Comments on: US Court Says Measles Vaccine Not To Blame for Causing Autism http://www.esteeklar.com/2009/02/13/us-court-says-measles-vaccine-not-to-blame-for-causing-autism/ The Joy of Autism is about our journey with autism and our opinions about how society views it. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:35:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Mike http://www.esteeklar.com/2009/02/13/us-court-says-measles-vaccine-not-to-blame-for-causing-autism/comment-page-1/#comment-378 Mike Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:23:57 +0000 http://www.esteeklar.com/?p=940#comment-378 Refreshing to find people who don't buy into the Jenny hype! Refreshing to find people who don’t buy into the Jenny hype!

]]> By: MIchelle http://www.esteeklar.com/2009/02/13/us-court-says-measles-vaccine-not-to-blame-for-causing-autism/comment-page-1/#comment-361 MIchelle Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:31:20 +0000 http://www.esteeklar.com/?p=940#comment-361 Yahoo, Jenny McCarthy drives me crazy. My sil asked me if "any other moms of children with autism" have written a book besides Jenny McCarthy? Why she gets so much press is beyond me. She's not even a popular actress. Thanks for your blog. I stumbled upon it today! Yahoo, Jenny McCarthy drives me crazy. My sil asked me if “any other moms of children with autism” have written a book besides Jenny McCarthy? Why she gets so much press is beyond me. She’s not even a popular actress. Thanks for your blog. I stumbled upon it today!

]]> By: Jen http://www.esteeklar.com/2009/02/13/us-court-says-measles-vaccine-not-to-blame-for-causing-autism/comment-page-1/#comment-306 Jen Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:16:34 +0000 http://www.esteeklar.com/?p=940#comment-306 While I'd love to think that science has won the day, I'm not holding my breath. Being anti-vaccine is an easy answer for people who are scared, and frustrated, and looking for answers. I think that there's been a huge failure on the part of the "scientific" community to address this issue over the years (why wasn't the CDC giving press conferences and going on Oprah to address this 5 or 10 years ago?), and now it's firmly ingrained in a certain type of person's mind. I can't say that I really blame people, although it frustrates me to no end. But I've had 11 years to get used to the idea that my children are autistic, and to love them and value them and advocate for them as the people that they are, and not the people that I expected them to be. I do get furiously angry at times at the amount of time, money, and energy that's spent debating a dead issue which could be much better spent in other ways, but I try to recognize that too many people are reacting out of fear, and unwarranted despair. I think that one of the best things that we could be doing as an "autism community" is to be providing good information about what it's like to live as an autistic person, or as a parent of an autistic person. Knowledge can often overcome fear, and anger, and denial, and I'm still not sure why we don't have pamphlets in every single pediatrician's office to inform parents about autism, and how it is not the end of the world for either parents or autistic people. I've seen it happen with higher-order multiple births (triplets plus)...between the triplets organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Britain we managed to not only disseminate information about the risks of triplets plus, but give doctors the information that they needed to give to parents who were dealing with more than 3 babies at a time. While there are definitely still gaps in education and information, it's pretty rare now that a parent faced with a higher-order multiple birth pregnancy can't find good information. We have an increasing number of autism advocates- both people with autism themselves, and family members, who can speak with authority about the fact that autism is not only not a death sentence, but that people with autism can live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives. I'm not sure why we're not able (as a community) to convey that information to people who are coming in contact with autism for the first time, and the longer we put off that kind of effort and education, the more easily people latch on to things like being anti-vaccine. While I’d love to think that science has won the day, I’m not holding my breath. Being anti-vaccine is an easy answer for people who are scared, and frustrated, and looking for answers. I think that there’s been a huge failure on the part of the “scientific” community to address this issue over the years (why wasn’t the CDC giving press conferences and going on Oprah to address this 5 or 10 years ago?), and now it’s firmly ingrained in a certain type of person’s mind.

I can’t say that I really blame people, although it frustrates me to no end. But I’ve had 11 years to get used to the idea that my children are autistic, and to love them and value them and advocate for them as the people that they are, and not the people that I expected them to be. I do get furiously angry at times at the amount of time, money, and energy that’s spent debating a dead issue which could be much better spent in other ways, but I try to recognize that too many people are reacting out of fear, and unwarranted despair.

I think that one of the best things that we could be doing as an “autism community” is to be providing good information about what it’s like to live as an autistic person, or as a parent of an autistic person. Knowledge can often overcome fear, and anger, and denial, and I’m still not sure why we don’t have pamphlets in every single pediatrician’s office to inform parents about autism, and how it is not the end of the world for either parents or autistic people.

I’ve seen it happen with higher-order multiple births (triplets plus)…between the triplets organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Britain we managed to not only disseminate information about the risks of triplets plus, but give doctors the information that they needed to give to parents who were dealing with more than 3 babies at a time. While there are definitely still gaps in education and information, it’s pretty rare now that a parent faced with a higher-order multiple birth pregnancy can’t find good information.

We have an increasing number of autism advocates- both people with autism themselves, and family members, who can speak with authority about the fact that autism is not only not a death sentence, but that people with autism can live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives. I’m not sure why we’re not able (as a community) to convey that information to people who are coming in contact with autism for the first time, and the longer we put off that kind of effort and education, the more easily people latch on to things like being anti-vaccine.

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