Emily Willingham doublexscience.blogspot.com Natural News recently resurrected an OLD study about “monkeys with autism” that, when it came out two years ago (for the second time), was so egregious that many autism/science bloggers tore it to pieces. That hasn’t stopped Natural News from presenting it as “new.” So, we are running science editor Emily Willingham’s original reaction to the study, below. We also encourage you to read editor Liz Ditz’s overview of the entire history of this “study.” I was sitting across from a friend today at a picnic table when she received an email on her smart phone. A local parent who disseminates all manner of autism-related information and misinformation had circulated an email with a SafeMinds headline asserting that “scientific evidence” had emerged linking autism, vaccines, and mercury. Suppressing the impulse to hurl all over the beach towels at the prospect of yet another mole to whack (or,…
Tag: Liz Ditz
Liz Ditz lizditz.typepad.com On March 3, 2012, Mr. Justice Mitting of the UK’s High Court of Justice ruled that the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) had acted improperly in Professor John Walker-Smith’s hearing on charges of serious professional conduct, and therefore he quashed both the finding of serious professional misconduct and the sanction of erasure. (You can find the entire ruling at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2012/503.html.) It’s important to be very clear about what this ruling means. Mr. Justice Mitting did not find that Professor Walker-Smith’s actions were medically necessary or ethical. The ruling does not exonerate Walker-Smith. That was not what the hearing was about. Mitting was only ruling on the conduct, the decision-making, of the GMC’s Fitness to Practice panel. More broadly, Mitting found aspects of the GMC’s procedures to be flawed. And Mitting’s ruling has nothing to do with the retraction of the 1998 paper. It’s still retracted. It does not validate Andrew Wakefield’s integrity, or affect the…
Liz Ditz I Speak of Dreams Academic Remediation I don’t have autism. I don’t have a child or a sibling or a parent with autism. What am I doing here? (Personally, I find that line of thought contemptible: that only those directly affected by autism should be thinking, writing, or advocating for people with autism. But that’s the subject of another post.) How did I become an advocate for people with autism? It’s a long and winding story that isn’t unique to me. I started kindergarten in the mid-1950s, almost two decades before federal law required that children with disabilities have the same access to public education as their non-disabled peers. What did that mean, though, for families and for schoolchildren? Back then, children with cognitive disabilities were either kept at home, with very little support for their parents in the community, or were institutionalized. It was common for families…
The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism (TPGA) started with a brainstorm in a California parking lot May 27, 2010. We published our first post 9 days later, on June 6: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism (TPGA) is the book and website we wish had been available when our children with autism were first diagnosed. We want to help people with autism and their families make sense of the bewildering array of available autism treatments and options, and determine which are worth their time, money, and energy. Think of us as a little bit of Snopes for the autism community — trusted, accurate, and friendly. Our essays will cover informed approaches to autism and autism treatments, as well as the personal experiences of people with autism and their families. Our attitude is cautionary yet loving — we’re honest, but we’re not interested in negativity. We — the TPGA editors —…
TPGA is taking a wee break as all but one of our editorial staff is traveling — with our children with autism — and that is a rather time-consuming and internet-unpredictable undertaking. We’ll resume posting essays on Wednesday, August 25th. We’re very grateful for the fat pile of submissions both published on the site and upcoming, and encourage you to submit more, share more, build community more. The discussions in the comments have been fantastic! Our thanks to everyone who has helped our community thrive. While we’re away, you can check out what our editors have been up to: Liz has been doing helpful TPGA round ups: Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism: Authors June 6 to August 2: What A Lineup! Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism: June 6 to August 2: Posts By People With Autism Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism: June 6 to August 2: Autism from Diagnosis to…