jenny mccarthy wants your kid to get measles: autism, vaccines, and stupid idiots

I have conversations like that with my patients at least a few times a week. It's often easier to play dumb and not argue with them ("oh OK, wow, that's too bad" etc). "Did the needle break off" is straight up trolling, and well done, but I wouldn't recommend being so condescending (tempting though it can be).

Hurting, I think you're right about the psychology of "there must be an answer". I had some similar thoughts at great length way upthread.

DSP, I think you're exactly right about the value of approaching a chronic condition with the goal of by working toward improving it (I'd add a caveat of having reasonable expectations) instead of spending time and energy on the unanswerable questions of "what happened" or "why me (why him)". The patients I've seen with that habit of mind are the ones who've done best at coping with chronic illness or other challenges over the long haul, not in the sense that their attitude has made the problem disappear but that they're able to do more despite it, and feel better about the situation. I would guess your mentality will go a long way to help your son grow into independence no matter what his diagnosis.

Like you, I'm no fan of Grandin's answers about the MMR but I'm a fan of hers just the same.

http://www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-likelihood-of-a-measles-epidemic-in-london-spot-the-difference/

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BKsv1HYCQAAH-Vo.jpg

RAGE

OH FFS

not but what a class action lawsuit against wakefield (not the nhs, just wakefield) would be sort of satisfying to watch

I just wanted to big up The Lighthouse School and this thread is the closest thing to an ASC thread on here. After 6 years of wrangling with my local authority and soul crushing tribunals I have finally got my son into an appropriate school for his condition.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-free-school-set-to-grow-after-first-year-success-1-5783416

congratulations dude. i must admit i've been unsure about Free Schools - it seems like they can be started by people with all sorts of odd axes to grind - but something like this seems like a really good idea given the general paucity of specialist services across the country

sorry, not that i'm saying existing services are poor, just that there are nowhere near enough of them

Four of the teachers at The Lighthouse have ASC children who are also pupils so they have witnessed this paucity of 'whole autism' schools in the region and done something about it. They are the best teachers I have ever met for children on the autism spectrum. They have a link with the university and are targeting independence and further education for the pupils. The school that the LA originally put on my sons statement was a glorified prison, with a high staff turnover, regular police call outs, a headmaster who spend 15 minutes talking my wife's breasts and 0% of pupils going into further education. These people believe in their methods and believe in the potential of the pupils. Sorry I am rambling, but it is exciting.

no i can imagine it is exciting, and yes i'm aware that those other kinds of school exist. hope your boy loves it and blossoms into whoever he wants to be.

Awesome piece by Chris Mooney:

The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science
-
How our brains fool us on climate, creationism, and the vaccine-autism link.

https://medium.com/editors-picks/adfa0d026a7e

'We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators, but to data itself.'

Thanks for that. I know from your posts that you work with young ASC people. Respect man!

xp

Has anyone seen this ths book yet? Came out a coupla years ago:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781439158647-0

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear

By Seth Mnookin

yeah i read it when it came out, it's v good

I liked it. The idea of a medical scare being spread like a virus is mildly annoying, a la "memes", but the history and analysis of the science are good.

is that where i found out about morgellons? i think so.

The View replaces one dipshit blonde with another.

Tho the exact words will change, it will be interesting to how much the song remains the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkrkaH_V7fE

i remember watching that ep live like...uhhhhhhhh

Meaning that McCarthy is not even the bottom rung on this show. God knows, Oprah has put her weight (no pun intended!) behind some dubious Dr. Oz shit. And "The Secret" and scams like that.

God gives us markers

hahaha
one cant exist without the other

Thank you, god.

Some friends of mine - all of whom are presumably very pro-vax - had a bit of a stoush on FB over this, one posted how angry she was McCarthy was set to host/be on the show, and how we should all write to ABC or NBC or whoever and stop it, and another friend bizarrely played devils advocate and was like "but why? Are you censoring her? Who cares what people on the View say, its not like anyone takes irt seriously" which I thought was being wilfully obtuse.

well shes going to be on tv anyway. i feel kind of good that it will be with a flat earther. seems apt.

I would watch the show if each of the hosts had a really specific crazy specialty, like a reverse superhero team. Flat earther, anti-vaxer, holocaust denier, survivalist bunker enthusiast and raw foodie evangelist, say.

tbf she just "never thought about it."

The View isn't a newspaper, it's a talk show, and organizations can decide what viewpoints and ideas they want expressed in their programming. If a commercial audience overwhelmingly says that this is not the content they want, that's not censorship, it's listening to your audience.

This "don't censor" shit has gone far enough that the non-opinion pages of newspapers or factual journalism has felt the need to pander to idiots in the interest of "equal coverage." The preponderance of evidence and scientific consensus on vaccination is uncontroversial in reasonable circles. Having an anti-vaccination person like McCarthy as a "balanced" view is like interviewing an average citizen on race relations and balancing it with a KKK member.

freedom to incite harm to life is a pretty grey area of "free speech" imo

no it isn't

just watched that clip, omg

no it isn't why?

I think k3vin's implication is that it isn't a grey area, it's just pretty obviously wrong

to have people dead-set against such a brilliant, basic and crucial human achievement such as vaccination is stunningly sad, still. it's plainly evil.

sorry should have said it's not in the US, things might be different in the UK

I think we need an era of actual hard-line censorship so that people will stop equating "not giving a forum to dumbshits" w/censorship

Any outlet to chemophobia has a tendency to reinforce such beliefs in those who hold or are susceptible to them. I mean, fuck, just look at the bollocks that shows up your Facebook feed if you're not quick enough to hide those posts.

How this ISNT a hate crime is beyond me.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/20/letter_attacking_autistic_boy_not_a_hate_crime_police_say.html

http://htmlimg4.scribdassets.com/11pquappkw2qq4ts/images/1-2631b19334.jpg

Wait, the kid whales?!

that's your problem with that letter?

well past a certain point you just can't make yourself care about that many excess exclamation points

i know burning that woman's house down would be the wrong response but still

Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate them to science. He scares the hell out of my NORMAL kids.

Heard the voice of NORMALITY many times but not received the rabid poison pen letter yet. On a positive note, most of this kid's neighbours threw an outdoor party for him to show their support or at least that was the story from a Canadian cable news station my wife showed me the other day.

The really stupid thing is that the kid doesn't even live there. He visits his grandma occasionally.

And what is this utopian neighborhood where everyone is 'normal'.

I once got accosted by a very angry lady at a swimming pool, who for some reason didn't like my son's very loud and excitable way of getting his sensory kicks with water. "You should teach him not to behave like that". In exchanges like this there is always an undercurrent of "this behaviour isn't fair on the normal kids" like "normality" is sacrosanct and justifies any disability-hate that "normal" people wish to express.

it comes across as barely-repressed fear to me, most of the time

not that fear is a more noble excuse than pig ignorance. some people really are incapable of behaving decently in public.

that's your problem with that letter?

C'mon...