain what little services we do have in place for our younger son.
I would have gone on to share how devastating it is to watch your baby meet and exceed all developmental milestones, only to regress into nonverbal "global delays" within weeks after receiving a flu vax loaded with thimerasol, which you held your child down to receive as he wailed and thrashed, simply because you were told to do so by your pediatrician...who incidentally had been assuring you for MONTHS that there was no link whatsoever between vaccines and Autism. I would have spoken about the path to diagnosis, doctors who looked at me like I was fishing for a diagnosis for my nonverbal toddler, doctors who I politely told to take their "professional opinion" and stick it right where suppositories go, and who later offered no apologies when I returned with a formal diagnosis from both the Regional Center and a developmental pediatrician...they merely congratulated me for being so dedicated and unrelenting...like I'd earned a gold star for finally uncovering the truth.

I'd have shared how my toddler failed to recognize any of his loved ones, and how deafening his silence was. Then, I'd have brought it around to my decision to refuse any further vaccinations for either of my boys, and how we rejoiced when, shortly before his third birthday (and 3 weeks after beginning the GFCF diet), he said his first word...Arm...and just how sweet that one word sounded to our sleep-deprived ears. I'd have outlined the next year and a half of biomedical interventions, which brought our younger son out of the silent fog that he'd existed in, and helped him join the people who loved him most in our world. He'll be 5 in August, and speaks in full (although still developmentally delayed) sentences, has limited pretend play skills, and engages fully with all members of his immediate family. About six months into the GFCF diet (and other interventions), he also began having the first solid stools of his life, and the fecal smearing that once took upwards of 4-6 hours of my day to disinfect have become a thing of the past.

I might have also asked why Obama, who claimed to be a candidate FOR Autism families (remember that particular nugget of goodness from the "change you can believe in" days?), has all but shut our community out - at least those of us who dare insinuate that our children were harmed by vaccines...but I see a collective, sweeping failure that has yielded less of the "change" I'd "believed in" as more of the same - has not done more to figure out why our numbers continue to rise. After all, this is happening on his watch...and so far, I haven't seen much coming from Washington that hasn't nauseated me. His wife came out here to Camp Pendleton for a nice photo-op with some families of special needs military children, but other than that, not much can be heard over the collective sound of crickets chirping.

Can Autism be great? Absolutely. I have two boys who don't care what race, religion, or sexual preference a person may have, don't want or need the latest and best clothes or toys to impress friends, and are honest (almost to a fault). That innocence and purity of spirit are perhaps the best things about this journey...aside from the amazing friendships I've forged with my fellow warrior parents. However, there are enough "bumps" on this journey (I can put a lock on my door to prevent my little guy from eloping...but how do I put a lock on my older son's heart and mind, to protect him from himself when the darkness envelops him? I can't...and that mortal fear for my child - and the litany of dangers my little guy can fall prey to...is enough to shake even the strongest parent to their very foundation).

To the individuals with Autism out there who embrace their lives wholeheartedly and do not feel impeded by their condition, my hat is off to them. They're the gold standard to which I aspire my children to someday join in their ranks. But the story is far less optimistic for the majority of us, and finding a handful of people with ASD diagnoses willing to come to the fore and espouse the fantabulous world of Autismland does not an epidemic erase...and it doesn't make this mother's quest for healing any less important. I'm personally past the "why" - it's too late for us - but there is an entire generation coming up behind my children whose future is bleak if we don't find a way to put the brakes on this devastating disorder. I've been on this journey for a little over 3 years now, and I've already witnessed a family that I've personally known destroyed because a parent snapped and took their own child's life. While there is absolutely no excuse for that senseless tragedy, it is a constant reminder to me that Autism can be a lonely, dark, and sometimes, deadly place (in more ways than one) to exist. Our families need help...and above all, they deserve more than what they're currently getting from our broken government.

Nobody needs to speak for me...I'm perfectly capable of doing that for myself. What I'd REALLY like is for someone to actually LISTEN. Unfortunately, there seems to be a huge wad of cash stuck in the ear canal of those with the capacity to do something about this mess. I wonder if they'll need a committee to remove it, or at least reinstate the souls of these people.

Thank you for fighting the good fight. History will be on our side...I just hope it won't be too late for the next generation by the time someone finally decides to write the Autism chapter.

OMG, Dan, you'd better insure that typing finger, that's all I've got to say! Reading your description of this pathetic, taxpayer funded, government sanctioned screwing over of the autism community is about the closest I'm gonna get to taking a vacation in this decade.

Thank you, Dan, for this report, and thank you to all those who attended. It wasn't easy to watch this yesterday, so I don't know how everyone there made it through. Except for some smoke-clearing moments in the public comments portion, I felt like I was watching a surreal discussion on how to "humanely" maintain an epidemic of assaulted children indefinitely.

What's worse than these Fascist Bastards (IACC, Autism Speaks, APA 1, APA 2, AMA, NIH, CDC, HHS, etc. you get the point) stealing federal reserve notes (counterfeit paper printed by the Feds) of honest hardworking decent people? Sharing this "money" with their concubines (Johnson $ Johnson, Pfizer, Merck $ Company, GlaxoSmithKline, etc. you get the point) in order to poison and kill babies and children. In 1984 (how Orwellian?) Dr.Robert Mendelsohn warned us all that vaccines would prove to be a medical time bomb. I watched yesterday's display of inhumanity and cried for every baby, child and adult that has been victimized by the above agencies. AoA and Family are the Heroes in this insane bizarre nightmare.

Shelly, interested to see your mention of the "red shirting" on "60 minutes." as I have a Child Studies degree with an ECE emphasis and 2 late fall babies I find the issue interesting. Some observations: while it might be true that boys develop a little later, a child held back from enrolling will absolutely have no more advantage in terms of leadership abilities etc. Some neighbor went on about that one time and I assured her that my girl child's teachers were not even aware that my child was a late birthday because she displayed maturity that they did not see in many of the other students. For awhile I really agonized about my choice, though. Furthermore, there was one male child in the class that was a September birth day and held back (parents owned a fancy schmancy private pre-school- they actually were very nice people but simply wanted him to have some advantage) but the child was tall, came across as really different and assumed the role of class clown. I have later heard that he had problems and they eventually ended up skipping a grade to have him be more with same age peers. So it actually backfired for them. For my son (also a late fall birth) we did wait until he was fully 5 to enter kindergarten but we don't have any overestimation as to that being a guarantee of his success. It's not that simple. I really remember a lot of parents being judgy on the matter and funnily enough my kid attended one of the top uni's in Canada at 17 and is just fine; in fact better off than a lot of the ones who were 'held back.' Honestly,, the main consideration to keep in mind is the child's social/emotional maturity, regardless of age or sex. Some people really are very selfish but one day they'll learn. I don't know how they sleep, either!
Autistic lurker- they do not serve a place at the table when they call themselves the 'primary stakeholders' in the debate on relieving, improving autism symptoms. The primary stakeholders would be the kids who can't actually speak (even with assistive devices!), the kids who bolt, the kids who wander, the kids who can't toilet themselves, the kids who have sensory impairments and pain that causes them to scream and wail.

I'm not surprised that Sebelius and others at the IACC meeting would blame Republicans for their own lack of inaction on issues involving the vaccine link to autism. Also I'm not surprised nothing was accomplished. These people running the show at the IACC and US Dept of HHS, like Sebelius are political hacks and they have their hands out to the pharmaceutical industry, so what else is new? I dealt with similar useful idiots back in the 1990s and early 2000s at the NIH and CDC under Democrat and Republican administrations. Nothing changes. I'm just glad I'm no longer involved in wasting my time and spinning my wheels going to Washington DC. It is a swamp and sewer of lobbyists including the pharmaceutical industry and useful idiots at the US Dept of HHS.

By the way, I looked at the recent 990 for Autism Speaks for year 2010 and I wanted to check out Geri Dawson's name under compensation. On Schedule J, Part II, page 2 of the 2010 990 Form (page 48 of 96), I found the following for Geri Dawson:

Base Compensation: $387,712.00
Bonus and Incentive Compensation: $35,000.00
Other Reportable Compensation: $1,290.00
Retirement and Other Deferred Compensation: $9,800.00
Nontaxable Benefits: $22,618.00
Total $456,420.00

Other Totals (including Retirement, other reportable compensation, and nontaxable benefits):

Mark Roithmayr $391,892.00
Peter Bell $261,489.00
Thomas Hetzel $183,810.00
Patrick Kemp $229,311.00
Richard Brown $198,093.00
Sophia Colamarino $182,941.00
Andy Shih $196,308.00
Clara Lajonchere $208,482.00
Anita Sostex $213,980.00
Marc Sirkin $183,639.00
Stuart Spielman $156,583.00
William Shea $143,692.00
Scott Liebowitz $156,218.00
Jamitha Fields $146,961.00
Lorri Unumb $151,932.00

With salaries and benefits like this why would the WPA people at Autism Speaks (like Geri Dawson) want to kill the goose laying the golden egg??? Why would the IACC want to find an answer to autism when it can be a life-long WPA project

@Autistic Lurker: "Why that guy don't deserve a place? We are the primary stakeholder in that debate."

Did you get that one wrong or what! :)

The only reason for the IACC to exist is to COMBAT autism. This is its mandate. The people sitting on the panel should be concerned with COMBATING autism. This is what that billion of dollars should be spent on.

COMBATING Autism Act. Remember?

com·bat
(km-bt, kmbt)
v. com·bat·ed or com·bat·ted, com·bat·ing or com·bat·ting, com·bats

1. To oppose in battle; fight against.
2. To oppose vigorously; struggle against.

etc. Or is there a new meaning to the verb COMBAT that I should be aware of ;-)

My head does hurt. Quoting from another comment "Noah Britton's statement about himself made it very clear that he was recruited for the position and that he guessed it was because he leads a comedy troupe.

Was this comedy?:
He was the only one of the three who did not utter another word after his intro, but spoke through his T-shirts. The first T-shirt, worn inside out, had "My body my choice" hand-scrawled on it."

My body, my choice - isn't that the point people supporting vaccine choice are trying to get across? Isn't that what those who are doing HBOT and stem cells and bio-med are doing? Isn't that what the Canary Party and the Parental Rights movement and the Just Label It movement, etc. are screaming? When we say it, we're saying something wrong. When he says it, it is a great thing to say? It is great that he likes his life and is healthy enough to know he likes his life, to actually write that on a shirt and tell people he likes himself. But what about the others?

And on a side note, did anyone see 60 Minutes on Sunday. The segment on "red shirting" kindergarten boys? I'm not opposed to holding back a child if they have cognitive struggles or learning disabilities. However, one mom interviewed said that she would do what ever it took to give her son the advantage, even if it meant holding him back and making him the oldest in his class. From the piece I didn't take it that this child had any cognitive delays or learning disabilities - he just needed a foot up in the athletic arena and he'd do better at academics if he was the oldest in the class. Holding him back would make him more competive against the younger kids. She wasn't concerned how having a child potentialy 18 months older that some of the kids would impact the class - not her worry, just her job to makes sure her child gets every advantage he deserves.

And we are the ones who are called selfish. We are the ones considered lunatics. Another sad, sad day in this country. Sadly, I have a feeling that all of those who should be ashamed of themselves slept just fine last night.

Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has "no mission except avoiding the reality of an autism epidemic and the accompanying truth that it’s an environmental illness in which the government’s own nutty War on Germs has played the major role."

Dan, what a perfect illustration of the problem with ferreting out the cause, and more importantly, the culpability in the autism epidemic! More time, money and effort has been spent on shifting blame or simply finding new ways to contort the truth, than on helping anyone with autism. Thank you for being there so we could all get a taste of what everyone had to "stomach."

Even a blind eye and a bag of M & M's didn't help me get through the meeting over my internet yesterday. My ears work too well.
Maurine
Thrilled with the public comments. Wish Insulting Insel or
Sub-human Sebelius had vomited into their laps during that half hour.
Maurine

Dan, LMAO at your coverage of the event. How can any of what they have done (mostly not done) be considered "combating" autism? More like enabling autism.

Good work Dan-O! Your typing finger must be smoking.

Simpson Wood

I am not sure I want Bernardine Healy to rest in peace (even if I would wish her to be spared untoward emetic events). I would like her spectre to stalk the earth reproaching daily her failed, corrupt, time serving, (p)sychophantic colleagues. Her job is not yet done.

Thank you for your constant and unwaivering diligence working for children and families affected by Autism. I wish I could have been in D.C. with you, but I could not afford to travel Autism has bankrupted me. Perhaps a good idea might be to create some sort of non-profit that will raise money to help get families to the locations they need to be (like D.C.) to assist with your lobbying.

"After lunch, Mark, Katie Weisman, Jake, and Mary were among those making public comments to the committee. We’ll publish those powerful statements separately."

Of course, Insel wittered on afterwards as if nothing had said. He did say that the would would discuss the critical comments at 4.30 but this did not happen. Was anyone very surprised.