Severe Autism Reality in Durham, Ontario (and Fredericton, New Brunswick)

Most [Vancouver Sun and Toronto Star excepted] mainstream media features deal with higher functioning autistic persons, particularly those who have overcome the obstacles presented by High Functioning Autism and Aspergers and accomplished incredible feats. Even purportedly low functioning autism interviews such as some of those repeatedly featured on CNN aren't really addressing the harder realities faced by severely autistic persons and their families.

Nor are you likely to read their stories on the so called Autism Hub blogger network where bloggers actually promote autism, openly mock families struggling to treat and cure their children of their autism and pompously tell parents to accept, respect and love their own children.

Challenges of autism 'massive mountain' to climb in newsdurhamregion.com is another exception to this media trend. It is an article by autism mom and Durham resident Christine J. Taylor describing realistically the life challenges faced by her severely autistic 12 1/2 year old son and their family:

Our boy is very loving, exceptionally handsome and an incredibly busy child. He is non-verbal (approximately 40 per cent of all people with autism are) and his cognitive skills are quite low. This, quite understandably, creates a tonne of frustration for him. The "tantrums" he has are exhausting. For him and for us.

He can become self-abusive, destructive and has no understanding of "danger."

...

While they're young, these kids are still being housed, clothed and fed by their parents. The children will get older and so will their parents. It is indescribably "gut wrenching" to think that one day, we may not be able to care for our son.

Ms Taylor in talking of her son and their family has described very well the realities faced by 11 1/2 year old Conor and our family. It is a reality you have to live to understand.

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Qatar Leads World Autism Awareness Day Initiative

Map: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

As reported in the Gulf Times, the move to have the UN General Assembly declare April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day is being led by Qatar. The UN Human Rights Committee has already adopted the resolution which was co-sponsored by 50 countries and is expected to to be adopted by the 192-nation UN General Assembly early this month.

Qatar’s UN ambassador Nassir al-Nasser said at the UN Office in New York on Tuesday that HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and his wife HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad, took the initiative because of the high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world.

“HH Sheikha Mozah has made tremendous efforts to change the way the Qatari society views people with disability, and breaking the barrier of shame, of which this group and their families have been suffering,” he stated.

The draft resolution designates every April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day and asks all countries, UN bodies, international organisations and non-governmental groups to help raise autism awareness. The resolution describes autism as “a lifelong developmental disability that manifests itself during the first three years of life and results from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain.”

Autism Speaks has been actively supportive of the resolution and is sponsoring an epidemiological study to measure the scale of the global autism epidemic, working with more than 20 countries to collect and share data that could help in deciding policies and research into causes, diagnosis and treatment. Bob Wright of Autism Speaks stressed the importance of a unified global effort to deal with the world autism crisis:

"The resolution’s call for action and observances on April 2 will bring autism organisations from all around the world together “in a single voice to fight this terrible disorder,” said Wright.


“By bringing autism awareness to a global level, we’ll give it a voice to the millions of children worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood, abused and looking for help,” he added."

autism

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Appearance of Bias - Taser Company Cozy With Coronors

The Globe and Mail has reported on the cozy ties between Taser International and some coronors, the officials often responsible for investigating Taser related deaths; a cozy relationship which creates an appearance of bias on the part of one very prominent Canadian coronor.

In Taser firms picked up coroner's lecture tab the Globe reports that Taser International has paid hotel and travel expenses for prominent Canadian coronor Dr. James Cairns, Ontario's deputy chief coronor, who has given seminars "on the phenomenon of "excited delirium," a medically unrecognized term that the company often cites as a reason people die after being tasered". The article indicates that Dr. Cairns does not see any conflict of interest on his part. [The Globe & Mail also reports that Dr. Cairns admitted in testimony yesterday at an Ontario inquiry that he had helped shield disgraced pathologist Charles Smith.]

In Symposium aims to define 'excited delirium' DEATHS IN CUSTODY: TASER HELPS FUND RESEARCH the Globe and Mail reports on the second annual Sudden Death, Excited Delirium and In-Custody Death Conference underway in Las Vegas. Many of the nearly 20 talks touch on the role of Tasers. "The key issue is excited delirium, a collection of symptoms that is quickly becoming the leading explanation offered when a person dies in police custody or after a taser is used." Two researchers who presented disclosed that Taser International funds their research. As reported by the Globe & Mail, the Taser subsidized research presenters "conducted research on the negative effects of taser use on the human body; they found very few".

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Το δίλημμα,το κοινωνικό κράτος και οι πανανθρώπινες αξίες.

Δείτε τώρα τι σημαίνει «κοινωνική πολιτική»

Του ΝΙΚΟΥ ΜΠΟΓΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ

«Μετά τη χτεσινή συνεδρίαση της κυβερνητικής επιτροπής ανακοινώθηκε ότι η φιλεύσπλαχνη κυβέρνηση αποφάσισε να χρηματοδοτήσει για το 2008 το λεγόμενο Ταμείο Συνοχής με 500 εκατομμύρια ευρώ. Από αυτό το ταμείο, είπε ο κ. Αλογοσκούφης, θα... αντιμετωπιστεί η ανέχεια των 2 εκατομμυρίων πολιτών στην Ελλάδα, που (όπως επί "σοσιαλισμού", έτσι και επί "επανίδρυσης") ζουν με εισοδήματα που κινούνται κάτω ακόμα κι από το επίσημο όριο της φτώχειας.Με άλλα λόγια και σύμφωνα με τα χυδαία μαθηματικά της τάξης των "προυχόντων", των "βαρόνων" και των "ευγενών", που απαρτίζουν τα κόμματα του δικομματισμού, η κυβέρνηση του κράτους με το 20% φτωχών για 2 εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους "παρέχει" 500 εκατομμύρια. Τουτέστιν 250 ευρώ το χρόνο κατ' άτομο, ήτοι 0,68 ευρώ ημερησίως...Την ίδια ώρα, η ίδια κυβέρνηση, με μια και μόνο τροπολογία που ψήφισε στη Βουλή (αντίστοιχη με κείνες που ψήφιζε το ΠΑΣΟΚ για την Ιονική), χάρισε προχτές σε έναν και μόνο τραπεζίτη ποσό ύψους 1 δισ. ευρώ (!), απαλλάσσοντάς τον από τις σχετικές ασφαλιστικές εισφορές!

Σημειωτέον ότι πρόκειται για "δώρο" που δεν αφορά κάποιον φτωχό, αλλά μια τράπεζα με κέρδη εκατοντάδων εκατομμυρίων ευρώ κάθε χρόνο...Κάνετε, λοιπόν, τη σύγκριση:Η κυβέρνηση της "ηπιότητας", της "σεμνότητας" και της "ταπεινότητας" προσφέρει σε έναν άνθρωπο-τραπεζίτη (και οι τραπεζίτες άνθρωποι είναι...) ποσό δυο φορές μεγαλύτερο από το ποσό που υποτίθεται ότι "προσφέρει" για τις ανάγκες 2 ολόκληρων εκατομμυρίων ανθρώπων-φτωχών!Συμπέρασμα: Οι φτωχοί, μάλλον, δε θα είναι άνθρωποι. Και σίγουρα, κατά την κυβέρνηση, δεν είναι τόσο άνθρωποι, όσο ένας τραπεζίτης...».

(ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ «ΡΙΖΟΣΠΑΣΤΗ»)

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Friday's Feast #170

After a week off due to Thanksgiving we are right back on track again with another Friday Feast! Hope you enjoy it...

Appetizer
What is your favorite carnival/amusement park ride?

I have always and will always love The Zipper...would I ever ride it now? No way. As we grow older I think we realize just how many things can go wrong on a crazy, unnatural ride like that!!! Will I die a thousand deaths inside the first time that I have to watch my children ride it? Oh most definitely!

Soup

How do you react in uncomfortable social situations?

I guess I haven't been in one in so long I am not really sure how I react. I probably become more loud and outgoing than I usually am due to being nervous about it.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy discussing deep, philosophical topics?

Probably about a 2 or 3. I really have so much on my mind right now that there is no room for deep, philosophical conversations...now if someone wanted to discuss my grocery list I would be able to hang alright!

Main Course

Did you get a flu shot this year? If not, do you plan to?

I was going to but I never got around to it so probably not. I had meant to get one for my girls but never did that either. I am calling as I type this! Thanks for the reminder!

Dessert

Approximately how many hours per week do you spend watching television?

Maybe about 4 or 5. I don't even know what movies are out this season!!!

Hope you have a great weekend...my sister is flying in tonight so I know I will!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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It Was Pizza Again!

Yesterday was a very disorganized day for me! I am trying to get a ton of things done before Friday because my sister is coming to visit and I want to spend as much time with her as I can. Unfortunately I always take on way too many things and end up a little frazzled.

This week I decided that I needed to get all of my recipes from this blog put in recipe format and on my website as well as on here. Should have been easy right...no way! For some reason my links won't work. I had one of my bf's come over yesterday and she gave me an alternate way of doing it but it still irks me that it won't work the way that it should. Then last night I was going to bed and I have just changed my Internet browser over to FireFox so I decided to try viewing my new recipe page and low and behold it was a mess!!! I have one full page that is all HTML code???!!! I know that isn't how I wrote it! But when I switched it out to Explorer it looked fine. Go figure. Well, looks like I'll have plenty to do now won't I?

Anyway I had promised the girls that I would make pizza for dinner and bake them Apple Cookies. I remembered this about 5 minutes before I had to leave to meet my friend for lunch. I always make my dough in my Kitchen Aid (Shop now for the KitchenAid stand mixer that fits your unique kitchen style! The color possibilities are virtually endless!) but this time there was no time. I pulled out my bread maker and found my recipe book that came with the thing. I plopped all of the ingredients into it and hoped for the best. I left it in the hands of the dough gods...It was to do it's thing in there for about 1 and 1/2 hours. That would give me plenty of time to go for lunch and get back and pull it out. Now when I put it in I had no idea how long it would take but when I found out it was only 1 1/2 hrs I needed to figure out what to do with it until dinner time. My idea was to pull it out of the bread machine when it was finished, punch it down and wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, pull it out an hour before dinner and all would be good. Was not to be though...

I went into my office and started doing some stuff and then heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen so I went out there and looked around. Nothing was out of place, it was still the same mess I had left it in. Then I heard it again...from the fridge???!!! I opened the door and the dough had burst through the wrap and was oozing around in there trying to devour containers of cream cheese, sour cream etc. We crap. I brought it back out and punched it down again and put it in a big bowl covered with plastic wrap. Held onto my earlier plan and brought it out when we got home from skating and made 2 pizza's with it. One for us with sauce and one for my fussy one with only olive oil. The crust didn't puff much but was not nearly as tough as I had though it would be. It was actually very good.

Would I do this again?
Yes, but I would add more salt and some garlic and maybe some oregano. It is was faster and less work than by hand or with my Kitchen Aid mixer so I would have to say it was a winner and now that I know how long it would take I would try and do it 1 and 1/2 hr before dinner!!!

Pizza Dough recipe (Oster User Manual & Bread Recipes)

2 pound dough ball:

All ingredients at room temperature (70 - 80 degrees)
3/4 tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1-3/8 cup water
3 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients into the bread pan.
Select the dough setting. Allow dough to do it's thing and remove when it is finished.
Bake with toppings at 400 degrees until browned, hot and bubbly!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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So Shrimpy With Cream, Cream...

Blah ~ Back to the daily grind and dinner adventures! We've managed to polish off most of our leftovers so now we're moving into some new, non-Thanksgiving fare. My husband loves shrimp s0 I made a quick shrimp & pasta dish using what I had on hand. Nothing too fancy, but pretty darn simple and tasty!Here is my recipe for Creamy Lemon & Basil Shrimp Fettucini:

1/4 stick butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1 lemon
2-4 oz cooked fettucini pasta
1 cup cooked & peeled shrimp
4-6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
1/2 cup grated gruyere
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In a large pan, melt butter with minced garlic and lemon juice.
Cook garlic until golden.
Add cooked shrimp and cooked pasta.
Toss and add fresh basil.
Gently fold in grated cheese.
Add cream & toss.
To serve, plate and garnish with more chiffonade basil and grated cheese.

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