John: I fully agree. The President's family should always be off limits, especially the children.

Greg,
I know you don't mean it this way, but it is gossip - gossip about a child - in a public forum. It's not that it's too sensitive or taboo. It's that it is not the right thing to do. Decent people (I know you are decent - you are making a mistake in this one instance) don't flap their mouths about other people's kids like that. What if it was your kid we decided to target as the topic of online conversation? We wouldn't do it and you wouldn't like it. The president's child should get the same consideration.

I've just read this discussion on whether or not a certain child may be autistic, and whether we should talk about it , so here are my thoughts. If a person can speak for themselves then it's for them to decide whether they want to be open about their medical condition. If they can't speak then their parents/carers have to make that decision. Some of us believe that we may not be far off the situation of disabled people again being carted off and gassed. I'm sorry to be alarming but we need to be prepared for the worst. I'm willing to say I'm autistic, or "brain poisoned", and take the consequences, but I wouldn't out anyone else.

Nobody is ever going to say that we are not trying. I mean trying to expose the general population to our plight. I should be over it by now. My son died in 2010. So, should I be over it? I am over his death. I didn't even have a whole lot of sorrow left to mourn. What people have to realize, I am not getting over it soon. I am still working to get rid of things that we accumulated over the last 37 years. This accumulation is a sign of how much time has elapsed during which I have not been able to do my house keeping. There are still signs left of things I should have thrown away a long time ago. Our neighbors from long ago are long gone. They have died. We are now in an expensive neighborhood where people ask about who your gardener is and why you are not getting rid of a car that had been stolen and then cannibalized and then had accumulated 7 parking tickets while stolen because the parking ticket company doesn't communicate with the San Francisco Police Department, and I have to write 15 letters to make sure those officials can understand that this car was stolen and it has to be moved. All those things are comparatively easy when thinking about what I had to deal with including one dispatcher who asked me why I was not getting a vet when I called about my kid having cut his forehead because he had fallen.

These marchers apparently have their own problems. Their main problem may just be that they have not really had it hard. They are shouting about monuments and about race and about something to be angry about. I hope nobody ever has to deal with an autistic child. I hope they stay naive. That's why getting rid of autism matters to me. I would like the protesters to light torches for my dead son. If they start doing that, they will have learned something about what is important in America.

I believe Barron is actually 11. I will repeat. People often expect above maturity for large children. When it was 2-3 a.m. on election night the poor child was sleepy and likely having Hypnic jerks.

You do realise by providing excuses why Barron might not be autistic, you're doing the same thing that you're accusing me of -- providing an 'armchair diagnosis'? And, I would say the same applies to everyone who don't know the full story but will suggest that Barron is just a 'normal kid', or argue that he is some kind of 'fashion icon', going by his 'cool' t-shirts.

I suppose this all begs a bigger question: Why is it 'appropriate' to form some opinions and offer some armchair diagnosis, but not others? In the same strain, I could ask, is it ever healthy to relegate honest opinions and observations as taboos that are to be squashed?

I don't expect you to answer these questions. I suppose at this point we will have to agree to disagree.

The same Americans marching against hatred, bigotry and 'isms of every sort, are often the exact same people marching FOR hatred and bigotry toward us. And now, I shall name them..... FlatVaxxers

**********

I prefer to call call them morons.

Too dumb to understand that by denying what vaccines did to our children, only guarantees that it will eventually happen to one of their their children, or grandchildren.

Greg, I really think you are making too much of Barron. He is like, 12 but big. People always expect more of tall children. He may very well be introverted but he isn't necessarily autistic. His tee shirt having all this meaning? Good grief!

For Greg, I think it's troubling that we scream bullocks at the other side when they argue that autism isn't rising, and we are now just diagnosing shy and introverted kids as autistic, and for you to now argue that Barron may just be introverted and not autistic. For me, everything I have seen of Barron so far indicates that he is on the spectrum. I don't say this with a 100% certainty, just with.a great deal of confidence.

And, while I do agree that Barron deserves privacy.and should not be bullied, I also.feel passing him off as something that he is not is equally bad. If Barron is autistic, out of respect to him and the American people, the Trump's should be upfront about this. And, as Gayle mentioned, it would go along way in bringing attention to the condition, and possibly helping the countless other affected families around the world.

I might also add, last Autism Awareness Day, this was Trump's pledge to such families. I would say if Barron is autistic and the Trump's choose to hide this, then it would be an ultimate betrayal of his message. Worst still, I would say it would put Trump in the same boat as the rest of the 'deniers', also complicit.

Again, it's up to the Trump's to either confirm, or squash the speculations. Keeping things hidden in the dark is helping no one.

Flatvaxxers is nice.
I also like vexervaxxers (as in vexatious) and zombievaxxers.

Kim but they mean well,what with all the Labels it projects unjustified name calling and that is usually as far as the Flatvaxxers subject matter goes. Only the label and never open to scrutiny or comment -but they mean well! They are saving the planet from our healthy unvaccinated kids - but shhh! They mean well! Save Barron from his terrible insane father - but they mean well! Save all of us from the founder father statue`s by removing them - shh!(Napolean to follow) They mean well! They won`t look to hard no background evidence further than CNN Fake News but don’t say a word - no shhh! They really do mean well!..

Pharma for Prison

MMR RIP.

Yes, Kim, amd it's pure strategy. Look at the tshirt that says "science is real...no human is illegal..."we are being told what to think.
Greg, I really think you are making too much of Barron. He is like, 12 but big. People always expect more of tall children. He may very well be introverted but he isn't necessarily autistic. His tee shirt having all this meaning? Good grief!

Greg-you are right about Barron Trump with his blank stares, fidgeting, wobbly walking, not ever saying anything on camera. All signs that point to the distinct possibility that he is on the autism spectrum, but the president and his wife are trying very hard to keep the fact under wraps and hidden from the public. I wish they would just be honest if this is the case as it would be a great help to all of us who have children with autism and maybe even lead to more important scientific research for a cure.

Flatvaxxers kind of fits...if everyone doesn't do everything our wise CDC says we should we'll all fall off the edge...or we'll be back in the dark ages as far as disease goes with the pox and iron lungs everywhere...there's this sort of oversimplification of things in the fearful direction, I guess...

as now I keep hearing that the "dark ages" weren't really so dark...or there were maybe politically-founded reasons for naming that age the "dark ages"...

and it apparently wasn't like everyone actually believed the earth was flat before Columbus sailed whatever year he actually first sailed (even though from what I was taught I got that idea for some time, too)...

Bob writes....

Sharyl Attkisson describes in her most recent book ... "The Smear" .. how shady political operatives and fake news control what you see, what you think, how you vote"

And speaking of which, have you guys been paying attention to the brouhaha unfolding after a media source criticised Barron Trump's casual attire, as he appears in Whitehouse photos.  Everyone is rushing to his defence, railing, let the kid be, including Chelsea Clinton.

Funny, I found it suspicious that we would go months without a Barron sighting, and then he would show up wearing a 'cool' t-shirt, and that would be all that's talked about.  Not much attention would be paid to those blank stares, the fidgeting, the wobbly walking, or the fact that the kid has never been caught on camera muttering a word. The autism angle is now getting conveniently buried.

Sharing my suspicion, I was relieved to run across a lone opinion piece that broke from the 'leave Barron alone' narrative, by peering deeper into the attire thing.  The writer argues:

Still, it's hard to believe, considering how orchestrated politics in the US is today, that no thought would go into the outfits Barron wears when he steps off Marine One. It's more likely his clothes are picked to make him seem like a normal, everyday kid with accessible clothing, and make him less of a focus of op-eds such as the one from The Daily Caller.

I think with everything that's going on with the media lately, and especially as it relates to a Tump's  Presidency, we're definitely witnessing a Truman Show.  Everything is staged.

I would also add that where Barron attire is concerned, this falsity clearly exposes the hypocrisy with society's autism acceptance message.  If we must hide the First-son's autism under 'cool' t-shirts, it shows what we really feel about autism and whether it should be accepted.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/barron-trump-criticized-for-too-casual-clothes-2017-8

i never ceases to astound me that people don't see the fascism/totalitarianism in mandatory vaccination.
i am very depressed just now after reading that manvax was pushed through in the german parliament, in the middle of the night, with few people around. i wonder why.
in germany!
i thought we'd learned a few things but then again, science is noble, ain't it? and has nothing to do with holocausts.

You are so right about your stream of consciousness post, Kim. That is how I think most, if not all parents of children with autism feel, minus the AOA disappearance, but with some other minor crisis inserted into that spot: "...isolated in my autism Mom summertime and the living is hectic when is school starting where did Age of Autism go oh my gosh we need to fix that glitch Kim it's time to feed the AofA content monster again and again and again and hey is that laundry life....."

There is, however, something nice that happened in Connecticut, recently, in the way of a legal decision. The State of Connecticut's Supreme Court decided that unvaccinated children of parents against vaccination could not be vaccinated against the wishes of their parents while in state custody by a child welfare agency:
https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/news-2/connecticut-child-welfare-agency-cannot-vaccinate-children-without-parental-consent
This was a 7-0 decision in favor of parental rights, and it reversed the decision of the lower court.

Unfortunately, however, DCF is planning to amend the state law so they will be able to vaccinate children held by the state.