No Evidence Supporting Chelation As Autism Treatment

January 7, 2013January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Emily Willingham www.emilywillinghamphd.com www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham Image source: pixabay.com Chelation is a “treatment” for autism promoted by the likes of Jenny McCarthy’s Generation Rescue group and others in which a chemical that binds metals is (usually) injected or infused into an autistic child with the intent of removing said metals from the blood. Now a review of the scientific studies on chelation and autism has concluded that not only is chelation ineffective, it can be dangerous. Indeed, chelation appears to be a case study of the dangers in using children as guinea pigs for random autism-causation hypotheses with no basis. According to Tonya Davis, Ph.D., lead author of the paper, quoted in a news story about the publication: “Chelation therapy represents the ‘cart before the horse’ scenario where the hypothesis supporting the use of chelation was not validated prior to using it as a form of treatment. Evidence does not support the hypothesis…

Disability

I Am a Mother

January 4, 2013January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Elizabeth J. Grace www.tinygracenotes.com Layenie, my wife, is a pediatric nurse. I feel very comfortable asking her questions about the health and development of our young sons. They will turn one in January and are ahhh they are soooo adorable … but I digress. I might be digressing because the beginning of this post hurts a little to write. The other evening, I had been staying home with the boys, which I do once a week, because, you know, child care costs a lot, and also, as I wrote, adorable. Benjy was doing this thing with his hand which is very like something I also do with my own hand, so this is what I said — and although I am not usually able to hear myself, I can derive a proper quote from the ensuing conversation: Ib: “See what Benjy’s doing with his hand there … is that OK?”…

Disability

It’s About Respect

January 2, 2013January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Amy Sequenzia Respect for one another is one basic quality if we want to have meaningful conversations and relationships with other human beings. The ableism that disabled people experience is a form of disrespect. I have been trying to understand why some people find it so difficult to act respectfully towards disabled people, especially disabled adults. I am talking about people everywhere: people who do not have any experience with disabilities; people who have spent many years among the disabled; professionals who cannot see the whole person, only deficits; “advocacy” groups who refuse to stop using the “pity” language; even some parents, who love their children but forget that, by disrespecting us, they are disrespecting their children too. I am trying to understand why ignoring my presence, in my own home, seems to be a visitor’s acceptable behavior. During a state mandatory visit, two nurses came to my home, greeted…