Happiness

Today's thought brought to you by a radio interview about something entirely different. Listening to an Indian immigrant tell her story of coming out to her parents today, and something she said struck a cord with me. 

To paraphrase, all parents want their children to be happy. And they think the things that will make their children happy are the things that made them happy. Sometimes that isn't the case, and you just have to accept that your children may have very different needs entirely.  

Allergy Testing?

Yeah, no surprise here, those blood allergy tests totally over-diagnose allergies.  I know people who have them done and then end up with these gigantically long lists of foods - wheat, rice, beef, corn, soy, chicken, celery, apples, cheese (but not milk,) etc, etc.  And then they have to make all their food from scratch and carry it with them wherever they go. This is on top of the people who try GFCF diets. 

I'm reminded of this, because my son is allergic to dairy. When we first eliminated it from his diet, it just seemed like he was reacting to any amount of dairy, no matter how small. So we got rid of it all, and his symptoms (foul gas, foul poop) went away. Now we're getting to the point where we can challenge them a little to see exactly how far we have to go. 

So far, it appears that baked goods containing small amounts of dairy are ok.  Yay for hot dog buns. Yay for cookies. 

The other day we tried cheese. Gave him a slice of cheese pizza. Ok, I can definitely say that we won't be doing that again anytime soon. We changed foul pizza diapers the whole next day.  We might challenge him with lactase at some point. We'll see.  

And Then I Cried

The other day I was at a meeting for a committee I'm on. We have a member who is mentally ill. It's not autism, and he is under the regular care of mental health services. He's mostly harmless, but he has some behavior issues. 

When it was my turn to say something, I started crying. I just suddenly saw my son as a grownup with a room full of people deciding how to delicately avoid his less socially acceptable behaviors without rejecting him from the club.  I really don't have the answers. 

Why Jenny Pisses Me Off

First off, she gives an interview to Time which is full of the stupid. She now thinks it's mercury (which her son didn't receive) aluminum (can of soda pop anyone?) and the viruses in vaccines (oooh, you get those when you don't have the vaccine) that cause autism.

Next up?

If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the f___ing measles.

Uh, no. No. I'd rather my son have the autism, thanks. It won't kill him. Plus it's a false choice since, you know, vaccines don't cause autism.

She also thinks that autism is on the rise because schoolteachers (in her opinion) haven't seen so much of it. My autistic cousin got all the way to high school before his MR diagnosis shifted to autism. Perhaps we're just diagnosing differently? Nah, couldn't be. It's not like the rate of kids in special ed has remained relatively constant during this massive "epidemic." Oh wait, it is.

Oh, and she refers to autistic children as shadows. You know, because they don't actually exist as full people? Wha? That's almost as offensive as her co-author's reference to them being soulless and sucking the marrow out of family members. Quit calling my kid a non-being.

But the real cherry on the sundae is her acceptance of diseased and dying children as collateral damage in her war for "safe vaccines."

I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.

It isn't polio versus autism. It's your stupidity versus polio! And there isn't a thing you could do to vaccines that would make them safe in an anti-vaxxer's mind. Not a thing. If you get rid of the mercury (which was done before her son was born), it must be aluminum. Or it must be the frequency. Or it must be the viruses in the vaccines. And if you show them study after study, they'll find a way to refute them as being "biased by big Pharma" or the CDC (since the government is in on the conspiracy.)

In other words, it's an irrational fear that the stabby thing that made my baby cry must also have damaged him in some other way.

I've heard people claim that McCarthy is "getting the word out" or "doing a lot for autism awareness." No. No she isn't. She's doing a lot for autism fear. There's a big difference.

Jenny @#%$@#$#@ ing McCarthy

Gah. So pissed off at her.  She's promoting her latest book, and apparently she thinks it's just fine and dandy that children will die from not being vaccinated. What an awesome attitude. 

It's late, but I feel some T-shirts coming on. 

It's that time of year again...

Time to be "aware" of autism. I'm aware of it a bit more often than once a year. I'd love to move beyond awareness and toward understanding. And services. 

Peter Bell said Autism Speaks was pulling some stunt in Central Park. I hope it doesn't involve vaccines. I really don't want the take home message about autism to be that parents are loonies.