Musings and What-not

Good Morning America is doing a great job raising awareness for autism.  I've already mentioned their OnCall+Autism series. Today, the released a report about how the government is now examining the link between vaccines and autism.  It also appears that this examination may be looking at mitochondrial disorders as the "culprit". Government health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health, met in Indianapolis Sunday to discuss whether cellular diseases known as mitochondrial disorders should be considered in research on autism. At the heart of the issue for many specialists and concerned parents is whether vaccines -- suspected by some people as being a cause of autism -- might trigger mitochondrial disorders, which lead to autism. One of the people at the meeting in Indianapolis was Jon Poling, father of 9-year old Hannah Poling, who was diagnosed with autism after receivin...

I just finished reading today's article for GMA's OnCall+Autism entitled The Dangers of Autism . The article begins with a former college student, Lianne Willey, recounting a time when she sought out the assistance of an officer, only to have that trust betrayed. GMA's Radha Chitale goes on to discuss the many dangers people on the spectrum encounter due to their failure "to recognize warning signs". But visible harm isn't the only danger Radha speaks of.  There are other dangers, lurking about, hidden from view. One of them is seizures. {The following is not an anti-vaccines piece.  It's just me taking a moment... to remember a child.} According to Gina Tembenis, her son, Elias, began having seizures "after receiving 4 shots that contained 9 diseases all in one day".  She also attributed his autism to the vaccines. We were in the ICU for two or three days and when we finally left, what I had stated to the police officer, to the people registerin...

Luke Skywalker called.  He wants his Landspeeder (hovercraft) back.  {sigh}  He's such a brat!  I need to take one more spin 'round the block then, maybe , I'll give it back to him.  {sigh} Do you know what's sad? I can't even say, "I googled it" anymore when I'm asked where I find information to blog about. Why is that, you ask? Seems that folks are using it as their sole source to find data, and I ain't mentioning any names. No!  I won't say! I.  Can't.  Hear.  You.       (la la la la la la la la) I'll be serious for a moment. I'm glad more of us, on the other side of the lawn, are stating that there are other contributing factors to autism... besides vaccines. I believe that the folks blaming them for their child(ren)'s autism are actually doing us more harm than good, because now we have a whole new set of parents becoming paranoid about vaccinating their children. I don't think this is helping our cause at all. In fac...

A wicked cool Twitter, @autismfamily , brought this series to my attention today.  She's a wealth of information for autism, and I suggest you check out her blog and her online editorial . She tweeted about Good Morning America doing a feature on autism this morning entitled, "10 Myths about Autism: Experts examine the Misconceptions about Autism". She also told followers about ABCNews's upcoming OnCall+ series on Autism.   So, check it out . Looks to be interesting.