Editorial #246: Getting Autistics Off the Dole

Think about this carefully. Schools are diagnosing autism where autism doesn’t exist so they can get funding to care for special needs students which may not really be special needs.  Some of these kids may be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and are growing up to claim that because they have these disorders, they are disabled and cannot work.

So our tax dollars are going to pay for these people to be on disability.

Autism Politico’s opinion is that everyone who is diagnosed with any kind of disability for which they may become eligible for disability payments needs to have a thorough exam by accredited medical professionals to determine whether they even have that disability. 

If it turns out that the people claiming certain disabilities do not have them, then they should be denied disability payments, and the school districts which applied for funds on their behalf should be required to return them to the federal government. Also, given that people with these falsely diagnosed disabilities benefitted from special accommodations made by the school, they should be made to pay some compensation, perhaps even going as far as to retake school courses without assistance to see if they can achieve the same results without accommodations, like every other student who does not get them.

Also, people falsely diagnosed should have the right to sue their schools for compensation after being exploited for so long, and they should have the right to sue their parents for being complicit in such activities.

It is time to stop favoring people who are falsely diagnosed. It will save taxpayers money, get people off the government dole, and cause falsely diagnosed people to work harder for a living.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #245: Personal Privacy Breach

Autism Politico would just like to point out the hypocrisy of the people within the autism rights movement who bemoan the breach of privacy that occurred when an autism organization’s laptop was stolen but continue to ignore the autism registry in New Jersey which compels doctors to register autistics without their consent.

In yet another data breach, it was recently discovered that a laptop containing sensitive information about 80 children with Asperger’s syndrome was stolen from Asperger’s Children and Carers Together (ACCT).

It has also been learned that the laptop was stolen from an employee’s house last December, and that it carried names, addresses and key medical information about these children.

Not surprisingly, the Information Commissioner’s office reacted quite sharply by calling the incident a violation of the Data Protection laws, and asked the charity to ensure that in the future “information is encrypted”.

Autism Politico almost wishes that the stolen personal information belonged to the people at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network who supported the New Jersey autism registry. Lots of children are having THEIR privacy rights violated by having them signed up for the registry without their consent, but no one cares.

And if you’re reading this and do nothing about it, you don’t care either.

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 #242: Jail Gary McKinnon

Autism Politico is tired of hearing autism activists whine about how poorly Gary McKinnon is being treated. Due to the intricacies of diplomacy, he seems to be treated with kid gloves.

But no more, thank goodness!

Campaigners had hoped the President would halt the legal proceedings because of the Asperger’s sufferer’s precarious mental state.

But Mr Obama – despite previously saying he wanted to find an ‘appropriate solution’ to end the computer hacker’s ordeal – effectively endorsed the extradition process.

Some autistics believe that autism is a minority, not a disability, not a diagnosis. terrific! Then let justice take its course and try McKinnon as any other person of any racial or ethnic background would be tried.

Autistics know right from wrong don’t they? Or is not knowing right or wrong something particular to their “minority?”

Perhaps it is time from autistics the world over to write those autism advocates who support McKinnon and tell them to stop before they give all autistics a bad name.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #241: How to Get Along In School Without Getting Beat Up

Autism Politico believes it may have learned how to get along in school without getting beat up.

You see, in most school situations there is an autistic thing to do, and there is a social thing to do. If you are autistic, you need to decide what is worth getting beat up over and what isn’t, and how much pain you stand to endure if you decide to do the autistic thing instead of the social thing.

QUESTION: Some kid needs to borrow a paper, pen or pencil. What do you do?

THE AUTISTIC THING TO DO:  Don’t give them anything! If they aren’t prepared, they cannot do their work, and if they cannot do their work, you stand to get a higher grade than they do. By not giving them anything, you are putting them in the line of fire from the teacher, who will surely reprimand them for not being prepared. By not giving them anything, you are preparing them for the real world, where unprepared people are fired from their jobs.  Whole companies have fallen because people like these infest workplaces like termites infest logs.

THE SOCIAL THING TO DO: Give them what they need. By not giving them anything, the teacher will reprimand you for not being friendly to your fellow student. By not giving them anything, you will be going against the code of the workplace, which is that you carry the weak along with the strong to make yourself look good in front of your boss. Even though whole companies have fallen thanks to people like these, people like these, who have learned to schmooze off of others rather than work for a living, have a habit of climbing up the ladder and hiring people like you. They have learned to climb because they have learned to wheedle people into doing their work for them. You, on the other hand, who actually do the work, get fired by wheedlers because you are a threat to them.

QUESTION: You are taking a quiz, A kid in school wants to copy your answers. What do you do?

THE AUTISTIC THING TO DO: Don’t give them the answers! By not giving them the answers, they may get a lower grade than you, and you have EARNED the grade, so you DESERVE a higher grade. By not giving them the answers, it forces them to ask other kids and risk being caught by the teacher. By not giving them he answers, it forces them to learn the answers for themselves.

THE SOCIAL THING TO DO: Give them the answers. Remember, these people are going to excel up the ladder in the workplace and become your future employers, so you need to give them every boost you can. Further, by now you’ve noticed that teachers harp on you for every little thing -mostly because they don’t like you- but overlook the fact that your question-asker beats the crap out of you nearly every single day on the playground. Do you really think the teacher -who doesn’t want to get involved with your bully’s parents any more than they have to- is going to want to catch your bully when they try to copy your answers? This is the age of social promotion and feel good education, where it doesn’t matter what kind of grades you get as long as you have good self-esteem. No one is going to “catch” your bully trying to cheat, and you stand to get into detention if you nark on your bully.

QUESTION: You see some bully beating up some kid on the playground. What do you do?

THE AUTISTIC THING TO DO: Tell the teacher! You’ve been beat up so you know how bad it feels. Do you really want some other kid to feel as badly as you did when you got beat up?

THE SOCIAL THING TO DO: Look at what the rest of the non-autistic kids are doing. They are yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” This is because they know that this is the social thing to do. By joining in, they are held in good esteem by the bully (who will one day be their future employer), and we already know that the teachers do not want to have to talk to the bully’s parents again. So when you go to the teacher, the teacher will tell you not to tattle-tale, and then treat you poorly thereafter because since you told, they MUST get involved.

Autism Politico believes that the autistic way is the way to go, but then, we also notice that most autism advocacy organizations go with the social thing to do, unless they themselves are the victim, and then they cry like babies.

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 #237: Stem Cell Clinic Closes After Baby Death

Autism Politico is aware that

Europe’s largest stem cell clinic, which is at the centre of a scandal over the death of a baby given an injection into the brain, has been shut down.

What does this have to do with autism? Well…

Experts in stem cell research had accused the clinic of preying on vulnerable patients, desperately seeking a cure for such illnesses and diseases as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, autism, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

As usual, Autism Politico is of the opinion that parents who wish use treatments not approved of by their governments on their children should try these treatments on themselves first. We hold this opinion because we know that any parent who loves their child wouldn’t think of subjecting their children to treatments which are not only potentially fatal, but are also not government approved.

Or maybe we’re wrong…

The clinic had come under increasing scrutiny following the death of an 18-month-old boy in August last year, in a case first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph. The child, who was from Romania, was injected in the brain with stem cells but suffered internal bleeding. Three months earlier, a boy aged 10 from Azerbaijan had almost died when the same procedure went wrong.

You never know what parents will do. But Autism Politico wonders if there is some kind of diagnosis in the DSM IV that describes parents who do such things? Will the parents who brought their children to the clinic be charged with child endangerment?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #236: When Is a Minority Not a Minority?

Autism Politico is aware that there is an autism advocacy group out there who wants the United Nations to declare autistics a minority group. The movement started a long time ago when 1 in 166 people had some form of autism.

Over the years, the figure has changed as more and more people become diagnosed.

In South Korea, it is now believed that 1 in 38 kids have some form of autism.

A study in South Korea suggests about 1 in 38 children have traits of autism, higher than a previous U.S. estimate of 1 in 100.

Of course part of this study was based on a parental survey, and we all know that parents are the least objective when evaluating their own children. However, assuming the results are true…

Autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations should be campaigning to have the following groups granted minority status:

People who have…

Sickle-cell anemia because it affects 1 in every 500 African-American births and 1 in every 1000 to 1400 Hispanic-American births.

Cystic Fibrosis because it affects 1 in 2000-3000 new borns.

Fragile X syndrome because it affects 1 in 3600 males and 1 in 4000 to 6000 females with full mutation worldwide.

Huntington’s disease because in Western countries, it’s estimated that about five to seven people per 100,000 are affected by HD.

All these diseases, like autism, are genetic in origin. All are more rare.

Of course the other thing autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations can do is shut their mouths to keep themselves and the autism community from looking stupid. But it doesn’t look like that is going to happen anytime soon.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #232: Hey Autism Advocacy Organizations! Pick a Side!

Autism Politico knows autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations read this blog because we’ve seen you talking about us in your groups, pages, forums, and chat rooms, and so if you are a member of an autism advocacy organization, or a supporter of an autism advocate, or have given your money or time to one, or bought a book written by them, you may want to ask them why they aren’t commenting on anything that is written here.

Autism Politico knows why it is. We make them nervous. That’s why. And today we are going to make them nervous again.

Autism Politico is not going to tell its readers where it stands on the issue of abortion, but will instead ask autism advocacy organizations to declare where they stand on this issue.

The reason we’re doing this is because we’re tired of hearing pro-choice advocates and pro-choice members of autistic advocacy organizations whining in pitiful tones about how terrible it is that a genetic test for autism will soon allow women to abort fetuses with autistic DNA. The view that these advocacy organizations seem to have is that abortion is the greatest thing in the world as long as it’s only fetuses with neurotypical DNA that are getting the chop.

That hacking a fetus to pieces may be immoral, unethical, or irreligious never seems to enter their heads. That a woman seeking an abortion might have been raped never seems to enter their heads either.

In other words, autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations seem to want to have it both ways. They want to preserve the rights of autistic fetuses. They want to preserve the rights of women to choose whether or not to have an abortion, but they don’t give a crap about neurotypical fetuses (and if you think of it, the more neurotypicals that don’t get born, the more the population of autistics will increase if elective abortions of autistic fetuses is banned).

And so Autism Politico is calling upon all the autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations to take a stand and declare themselves. We want them to give us definitive statements like:

“We are against the elective abortion of autistic fetuses, but we strongly support the right of women to abort fetuses with neurotypical DNA.”

or

“As long as it’s only neurotypical fetuses getting chopped to pieces, we don’t care.”

The issue is a simple one. You simply tell people what you think. Why are we bring this up now? Because the issue is coming to the forefront:  Some states in the US are now cutting funds to women’s clinics.

Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana said Friday that he would sign a bill cutting off Medicaid financing for Planned Parenthood, a move that lawmakers in several states have begun pondering as a new approach in the battle over abortion. Indiana becomes the first state to go forward.

<snip>

 Indiana’s bill includes other provisions aimed at limiting abortion. Among them: a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in most cases rather than an earlier standard of viability, which was often determined by doctors to be several weeks later. Several states, including Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, have recently set earlier limits.

The time for autism advocates and autism advocacy organizations to make a name for themselves by either supporting or fighting against these measures is now. But you will not see them make a move. Why? because they want your money and your support, that’s why. And when they get your money, what they will advocate against is the selective abortion of autistic fetuses, thereby limiting a women’s choice. This is what is called neurodiversity.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #229: Thank you Donna!

Autism Politico wants to thank Donna Williams for commenting on one of our posts.

We’ll insert the link to our post here in case anyone wants to go back and read it: https://autismpolitico.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/

Here is what Donna said:

Everyone is entitled to their viewpoint. We’re pleased Donna has expressed hers.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.