Editorial #264: The Dreaded DSM V

Autism Politico is aware that the DSM V is going to be revised. Soon, it will lump the five autism categories into one, thereby voiding previous diagnoses.

While we think this is an excellent way to get rid of people who don’t deserve to be spectrumized (such as people diagnosed by school psychologists for the purpose of getting funding for special needs students who are not really on the spectrum) our greater concern is about the people advocating for a reinstatement of the spectrum categories.

In looking at the self-diagnosed individuals who are in an uproar over this, Autism Politico thinks they should butt out. They haven’t been officially diagnosed yet, ergo nothing that happens in regard to the DSM V is of interest to them.

The good news for them is this: Now that the DSM V is introducing one broad sweeping category for autism, it should be easier than ever for self-diagnosed people to finally get diagnosed. If they fail to get a diagnosis once the DSM V goes into effect, then we can pretty much toss them off our radar for good, don’t you think?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

 

 

Editorial #263: Holmes And Asperger Syndrome? Part II

The following is editorial satire meant to make people THINK about how silly they sound when they support both alleged criminal behavior and actual criminal behavior, and use a diagnosis (real or imagined) to justify those behaviors. In no way is anything written here meant to mock or make light of the actual crimes (alleged or proven in court to have taken place). If anything, it is meant to provide empathy and support to those who have been victims of criminal behavior.

Neither this editorial or the previous one are meant to make fun of a particular person or a particular segment of society.

Autism Politico

Dear Autism Politico readers… The breeze of letters that has found its way into our mailbox regarding the alleged mass-shooting by suspect James Holmes continues….

Dear Newspaper,

If accused shooting suspect James Holmes was a Brit, we wouldn’t extradite him either.

Signed, an avid Gary McKinnon supporter.

Dear Newspaper,

I am the founder and face of ASS. ASS stands for Aspies Against Sense. As the leader of this organization, it is my duty to write a letter in which I offer sympathy to the victims of James Holmes, deny that Holmes was an Aspie, and cry about the plight of media mis-representation about Asperger Syndrome on television.

As I write this, I know that I am a hypocrite. As soon as I send this letter off, I am going to go into Facebook and hint that there is a possibility that James Holmes was a member of my organization’s online forums, and then put up a link to those forums. I’m going to do this because I know it will draw new members to my organization.

Next, when a bunch of concerned parents and concerned Aspies on Facebook point out my hypocrisy, I am going to get a bunch of my organization’s members to cite them for “Spamming” so that Facebook will delete their accounts. After that, I am going to find out their offline names, home addresses, and home phones, and run a concentrated conspiracy to harass them and their children.

I am writing this letter publicly so that there is no doubt in the minds of my organization’s members as to where I truly stand even though I may APPEAR to stand in the opposite corner. I don’t need to do this, really. My hypocrisy has been in existence as long as my organization has been in existence. But, some of the people that belong to my organization have crap for brains, and might get confused if they feel I have shifted my mandate, which is, in a few short words: to bolster my own ego, and also to get people to hit their Paypal button and donate money to my own pocketbook.

Signed:

The President of ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

This is a letter which doesn’t actually say anything and is designed to make it look like people with my point of view have the majority opinion regarding the James Holmes shooting. If people like me spam your newspaper, our agenda will succeed.

Signed:

An ASS.

P.S. What’s your phone number? I want to call you.

Dear Newspaper,

I think it is important to explain why it is that we self-diagnosed Aspies react negatively when supposed educated readers cite facts and sources to support their arguments.

As you all know, whenever we -that is to say, people who are self-diagnosed, like myself- support mass shooting suspects, it’s because we can fall back on newspaper articles and editorials, where unqualified people have offered vague, unsubstantiated opinions, and we can draw on those opinions to support our arguments. And so, if some NBC commentator suggests that James Holmes is an Aspie, we sail in and support Holmes by saying such things as “In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

And when we make that statement, we make it a point to avoid stating that the newspaper article wasn’t an article at all, but a letter to the editor, in which someone claiming to be an authority in the area of autism spectrum disorders made a statement without citing sources. Further, we fail to state that the person who wrote the letter was a member of an autistic advocacy organization, a person who never actually went to college, never studied autism spectrum disorders, was never diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, but claims to be self-diagnosed on his or her blog.

Facts and sources are a threat to us because they cannot easily be disputed. How can we self-diagnosed Aspies collect enough money to fund a study that combats the hundreds of other studies which disprove our theories. Instead, we must meet these threats head-on by saying things that sound good, but are as tasty to our brains as air is to soft-serve ice-cream. If we SOUND intelligent, by using words such as “percent”, “article,” and “study” but never cite the source, or use the true value of the percentage, people won’t bother to look up our sources and percentages when REAL scientists and researchers cite REAL facts and give REAL percentages, because the soundbites that we have given sound sufficient.

For example: Which sounds better?

“In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

Or…

“In 2006 in the the Fowler’s Corner Gazette, a letter to the editor, written by Aspies Against Sense (ASS for short) stated that a phone survey among five ASS members resulted in one person saying that he became violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

You people need to understand that we are selfish individuals who cannot accept what research really shows, and so when you quote the American Psychological Association at us, or the Centers for Disease Control, or the like, it’s really a problem for us because it threatens everything we hold dear.

If, for example, it can be demonstrated through studies that the majority of people with Asperger Syndrome grow up to find jobs, have relationships, purchase, homes, etc., it means that those of us who are too lazy to do any of the above can’t as easily ask for handouts from sappy ignorant fools like the kind who support our organization. It means that, unless we can continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about ourselves, we will be forced to do what society does, i.e. go to school and get good grades, get jobs, get married, earn money, plan for our retirement, obey the law, obey society’s rules, etc.

And this is not something we like doing.

And so when someone like James Holmes goes on the rampage, this is why we try and leverage it to our advantage. In fact, just to make things more clear, we rage like maniacs because:

1) It perpetuates the idea that we are rude and don’t have empathy when we use a mass-shooting to leverage our own goals.
2) People might give us what we want, either out of fear, or out of pity.

Signed:

Someone who likes to abuse the system.

Dear Newspaper,

In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

Signed,

An ASS member.

Dear Newspaper,

James Holmes isn’t Aspie. Did Rainman ever go on a shooting spree and kill a dozen people? No. He can’t even make toast. Watch the movie, you putz.

Signed:

Yet another ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

All this stuff about James Holmes is causing people in my house to want to watch the TV. This cuts into my gaming time because my PS3 is wired to the television set.

So shut up already.

Signed:

A spectrumite (maybe).

Dear Newspaper,

For all you idiots who believe that World of Warcraft was responsible for James Holmes’s violent behavior and failure in some of life’s more common ventures, you should shut up.

I’m 29 years old and play World of Warcraft all the time. My recent job loss, my girlfriend walking out on me, my failing out of university… Those things were not related to World of Warcraft at all. I know this because those things all happened AFTER my mom took my video gaming access away from me last month, and threw me and my girlfriend out of the house last week.

To address the issue of violence…YES I’ve gotten angry with people, and maybe I shouldn’t have done some of the things I did last week, but my anger stems from my mother telling me that I have to start paying rent if I want to move back in and that she’s going to stop paying for my auto insurance no matter what. 

So it’s all separate. Don’t start blaming World of Warcraft.

Also, I’ve just been self-diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, so quit picking on me. If you keep it up, I will sue you for discrimination on the basis of the fact that I’m handicapped…And only I can use the word handicapped, because that’s what I am, but if YOU use the word, it’s offensive and politically incorrect.    

Signed:

The King of Warcraft

Dear Newspaper,

Here’s a word of advice to anyone who has been charged with a crime. The time to use Asperger Syndrome as a defense is quickly running out. Originally, when AS was first used as a defense, 1 in 166 people had it. Now it’s down to 1 in 80 or so. Some even say 1 in 50.

Well, if the draw for a potential jury panel is 50, there is a 1 in 50 shot that one member of your jury panel might have AS. If that Aspie is a law-abiding citizen, you’re screwed, because that Aspie will KNOW that people with AS are perfectly capable of obeying the law.

Further, there’s a good chance that, with all these diagnoses going on, other jury members might know someone who has AS, in which case you are equally screwed, because THEY will have seen Aspies behaving lawfully. They will either know, or intuit that statistically speaking, the majority of AS people don’t commit crimes.

So, basically, if you’re using AS for your criminal behavior, you might want to consider another diagnosis. Maybe another rare mental health diagnosis.

Here’s some good news: The DSM V is coming out with some new diagnoses we’ve never heard of before. Choose from there.

Signed,

A convicted criminal who used AS as a defense.

Dear Newspaper,

Ass Pees gud. Wood rite mor, butt cant spell.

Sined:

Self-digenossed Ass Pee.

Dear Newspaper,

I just want to write and say that despite the fact that many ASS members have criminal records, we should not distrust them, because their recidivist rate has been fairly low.

Another ASS member.

Dear Newspaper,

As a member of the neurodiversity movement, I must take exception to those of you who have spoken against mass-murder suspect James Holmes. In my opinion, Holmes was the victim of a society which fails to recognize the virtues of people who bravely shirk societal responsibilities in favor of computer games.

Without people who are addicted to gaming, whole corporations, like Sony and SEGA, would go out of business and lots of people would be out of work.

If you’ve read a lot of newspaper articles like I have, you know that it is believed that gaming is responsible for an upswing in juvenile diabetes and morbid obesity, because too many kids these days are sitting around playing video games and drinking soda pop instead of exercising. Do you people want to put an end to doctors by restricting computer gaming usage among our nation’s youth?

Now about this Asberger Syndrome thing…

It only makes sense that gamers are more likely to have Asbergers because… think of the way the name sounds. Ass and bergers. Gamers sit on their asses, and they probably eat a lot of hambergers. Hence, Asbergers.

Also, the spelling of the world Asberger is like a conjunction between Ass and berger.

Signed:

Another ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

I hope my letter puts an end to all this fussing about James Holmes.

I am an authority in the Aspie Rights political movement, and have made a name for myself by winning Dairy Queen’s award for eating the most ice cream cones before the onset of an ice cream headache, said award included allowing me to parade through town on a gigantic ice cream float while no one watched or cared.

Here are the facts about Asperger Syndrome:

As we all know, Asperger Syndrome was named in 1731 for Joe Asperger, an Italian Asperagus grower who was raised by fish in the canals of Venice.

When Asperger finally decided to come out of the water, he flapped his hands incessantly in a type of dog-paddle that has come to characterize the sort of stimming behaviors we see in some Aspies.

Is it any wonder that putting guns in the hands of such people would result in other people getting shot?

People don’t kill people. Guns kill people.

So give James Holmes a break if he’s an Aspie. If he’s not an Aspie, execute him.

Signed:

An ASS.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #251: We’re back! And Lisa Jo Rudy is Gone!

We at Autism Politico have come out of retirement because Lisa Jo Rudy is going into hers (in a manner of speaking). She says:

Note: as this is the last blog post I’m writing for this site, I have closed the post to comments.  To those of you who enjoyed reading my blogs, thanks so much for the kind words!

Autism Politico doesn’t know why Lisa Jo has ended the comments but knows that Lisa Jo has a habit of closing comments when people who emphatically disagree with her decisions or opinions post their opinions. Such was the case with the notorious Zoey Roberts article she posted.

Many people in Facebook forums are cheering the exit of Rudy, who, for the duration of her reign at Autism.About.com, never really seemed to have a firm opinion on anything, never really seemed to take a firm stance against unproven therapies, and sometimes seemed to make her readers wonder if her son was a guinea pig for autism treatments.

Even as she exists, she throws in some parting shots at the autism community which some people are interpreting as bitter:

Many people on the autism spectrum are amazing human beings.  Many are not.

says Rudy, seemingly in exasperation. Our counter to that is a restatement of something we picked up from a poster in a WrongPlanet community: ALL autistics are amazing, even if some of them behave like jerks.

So we see now how Rudy has viewed the community which she allegedly served.

Rudy says:

This so-called “autism community” includes some very scary people.  Beware of these people, and try not to allow them to influence the decisions you make on behalf of your children.  When sites like Age of Autism LITERALLY photoshop images of horns and tails onto people with whom they disagree, you can make a shrewd guess that they have an agenda that they are trying to push.

But she posts this unaware that there is a big brew-ha-ha going on right this minute across Facebook about a person she featured in one of her articles. This person has many different online aliases and is badgering people with them to the point where people are visibly angry. Rudy billed this person as an advocate. So while Rudy may say that AofA photoshops images of horns and tails onto people, Rudy may have knowingly or unknowingly pasted a halo onto person many people consider to be a demon.

Another nugget of wisdom from Ms. Rudy, who invites us to follow her on her new blog:

Gold-plated, double-blind, controlled, expensive studies may tell you far less than you think they should.

Yes, Lisa, let us all disregard these studies, which are put together by a scientific method which is accepted worldwide by researchers. Let us all reject these studies, which are done in such a manner as to reduce error ratios to a minimum, and quantifiable, reproducible results to a maximum. Let us ignore the fact that there is a control group. What we should want, Autism Politico gathers, is a random sampling of people who give vague opinions on things, and this should be our source of knowledge.

Autism Politico notices that Lisa Jo Rudy was always “open-minded” about ABA therapy, but now that she has no interest in Autism.About.com, she tells us that for HER child:

We specifically stayed away from ABA because, quite frankly, when it’s done poorly (and it often is) it is dehumanizing and disrespectful.  Worse, it is focused entirely upon behavior, and not upon the human being that is your child. 

Never in our recollection did she try to discourage other people from ABA. Autism Politico guesses that while she certainly would not expose her own kid to ABA, she didn’t care as much what other parents did with their kids.

Now Autism Politico must state that we do not believe Rudy is a bad person. We actually LIKE some of the things she has to say. For instance, when Rudy says:

The goal of autism therapies and treatments, in my opinion, should be to help the individual with autism to become as fully human as they can be.  Being “fully human” means so much more than being typical.  It means learning, loving, creating, imagining, laughing, playing, singing, being silly, having fun.

Autism Politico hears two things:

1) Rudy genuinely wishes the best for autistics.

2) And she must be naive, because she seems to think we are less than fully human.

Autism Politico is pleased that Lisa Jo Rudy, who has expressed the idea that we are not as fully human as others, is leaving. Good riddance, and goodbye.

And no, we will not be reading your new blog.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #248: Government Healthcare and What It Means for Quack Therapy Believers

Autism Politico can’t wait until national healthcare comes into effect in the US because it will mean that all the curbies who believe in quack treatments will be required to buy health insurance which will not pay for the treatments they want to get for the autistics they supposedly love and care for.

It’s adding insult to injury and boy does it feel good!

Won’t it be great to see them lobby the government for legitimizing those treatments and see the government turn a deaf ear on their pleas? Won’t it be great to see the more militant among their numbers being labeled as “threats”? It’s a good way to shut up these people, and hopefully it will put an end to the quack treatments too.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #243: Are schools your friend?

Autism Politico would like its readers to carefully the implications of schools diagnosing children with any disorder.

If a child has a disorder, a child may be entitled to additional funding to meet the educational needs of this special needs child. Autism Politico agrees that all children are entitled to an education and that all special needs students are entitled to whatever funding they may be entitled to under the law.

But Autism Politico also questions whether or not schools are qualified to make a diagnosis of any kind. They are not medical professionals. As far as autism goes, there are, under the DSM IV, different kinds of autism, and a medical diagnosis can take years, rather than hours or days to reach and accurate diagnose.

If a school can identify a child with special needs, then they must develop an IEP for that child within a specific time period, and they may apply for certain kinds of funding, depending on where these schools are situated. The amount of funding they are entitled to is also dependent on what the laws are in their locality.

In a time when cuts in funding are made to education, it seems that schools have additional motivation to secure funding wherever they can, and so the question arises as to whether or not children who are quickly diagnosed are properly diagnosed, or whether or not a diagnosis even exists.

While we as taxpayers can rest easy when we know our tax dollars are used for good purposes, when we see the number of autism diagnosis climb dramatically over a period of years, and when we see most of these diagnoses being made by schools rather than qualified medical professionals, can we continue to rest easily?

Could it be that schools are diagnosing special needs children so that they can make up for cuts in funding to regular education elsewhere?

A diagnosis follows someone the rest of their life the same way a conviction for a crime follows them for the rest of their lives.

Isn’t a false diagnosis under these circumstances the equivalent of exploitation of children for monetary gain? In which case, are schools our friends?

Keep in mind that when a child is diagnosed falsely, the parent of that child may believe the diagnosis and subject that child to all manner of legitimate and quack cures, causing themselves considerable expense, and causing their own child considerable trauma. All so that schools can make money.

Is this what we want from out schools?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #239: Heavy Metals in Makeup

Autism Politico would like all moms who believe that mercury causes autism to concede the possibility that the heavy metals in your cosmetics may have been absorbed into your system and poisoned your baby while it was  in-utero, thereby making the baby autistic.  

The group tested 49 makeup products and found all of them contained varying amounts of heavy metals, including one lip gloss which contained levels of arsenic and lead exceeding limits recommended by Health Canada.

But that’s not all:

Tests found that all of the products tested contained trace amounts of nickel, lead and beryllium. On average, products contained four of eight “metals of concern.” All but one of the products, however, contained metal amounts within Health Canada’s draft guidelines.

Maybe there’s mercury in there too?

One thing we must admit to…putting on makeup is a social thing. There really is no hygienic purpose for using it. So moms, in the interest of being social, you may have contributed to your kid’s autism. How does that make you feel?

Let’s hear you speak up!

Alternatively, you could get with the program and recognize that autism is genetic. It;s what the rest of the world has believed since 2007.

The discovery was part of the largest genome scan ever attempted in autism research. Called the Autism Genome Project, the initiative involved 137 researchers from 50 institutions in nine countries, including Canada.

 Working together, the scientists were able to share samples, data, and expertise to analyze DNA from about 1,600 families worldwide.

Of course we know most mercury-causes-autism people (the flat-earthers of our generation)  refuse to entertain the idea that they might be wrong. But we just thought that if you anti-vaxers are willing to sue doctors, governments, and vaccine manufacturers for “causing” autism in your kids, perhaps you’d like to sue yourselves for wearing makeup with heavy metals in them, because you could be just as guilty as you think the vaccine manufacturers supposedly are.

By the way, why don’t you people who wear makeup subject yourselves to chelation therapy?  You might become autistic if you don’t.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #228: Europe and France Hit By Measles

Autism Politico has read that Europe and France are being hit by measles.

Europe, especially France, has been hit by a major outbreak of measles, which the U.N. health agency is blaming on the failure to vaccinate all children.

Well, what did you expect?

The World Health Organization said Thursday that France had 4,937 reported cases of measles between January and March — compared with 5,090 cases during all of 2010. In all, more than 6,500 cases have been reported in 33 European nations.

It doesn’t sound like much…yet. But what if…what if…the virus, thanks to incubation in its hosts,  mutates so that it becomes resistant to vaccines? Then there night be trouble. Of course, we have no idea if this will happen or not. We are not doctors, but…what if?

But vaccination rates across Europe have been patchy in recent years and have never fully recovered from a discredited 1998 British study linking the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella to autism.

Question: Would this discredited 1998 British study be the one anti-vaxers still stand behind to this day? Could be.

Well, in the past, AP has reported about measles outbreaks, and not too many people paid attention.

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/editorial-94-just-spotted-in-ireland/

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/editorial-109-a-lesson-to-be-learned/

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/editorial-110-a-second-lesson-to-be-learned/

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/editorial-124-measles-outbreak-in-malawi/

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/editorial-141-next-time-it-could-be-you/

http://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/editorial-153-65-of-measles-cases-in-us-in-unvaccinated-people/

Maybe when measles comes knocking on your own doorstep, you WILL start paying attention.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.  

Editorial #221: Measles Deaths

Autism Politico is aware that over 210 people have recently died of  measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF – Medecins Sans Frontieres) warned on Monday that a measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo was spiralling out of control.

MSF said that more than 21,000 people have been infected and 210 have died since the outbreak was identified in September 2010, although it believes the death toll may be higher.

 One thing worth noting:

“Since September 2010 we have vaccinated more than 1.5 million children in response to the crisis. But the disease is spreading like wildfire.”

Autism Politico is happy that steps are being taken to try to prevent the spread of this disease, mourns those who have died, and isn’t interested in anti-vaxers who are convinced that measles isn’t harmful and that it is better to get measles than autism.

Measles can kill one to 15 percent of children who contract the disease among populations that have not been vaccinated, according to MSF.

Autism does not kill, except when caregivers murder autistics, or lax caregivers allow their kids to drown, get run over by trains, or fall out of windows (which seems to happen quite often to autistics despite the fact that they are such a small percentage of the population – but then again, maybe many of these caregivers want these autistics to die – there are so many parents on online forums who have expressed such sentiments. But too be fair, some neurodiversity activists have been known to cheer when unvaccinated people die because for them it means that the fittest are surviving while the anti-vaxers are dying off.).

Vaccines seem to have been shown to have nothing to do with autism, BTW, but Autism Politico has already written about that. The main thing we are trying to show here is how disease spreads out of control when people do not vaccinate.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #219: Observation #10

Autism Politico observes that anti-vaxers don’t seem to be panicking over the fact that Japan’s nuclear reactors are sending lots of radiation into the atmosphere and sea.

Could radiation cause autism? It’s not such a stretch to think so if one is ignorant of the effects of radiation exposure. After all, Hollywood made a lot of money in the fifties with the so-called big bug movies. The insects in most of the stories were either dosed with radiation or slurped up a lot of toxic sludge. Only a dozen of those movies would ever have been made if people did not buy into the false premises of the first couple of movies.

And let’s not forget that Spiderman became Spiderman because he was bit by a radioactive spider. There have been generations of comic books about Peter Parker because kids and adults either believe or want to believe that a radioactive spider can produce a superhero.

Too bad people don’t believe the same about autistics. It seems people are more interested in weeding them out of the human genome.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #218: New Hope for Autistics???

Autism Politico has discovered a new study says the following:

Recently, it was discovered that autistic children whose parents accept them just the way they are have higher self-esteem and increased motivation to love, honor and respect their parents.

“On the other hand” says Joe Scientist “If you try to lock them in enclosed chambers and blast them with air, or jam coffee up their butts, or feed them horrible tasting food which claims not to have gluten in it but actually has more gluten in it than foods that admit to having gluten in them, or hit them when they do something wrong, or subject them to electroshock therapy, autistics have a tendency to act out even more than ever, although we haven’t been able to draw any conclusions about why that may be seeing as we have less intelligence than most autistics as tested by the Ravens Progressive Matrices Test, but we suspect it’s just because they are little more than dumb animals with crap for brains.”

Actually, no such study exists. But if it did, would you believe it?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.