Contact CBS: Support its Strong Reporting on Alex Spourdalakis
Dachel Media Review: Playground, New School, Baby Expo

The Continued Weirdness of Emily Willingham

WillinghamBy Anne Dachel

Emily Willingham wrote the story, 10 Weirdest Things Linked To Autism, on Sept 4, 2013.

She wrote,

"9. Vaccines. It's dead, Jim. Stop flogging the poor, dead hypothesis. Let's just bury it in a simple, private ceremony.

"10. Mothers. Not that mothers are necessarily strange, but everything we do seems to be linked to autism: Having children close together, having them in a certain order, being a certain age, having antibodies, having children in summer, having wombs and gestating embryonic and fetal humans in them, using Clomid, IVF, terbutaline, or labor induction, being pregnant near freeways, donating bad mitochondria to offspring, partnering with older fathers, passing genes to our children, eating, treating depression, getting an infection during pregnancy, including the flu, not getting an infection, being depressed, or behaving like refrigerators."

I posted comments reminding her that all the studies linking autism to everything imaginable are reported by the mainstream press, including Forbes, as legitimate science.  Most of the research is from grant money and tax dollars.  Millions and millions have gone into this dead-end stuff.  I said that the vaccine studies from the government have a direct trail to pharma.  (I see that comment isn't up.)  I also said that officials and mainstream medicine have never called autism A CRISIS.
She wrote a comment in response: "...I'm looking at my boy right now, and I don't think 'crisis.' Your mileage may vary."

I posted back about the parents who lead lives of quiet desperate dealing with a severely autistic child.   I brought up the tragic death of Alex Spourdalakis and the coverage by CBS  and the Daily Mail (UK).

She wrote back and slammed those who would cover Alex's mother sympathetically.  And this led to her writing a whole piece today on the death of Alex where she described his mother as killing him in "cold blood" and blamed the autism community for the false idea that he had "a gut condition." 

In her world, autism is never a real problem, (even though she's a parent herself).  Parents linking it to vaccines and other health conditions like gut issues and seizures are simply wrong. 



I did find something about the form of autism her son has.  In this article, Willinghams described her son as someone who "excels at his grade level academics, and did not need extra resources or "care" to participate in a typical classroom  setting."

This doesn't sound like the world of Alex's mother and godmother.

And what will Willingham, with her cold hearted attitude in the Spourdalakis case, have to say about yet another parent driven to desperation dealing with an autistic teenager?  September 4, this story came out from the Traverse (MI) Record Eagle: Charges loom for Benzie woman in murder-suicide attempt.
 
"A Benzie County woman who for years desperately battled insurance companies and bureaucrats to secure help for her acutely autistic, physically abusive daughter could face charges of trying to kill the girl in a failed murder-suicide attempt.

"Kelli Stapleton, who penned a blog, "The Status Woe", to chronicle her experiences with daughter Issy Stapleton, 14, remained hospitalized in Grand Rapids late Wednesday after she allegedly tried to kill herself and Issy on Tuesday in Elberta, near Frankfort.

"Benzie authorities said they expected to charge a woman with attempted murder. Police found and rescued Kelli and Issy from a van. Both already were unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning."

"Issy often attacked her mother and a sibling, and her parents continually ran into roadblocks with insurance companies, treatment facilities and various government agencies in a quest for help that devastated them emotionally and financially."

I expect this story will appear in  Willingham's next piece about a parent attempting cold-blooded suicide as well as murder.  Will she also blame the autism community for this one?

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

 

Comments

Naughty Autie

You know something? I would have had more sympathy for that murdering she-devil if she hadn’t made her own life hard by, amongst many other problematic actions, refusing services and respite from DCFS. It’s like bitching about your car being broken down for two years when you’re the one who keeps not taking it to the garage.

Forskepticalofpaidshills

Emily Willingham does seem disturbing. She seems not able to help herself in many ways.

Linda

That is creepy and weird.

Carol

I think it's intended to convey irony.

She's watched Wakefield on more than the two occasions she admits to, though. She knows that he eats salad "mostly." She voices concern that his house might be nicer than hers (cuz of his venality) in a way that suggests she's had a look-see.

But she doesn't say that she takes her trusty copy of _The Catcher in the Rye_ on these expeditions. That's something.

Linda

"I admire venality as much as the next person,..."

Carol,
Is that a confession? Emily Willingham admires venality? Venality defined by Wikipedia as "a vice associated with being bribeable or of selling one's services or power, especially when one should act justly instead." Or defined by Merriam Webster as "willing to do dishonest things in return for money."

Really? Admiration of dishonesty? As much as the next person? What other people is she referring to? Am I missing something here?

Carol

I came across a Willingham blog post from 2011 which reads in part:

"I admire venality as much as the next person, but I'm not sure even with that appreciation, I can admire Andrew Wakefield. His record speaks for itself. This is someone I've been only a few feet away from twice in restaurants, and his mere presence filled me with an indescribable mix of emotions and urges, ranging from confrontation to immediate departure and from pushing away my plate to vomiting. Yet, the man is like the antagonist from a horror movie. Even after you've poked at it and assured yourself that it's vanquished, the damned thing rises up again, sneaking up behind unsuspecting you on the most benign-seeming of Wednesdays."


Wow! That sounded so promising, with the vomiting and all, that I followed the hyperlinks about her two close encounters with Andrew Wakefield. The first post just said that he looked tired and ate salad. (I'm serious.) But she adds that she "always keeps an eye on him," which is...disturbing.

The other post had more substance: "....He's a large man. Everything about him looms, from his seemingly constantly contracted brow to his height. Had he been anyone else, my observation would simply have been to think how sweet it was to see this dad there, having an evening with his boy, enjoying sports together and obviously enjoying one another's company. But I got distracted by other thoughts. Thoughts like, how would his boy see him later in life? Would his father be to him a prince or a pariah? We all change in our opinions of our parents as we get older, shifting our perceptions as our understanding grows. What will happen with this boy as he--if he--learns more about his dad?

Of course, the other people I was with turned the conversation to, yes, MMR and vaccine reactions...and they did it without even knowing how odd the nexus was of the topic and the large man sitting right there. One of my friends has a son who had a horrific hemolytic reaction just after having MMR, and although I'd heard the story, another of us had not, and the entire thing was related again...."


Say what? Her friend's son had a horrific hemolytic reaction just after having MMR and she thinks the problem is Andrew Wakefield? And, I point out, neither of these accounts hints at any desire on her part to confront, flee, push away her plate or vomit. So what the flip's she talking about?

Jim Thompson

Opit, you said “It seems that it will continue to be futile to chase mercury contamination.”

Actually mercury contamination in the U.S. must be taken quite seriously by the pharmacies, health care facilities, and the vaccine manufacturers.

The mercury in each flu vaccine using Thimerosal preservative has the same mercury as a half cup of D009 hazardous waste. See http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/q-a---how-about-a-half-cup-of-mercury-hazardous-waste.html .

And every unused vaccine with Thimerosal preservative or traces of Thimerosal requires hazardous waste package marking. Here is the marking information required of any unused flu vaccine using Thimerosal as a preservative:

“HAZARDOUS WASTE, EPA waste number D009, Hazardous Waste, Mercury Compound, Liquid.

Federal Laws Prohibit Improper Disposal.

If found, contact the nearest police, public safety authority, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title40-vol26/pdf/CFR-2011-title40-vol26-sec262-31.pdf

As federal law prohibits improper disposal of D009 mercury hazardous waste then unused Thimerosal preserved flu vaccines cannot be flushed down a sanitary sewer. They cannot be put in the trash bin for municipal waste landfill. They have to go to a licensed mercury hazardous waste facility.

Here is the regulation covering criminal penalties for failure to comply. “Criminal fines shall be recoverable in at least the amount of $10,000 per day for each violation, and imprisonment for at least six months shall be available.” See title 40 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title40-vol28/pdf/CFR-2012-title40-vol28-part271.pdf .

opit

ps As a person who has barely survived the use of broad spectrum antibiotics twice ( penicillin and tetracycline ) while knowing my digestive tract gets wrecked by E-mycin and clindamycin ( self medication with acidopholus helps, but does not correct the problem ) I am currently diabetic and having the very devil of a time with proliferation of gut flora ( and yes, I do consider I am a self made victim of sugar poisoning, likely with GM pesticide enhancements and corn starch perverting the problem : even though I cut drinking pop years ago...and won't go near 'diet' formulations )possibly as in a precursor to CFIDS. Yet my exposure is likely as nothing to yours. And yes, I smoked for decades.

opit

It seems that it will continue to be futile to chase mercury contamination. But it is only part of the story. Another would be suppression of information by marking sites that deal with real information as dangerous for malware threats. But it isn't any one vaccine that is the special problem anyway : it is the technique of repeated multiple simultaneous assaults upon a child's immune system from a young age and squalene adjuvant plus routine contamination while side effects accumulate. I am sure I have found YouTube links outlining all sorts of dire problems - but there is no easy way for people to find the information.
It is inadequate : but a start is better than nothing.
http://oldephartte.livejournal.com/4649.html

Mike M.

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is 1 in 271 in the Amish population. It is 1 in 50 in the general US population. Despite a higher genetic risk for ASD in the Amish than the rest of the US population due to heavier inbreeding, the ASD prevalence is over 5 times lower. Clearly, it's not genetic factors that we need to focus on to account for the ASD epidemics, but environomental factors. Some such factors have already been discovered -- air pollution, maternal flu/fever during pregnancy, and induced labor. Some await further investigation -- food additives, water pollutants, and, yes, vaccines, among others. And no, there has not yet been a double blinded randomized vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study to settle the vaccine safety issue -- it has been deemed "unethical" since vaccines "save lives." Well, vaccines also leave children neurologically impaired or dead, according to the US Vaccine Courts decisions and payments. And with an inexplicable worsening epidemics of ASD, we can no longer claim such a vaccine safety study would be "unethical." It would be more unethical to leave a stone unturned in the face of such an ASD epidemics.

Here are the sources re: the ASD prevalence numbers:

https://imfar.confex.com/imfar/2010/webprogram/Paper7336.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/03/20/autism-prevalence-is-now-at-1-in-50-children/

Carter's Daddy

Anne, Thank you very much for all your efforts. This Willingham character is a real piece of work - a shameless blatant pharma shill. To say the vaccine causality question is dead, has been answered and there's no more about it to investigate, well, there's no possible way anyone in her position can possibly honestly believe that. It's simply impossible.

Shelly

The skeptics have a tough road ahead of them. School has started again. PTA meetings are starting again. Scout meetings are starting again. All those social events where parents, especially Moms, meet and chat and gossip. I can't tell you how many infants I've heard of in the past six months that are struggling with reflux since Day 1. How many moms are trying a gluten-free, dairy free diet with their babies because of their experiences with their older preschoolers. Moms are figuring out that it is the gut that is the common denominator for all of these illnesses and behaviors that run rampant through our society. They aren't waiting for the ped to give permission to try these things. In fact, if the ped doesn't listen they are moving on to someone who will. Medicine has strung the American people along for too long, the average person doesn't care to listen to the bile that people like Gorski and Lilady spew. This generation doesn't have a god complex for doctors. None of the skeptics can turn the tide back, the leaky gut is the connection and no amount of venom spewed by the skeptics will prevent the average person from having those face to face conversations where they share their children's stories.

Linda

John,

I don't know. She's pretty far out there. Even shock jocks don't come out with the stuff that so easily rolls off her tongue. And her picture...who puts a picture of them self sneering like that? Nah, I don't think it's an act. She's out of her mind.

jen

"No eye contact and non-speaking are crises? My crisis bar is higher than yours, I suppose. Communication happens in many ways that have nothing to do with speaking."
As someone who has worked with children who have severe, non-verbal autism I find that to be brutally, cooly detached. It shows complete disregard for what the child struggles really are (wandering, bolting, sensory problems, maybe pain in some cases etc. It is insulting.
It reminds me of someone else who has written about autism (to slam Jenny McCarthy) and whose son is milder on the spectrum. Who are these people?!!

John Stone

Linda

She's not crazy surely, just trying it on - she probably hasn't even thought very hard about it.

Linda

Benedetta,

No hidden meaning here. Not taken out of context. She casually stated that it's no big deal, no crisis, when an individual can't talk or make eye contact.

She's crazy. This nut is Forbes' science writer.

Nhokkanen, sociopathic narcissist fits.

John Stone

Hi Jim

Yes, you cannot believe how blatant this is (whether or not Willingham herself realises it). It was absolutely astonishing to see this claim about ethyl mercury being wheeled out again at the beginning of the year by the Gates Foundation entourage (and in New Scientist) to dissuade the UN from banning thimerosal, based on the tiny, pathetically conducted and hopelessly conflicted Pichichero paper.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/01/not-all-mercury-is-toxic-desperate-throw-in-new-scientist-to-prevent-un-ban.html

The same lame nonsense had been trotted out by the WHO in 2006. But even the most basic analysis of Pichichero's claims would still leave the problem about whether all the mercury had the left the body and whether it could still not have done significant damage in the allegedly reduced space of time it was in it - as Burbacher showed in 2004 these were entirely false assumptions. And yet here we are 9 years later and the same false and misleading claims are being produced as if they were hard science.

One thing you learn from this is that Willingham while trading on her scientific credentials is failing at the 9th Grade level of making any independent assessment of the information that she is being fed from industry-government complex sources. She ought to be very ashamed.

John

Jim Thompson


It is important to point out again here that Emily Willingham has missed some important issues in mercury toxicity in her reporting.

Emily said “The body gets rid of ethylmercury pretty quickly, but methylmercury tends to accumulate–hence its presence in hair.” See http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2012/10/08/mercury-pregnancy-fish-and-adhd/2/ .

This fails to recognize the results of an infant monkey study by Burbacher et al that compared the half-life of inorganic mercury washout after both forms of organic mercury exposure. The concentration-time exposures for both types of organic mercury were the same but the results were not.

For methyl mercury the Burbacher report says “The average concentration of inorganic Hg for those monkeys with values above the detection limit (n = 10) did not change significantly over 28 days of washout and was approximately 7–8 ng/mL (Figure 4).”

For ethyl mercury the Burbacher report says “The average concentration of inorganic Hg did not change across the 28 days of washout and was approximately 16 ng/mL (Figure 7).” See http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1289/ehp.7712 .

In addition, there is nothing in the scientific literature suggesting that ethyl mercury (or the resultant inorganic mercury after exposure) does not kill brain cells. Thus it seems reasonable that she would support the effort to help remove mercury from all vaccines.

Benedetta

Linda?? I don't know what she means by that?

What does she mean?

Barry

In my humble opinion .. I truly believe that Forbes employs Ms. Willingham as a "columnist" .. precisely BECAUSE she has the proven ability and arrogance to spew "odd assumptions and reckless accusations" as easily and casually as she does.

In other words .. Forbes wouldn't pay her were she any less of a pharma shill than she is.


***************

I agree with you, except I would even take it a step further.

In my opinion, big pharma doesn't hire people like Willingham, it creates them. And the belief that scum like Willingham are working for Forbes, is an illusion that was intentionally created.

If we dug deep enough , we would likely find that big phrama also created the main stream media... which includes Forbes. Which they've been using for decades to manipulate how the public thinks.

How else can we explain that the common thread which brings most of us here, is the fact that we DELIVERED our children to their doctors to be poisoned. And most of us did that without ever being offered, or even asking to see proof that vaccines work.

Proof that I'm now convinced, has never existed.

nhokkanen

Bob and John -- I am willing to consider the distinct possibility that Willingham is just another sociopathic narcissist penning corporate weasel words for profit.

Kristine

"I also said that officials and mainstream medicine have never called autism A CRISIS.
She wrote a comment in response: "...I'm looking at my boy right now, and I don't think 'crisis.' Your mileage may vary."

Here's the part where she admits that she cannot see beyond her own healthy HFA kid to the very real crisis. Anne was saying autism crisis- meaning, not her own child, but rather so very very many sick and/or disabled children who will soon be aging out of services to what?? No jobs, no place to live, aging parents... That *is* a crisis and that is what Anne is talking about. My own son is not currently a "crisis" either but ya know it's a little bigger than my four walls.

Linda

This is Willingham's response a day ago to a comment on this article:

"No eye contact and non-speaking are crises? My crisis bar is higher than yours, I suppose.
Communication happens in many ways that have nothing to do with speaking."

Emily Willingham is definitely not dealing with a full deck.

Autismgoaway

Don't worry everybody! Somebody has just discovered the cause of autism and written a book about it.

Autism is caused by:

Bad Genes + TV and Toys

How does she know? She observed her ASD nephew and noticed that he watched a lot of Baby Einstein videos.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pied-Pipers-Autism-Television/product-reviews/1481073354

I haven't read the book yet but so far she has received all 5 stars on Amazon. I am so glad that brilliance like this has a chance to be published.

John Stone

Bob

It may be the very first time I have ever disagreed with Nancy Hokkanen but I think you are right. It might be done better - just possibly - but it is calculated. I've seen so many of these "science" bloggists, and what marks them out is not their academic detachment and politeness, but their crudity. It's a culture, and a very bad one - tribal rather than intellectually fastidious.

Laura

Toby, not all of us with fairly high functioning kids are guilty of dismissing the fate of more severely affected children. I was appalled when I read about Alex and literally cried ( as did my husband when I told him). My son has many health problems associated, GI, Immune, Mito, Endocrine, Autoimmune, etc.. I have fought doctors for years and have been ever so blessed to ahve finally found a few to help him. The "Thinking Doctors" have helped me to save my son from a life of miserable health and disability. I know how close we came to losing our only child to autism. We were lucky and reading the stories here at Age of Autism lets me know just how close we came to losing him. I cry for all the Alex's out there, I rejoice in the little victories parents write about ( first words, first real look in the eye) and the love parents here have for their children gives me hope that our world, lost in direction now, will soon find purpose and peace and not sacrifice little children for the almighty dollar. As grateful as I am that we found a recovery of sorts for my son, my heart aches for all the children still suffering. Someday we will be heard and the practice of vaccination will be met with the same disbelief as bloodletting is now.

Lisa

I'm looking at my boy and don't think crisis. Wow. Great to hear it. But this is one of the most cold hearted women I have ever heard of. Basically it's, Hey, my kid is doing well, so it's not a crisis. She sounds really selfish and self absorbed. I find her cutsey writing style annoying and inappropriate. Where did they get this person? What rock?

Bob Moffitt

@ nhokkanen:


"Given Willingham's spate of odd assumptions and reckless accusations, Forbes may eventually have reason to regret its choice of Willingham as columnist."

In my humble opinion .. I truly believe that Forbes employs Ms. Willingham as a "columnist" .. precisely BECAUSE she has the proven ability and arrogance to spew "odd assumptions and reckless accusations" as easily and casually as she does.

In other words .. Forbes wouldn't pay her were she any less of a pharma shill than she is.


nhokkanen

Emily Willingham's awkward writing, misinterpretations of social situations and lack of empathic understanding, combined with her overfocused intellectual zeal, could mean she is that very rare bird -- the adult with Asperger's syndrome. Perhaps her strident tone is a defense mechanism from a childhood of bullying.

You'll recall that multimillionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit once leveraged inaccurate documentation from aspie Kathleen Seidel. In his eagerness to smear vaccine injury victims and their families, Offit failed to realize that hired "researcher" Seidel was regularly misinterpreting others' listserv conversations. Seidel's aggregated textual misrepresentations cost the ever-preening Offit dearly in money and reputation when he was ruled against in a lawsuit, won by AoA's own J.B. Handley.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/columbia-university-press-and-dr-paul-offit-sued-for-autisms-false-prophets.html

Given Willingham's spate of odd assumptions and reckless accusations, Forbes may eventually have reason to regret its choice of Willingham as columnist.

cmo

I see it was in Forbes, who I suppose support the glorious "private sector success" of the vaccine industry...

Let's see, Vaccines are Liability free, research paid for by the government until it is time to make a profit...

then mandated by the government to help sales, free commercials called "segments" by the media who cover the annual "killer flu season" industry...

Tax on vaccine profits become tax deductible campaign contributions to support more government favors in the future...

Eileen Nicole Simon

Anne, thanks for continuing to keep us up-to-date on news coverage of autism. I added a comment to Willingham’s post on weird ideas about autism. There and here I will continue to point out that the brain must be the focus of research on autism. How would all the weird causes of autism cause damage to pathways in the brain required for language development? More real research and less epidemiology would be most helpful.

Willingham and others continue to slam people concerned about vaccinations. We need to know what other evidence they have (other than epidemiology) that vaccines do not affect the brain.

Thanks for continuing to point out the severe epidemic of autism that has occurred over the past two decades. The cause must be sought, and medical interventions should be the starting point for investigation. I will also continue to point out that clamping the umbilical cord immediately at birth is dangerous, and that no evidence of any health benefit can be cited for continuing with this practice.

Dana

Thanks for reporting this Anne. Interesting to hear how well-adjusted her supposedly ASD child is...

She can see the red herrings but is blind to the truth... and/or getting paid to ignore it.

Carol


How does she know that Alex didn't have a "gut condition"? Is she psychic? Call James Randi.

Benedetta

I guess I will use Maurine's idea and get me a t shirt.

I think I will try to get a picture of Alex's GI track and put on it.

What would be a good caption to go with it?

Linda

Another head case.

Willingham and Gorski should really get together, but they shouldn't be allowed to have children.

Cindy Facteau

I have two children on either end of the spectrum (my more significantly impacted child has come light years from eating feces out of the catbox, due to a combined therapy-biomed approach). My oldest, who would be considered "high functioning" nearly took his own life in January 2012. There is no feeling on earth that comes close to believing your child is dead.

In my world, there is no "high functioning" or "low functioning." There is LIVING and EXISTING. If you're doing the former, then you likely won't understand the plight of those who are doing the latter. If you feel so uncomfortable in your own skin that you seek to take your own life, as my son did, you're not "functioning" at ANY level, even if you can do math and tie your shoes.

ALL of our children deserve to have the greatest chance at success in this world. All children deserve to feel healthy and well. And parents deserve to love their children without fear or barriers.

I said this in a post of my own yesterday...Hell is hell, no matter which part of the landscape you happen to occupy at the time.

Anne McElroy Dachel

I looked at Kelli Stapleton's blog, The Status Woe.
http://thestatuswoe.wordpress.com/

Here's what she wrote...
"The next morning, my husband and I were called into a meeting with the school superintendent and a representative from the intermediate school district (the ISD is what provides supports for special education students in the local school districts). Because my husband was taken out of the information loop (remember he is the building principal), we weren’t sure what the meeting was about. We thought it was to work out the obvious kinks we were going to have since I clashed so badly with the teacher. Talk about options and how to make it work. But no. The meeting was to tell us that Issy was not going to be allowed to go to school there. Quite coincidentally, the ISD representative used some of the phrases that I had used in the argument the teacher, so I think I know where that info came from. The ISD representative suggested I home school, and mentioned that I was 'intense' (I get that a lot).

"So less than a week before school is to start, she is uninvited.

"I am devastated.

"My husband is gutted....

"And let’s not ignore the obvious. Issy is a child capable of great violence. Many a school would be unwilling to take her. Well, except for the public jr high she currently attends (while in treatment). When I told her current teacher about our local school’s decision, she choked up, offered to call our superintendent, then gave me the phone number of an education attorney. How awesome is she?! This is why we will likely keep Issy with her. So I’ll move to Kalamazoo, three hours away from home, my husband, and my other two children to do what is necessary to meet Issy’s needs. I wish though, the school could have tried. Matt and I aren’t unreasonable. If it wasn’t going to work, we would be the first to pull her out. *sigh*..."

Caroline McIlhenney

Not all parents of high functioning children are oblivious to vaccine causality and unable to sympathize with the agonies of those deeper on the spectrum. There are agonies peculiar to our end of the spectrum, and we can extrapolate.

Anne McElroy Dachel

Will we also get used to stories about autism parents who see no other option than ending lives? There's been no alarm over mind-numbing increases in the rate or doctors who can't tell us anything for sure about the cause. It's regularly reported that autistic kids wander away and head for water, often resulting in another autism death. None this has made autism into a national crisis. It's all just part of autism and autism is a mystery.

Anne Dachel, Media

Anne McElroy Dachel

Here is more coverage on the MI story. You'll notice an outpouring for sympathy for the mother.


Mother and daughter profiled by Newschannel 3 involved in alleged attempted murder suicide http://wwmt.com/news/features/featured/stories/mother-daughter-profiled-newschannel-3-involved-alleged-attempted-murder-suicide-2349.shtml WWMT-TV

Woman accused of trying to kill autistic daughter, self http://bdtonline.com/latest/x250207766/Woman-accused-of-trying-to-kill-autistic-daughter-self Bluefield Daily Telegraph

State Police: Mother Arrested for Attempted Murder, Daughter With Autism Hospitalized

http://fox17online.com/2013/09/05/state-police-mother-to-be-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-daughter-with-autism/#axzz2e4BToqup
Fox17 Grand Rapids, MI

Father of Issy Stapleton asks for prayers, provides update on her condition in Facebook post
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/09/father_of_teen_with_autism_who.html
MLive

State Police release more details on Benzie County attempted murder-suicide case
http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=942861
Traverse City, MI TV

tara mcmillan

Absolutely disgusting.

beth johnson

The ultimate traitor, who looks at her own minimally injured child, and has the nerve to cast judgement on those of us with far greater struggles. She's the kind of "prize" big pharma would pay a lot to spew forth an industry-friendly message. No, I'm not implying- just insulting.

Toby Dawson

A whole lot of parents of high function ASD (Aspergers) children, kids who are intelligent, focussed, manageable and physically well (which is exactly what I am - but not a child)come down hard like this on the rest of us and it is NOT acceptable, it is narrow minded and at best stupid; there are now millions of severely autistic children - my son is one - for whom their G.I, Immune, Vestibular and Mitochondrial systems are all so out of tune that if he does not get the thousands of dollars worth of supplements and therapies he needs he regresses from all the progress made to date. I, and thousands like myself, have real science that backs this up in the form of blood, urine, salive and stool tests, behavioural tests and more. So finally, her article is just plain insulting to the truth.

Jenny Allan

"9. Vaccines. It's dead, Jim"

"Aye-Ye canny change the laws o' science"

(Oh yes you can!! Particularly if you are a paid pro pharma vaccine propagandist.)

"It's illogical Captain -Beam me up Scotty!!"

John Stone

I guess Emily is a purveyor of processed thought, a manufacturer of on-message hard-boiled conversation topics for others to sprinkle across the web and in casual conversations - very much a case of rubbish in rubbish out. A "capitalist tool" I believe the Forbes rubric goes.

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