Autism Dangers Result in Lives Lost to Autism

In Jabberwocky of the Day : Don't Speak Ill of Autism  MJ  has provided a clear and concise picture of the dangers that often accompany autism disorders.  He did so in response to a comment by Kevin Leitch, aka Kev,  at LBRB who has criticized Ginger Taylor for launching a new site called Lives Lost to Autism.  Mr. Leitch has a long history of romanticizing "autism" and criticizing anyone who views autism disorders as   ...  disorders.  I agree with MJ's critique of Kev's views as "just plain silly" in so far as they complain of unfairness to "autism" a mental disorder, not an entity or person. In describing the dangers that accompany autism disorders MJ states:

"Autism is not a good thing and has in fact directly caused many deaths.


Let me put it this way, if someone dies as a direct result of being shot would you try to claim that it was the bullet and not the person pulling the trigger that is to blame? In a similar fashion, autism robs people of abilities or facilities that they would normally be expected to have and it is this lack that can directly lead to death.


Autism can prevent children from understanding their environment and that lack of understanding can very easily be fatal. Autism can easily prevent people from being able to understand what effect their actions have on others and thus lead to their deaths. This likely happened in the case of Sky Walker - do you think he killed his mother or was it his autism that lead to her death?


I have seen many attempts to whitewash the spectrum but this one takes the cake".

I have added the bold emphasis in the above quote.  I have commented several times on this site of the time when my son Conor  left our home without me realizing he had gone. I had received a business call and was on the phone when he left. I thought I would hear him if he went out but I was wrong. When the call ended and I looked for Conor he was nowhere to be found.  I ran around our house and yard before calling 911 and being directed to a nearby convenience store. He had crossed a busy parking lot and street oblivious to the dangers of automobile traffic before a good citizen stopped and took him to the convenience store and safety.  As the adult responsible for him that day I felt intense fear and guilt that I will never, ever forget. Conor, because of his autistic disorder, does not understand and appreciate the many dangers of our everyday environment.  Autism is very, very dangerous for many autistic children.

In starting the Lives Lost to Autism site Ginger Taylor is performing a valuable service to autistic children and their families reminding us of the very dangerous realities that often accompany autism disorders.Thank you Ms Taylor. And thank you MJ for your clear statement about the realities of autism dangers. Kev, well, you have a good day Kev, And may you someday wake up and quit romanticizing autism disorders.

NOTE: Since publishing this comment I have also read, and recommend, Wade Rankin's discussion of this matter at LOST LIVES, CRIMINAL INDIFFERENCE, AND HYPOCRISY.  

Read more »

Autism "Is What It Is", More Silly Neurodiversity Nonsense from Kev

Kevin Leitch is up to his usual nonsense.  This time, at Opposing Views,  he asks whether "autism is a disability" and he gives his helpful answer that "autism is what it is, like the colour brown or the shape of a circle.  My reply to Mr. Leitch's silly comment on OV, edited slightly, follows:

"Kevin Leitch has asked whether "autism" is a disability. After asking this silly question he then gives a silly answer - autism is what it is, like the colour brown or the shape of a circle. His answer is meaningless.

For persons with mild Aspergers Disorder their "autism" may not be a disability.  For one of the 80% of persons witth Autistic Disorder who are intellectually disabiled and have communication deficits, their Autistic Disorder is obviously a disability.

For a child who wanders away to freeze to death in a  snow storm, or into automobile traffic or drowns in  local swimming pool,  autism is a disability.  For a child who bites his hands and wrists, chews the  cheeks of his mouth, starves himself to death because of extreme aversion to food tastes and textures autism is a disabililty. For the autistic adults who live in institutional  and residential care autism is a disability.  For the 80% of persons with Autistic Disorder who are intellectually disabled, autism is a disability.

Even Michelle Dawson, the former Canada Post employee, now an "autism researcher",  has acknowledged that autism is a disability when she filed a human rights complaint on the grounds of disability when CPC discriminated against her and harassed her on the grounds of her disability - her autism. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that Ms Dawson had been harassed because of her disability - her autism disability.

"[2] In her complaint, dated August 9, 2002, Ms. Dawson alleges that the Respondent discriminated against her on the basis of disability, in breach of section 7 of the Canadian Human Rights Act in that it failed to accommodate her disability (autism). Ms. Dawson further alleges that the Respondent subjected her to harassment on the basis of disability, contrary to section 14 of the Canadian Human Rights Act."

"[220] The Tribunal thus finds that Ms. Dawson's disability was an important factor in the way she was treated by the Respondent in relation to the above mentioned events and that the Respondent's conduct amounts to harassment and contravenes section 14 of the Act. "

Dawson v. Canada Post Corporation, 2008 CHRT 41 (CanLII) — 2008-10-03
Kev Leitch's question about whether autism is a disability is  asked without reference to the hard realities facing many autistic children and adults.  It is asked without reference to legal findings that autism is a disability.

Kev Leitch's question whether autism is a disability "is what it is", like the colour brown, or the shape of a circle, the question ,and Kev's silly answer, are absurd nonsense.

autism

Read more »

Kevin Leitch Goes Overboard, Opposes Interests of Children with Autism

Yup Kevin Leitch opposes the interests and well being of autistic children.

That is the logical conclusion of the false dichotomy Kevin Leitch creates when he accuses Bob Wright of opposing the interests ofautistic adults. Mr. Leitch has his knickers in a knot because Mr. Wright commented on the activities of a few autistic adults in disrupting a benefit and therefore in Kevin's mind he is opposed to the interests of all autistic adults. Using Kevin Logic, in attacking Bob Wright for defending a benefit for autistic children, Kevin Leitch opposes the interests and well being of autistic children.

Autism is a spectrum and some like the ASAN supporters who stepped away from their keyboards to try and disrupt a benefit to help autistic children, have abilities lacking in many severely autistic children and adults. Bob Wright said, much more politely than I would have done, that he wished his more severely impaired grandson had their abilities. That is all he said.

The protesters subscribe to an ideology promoted by a few high functioning adults with autism and Aspergers who oppose the idea of curing autism. They are not content to oppose cures for themselves. They oppose cures for other people's children and for other adults more severely impaired then them. Mr. Leitch also subscribes to this ideology and is opposed to Autism Speaks and Bob Wright. Kevin Leitch is so tied to this anti-cure ideology that he is willing to shred whatever remains of his credibility and accuse Bob Wright of being opposed to autistic adults.

Kevin Leitch's comments about Bob Wright are nonsense, pure and utter nonsense, and should not be taken seriously. Give your head a shake Kev. You are losing it.

autism

Read more »

Autism Rising in the UK: Kevin Leitch Fumbles the Ball, Demolishes Non-existent Argument

Congratulations to Kevin Leitch at lbrb who reports that he has corresponded by email with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen about his recently published study of UK autism rates. As reported by the BBC in Many autism cases 'undiagnosed' the official UK autism rates of approximately 1 in 100 may not reflect the undiagnosed cases of autism disorder that probably exist:

The researchers say that, if these findings were extrapolated to the wider population, for every three known cases of autism spectrum, there may be a further two cases that are undiagnosed.

The BBC article talks about these findings in terms of the impact on various services and the need to prepare for that impact. Mr. Leitch, to his credit, also went directly to the source and asked Professor Baron-Cohen about the implications of the increase for the alleged existence of an autism epidemic as set out in the following email exchange between Baron Cohen and Kevin Leitch in which Professor Baron-Cohen stated that the numbers do reflect a real increase in autism:

Professor Baron-Cohen and I had the following exchange about the autism ‘epidemic’:

KL: What would you say to someone who says that your paper is strong evidence of an ‘autism epidemic’ (because you know they will)?

SBC: I think the term ‘epidemic’ of most value in relation to contagious diseases, which autism is not.

KL: Can I rephrase my question? Would you say your findings support the idea that there has been a true rise in prevalence? As oppose to the seven items you say have caused a seeming rise in autism earlier in your paper?

SBC: There has been a real rise in prevalence but what is at issue are the causes of this rise. In the paper we summarize the quite ordinary factors that might have driven the rise, such as better recognition, growth of services, and widening diagnostic criteria.

The quote above does not appear to be the entire email exchange between Professor Baron-Cohen and Kevin Leitch in so far as the Professor refers only to the various diagnostic and social changes that have contributed to the rise in autism diagnoses. It also makes clear the non-contentious point that he was not referring to autism as a contagious disease. I don't know anyone who argues that autism is a contagious disease but I suppose Kevin Leitch does deserve credit for helping to demolish a non-existent argument.

What appears to be missing in this exchange is any reference by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen to the environmental factors contributing to autism even though he himself has acknowledged the role of environmental factors in the past. In an exchange with a parent published on the One Click Group site Professor Baron-Cohen stated:

The One-Click Group seems to be a website for those who want to see more research into environmental risk factors in autism, and to me this seems to be a very worthy agenda. We know that autism is not 100% genetic in origin, since in the case of identical twins (who share 100% of their genes), there are instances of one twin having autism and the other not having it. In fact, the likelihood of the co-twin also having autism where one of them has it (in monozygotic (MZ) pairs) is about 60%. This means that there must be some non-genetic (i.e., environmental) factors that are part of the cause of autism. ...... I hope the above statement shows clearly and unambiguously that I regard autism as most likely the result of a gene-environment interaction.

Professor Baron-Cohen made the same point in a December 2007 interview piece published on TimesOnLine, Freedom of Expression:

Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown.

It is not clear whether (1) Baron-Cohen went on to comment in his email exchange with Kevin Leitch about the environmental factors and those comments were not included in the excerpt published at LB/RB or whether (2) Kevin Leitch did not bother to ask about such environmental factors.

Either way I know of no one who assumes that autism disorders are contagious. It is a pity that Mr. Leitch avoided asking publishing comment about or asking about the role of environmental factors contributing to what Professor Baron-Cohen described in his email exchange as a "real rise in [autism] prevalence". Of course it is possible Neurodiversity club member Mr. Leitch did not want to hear anything about environmental factors. It is difficult to promote a "posautive" view of a neurological disorder caused or triggered by environmental toxins whether those toxins are inhaled in our air, consumed in food or drink, or injected. Better not to ask the question if you know the answer will not help your case.

autism

Read more »

Autism's Gadfly Takes lbrb's Kev Leitch to Task for Absurd Neurodiversity Logic

Autism's gadfly, Jonathan Mitchell has written a comment taking lbrb's Kevin Leitch to task for his loopy defense of Neurodiversity. In Left brain, right brain or no brain, Jonathan, as always, is exceedingly polite, a quality of discourse not always found at lbrb and other ND sites when trashing Jonathan for refusing to drink the Neurodiversity Kool-Aid.

autism

Read more »

Autism Blog lbrb: Left Brain, Right Brain Maybe But Not an Ounce of Common Sense

I am not a fan of Kevin Leitch author of Left Brain, Right Brain, father of an autistic child and a devoted follower of Ari Ne'eman and other Neurodiversity ideologues. In a recent post Mr. Leitch posted his answers to what he described as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Neurodiversity. His answers left me scratching my head and wondering if Mr. Leitch knows what he is talking about or whether there is any consistent meaning or substance to the Neurodiversity ideology.


If there is one constant that has existed in ND ideology it is that expressed so dogmatically by ideologues from Jim Sinclair to Ari Ne'eman: "WE, meaning all persons with any kind of autism disorder, do not want to be cured of our "autism"." Yet Mr Leitch denies that the No Cure position is part of the Neurodiversity ideology although he does so in a disingenuous way that avoids the real issue.



Many parents of autistic children seek to cure their autistic children or to treat their autistic symptoms. In full scale issue avoidance Mr. Leitch claims that ND believers are not opposed to parents treating their own children. They simply oppose parents trying to cure their children's autism disorders. It is OK to treat what Mr. Leitch describes as co-morbid conditions but not their essential autism. Mr. Leitch is being dishonest when he says that ND advocates are not anti-cure. They ARE anti-cure in the context in question. They oppose attempts to cure autism disorders pure and simple. Here is Mr. Leitch's goofy argument in his own words:


"3) Neurodiversity proponents say we should not treat our kids.


False. This is one of the biggest points of contention. The issue is one of autism (the main point) versus comorbidities (side points). See the WikiPedia definition of comorbidity. What are some comorbidities? Gastric problems, ADHD, ADD, Depression, migrane. Why would you imagine we don’t want you to treat these things? These things are not autism. They are comorbidities of autism. They cannot be used to illustrate or define autism as they are not common to every autistic." Don’t take my word for it. Go ask the Doctor who diagnosed your child. We see your error as the failure to differentiate between the comorbidity and the autism. To us, one is treatable. The other is not. We do not fight for your child’s right to have gastric issues. You see our error as trying to prevent your child being treated. My own daughter receives PECS and Speech Therapy. I would not stand in any parents way who wanted to alleviate the suffering of their kids. Having terrible constipation is suffering. Having a different kind of thought process is not."


What the highlighted passages make clear is that ND ideologue Kevin Leitch does not oppose your child's right to be cured of a gastric illness but does oppose your child's right, exercised through his or her parents as per the 1959 United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to be cured of his or her autism disorder. This is exactly what Neurodiversity is accused of when it is said that they are anti-cure. They oppose cures for autism. Mr. Leitch's dissembling denial confirms that very point.


This excerpt also illustrates how little Mr. Leitch actually appears to know about autism disorders. Having a different kind of thought process is not the issue. Having serious cognitive and communication challenges,and serious life adaptive issues, are described as frequently associated with Autistic Disorder as set out in the ICD-10 the European equivalent of the DSM-IV:


"In addition to these specific diagnostic features, it is frequent for children with autism to show a range of other nonspecific problems such as fear/phobias, sleeping and eating disturbances, temper tantrums, and aggression. Self-injury (e.g. by wrist-biting) is fairly common, especially when there is associated severe mental retardation. Most individuals with autism lack spontaneity, initiative, and creativity in the organization of their leisure time and have difficulty applying conceptualizations in decision-making in work (even when the tasks themselves are well within their capacity). The specific manifestation of deficits characteristic of autism change as the children grow older, but the deficits continue into and through adult life with a broadly similar pattern of problems in socialization, communication, and interest patterns. Developmental abnormalities must have been present in the first 3 years for the diagnosis to be made, but the syndrome can be diagnosed in all age groups.



All levels of IQ can occur in association with autism, but there is significant mental retardation in some three-quarters of cases."


Many parents of severely affected children with Autistic Disorder do not need to read a diagnostic manual to know that autistic disorder can result in serious self injury, threat to a child's life and a life of dependence on the care of others. I have a son who has bitten his hands and wrists many times and I have posted pictures on this blog site of such injuries. I advocated with other parents to keep a tertiary care pediatric team dedicated to autistic children in existence at the Stan Cassidy Rehabilitation Centre here in Fredericton. I know they deal with serious life threatening behaviours in autistic children including head banging, self starvation and other serious threats. I have visited psychiatric facilities in New Brunswick and seen autistic adults living there who were too severely affected by autism to live in community based group homes. Mr. Leitch can cling to his faith in ND and his belief that autism is just a different way of thinking. I have too much common sense and have seen too much to take such a dangerously naive approach to autism disorders.


Mr. Leitch is not done with his non-reality based defense of Neurodiversity. He goes on to trivialize the point made by many parents who, as I do, claim that Neurodiversity is led by persons with Aspergers Disorder or have high functioning autism distinguishable from Aspergers largely by an initial period of limited speech:


4) Neurodiversity proponents who are autistic are different than my child.



"True. They are mostly adults. Your kids are kids. However I don’t think thats your point. You believe that all autistic Neurodiversity proponents are ‘high functioning’. This is untrue, both now and historically. The facts are that for a lot of the autistic adults in the Neurodiversity movement their diagnosis was ‘low functioning’ when they were kids. But people grow and progress. Autism doesn’t stop progress, it just sets a different timetable for it. These adults are living breathing proof."


Mr. Leitch's argument expressly assumes that all autistic children will eventually progress. His statement that the ND adults are living proof is absolute nonsense. Pure nonsense. Every human being progresses on their own time table to the extent that they make any progress. The problem that Mr. Leitch skips over is that many children with autistic disorder do not progress to attend Simon's Rock College for gifted youths, attend university, have girl friends, boy friends and spouses or grant endless media interviews to the New Yorker, the CBC, Newseek etc. There are many autistic adults living dependent on the care of others in varying degrees of group home and institutional existence. Mr. Leitch simply ignores these autism realities. His argument on this point is too ridiculous to be entertained with a straight face.


7) So why do neurodiversity proponents say they speak for my child?


"The way I see it is like this – I and my wife know our daughter better than anyone else alive. Whilst she is a child, we speak for her in all matters. But the fact is that she is autistic. It therefore is simple common sense that other autistics have thought processes closer to those of my daughter than any NT does. They think in similar ways. Its not a case of speaking for, its more like having a shared reality. If one or more of my kids were gay than I would still speak for them in all matters whilst they were children but not being gay I could not share that reality in the same way as other gay people could. By virtue of their shared reality of autism our kids and autistic adults share an area of being that NT parents can never share. Like it or not, that does give them a commonality and communal existence. With that community sometimes comes a voice. Can you really say, as NT parents, that you are closer in thought process to your kids than autistic adults? When it comes to what makes autistics tick can you really say that you as NT’s know better than other autistics?"


Mr. Leitch is free to let people who have never met his child speak on her behalf. I am one parent who would never surrender that right, responsibility or privilege to anyone let alone a stranger whose only connection is a similar diagnosis. The DSM and ICD-10 both recognize a multiplicity of pervasive developmental (autism spectrum) disorders. The differences between Ari Ne'eman's Asperger's Disorder diagnosis and my son's Autistic Disorder diagnosis are very substantial. Aspergers precludes clinically significant cognitive and communication delay which can be present with Autistic Disorder. These are incredibly important aspects of what makes my child tick as Mr. Leitch says. Even within each diagnostic label it is recognized that there significant differences in the extent to which people are affected for example by Autistic Disorder.


In the real world I know as the parent of a 13 year old child with Autistic Disorder and profound developmental delays, who requires 24 hour supervision, who operates at a functional level far below his chronological peers, that my son has little in common with Amanda Baggs who attended Simon Rock college for gifted youths or the media trotting, university student Ari Ne'eman. Nor does he have anything in common with Alex Plank or his now ASD diagnosed girl friend who appears in videos giving public presentations worthy of any good corporate executive.


You may not know what makes your child tick as well as these many strangers do Mr. Leitch but this father who spends each day with my son certainly knows better than they what makes my son tick. It's not even close.

autism

Read more »

Vaccine-Autism War: Jim Carrey Speaks and the Neurodiversity Hounds Howl

Jim Carrey, knowing full well the malicious attacks he would receive from the Neurodiversity "science" bloggers, (his partner Jenny McCarthy pushes the ND crowd into a full scale lather whenever she speaks) has expressed the very reasonable view that there are questions remaining to be answered about vaccines and their possible role in causing or triggering autism. The comment titled The Judgment on Vaccines Is In??? was published yesterday on the Huffington Post. In no time the Neurodiversity hounds were unleashed to smear and slime Mr. Carrey with irrelevant personal attacks and distorted summaries of the existing state of knowledge about vaccine and autism issues.

In less than 24 hours Kevin Leitch of lb/rb " fame" posted an attack piece on Opposing Views and his fellow Neurodiversity ideologue Orac posted his own hatchet job on his inappropriately named Respectful Insolence blog (there is nothing respectful about the manner in which Orac expresses his opinions about those who do not share his ND ideology). In fairness both ND bloggers do try to address some of the points made by Mr. Carrey but those points do not refute Mr. Carrey's assertion that the "judgment is not in" about vaccines and autism. The arguments they do make are lost in their sarcasm and anger. Mr. Leitch, under the apparent delusion that he is qualified to do so, even takes time to smear Dr. Bernadine Healy former NIH and American Red Cross head who has, like Mr. Carrey, pointed out the limits of the epidemiological studies relied on by Mr. Leitch and others as being conclusive and who has called for more research on possible vaccine autism connections.

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee has, after some false starts, quite properly indicated in its strategic plan for autism research that environmental issues, including possible vaccine autism issues, should be researched. Even if the IACC included vaccine autism research to placate those who question vaccine safety in connection with autism it is a step in the right direction.

The anger of Mr. Leitch, "Orac" and others who have closed their minds should not dissuade the IACC or anyone else with a genuine interest from trying to understand the ever rising autism epidemic that affects our children. Their very unscientific mindsets should not prevent the necessary research from being done.

autism

Read more »