Editorial #114: Breathe Deep Before Reading

Autism Politico would like you to carefully consider the following extract from an article:

Saskatchewan’s other hyperbaric chamber is at the Moose Jaw Union Hospital, but it’s only available for officially recognized uses of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. There are 13 uses listed by Health Canada, such as treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, embolisms (air or gas bubbles in the bloodstream) and enhanced healing for certain wounds and burns.

Saskatchewan’s “first” hyperbaric oxygen chamber is privately owned by people who are putting it up for sale. At first the couple was using it for a family member. When the family member died, they were letting other people use it. Can you guess what for??? Well, one family was using it for their autistic children apparently.

But…but…but…given that:

The therapy has also been used for a number of other conditions — including cerebral palsy, autism and multiple sclerosis — but is considered “alternative” because it’s not scientifically recognized as effective.

Wouldn’t that mean that the people who owned the machine were using it to administer treatments that were not approved by Health Canada?

Just a thought.

Here are a few more:

1) If you had the option to try a treatment that was not approved by the government authorities in your country, nor by what ever medical association that represents doctors, would you do it?

2) Would you let your kids do it?

Put another way: If some guy tried to sell you a cure-all for you or your kids off the back of a wagon, would you buy it from him?

Then why would you try a treatment that is not approved by the government or medical associations of your country?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #113: A is for Autism

Autism Politico wants to remind everyone that autism is elementary.

It has been named. It has been studied. It has been written about, reported on, and discussed.

Scientists all over the world say that autism is genetic in origin.

You can find information on autism in medical manuals, and most doctors know what autism is, even if they may not be able to say with 100% certainty how autism presents itself.

While it is hard to believe that there are still some people out there who are unfamiliar with autism, these people do exist.

While it is hard to believe that some parents do not know where to find information on how to raise their autistic children, it happens.

While it is hard to believe that some school districts do not develop effective IEPs for people with autism, there are a lot of instances of this happening.

In the civilized world, ignorance of autism ought not to exist, but it does.

If you are reading this and don’t know anything about autism, please try to learn about it.

If you are reading this and believe yourself to know quite a bit about autism, please try to learn more. Knowledge of autism can be beneficial to those who don’t have enough.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #112: The Skinny on Obesity

Autism Politico ants to know what people’s opinions are on an article entitled “Should Obese Children Be Put In Foster Care.”

“Childhood obesity can be seen as a failure to adequately care for your children by failing to provide a healthy diet and sufficient activity, whether through direct neglect or more subtly through an inability to deny children the pleasures of energy dense fast food and television viewing,” the experts write in a paper published online Wednesday by the British Medical Journal.

There is always a question of what does and does not amount to neglect. Some people simply have body types or conditions that do not allow them to burn off calories effectively. It is perfectly possible that people can consume less than the recommended daily caloric intake for their height but still gain weight.

 

Still, there are certainly cases of people packing in the food.

 

Autism Politico is not going to try to answer the question of whether or not obese children should be placed in foster care, but we are going to ask a few questions.

 

Given that obese people have now fallen under the radar screen of other people who believe that obesity should be dealt with…

 

1) Should bullies be put in foster care? After all, their parents obviously cannot stop them from bullying.

 

2) Should children whose parents subject them to quack therapy be put in foster care? After all, their parents don’t seem to mind endangering them by subjecting them to therapies that are not government approved.

 

3) Should children whose parents let them watch movies that are not rated for children be put in foster care? After all, these parents are subjecting them to adult material which may contain graphic depictions of violence, sex, drug use, and abuse.

 

4) Should over-medicated children be put in foster care? After all, their parents don’t seem to care what prescription drugs might be doing to the brains and bodies of their children.

 

5) Should children who are not vaccinated be put in foster care? After all, parents don’t seem to care whether or not their kids are exposed to diseases which may kill them, sterilize them, main them, or otherwise affect them.

 

These are questions worth considering, and if any parents read this, Autism Politico would be interested in knowing why you think potentially abusive behavior such as the kind that is described above is acceptable in your household.

 

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #111: More problems for the anti-vaccine people.

Autism Politico is pleased to to discover the following:

The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) ordered the Australian Vaccination Network to put a warning on its website after a report concluded the group had been using it to promote “inaccurate and misleading” information to parents.  

Nobel Prize winner and Professor of Immunology at the University of Melbourne, Peter Doherty described the campaign by the AVN to urge parents not to have their children vaccinated, as a “crime against humanity”.  

Need we say more?

Autism Politico will say this much: As the world sees a resurgence of diseases which maim and/or sterilize/ and or kill people, we can either hope or bet that governments will be coming down harder and harder on anti-vaccination supporters who urge people NOT to get vaccinated.

As this government ruling shows, anti-vaxers, either because of their own tactics, or because of the resurgence of diseases, will be ignored, refuted, censored, or flat out told to be quiet, if not by people on the street, then by the world’s governments.

If this happens, then like a disease that infects people who refused to get vaccinated, they will have brought it on themselves.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #110: A second lesson to be learned.

On the heels of our post on the measles deaths in Africa, Autism Politico would like to remind folks that there is a whooping cough epidemic going on in California. As of July 9th, 5 infants have died. One article says:

California Department of Public Health spokesman Ken August said as of June 30, there have been 1,337 reported cases of whooping cough in California. About 700 more cases are being investigated by local health departments.

It was reported July 6th, that California officially declared the epidemic.

The whooping cough outbreak that has been sweeping across the nation was officially declared an epidemic by the California Public Health Department and officials warned the spread of the disease is on pace to set a new record for the rate of illnesses and deaths.

<snip>

Whooping cough is a cyclical disease with cases peaking every few years. However, state health officials said the rate of infection for this year has been growing at such a rapid rate that it will likely hit a level that hasn’t been seen in 50 years.

These are things to remember if you haven’t vaccinated your children or yourself.  People having concerns about vaccines should discuss them with medical professionals, but study after study has shown that autism is not caused by vaccines. Further, which would you rather have even IF autism was caused by vaccines, a vaccinated kid on the spectrum, or an unvaccinated dead kid?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #109: A Lesson to Be Learned

Autism Politico just wants to suggest to those who still refuse to face the reality that vaccines do NOT cause autism that they ought to consider taking a look at the measles outbreak in southern Africa which has killed 758 people as of June 30th, 2010.

The article says:

A World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson warned that nearly all children in south and east Africa (95 per cent at least) had not received an immunisation against the virus.

One of the common refrains from twits in the developed world who would rather not vaccinate their children or themselves is that it builds immunity when someone fights the disease on their own rather than simply being vaccinated against a disease.

Well, you cannot build immunity when you’re dead.

No one can bring back the people who have died in Southern Africa, but their deaths can be used as a lesson for the living. Study after study has disproved the link between autism and vaccines, so there is no reason to fear that vaccines will cause autism.

Autism Politico hopes that people will wise up and care a little for themselves and their children.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #108: AS vs. Bipolar

Autism Politico notes that many criminals are using the “Asperger’s Made me do it” defense to defend themselves in court against any manner of crime that they have committed.

Now, in a bit of irony, Autism Politico learns that we have a “Bipolar made me do it” defense being used in the murder of an autistic.

Defence Lawyer Deanne Gaffar says Noyes is mentally ill and cannot be held criminally responsible for her actions. But the Crown intends to argue Noyes knew what she was doing.

A statement of fact entered by the Crown Monday revealed Noyes told police she’d stopped taking her medication for bipolar disorder two weeks before the slaying.

Autism Politico is curious to know what bipolar people have to say about this.

Four questions:

1)  Is it true that when bipolar people are off their meds, they do not know right from wrong?

2) Is it true that when bipolar people are off their meds they cannot prevent themselves from doing wrong?

3) Do all people who are bipolar need meds to keep them from committing murder?

4) Should all people with bipolar disorder be locked away to prevent them from committing crimes?

Autism Politico is the first to admit that is believes most autistics DO know right from wrong, and if autistics commit crimes, it is because they made a conscious choice to do so.

Can the same be said about people with bipolar disorder? Because if the answer is yes for most people, than most people with bipolar disorder should be sentenced for their crimes just as autistics should be sentenced for the crimes they commit.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #107: An NT’s View

After reading THIS opinion piece, I felt I had to write something myself:

Being NT Does Not Make Me Less of A Person

By A. Normal.

There’s something I have been broadcasting loudly since I was born. A couple years ago, I decided to shout it in the faces of retards and rejects alike. Why hide it? I’m grateful for having what I have. What is that thing, you ask? I’ll tell you: it’s being a neurotypical.

Yes folks, I’m an NT, and I want all retards and rejects to know it. If you want to try and pretend that you have the same right to a place on the sidewalk as I do, go ahead, but we know better don’t we? If you want to pretend you’re  a person and try to get me to know you, and try to get me to think you are not a weirdo, bug off. You know my label, and that gives you no rights in this world. This is why NTs are working on genetic tests to abort retards and rejects. You can try to change things, however, I challenge you to think long and hard about what you’re doing, you will not succeed. Millenia of history shows this. 

What if you’d written off some of history’s most prominent and influential figures for having neurotypicalism? Who would you have written off? Let’s see if you recognize some of the names on this list: Jenny McCarthy, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, er…uh…well, lots of people anyway.

You can’t deny the influence all of the above people had, and there are a lot of clinical psychologists that expect these people and so many more influential historical figures would have been labeled NT (or at the very least somewhere on the spectrum of “normal”). What if you wrote them off? How would the world be different today? Would we be as far behind in the sciences as we are? Would the arts have been held back as much as they have? What about the great literary works that could have been written and read had the above people spent less time in the spotlight and authors were given more reverence? How would the world be without the shallow, air-headed people? 

Sure, I have Neurotypicalism. I’m socially skilled and I’m just downright trendy, and I know it. I might come off as fickle or snobbish even. You probably have worse social skills than I do, but I can bet I can out-fashion your butt anyday. NT-ism is the cause of my substandard mind in addition to my social superiority. It’s both a curse and a blessing all at the same time, and I’m no less of a person than you are because of it. 

It’s time to wake up and reject neurodiversity. By the end of the day, I’m just as much of a person, and I’m every bit as good as an autistic, who should just be aborted before he or she is born anyway.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #106: In Memoriam 4

Yes, there has been another drowning of an autistic.

Autism Politico has these things to say and ask… 

1) If this was murder, it’s a crime.

2) If this is a case of an autistic wandering into water and drowning, then why was the autistic not better supervised?

3) If this was suicide, then why did it happen?

Suspicious about all these drowning deaths, don’t you think?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #105: Parenting linked to teen drinking habits

Autism Politico has read an article that says parenting is linked to teen drinking habits.

Ever notice how Autism Politico keeps reading all sorts of articles most parents have never read? You may want to ask yourself how parents can be so obtuse and if they really care about their children enough to parent them correctly.

But we digress.

The article says:

The results showed that parents who were “indulgent,” or big on warmth, but not so much on accountability (think, the “best friend” parent) tripled the risk of heavy drinking in their child, while parents who were “authoritarian,” or overly strict—high on accountability but low when it came to warmth—doubled their child’s risk. Teens whose parents had high levels of both warmth and accountability were the least likely to indulge in heavy drinking. This parenting style was classified as “authoritative.”

What a surprise! Who would have thought?

It seems that if you want to keep your kid from turning into a nuisance, you actually have to parent properly.

Food for thought.

Although one has to question the value of imbibing anything that will destroy one’s brain cells anyway. ANY parent who models that behavior is modeling self-destruction for their child.

Would you set and example for your child via the use of illegal drugs, drag racing, having unprotected sex, smoking, operating machinery without safety glasses, re-wiring electrical circuits with the power on?

If “friendship” with your child is more important than parenting,  then it pays to plan in advance. Please save up your money for stomach pumps, bailing your kid out of jail for drunk driving, and counseling. We don’t want to foot the bill for your irresponsibility.

In the meantime, you might want to ask yourself why you are so insecure that you need to drink to have a good time while socializing, and why your abilities to be social are so substandard, and why it is that you criticize autistics for being asocial when you are not much better at being social yourself.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.