Club 166

Practical Socialization

2008-06-29T19:07:00.002+01:00

I have long felt that while supporting Buddy Boy in his socialization skills by taking him to socialization classes was a good thing, that he got just as much good (and perhaps more) from the times I have taken him to McDonald's Play Places. When I take him to a Play Place, I try to let him go out and negotiate for himself, just giving him some tips ahead of time, reviewing casually some things afterward, and intervening (and sometimes hightailing it out of there) only as necessary.

While Buddy Boy's great little surprise the other day is a "one off" for now (we're back to standard conversation mode), he did up and demonstrate a skill yesterday I haven't seen him do before.

We took our annual outing to our local park's carnival that they hold every year in June. We have to pass this fair getting to our house, so there's really no way that we can just forget about taking the kids.

Buddy Boy has always wanted to go on some of the "big kid" rides, and this year he's tall enough to qualify to ride. We went in the late afternoon. It was a pleasantly cool day for this time of year around here (about 76F/24C), and while there were some people there, there weren't a lot of older kids there yet (I imagine they all come out after dark, just like we did when we were young).

The first ride Buddy Boy wanted to go on was this one "The Egg". It's kind of like a ferris wheel, but you can lock the car so it goes upside down. Because of the way the seat belt is configured, they won't let you ride it alone. We happened to run into one of the counselors from his school, who was there with her daughter. We asked her daughter if she wanted to ride on that ride, and she said yes. So we had Buddy Boy ask her if she wanted to ride, and they rode it together.

Next Buddy Boy wanted to ride on the ride pictured up top that flips you upside down (over and over again-I think it's called "The Whiz"). This is neither my nor Liz's cup of tea, and again the ride would not let anyone ride in a car single. There was no one else waiting to ride, so we told him he could wait for someone else to come along who wanted to ride. Next came the part that surprised me.

Not wanting to wait all day to ride, and seeing a couple of older kids walking by, Buddy Boy started going up to them and asking them if they wanted to ride on this ride with him. I was flabbergasted. This was something I've never seen him do. This is the kid who doesn't know the names of most of the kids in his class (even by the end of the year), who I only extremely rarely see approach other kids at school functions and the playground, and hardly says a word if someone approaches him. Yet he initiated contact, made his wants known, and successfully persuaded another kid to ride with him on the ride (with the other kid supplying his own tickets-no bribe involved).

He not only did this once, he did it again when we returned to "The Egg" ride for another go.

Now Liz was not as impressed as I was. She quite rightly pointed out that these interactions were more in line with going up to a shop counter and asking for something (which he has done before), and not really actual give and take conversational socializing, making small talk and all. But I was impressed none the less.

I am reminded of the old joke that is often attributed to Winston Churchill:

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
Socialite: My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course...
Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
Socialite: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
Churchill: Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

The fact that (with sufficient motivation) Buddy Boy demonstrates that he'll initiate conversation with strangers (kids his own age, even-much harder for him than adults) gives me hope that he already has the essentials for achieving success in high school and beyond. I just have to help him identify the right motivation.

One other surprise. While I was getting him into bed he said "You know that Black girl that I rode the ride with. It was nice of her to ride with me. And she was kind of cute." I was amazed. Someone that wasn't blond? Who would of thought?

Planning Ahead

2008-06-28T02:26:00.001+01:00

buy one of these here.

In looking thru my past posts, I realize that Buddy Boy and autism are the subject matter for the majority of my posts. Since autism is but a portion of our lives, I thought I might share a little story of something that happened with Sweet Pea yesterday.

Out of the blue, Sweet Pea asked Liz who picked out the stones (headstones) when you were buried. Now no one's died recently, and I don't think she's watched something about people dying lately (I don't think they kill off characters on the Cartoon Network). So I don't know where this came from. So Liz responded with our usual "Why do you ask?", to which Sweet Pea responded that she wanted to know whether you picked out your own or someone else picked it out for you.

Liz responded something to the effect that a person might make arrangements ahead of time to pick one out, but often the person's family picked out the stone for them.

"Well I'm picking mine out right now. I want a Princess stone."

I wonder if I should tell her that they can make headstones from pink granite?

Conversation

2008-06-26T06:21:00.007+01:00

photo credit-antony_mayfield
creative commons license

So, we were all sitting and watching a video tonight from the library about slavery during the 1600's in America. It was really well done, and quite fascinating. Did you know that during this time period 20% of the population of New York was African-American? And that Carolina had twice as many slaves as there were whites? I never saw any of that in my history books in school.

Buddy Boy was doing what he usually does, which is add his own running commentary (actually, it's more like interjecting facts he knows-or thinks he knows-about the subject). At one point he says "Mom, I have to tell you what I was going to tell you about before". "Can it wait?" Liz asked. "No, I need to tell you right now." "Is this something I won't like?" (we've been working on trying to get Buddy Boy to filter out some of the naughty words he likes to repeat-usually silly stuff regarding genitals and potty humor). "No, you'll like it." "OK, what is it?" Liz asked. After a pause Buddy Boy said, "That's OK, I won't tell you now." "No, that's OK, (putting the video on pause) you can tell me". "No, mom, I'll tell you later." "Why don't you want to tell me now?"

"Because it doesn't have to do with what we're watching".

I was speechless. This is the kid who loves to ramble and free associate from one subject to the next, and seemingly randomly go back to something he was discussing 3 days ago, and has real problems with taking turns in a conversation. And he had stopped and considered that maybe it wasn't the most appropriate time to discuss something. I've never been aware that he's done that before! Ever!

I thought it was way cool. No out and out prompting, no modeling, just decided to do it himself, out of the blue.

After complimenting him on being so thoughtful, we had to find out what he so wanted to tell us. It had something to do with grapes.

Rivisitare

2008-06-23T03:01:00.005+01:00

To help celebrate the inclusion of Autism Hub Bloggers at the conference starting today at the University of San Diego, Steve D of One Dad's Opinion has asked for people to revisit a favorite post that they have written in the past. For my part, I have selected this one, originally posted on February 25, 2007.

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On Raising Cowboys

...And them that don't know him won't like him
And them that do sometimes won't know how to take him
He ain't wrong he's just different
but his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right...
------------------------------
from "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys"
by Willie Nelson

So Yesterday I had occasion to drive 300 miles one way to another city for a function, then after 4 hours, drive back another 300 miles.

I was alone, and able to indulge some of my eclectic musical tastes. I ended up listening to some Cowboy Junkies, the Diner Junkies, and Willie Nelson (an ex-junkie).

Maybe I'm just picking up one of Krisina Chew's habits and seeing autism everywhere. But as I'm listening to Willie singing the above song I heard those lyrics, repeated the track again to make sure I heard them right, and the thought occurred to me, "I'm not raising a son with autism, I'm raising a cowboy".

And I thought (I do a lot of free association and just plain weird thinking while driving long distances alone) "I wonder if the world would understand my son better, and treat him better, if I just told them he was a cowboy?"

Cowboys have a long tradition in America, and despite a few people using the term "cowboy" in a negative sense when referring to President Bush, there is a long and deep tradition of positive attributes being attributed to cowboys. Mention being autistic, however, and there only seem to be negative stereotypes that come to most people's minds.

Cowboys are entrenched in the lore of the United States, with many of them acheiving legendary status.

Most cowboys were men, but some (like Annie Oakley) were female. Cowboys were (and are) generally people who don't talk much, and are rugged individualists. They tend to keep to themselves, and don't much care if others understand them or not.

Cowboys have a code of ethics that is looked up to so much that some have suggested a version of it be used to instill ethical business practices in individuals.

I could see it now. When the school calls to complain about Buddy Boy exhibiting some behavior that doesn't seem to fit the mold they want to put him in, I could just say something like "You don't understand, he's a cowboy." This would be all that I would have to say to convey to them that my son was different, and in a good way.

Rather than expecting him to conform to arbitrary rules they had set up, they would instantly understand (because of the shared cultural knowledge) that my son was indeed different, and was probably destined for greatness. As they had a genuine cowboy amongst their midst, they would fall all over themselvs making efforts to individualize their educational efforts, much as all of society caters to celebrities. They would also expect great things from him, and as many studies have shown, when teachers expect great things from students they tend to get them.

My apologies to any Europeans reading this. You'll have to get your own legendary figures to latch on to to get the schools (and society) to treat you and your kids better.

Mud Therapy

2008-06-21T18:58:00.001+01:00

The school year started out great, but got a bit stressful at the end. Fortunately the corollary to "All good things must come to an end" is "All bad things must also come to an end". So the year ended, and we have been getting back on an even keel.

I am descended from a long line of Eastern European farmers. My ancestors were peasants that farmed the land in Europe, and one set of my Grandparents started out in this country as farmers in the middle of Wisconsin.

So working the earth is in my genes, and you would think it would be second nature to me. Unfortunately I have not had a garden in more than 25 years (probably closer to 30). But Buddy Boy (who wants to be a farmer) had been bugging me this winter to put in a garden this year. My sister (who used to live about a mile from us, but now lives about 350 miles (560 km) from us, had Buddy Boy and Sweet Pea assist her in putting in a garden a couple of years ago before she moved. Buddy Boy loved that, especially when they harvested their crop of corn and beans.

So I relented (I actually wanted to do it myself, but was afraid of disappointing Buddy Boy if we didn't succeed in growing anything). I figured even if our crops failed, it would be good therapy for all of us to put in a garden.

The first thing we needed to do was clear an area. We selected an area at the edge of our property, fenced it in (there are tons of rabbits around here), and began to clear the grass. The first thing we discovered is that although the area where we live was once supposedly an orchard, the land is pretty much an equal mixture of clay and rock. It took us the better part of 3 days just to clear about 100 square feet (9.29 square meters). I may not have gardened much lately, but I knew that this plot of ground was not going to grow much anytime soon (I was even surprised that the grass had grown as well as it did).

So after doing some reading online, talking to my sister, and getting a consult from Daisy at Compost Happens (hey, with a blog name like "Compost Happens" she has to know a lot, right?) I decided to break up the top layer of clay and build up a bed of about 4-5" (about 12 cm) of topsoil before planting anything. I also decided to get some stones from Home Depot and lay a walkway down the middle of the garden, to facilitate access for planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Once we mixed the topsoil in and spread it all out, it was time to get something to plant. I figured we'd have a better chance of getting stuff to grow if it was already a seedling, so off to the gardening center we went. We picked up some seedlings of two types of tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, sweet onions, peas, strawberries, and some type of herb that was supposed to attract butterflies. We also got some seeds for beans, carrots (I picked some stubby ones that were supposed to do better in clay soil), and broccoli.

The beans seemed to sprout up to 4 inches (10 cm) overnight. The carrots and broccoli have also started to grow, and we even harvested our first "crop", which consisted of one small strawberry that I had to divide between the two kids. We topped the garden off with "Mr. Sun", which Buddy Boy insisted we buy when we were at Home Depot. He's always been a sucker for inanimate objects with faces on them.

Although I think a synonym that should be listed for gardening is "weeding", it's been fun thus far, as well as therapeutic in helping us all work off some excess energy. And with the problem with salmonella in tomatoes, we might even have a cash crop on our hands!

A Great Father Dies

2008-06-14T01:10:00.002+01:00

Tim Russert, 1950-2008

Tim Russert, known to most Americans as the host and moderator of NBC's "Meet The Press", died suddenly today. He was 58 years old.

He was an icon of American journalism, who asked tough but fair questions of politicians of all stripes. His interviews were always fair, and he never belittled or insulted the people he had on his show. That's pretty impressive, for someone who did it for almost 25 years.

I thought he was just a darn good journalist until I read a book he wrote, "Wisdom of Our Fathers". I received this book as a Father's Day gift two years ago. This was a follow on book to one he wrote two years earlier, entitled "Big Russ and Me". In this first book on fatherhood Russert talks about his own father, who was a sanitation worker and a truck driver, and what a great dad he was. The second book (which I received) stemmed from letters regarding fatherhood that Russert had received from readers of his first book. Russert also sprinkled in some stories regarding his relationship with his own son, Luke.

It was obvious from his treatment of the subject of fatherhood that Russert himself was doing a darn good job of being a father himself. Russert always sprinkled bits about his family into his show and interviews, and it was obvious that he placed great stock on being a good father. His son liked his dad so much that he had himself tatooed with his father and grandfather's name.

Fathers often are overshadowed in the parenting process by mothers (who are, admittedly, extremely important). I admired the way that Tim Russert reminded people that fathers are important, too. He served as a good role model for fathers everywhere. I am saddened by his passing.

Russert had just returned from a vacation in Italy with his family, which was to celebrate his son's graduation from college.

Buddy Boy's Home Photos

2008-06-11T05:11:00.001+01:00

Buddy Boy successfully made his First Communion this year, which we considered a big accomplishment. His most prized gift came from his godfather, Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave got him what Buddy Boy's been campaigning for for quite awhile-a camera.

I've uploaded the first set of photos that I'm making public from Buddy Boy's first foray into photography. These are from around the house, most taken on the first day or two he had the camera. I didn't include ones he made of the family (sorry).

Later I'll upload some ones he took on vacation. In addition to the two shots here, the rest of the photos can be found on Flickr. Enjoy!

Respite, Dolphins, Mummies, and Tractors

2008-06-07T21:24:00.001+01:00

Buddy Boy's "Memory Extractor"

I haven't been posting a whole lot lately, especially about personal stuff. Things got really hard for awhile, and it became a combination of not being able/wanting to lay out my personal problems to the whole world (I am basically the silent, keep it in, work it out yourself kind of guy) as well as using all of my spare energy to do my best to keep our family from disintegrating. School's been out for two whole weeks here. And we're finally getting back to some semblance of normalcy.

The school year started out really well for Buddy Boy. The majority of his time was spent included in a regular classroom. Buddy Boy had the best darn teacher in the whole school for his regular class, Mrs. J. His special ed class teacher (Miss E.) worked well with Mrs. J., and pushed for him to be included more this year. Buddy Boy (for the most part) rose to the challenge. Miss E. helped support him for the small amount of time when he was scheduled to be pulled out (for OT and speech), as well as for the few unscheduled times when he had problems in the regular class. Mrs. J. is famous amongst the school's special ed families for her ability to bring out the best in all of the kids in her class. I'm really glad that Buddy Boy had her this year, and sad that he won't have her again next year.

Things went so well for the first several months that I hardly wrote anything about it. I was afraid that I would jinx the good fortune we were enjoying. This was it. This was the year that Buddy Boy would turn the corner on his behavior issues and be seen by his teachers and classmates as a full, valuable member of the class.

The last 7-8 weeks of school things got progressively worse (mostly at school, but also at home). I'm not really sure why. Buddy Boy became upset at the drop of a hat. He refused to do things that didn't bother him before. He lashed out and bit a teacher (which required stitches), and hit another. Liz was literally camped out in the school parking lot, forever on call for when things happened. Some days she was called three times. Several days ended early, with Buddy Boy being taken home.

His teachers looked for causes, we looked for causes. Though Buddy Boy is now quite verbal, he could offer no insight into what was causing him distress. Liz became increasingly distraught, and lashed out at a most convenient target, me. We both felt certain that although this school has been very accepting and supporting of Buddy Boy, that the days were numbered until he was kicked out.

School ended, and we never got "the letter". You know, the official one that says that your kid has been expelled. I am still perplexed, but thankful. This leaves us with more options for next year.

Slowly, ever so slowly, we have gotten back to some sort of equilibrium. It's a big relief that we no longer have the school's sword hanging over our heads (for now). Liz has relaxed, and even gotten some more sleep. We are talking again (instead of snapping and snarling, or even worse, saying nothing). I feel like we're on the same side again.

This week I had time off, which we used to go to Chicago. One of my uncles is dying, and we wanted to see him before he did. He has worsening congestive heart failure which has reached the limits of medical management, and it is only a matter of time. How much is hard to say. This aunt and uncle have always been great to our kids. Even though they don't have a lot of money (due to having had a special needs daughter themselves, as well as lots of medical bills), they have always sent cards with a note and $2 bills to the kids on all major holidays (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving) as well as their birthdays. The kids love those cards.

Since we were going up there, we took some time to take the kids to a couple of museums. Chicago has great museums, though they can be a bit expensive when you're going to multiple ones. We went to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. If you plan your trip carefully, you can take advantage of several free days at the Field Museum. Unfortunately my time off didn't correlate with any of those days.

The Shedd Aquarium expanded greatly several years ago, and the kids (and us) loved it. Besides exploring several halls of fish and amphibians and watching a diver feed the fish in a huge glass tank, we saw a movie and a dolphin show. The movie was billed as a "4D" movie, as in addition to donning 3D glasses, there were air and water jets that shot out at us at various times, as well as vibrating seats. It was fairly intense from a sensory standpoint, but Buddy Boy hung in there. The dolphins were cool, especially as we got to go up after the show and get much closer to them.

The Field Museum of Natural History is like Indiana Jones' storehouse of everything he ever found on all of his expeditions. Sweet Pea was a little apprehensive about seeing mummies, but did a good job. She really liked the t-rex skeleton they had there, as well as some of the stuffed exotic animals. Sweet Pea also wasn't totally into an exhibit where they simulated you being the size of a small bug underground, but of course Buddy Boy thought it was totally cool. Liz and I enjoyed a special exhibit they had on George Washington Carver, but the kids seemed they could not care less.

We had ice cream and a ferris wheel ride down at Navy Pier, and headed back to the hotel for another night of swimming.

Having spent three days in Chicago, it was time to move on. On our way back home we took a little detour and went to Moline, Illinois. Why would we want to go to a relatively small sleepy river town for? Well, to visit the John Deere world headquarters and pavilion, of course. As astute readers of this little blog may recall, Buddy Boy has a thing for farming equipment, especially stuff made by John Deere.

While I'd love to take the Ferrari factory tour someday, I rather doubt that they'd let my 6 and 8 year old kids crawl all over them, sit in the driver's seat, push pedals and hit the switches. Yet this is just what Deere lets anyone do with their $300,000 combines, as well as their less expensive equipment. There are several pieces of farming equipment as well as construction equipment located both at their world headquarters, as well as their pavilion in town. They also have some antique tractors (which they understandably don't let you crawl all over).

All in all, it's great to be getting back to normal. I don't know what the fall will bring (in terms of school), but for now it's great to kick back a little, relax, and get back into the groove.

A Great Place to Visit, But...

2008-06-01T06:03:00.002+01:00

photo credit-metrohicKS
creative commons license

Florida is a great place to visit. There's all sorts of things to amuse and satisfy both kids and adults. There's NASA,

photo credit-http2007
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Florida oranges,

photo credit-Viewoftheworld
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sandy beaches,

photo credit-heather0714
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and a park where a somewhat famous mouse lives.

But while one could certainly have a great time visiting Florida with one's kids, it increasingly seems that Florida is not a place one would choose to live with their kids anytime soon. It would seem that Florida may soon have to change their motto from "The Sunshine State" to the "We Hate Kids" state.

Christschool the other day had a great post about the Alex Barton/Portillo case that brought up issues such as the increasing use of police to handle routine school discipline problems, possible inappropriate training of such personnel, and teachers' complicity in ostracizing those who are "different" in their classrooms. This last point was also blogged by Joeymom.

As Shawn pointed out recently, there is a whole system that's at fault here, and not just the teacher (which does not absolve the teacher in any way for her part in this).

One does not have to look far to see other instances where very young children's actions in Florida schools are criminalized, rather than being addressed with behavioral intervention plans. Indeed, some see a "school to prison pipeline" that has developed in the Florida education system.

Given the undisputed facts of the Barton case and the general climate of making criminals out of young students with undesirable behaviors in Florida, I have to agree with Christschool in saying "I believe Alex, too".

I'm on the road right now, and visited with my brother and sister-in-law tonight. My SIL works as a "para" in a 2nd grade classroom. I mentioned the facts of the Barton case to her (she had not heard about the case) using a very neutral voice. She was appalled, as are many good teachers who have read about this case. Yes, I realize that most teachers are great, and really work for the good of all of their students. I also realize that most teachers work under conditions that are less than ideal, without proper supports in place. And that puts a great deal of stress on teachers.

I'm waiting for the investigation by the Port St. Lucie school district, but absent some finding (backed up by evidence) that great portions of Barton's account were made up, I believe Alex.

It's time for Florida to get on the stick, and to stick up for all of its students, not just the ones that are compliant. This means not only rightfully having sanctions on the teacher involved in this case (Ms. Portillo), but also examining the whole education process in Florida and the whole problem with criminalizing school behaviors that have no place in the criminal justice system.

Education, Survivor, and Hamburgers

2008-05-27T05:11:00.001+01:00

I think Amanda was the first to point out the recent abuse of a Kindergarten student in Port St. Lucie, Florida. And many others have since weighed in (scroll down the linked blog for a list of other posts).

I would imagine the vast majority of those who read this blog have already heard about this, where a Kindergarten teacher thought it thoroughly appropriate to have a 5 year old student stand in front of the class while his classmates were instructed to tell him what they didn't like about him. The teacher then thought it would be a good idea to have his classmates vote on whether he should be allowed to stay in the class or not.

They voted him out, by a vote of 14-2, in a move reminiscent of the American TV show, Survivor.

The vast majority of blogging on this that I have seen quite rightly call for the "teacher", Wendy Portillo, to be fired immediately.

Bev has kindly posted some contact info for key people that we can register our (polite) displeasure with.

I especially enjoyed Shawn's post at Along The Spectrum as he detailed how although Portillo's actions were especially egregious, that there was blame enough to go around to the whole system that allowed this to happen.

It has been recognized that teachers are sometimes bullies. Some teachers bully because they are sadistic, and some because they were once bullied themselves.

Bullying isn't only something that happens in schools. Increasingly aggressive managers in the workplace sometimes bully their employees, in a style of management referred to as "Hamburger Management". In this form of management, competition is stressed amongst workers, with workers constantly encouraged to be better than their co-workers, and be "winners".

While bullying in the workplace is also wrong, at least the ones being bullied are presumably adults and have the possibility of leaving to find work elsewhere. Often when pupils in schools report bullying, they are not believed, the bullying continues and often gets worse, and they can suffer long term mental health consequences.

Once again, I encourage everyone to go to Bev's blog for a list of the people you can (politely) contact to let them know that such situations are unacceptable.

Justice Delayed

2008-05-17T00:54:00.002+01:00

photo credit-densaer
creative commons license

Well, it might be a case of too little, too late for many who have been tortured at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in the past, but I'll take anything at this point.

Yesterday's Boston Globe reported that the JRC is being investigated, and that state investigators went in to the center last week and seized boxes of documents.

I started writing about the JRC about 15 months ago, but they've been up to no good for a lot longer than that. The JRC is famous for using electric shocks in autistic individuals as a form of "aversive therapy". ~~Inmates~~ "Students" at the center wear backpacks with batteries and shocking devices which ~~torturers~~ "patient care technicians" can activate at any time by pushing a button. They shock children for such things as being "defiant", or for matters as trivial as "nagging a teacher".

The state of Massachusetts has considered laws in the past to ban spanking of children, but still allows the JRC to continue its daily torture of children.

According to the Globe article:

State Police seized documents late last week from the offices of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton that are related to a prank phone call last summer that led two students to wrongfully receive dozens of punishing electrical shocks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the investigation.

I guess all of the shocking things that go on at the JRC on a daily basis, like starvation and shocking "students" is just fine, but give some of those same "students" some extra shocks and NOW they're sitting up and taking notice.

The article goes on to say:

The collection of evidence has to do with a yearlong grand jury investigation led by the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley, said Kenneth Mollins, a New York lawyer who has filed several lawsuits against the school and who said he spoke to a representative of Coakley's office about the Rotenberg investigation. Mollins said he was told the grand jury is also examining possible financial improprieties by the school.

I just hope that this investigation sheds enough light on this stinkhole of a place that the public finally sees it for what it is.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T04:07:00.001+01:00

photo credit-tanakawho
creative commons license

To those that missed my post last year, it applies even more so now.

And for a bit of humor, I suggest viewing "Because I'm the mom".

Happy Mother's Day!

Eugenics With a Smile

2008-04-30T23:34:00.003+01:00

When I was younger, I used to wonder how people who lived in Germany let the Holocaust occur. Over the years, I have come to believe that it was a series of small steps which seemed somewhat reasonable at the time, combined with a sense of "that doesn't apply to me" when many things came up, and finally, a tendency to believe those in authority.

Today I think I saw up close and personal how things like the Holocaust get started.

Peter Singer gave a talk today on a local campus. His topic was "Medical Decisions in Life and Death". After watching him today, I don't think that the devil wears Prada. Instead, he wears a rumpled shirt, smiles, is generally pleasant, and advocates for things like puppy dogs and poor people, right before he tries to convince the audience that some people are more valuable than others, and killing babies is OK if their parents decide it's the right thing to do.

OK, maybe Singer isn't the devil. But it was somewhat chilling to see students sitting in the audience quietly listening while Singer glibly tried to show that the definition of death is shifting and arbitrary, and that what we should be using to determine whether someone's life is worth living is Singer's somewhat nebulous definition of "personhood" which depends not on brain activity but on the ability of the person to be self reflective. Since he doesn't believe that humans are self aware before they are several months old, they are not persons, and therefore it's OK to kill them, especially if they are disabled.

Singer started by questioning the definition of death, then used selected quotes from (and pictures of) George Bush to (not so subtly) suggest that those who oppose Singer's definition of death and personhood are right wing religious wackos. Singer then quickly reviewed several cases where people with persistent vegetative states had their feeding tubes removed, and suggested that there was no difference between removing the feeding tubes and letting them die, and actively killing them. He finished by talking about assisted suicide, and how Oregon's law is leading the way forward.

There was time for questions at the end, and after waiting a respectful 4 seconds (so it wouldn't appear that I was gunning for him) I went up to the microphone to ask him a question. I was hopping mad, and I could hear my voice shaking just a bit. I asked him how he could place so much importance on preventing what he terms speciesism (discriminating against other animals merely because they are members of different species) while he so freely engaged in disablism by advocating that parents should be able to decide to kill their children up to several months old just because they (the parents) decided selfishly that their own lives would be better, and that the child's life was not worth living. After all, when disabled adults are surveyed, the majority of them report being happy. Singer was not fazed at all, and thanked me politely for the question. He then proceeded to respond with a bland recounting of why babies weren't persons (because of the lack of self response) and how we should respect the parents' wishes. He then moved on to the next question.

I looked around the room at the audience, which was composed mostly of students. Some seemed to get the point I was making, but most just sat there.

And I think that's what happened in Germany, too, when people heard that the Germans were killing the disabled, and later the Jews.

For a much better account of how Peter Singer is up close and personal, read Harriet McBryde Johnson's account of her time with Singer here.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2008-04-18T02:58:00.001+01:00

The film, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" is a complex yet wonderful western where sometimes crime does pay, and good goes unrewarded. Life has certainly been complex around our house for the last month, but unfortunately it's been far from wonderful. And the good has been far outweighed by the bad and the ugly lately.

Buddy Boy started out this year having the best year he's had so far. He loved school, thrived with being included, identified with his classmates, and seemed to really blossom. Sure there were some minor rough spots, but overall it was shaping up to be a stellar year.

Oh how quickly things can change. If things don't turn around very quickly, he'll be expelled from his school within a week or so, and I won't really blame them.

But let's get back to the good. Buddy Boy made his First Communion the Sunday after Easter. He was having some anxiety and a few outbursts in school running up to that day, but we figured it was related to the upcoming ceremony. Other than a short crying jag in the procession coming into the church, he did a great job. I was really proud of him.

About a week and a half after that, he bit his teacher. He hasn't lashed out like that in over a year. His teachers this year have been great. They believe in him, see the positive, and support him as well as just about anyone. But Buddy Boy got upset about something, and just lost it. The teacher had to go to the Emergency Room. Two years ago he would have been immediately suspended. Liz took him home when he couldn't be consoled at the school, but not only wasn't he suspended, we never received any official action taken at all by the school.

The subsequent 3 weeks or so have been escalating hell. Promising him grand rewards has no effect, and neither does confiscating his beloved stuffed dinosaurs. Buddy Boy has gotten violent with Liz at home, and she is covered with bruises. The police have been called 3 or 4 times by Liz when Buddy Boy has bolted from the house and she couldn't find him. Once he was found by the police running thru the underbrush in a park about a half mile from our house. His face was all scratched up from that.

We've had an emergency appointment with his psychiatrist, and took him off one of his meds (Prozac-which had in the past seemed to help with anxiety), which he felt may have been causing an idiosyncratic reaction. Two days later he erupted in class when he found out that after the chicks hatch from the eggs they're incubating in class, the chicks have to go back to the farm. He was yelling, swearing at the teachers, spitting at them, telling the teachers he was going to kill them, and for a grand finale dropped his drawers and peed all over the classroom. Liz kept him home the next day, which was yesterday.

Liz, meanwhile, is at the end of her rope. She's stressed to the max, and cries inconsolably at night. When she gets stressed she pushes people away, so it's been hard for me to try to get her back from the edge. She doesn't feel like she can home school Buddy Boy. She says that it will suck every last bit of energy out of her, and that she will not survive. I try to point out how perhaps whatever is bothering him will settle down if he gets out of school, but she is not in any kind of receptive mood right now.

Buddy Boy, for his part, is not willing or able to talk about what's bugging him. He's still perfectly verbal overall, and just says that he gets angry, and that it's all our fault. But he's adamant that he wants to stay in his school. I really don't think he's trying to get kicked out.

I have been largely protected, as I get to go to work. I've cut back on all non-urgent things so I can be home as much as possible, and have tried to manage things on the weekends, but it's not enough for Liz to rebound. She feels lost, and out of options. I have no idea where Buddy Boy will go to school if he gets kicked out of his present placement. And if he does, we'll also have to find another school for Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea has been allowed to attend the same school as Buddy Boy, which is not our home school. The school is overcrowded, and they won't let her stay if Buddy Boy leaves. We won't put her back in her home school, where the Wicked Witch of the West is the prinicipal (she's the one we spent thousands of dollars and over a year fighting with).

I keep it together because we are in the middle of a crisis, but I feel lost, alone, and frustrated as all get out. We've gone from having our best year yet, to being back at square one. I'm fairly sure that we've used up all the good will that we're going to get from the school. Liz volunteers there, which I'm sure has helped. But I know that they've got to be near their limit of tolerance. Buddy Boy went back to school today and made it thru the day without any serious incident. His regular teacher wasn't there. The substitute basically let them watch movies and play games today. Liz got to hear the retelling by his classmates of Buddy Boy's meltdown, over and over.

That's about it for now. All prayers will be gladly accepted.

Kathleen Slapped-Blogs Slap Back

2008-04-05T05:06:00.001+01:00

photo credit-azrainman
creative commons license

I had heard of SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) before in the context of lawsuits against environmental groups, but had never really paid much attention to them. Evidently the whole purpose of them is to harass people who are speaking out by costing them great deals of money to defend themselves.

I'm sure that most everyone has heard about the ridiculous subpoena that Kathleen Seidel has been served with. While it appears that she has not been sued, this subpoena is pretty much an all encompassing fishing expedition meant to pursue one purpose, and one alone-silencing Kathleen Seidel.

No one could reasonably believe that there was some grand conspiracy that involved paying off Kathleen to write her blog on neurodiversity.com. I do not know Kathleen personally, but there is absolutely no indication that she is being put up to write the things she does. How do I know this? Because there is no way anyone could ever write so elegantly, so powerfully, and so honestly if they were being paid.

Paid product pushers and plants on blogs make themselves known over time. They can't help themselves. They post obviously false things that support certain products or positions, in contradiction to all the evidence that there is to be found.

Kathleen is the polar opposite of someone who is paid to write from a certain perspective. When I found out that there was a name for why my son was having so much difficulty with peers and at home, and that that name was autism, I went searching for information on the web. I first found a local listserve where parents had an ongoing pity party, and most were in search of a holy grail cure. I continued to search, and rapidly came across three different sites on the web that greatly influenced me. These were Kristina Chew's AutismVox, The Autism Hub, and Neurodiversity.com. I loved these sites for different reasons. Kristina for her personal touch, The Hub for its diversity of opinions, and neurodiversity.com for its obviously well researched list of resources and readings on autism. I spent days delving through the articles and resources linked from the site. I felt like I had discovered a cave full of jewels, and I marveled how each one of them sparkled as it was held up to the light. Such sites are not put together by those who are paid to push a certain viewpoint (If she were being paid, there would be much less content, and a lot more "splash" to the site). The beauty of neurodiversity.com is in the layers upon layers of painstaking research that went into putting it all together.

Kathleen's blog has always been top notch. She doesn't push vague conspiracy theories with no facts behind them. Instead she publishes extremely well researched, well annotated (a rarity on the web), and well written treatises on subjects related to autism. A victim of her own success, the existence of this precedent setting subpoena speaks to how well Kathleen's voice is being heard. Evidently she must be silenced.

Many bloggers have stepped up to symbolically link arms with Kathleen. In whatever small way I can, I am proud to join them. Kathleen's voice is one that we cannot allow to be silenced.

Many (including probably myself) would have been intimidated by such harassment. To her credit, Kathleen didn't even flinch, and has fired back a motion to quash the subpoena. You go, girl. They've SLAPPED the wrong woman.

Evidence of Idiocy

2008-03-30T06:03:00.002+01:00

As if she hasn't done enough damage, I ran across this on another list that I am on:

FOR WORLD AUTISM DAY: APRIL 2 – Jenny McCarthy & David Kirby for a full
hour on LARRY KING LIVE

Wednesday, April 2

On World Autism Day, the controversy over vaccines! Do they contribute
to autism, or is there a greater risk going without? Actress and mother
of an autistic child, Jenny McCarthy, debates the issue with medical
professionals.

Now Larry King doesn't strike me as being very balanced on this (he has had Jenny on several times regarding autism). But the one good question he did ask recently was regarding adult autistics, to which Jenny responded that she'd never met any. Since King is basically a celebrity junkie and not a journalist I guess I can't blame him for going with B grade celebrities that will boost his ratings.

I guess the only good that might come of this upcoming show is that eventually even people that are not really paying attention will start to get the message that Jenny is a total air head, and has absolutely no science or reason to back up her beliefs.

On Larry King's website:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
if you go to the April 2nd show, there is a button where you can submit questions for the guest (I guess it's cheaper to have the audience make up the questions rather than have a researcher). I'm counting on the "medical experts" on the show to carry the factual side regarding vaccines, so I asked

Jenny,

Do you still believe that you are an "Indigo Mom" and your son Evan is a "Crystal Child"? If so, what do you base this on?

I encourage everyone to go there and submit your own questions. I don't even want to comment on Kirby. He seems to have the minimal intelligence necessary to know that he's totally screwed up.

Trump Card

2008-03-25T03:17:00.000Z

photo credit-iboy daniel
creative commons license

Kristina Chew got me thinking today with her post on "Race, Diagnosis, and Identity". In it, she talks about her son Charlie's biracial (Asian/Caucasian) heritage, as well as his other difference, his autism. Kristina also references an article by Peggy Orenstein in the New York Times Magazine called "Mixed Messenger", which discusses Barack Obama's biracial status as a candidate, and being biracial in America today.

When Liz and I were contemplating adoption, we thought long and hard about whether to adopt trans racially or not, which race children we would accept, and what sorts of disabilities we would accept (our children, Buddy Boy and Sweet Pea are biracial African-American/Caucasian). It all sounds so clinical, cold, and calculating, but that's what the adoption process asks of you. You are forced to fill out forms stating what types of children (sex, age, race, disabilities) from what types of parents (drug abusing, smokers, psychiatric issues) you are willing to accept for placement.

I knew that kids who had been adopted often had some issues to work thru regarding having been adopted, and I also knew that kids who had been adopted trans racially sometimes were OK with it, and sometimes felt very much like outsiders amongst their own race when they grew up (and resenting their parents who raised them). I always figured that issues of race would rank high within our family as our kids grew up.

Although our kids are both black and white, I realize that in many places and situations in American the "one drop" rule applies (as long as you have one drop of black blood in you, you are considered black). I knew that even though Liz and I would try to do things to make our kids feel comfortable with their racial identities, that we would most likely not be able to do this fully, and perhaps not even well. And I didn't want to cheat our kids in this very important aspect of their lives. On the other hand, I knew that there are more African-American and biracial African-American children waiting for adoptive parents then there are minority parents waiting to adopt. Thus the choice wasn't necessarily between our kids going to an African-American or biracial couple rather than us, but rather perhaps having to wait much longer to be adopted (or not being placed at all) or being placed with us.

I also worried about how African Americans would accept us as a family. I knew that part of having them grow up being comfortable in their skin would involve us seeking out relationships with African Americans, and I didn't want our kids to see us getting the cold shoulder from black people. This, it turns out, was a totally unfounded fear. Once we adopted our kids an amazing thing happened. I have never felt anything other than acceptance (and even love) from African Americans I know.

So I guess the bottom line was I expected that issues of race would be foremost with us as a family, followed by issues with adoption. Little did I realize when I started this journey as a dad that autism would trump both of those (at least for Buddy Boy). For the last 5 years autism has made my previous concerns regarding race and adoption fall completely to the wayside. I still worry how issues of race will affect my children in the future (as well as my ability to prepare them for the discrimination that they will feel once they leave the protective cocoon of being accompanied by their lily white parents). I also worry specifically how issues of autism and race will interact in the future with Buddy Boy. One of the biggest fears I have involves Buddy Boy having a meltdown as a teenager, and being perceived as an "angry young black man" by a police officer, and being arrested (or worse) because of the interaction of his disability with his race. Orenstein in her article mentions

A few weeks ago, while stuck at the Chicago airport with my 4-year-old daughter, I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting in the gate area. After a time, she looked at my girl — who resembles my Japanese-American husband — commented on her height and asked, “Do you know if her birth parents were tall?”

While I don't think anyone should have to suffer other's assumptions about their children, given the choice of someone assuming Buddy Boy was adopted internationally vs. someone assuming he was a gang banger, I'd take the first assumption in a heartbeat.

But for the last several years learning to deal with all the myriad aspects of Buddy Boy's autism (and more importantly, fighting against a system that wanted to label him as behaviorally disturbed for education purposes rather than autistic) has consumed most of our energy on a day to day basis.

I know that with Sweet Pea we'll still have the issues of race and adoption to deal with. At 5, she's already hit us with the "I wish my skin was white like yours" plea. While I know intellectually that statements like this are to be expected in trans racial adoptions, it sure made me feel inadequate as a parent at the time. Had living in a racially mixed neighborhood, playing with the black kids across the street, having a black babysitter, reading to them about black accomplishments, going to museums, had none of this had any effect? Had we neglected Sweet Pea's development of racial identity because of our time spent trying to get Buddy Boy into (and keeping him from getting kicked out of) a proper educational setting?

I guess in the end there are different trump cards at different times. I also know that part of being a parent is to feel constantly inadequate and not up to the task.

Don't Help Them-Arrest Them

2008-03-16T21:14:00.006Z

photo credit-piccadillywilson
creative commons license

If there is anyone left that hasn't read Bev's excellent post "I Am Joe's Functioning Label", I highly encourage you to do so. I think that the phenomenon that she describes, whereby people slap certain labels on others, and then make all sorts of assumptions about them, applies to a story I read.

According to the online version of the Kansas City Star,

The sheriff is recommending charges in the case of a western Kansas woman who sat on her boyfriend’s toilet for so long that her body became stuck to the seat.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said Thursday he asked the county attorney to file charges against Kory McFarren for mistreatment of a dependent adult. The county attorney will decide whether any charges are brought. ...

... McFarren, 36, told the sheriff at that time that Babcock had not left the bathroom in two years, although McFarren now contends he’s unsure how long she was in there. Whipple said Thursday that judging by the woman’s condition — she had open sores on which the toilet seat would stick — it appeared she likely sat on the toilet continually for at least a month.

Now I don't know all of the particulars surrounding the story, and I'm certainly in favor of punishing those who abuse the disabled. But some things in this story don't add up to the typical "caretaker abuses person in their care" scenario.

First of all, the person being charged is described as the woman's boyfriend, not her caretaker.

McFarren said she moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into clothes he brought her. He brought food and water to her. They had conversations and an otherwise normal relationship — except it all happened in the bathroom.

But the sheriff disputed that account: “She hadn’t bathed for quite some time, I am safe in saying. She obviously was not keeping herself up.”

McFarren said he finally called police Feb. 27 after he became worried because Babcock was acting groggy, as if she didn’t know what was going on around her. ...

...McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together.

So, they live together for 16 years. Since there's no mention in the story, I'm assuming that this is the first time that the authorities are being called to intervene in this couple's life.

Certainly the girlfriend has problems that need attention. But it sounds like the boyfriend and her had some semblance of a healthy relationship, though extremely odd by conventional standards. And it sounds like when the boyfriend perceived there was really trouble, he called for help.

To make matters worse, it sounds like the sheriff doesn't consider the boyfriend to possess full capacity

“The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity,” Whipple said.

So why did the sheriff want to press charges?

He (McFarren) insisted that he tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day.

“And her reply would be, ‘Maybe tomorrow,’ ” Whipple said.

OK, so they live together for 16 years without having any obvious problems. Both parties have some issues, and boyfriend exercises some poor judgement in when to seek assistance for his girlfriend (though there is no contention that she wanted any outside help). Since McFarren (the boyfriend) holds down a job, he is assumed to be able to fully make all decisions that not only affect him, but also another adult.

And the sheriff comes in and sees something which he considers too weird, and wants to press charges.

Doesn't the county have any psychiatric social workers?

Addendum-I missed the fact that Casdok had already blogged about this. Please see here for her take on this story.
Joe

Serendipity

2008-03-14T23:28:00.003Z

Sometimes things just happen.

I'm sure that the New York Democratic Party never envisioned Governor Eliot Spitzer resigning, which means David Paterson (the current Lieutenant Governor) takes over as the Governor of New York State for the next three years. There are probably scores of politicians in New York who now regret not pursuing the post of Lt. Governor. And there are probably a lot of New Yorkers that will be surprised to learn that their new Governor is not only Black, but legally blind.

The position of Lieutenant Governor in New York has always been a somewhat weak one, and one that is not eagerly sought after. And no one ever envisioned the youthful and energetic Spitzer would ever need to be replaced. And when the job is playing second fiddle to one with an ego as large as Spitzer's, not everyone might want the job.

When Spitzer wanted to reach out to minorities he tapped David Paterson, who was formerly the minority leader in the state Senate. Paterson had also been widely speculated to be the probable replacement for Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate if she became President. Likely few outside of New York noticed, or cared, when he agreed to run as Lieutenant Governor.

From all accounts, it sounds like Paterson is the perfect person for the Governor's job. He is seen as a consensus builder, and is respected by people from both parties. From what I've read, he did a good job in the New York state Senate. During an interview this week he was asked if he ever visited a prostitute. Showing a wry sense of humor, he responded "Only the lobbyists."

Paterson also noted in the interview that 71% of blind people in this country are unemployed, as are 90% of deaf people. I hope he continues to highlight such statistics, while pushing New York to be a leader in working to change them.

Sometimes things just happen. And this time, I'm awfully glad that Paterson is the soon to be Governor of New York. He sounds like just the kind of person that can demonstrate with quiet competence that discrimination against the disabled is not only wrong, but bad for business and society as a whole.

What Makes Someone Be So Cruel?

2008-03-12T21:12:00.004Z

photo credit-exfordy
creative commons license

Like a lot of other people, I've been following the Poling case closely. But another case in the news caught my attention this week.

This week, in the sleepy Mississippi river town of Alton, IL, 6 people have been charged in the death of a developmentally disabled woman who was 6 months pregnant. The 6 people charged range in age from 43 down to 12 years old. According to the story

Police said the autopsy revealed Dixon died on January 31 after being repeatedly shot with a BB gun, being scalded with a hot liquid and being beaten on her head and body. They said Dixon's fetus also died.

And lest we think that this horrid incident was a crime of passion,

Police said the attacks lasted for four to eight weeks.

I agree with others that it's not these things we need to worry about so much, as everyone realizes how unacceptable this behavior is, and that most people, when it is explained what the Judge Rotenberg Center does, also feel that it is unacceptable. I also feel that what we really have to worry about are the things that fly under our radar, like all the things that happen in institutions daily that we never hear about, and how most of us never think twice about the "helping" paradigm in disability.

But still, when I read a story like this one, I still don't understand how people can do such things to each other.

All involved in this have been charged with first degree murder, as well as a variety of other charges.

Features of Autism Spectrum Disorder

2008-03-10T02:53:00.002Z

Of our two kids, one is on the autism spectrum. So I'm not surprised when I come home and see toys lined up as in the above picture, as people often write that such things are common. In retrospect, I also shouldn't be surprised that the same child that lined those toys up also had a lot of GI issues as a baby, likes to hide under tables at times, and is somewhat hyperactive. We have also had a lot of problems with toe walking, to the point of having to put leg casts on for several months. Even though not all of these things are listed in the DSM-IV, many children on the spectrum have these same issues, so it shouldn't be surprising that my child displays these features.

Except for the fact that the child I'm referencing above is my younger one, Sweet Pea, who is most definitely not autistic.

Sweet Pea is one of the most social kids in her class, and would never qualify for an autism diagnosis.

Recently, in the Poling case, the Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation decided

In sum, DVIC has concluded that the facts of this case meet the statutory criteria for demonstrating that the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.

Many people say that this document says that the government admits that vaccines cause autism. Rather than focusing on what Hannah Poling primarily has (mitochondrial disease), many have focused on the phrase "features of autism spectrum disorder".

Having never met Hannah Poling, I'm not sure if she is on the autism spectrum. It is entirely possible that she is. If one out of 150 individuals are, then it makes sense that at least one out of every 150 individuals with mitochondrial disease is also autistic, independent of their mito disease (I know, there may be more, but I'm talking independent of their mito disease, not linked to it). But the court document doesn't say Hannah is autistic, just that she displays "features of autism spectrum disorder". And someone looking at certain aspects of Sweet Pea's behavior and condition might decide that she had "features of autism spectrum disorder" too, which I know is totally false.

In Case There Was Any Doubt

2008-03-08T15:17:00.001Z

There are a lot of interviews out there with the Polings, following the announcement that the Vaccine Injury Compensation program had ruled in their favor. One of them I saw was over at ABC News.

Two things struck me when I viewed the video that's up in the upper right corner on that page. The first is "What's their lawyer doing with them?" I mean, the decision is already in, and this is a civil case, not a criminal case. Were they afraid that they would say something incriminating? Or were they afraid that they would say something that would jeopardize the amount of the pending settlement?

So then I looked up the lawyer. The lawyer is Cliff Shoemaker, who is no stranger to vaccine litigation. As it says on his website,

"Today, Cliff is one of the lawyers focusing his attention on the national disaster that occurred in the 90's when we poisoned a substantial number of our children with mercury, creating an autism epidemic."

Cliff was also evidently the lead attorney for CoMed (Lisa Sykes) in suing the FDA to get mercury out of vaccines.

The other thing that struck me about that ABC interview was that the father, Dr. Jon Poling, referred to the head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding, as "Ms. Gerberding" when there's about 3:30 left in the video. Now it may have just been a slip of the tongue on his part, but I find it hard to believe that a doctor would not know that the head of the CDC was a physician (who also holds a Master's in Public Health). And I also find it hard to believe that a doctor would not use a fellow physician's title when referring to her. Unless of course he was trying to purposely make her seem less knowledgeable and important. I mean, after seeing over at Kristina Chew's site that Jenny McCarthy is calling for the immediate resignation of Julie Gerberding as the head of the CDC, I started to wonder. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might think that the Polings were coordinating with the Age of Autism folks to try and get Gerberding removed.

Meanwhile, Lenora pointed out in a comment to my last post that Dr. Poling gave an interview over at WebMD that didn't seem to jive with the press conferences.

Indeed, in that interview Poling says both

"I don't think the case should scare people," says Poling, 37, who emphasizes that vaccines, like all of medicine, carry risks and benefits.

as well as

"Vaccines are one of the most important, if not the most important advance, in medicine in at least the past 100 years. But I don't think that vaccines should enjoy a sacred cow status, where if you attack them you are out of mainline medicine."

"Every treatment has a risk and a benefit. To say there are no risks to any treatment is not true.''

"Sometimes people are injured by a vaccine, but they are safe for the majority of people. I could say that with a clean conscience. But I couldn't say that vaccines are absolutely safe, that they are not linked to brain injury and they are not linked to autism."

This interview seems to be a "face saving" attempt by Dr. Poling with the mainstream medical community. A way for him to say that he knows that there is no science behind the court decision, but that he didn't need science, just a little doubt. The WebMD quotes are clearly different from his media interviews, where he emphasizes that he feels strongly that there are thousands of other cases just like his. Statements that will certainly scare people away from vaccination.

I find it hard to comprehend why a physician could (rightly) admit that there are risks to every procedure or treatment, and then feel entitled to payment when something happens. Has he bought into the theory that every bad outcome needs to be compensated? I hope he isn't too disappointed when patients start sueing him for every bad outcome that happens to them, whether it was his fault or not.

My parents used to criticize me hanging out with certain kids because they weren't good kids. They rightly told me that I would be judged by the company I keep.

Well, Dr. Poling, I think you're going to be judged by the company you keep, as well as all the comments you make. A little backsliding on a medical site won't make up for the fear mongering and atrocious statements not backed up by science that you make to the media, or the fact that you are hanging out with people who hold views that are not supported by any science at all.