Autism
ABC TV’s new series, The Slap, is getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so. It’s Australian drama that’s true to life, featuring all the stereotypical folk we see in backyard barbeques any weekend across suburban Australia, but featuring real-life dialogue. There’s the wog, the hippy, the slob, the cheater, and the cute young thing. But no backyard barbeque these days would be complete without a kid with autism.
So I’m calling it. Hugo’s family is one of the half a million Australian families who live with Autism or one of its variants – known as being “on the spectrum”. I’m no psych, but that’s not gonna stop me from flinging around my experience and attitude.
My ears pricked up in the opening scenes where the adorable looking kid with the mop of hair was banging around on the cupboards with wooden spoons. Kids on the spectrum often seek input by making their own noises, and ones that the rest of us find obnoxious, repetitive and annoying fit the bill (I know of a family who has to listen The Wiggles “Big Red Car” at Every. Single. Mealtime).
Continue reading "When children are off the spectrum of good behaviour" »
The final in a three-part series exposing the fraudulent link between autism and vaccination is out today.
Read about the first part here, and the second part here.
The three authors of a British Medical Journal editorial accompanying the final part argue that science is “our best way of knowing”, despite the numerous people and systems at fault for perpetuating the myth that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination is linked to autism in children.
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LC says:
Damnit, not again. “The “no mandatory vaccinations under the age of 5” is to buy time to determine if there is any actaul reason that they should be vaccinated.” That should read “if there is any actual reason that they should NOT be vaccinated”. Read more »
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LC says:
@Syl “Whats the point of giving the choice before the age of 5 but forcing them to vaccinate after? We should be protecting them from preventable dieases from the get go, afterall, under this scheme, they are going to be vaccinated eventually (extenuating circumstances aside)” The “no mandatory vaccinations under… Read more »
The link between autism and vaccines is dead, and should be buried.
However, that destructive little idea received a couple of good, hard kicks last week - the violence of which may have given the illusion that some life was left in the debate.
Many have been blamed for keeping the myth going, and now an author and expert is also blaming the media, who he says perpetuated the myths through a mistaken sense that they were being balanced.
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Adelaide Dad says:
So where is this double blind power study (10,000 kids - independent of any pharmaceutical co.) that suggests vaccines don’t cause autism or is it still anecedotal evidence by doctors protecting their agency? or would it not be proper to vaccinate 5000 kids to save 1:100 from getting this debilitating… Read more »
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rb says:
@ St M. I have no idea what the % are. When I was discussing the vacc schedule with a doctor I said I felt better with oral vaccs as I felt that the immune response in the mouth was part of the normal defence vs putting it straight into… Read more »
The British Medical Journal has devoted an editorial to stating that an article published in popular medical journal The Lancet in 1998 linking childhood vaccination with autism “was in fact an elaborate fraud.”
The Lancet had already retracted the article by Andrew Wakefield early last year, but BMJ now sought to totally discredit the “study”, which led to a decline in the triple vaccination of measles, mumps and rubella in Britain as well as in the United States and Australia.
Sadly, despite the strength of the BMJ articles - brought on by the work of Sunday Times investigative journalist Brian Deer - there will still be people who will not only ignore it but view it as further evidence of the conspiracy.
Continue reading "There is, unfortunately, no vaccine against stupidity" »
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LC says:
So take a guess at what would happen should you have caught the full-strength version of that virus… Read more »
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LC says:
@Davido, Yeah sorry. I’ll tell you another good reason to vaccinate. Aside from this whole thing called herd immunity, there is also this thing called MUTATION. If your child contracts measles, and the virus mutates, this new virus can infect everyone regardless of whether or not they were vaccinated against… Read more »
I have always been a great communicator. Sometimes excessively so.
My first report card – in kindy - said “Josie talks too much.” I am known to like a good chat.
I even studied “Communications” at uni and my job demands constant interaction with people.
Continue reading "Communication shutdown to promote understanding" »
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agxqpmh says:
2Nksnl xyebzybqacxl, ogwhrsdsenre, [link=http://jugxtxghbnlq.com/]jugxtxghbnlq[/link], http://mkbotvwygnes.com/ Read more »
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ronnielo o. encarnacion says:
its about time we have this kind of project….whose main purpose is to increase the level of awareness about children with special needs specially those with autism. conratulations and more power to the men and women of communication shutdown and the likes of josie gagliano, may your tribe increse…. Read more »
Not long ago Lateline did an excellent job of taking apart the Australian Vaccination Network, a group (group being a strong word) of anti-vaccination zealots posing as an information service. In the US the debate has a much more Hollywood vibe, with the most public faces of the don’t jab your kids movement being mega-star Jim Carey and his ex Jenny McCarthy.
McCarthy has made a career out of warning people vaccination is linked to Autism - a claim that’s been widely and profoundly discredited. But elsewhere in Hollywood someone is fighting back. Check out this video, which was posted on YouTube last month.
West Wing tragics will know the comedians Penn and Teller, who have a show in the US called “Bullshit!”. They’ve called Bullshit! on the anti-vaccination brigade in a short and powerful sketch. It’s worth a watch (*strong language warning).
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LC says:
Maybe, for the sake of balance, you’ll share their -correct- views on conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, the Moon Landing and the JFK assassination, alien abductions, ESP, young-earth creationism, the death penalty, video game violence and the goings-on at Area 51? Furthermore, climate skepticism is backed up by thousands of scientists… Read more »
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Seano says:
I don’t count conspiracy theoriests and their theories as sensible argument. Read more »
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