Before you read on, and before I go further ...

I may be way off-base in what follows. I saw a show on Larry King Live - 2 mothers and a father (a doctor) dealing with autism. The main story: what may help most after diagnosis. A side issue: can autism be caused by vaccines? A question was asked: would these parents allow vaccinations, or anyway, as many vaccinations - 37 in the first years - if they had more children? The answer: no.

I did a tiny bit of resarch online, on mercola.com, a large alternative health site. It seems there is very likely a link between autism and vaccines containing a mercury-related compound.

In the heat of the moment, I wrote. I've heard since from 5 doctors that there is no link between autism and vaccines. I need to do more research. I still have my underlying question: how much responsibility do parents have when recognized experts give clear answers? Yet experts, it's also widely recognized, do make errors.

What follows is what I wrote. I'll start with a conclusion: before I came to a decision on what to do, I would do a lot more research.

Elsa, October 13, 2007

Childhood rates of autism have skyrocketed, are up over six-fold in less than 2 decades. There's no possibility that the increase is from an increase in reporting. It's just as, 2 decades ago, the rate of AIDS was going up and up. It had nothing to do with an increase in reporting. Something was going on.

At the same time as the rate of autism has skyrocketed – 1 in 94 boys is diagnosed with autism in some areas, according to figures given on Larry King Live on Sept 30, '07 – the rate of childhood vaccines has also skyrocketed. It was about 10 shots twenty years ago. Now, according to the same source, it's thirty-seven. A chemical in the vaccines is seen as the most likely triggering factor.

That the vaccines are responsible for at least some of the increase is almost totally certain: many of the children go from being normal to severely autistic – no eye contact, no more speaking, repetitive movements, withdrawing from social contact, screaming all night, and so on – within a week of receiving a vaccine.

I come to chains in the mind. Most parents care enormously about their children. One can see it especially in the care given to many autistic children by loving parents. Yet most allow masses of childhood vaccinations despite the potential dangers. No measles. Just autism. No mumps. Just autism.

An American pediatrician whose son, now 11, is autistic was told by his wife: you did this to him, you fix him (Larry King Live, Sept 30, '07). She clearly saw: he was guilty, he was responsible. They had had a healthy son. As her husband was a doctor, she held him accountable. He should have known better than to allow the many vaccinations. He has devoted his life since then to finding out how best to treat autism and even, at times, enable recovery.

But why should he be held accountable and not other parents? Loads of parents have access to the same information.

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But what about the drug companies? They're the ones pushing the vaccines.

I'm not looking at the drug companies because, at present, the power to protect children lies in the hands of the parents. The drug companies manufacturing the vaccines claim there's no evidence of danger from the vaccines.

That's to be expected. They're making money from the vaccines.

Likewise the cigarette companies refuted all evidence of the link between smoking and lung cancer - making money was more important than lives.

That's why, when I come to chains in the mind, I'm not talking of those at the drug companies.

I'm talking about all the other people who haven't acted. There are millions - millions of parents - who have heard the reports on the possible dangers of vaccines from one source or another.

Chains in the mind. Here's what comes to mind.

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Chain One. Fear. Fear of taking responsibility, of going against what a doctor says. What if something goes wrong?

Yet right now there's a much bigger risk of something going wrong if the child is given vaccines. Measles are unpleasant – but the long term consequences are not autism.

Even on the Larry King Live show I've mentioned, the 2 mothers interviewed were very low key about the vaccines. It almost had to be dragged out of them, that they wouldn't allow another child to be vaccinated. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Why not do their best to help prevent what happened to their children from happening to others? (Of course all autism won't be prevented - just as one change won't prevent all cancer. But each prevention is wonderful.)

****

Back to chains in the mind. Mental chain two. Fear of other consequences. What does one do about school requirements, etc. if one doesn't allow the shots?

And then there's mental chain three. It will never happen to me. Denial that the danger is real. Autism – that happens to other people's children. Autism - a danger so far away that it isn't considered.

And yet the danger of abduction is much smaller – but many parents treat it as a huge threat, don't let children outside alone, don't let children go to school alone.

So what makes people just go along with the vaccines?

There are still other chains – like the comfort of staying on the beaten path. There's no visible chain keeping one on it. But the path is so easy.

****

Other chains in the mind – in all levels of government.

One 9/11 – and huge measures are taken. That cost over 3000 lives.

Autism – much bigger. One is talking of hundreds of thousands, millions worldwide.

What makes each and every official not react? I've been hearing of the increase in autism rates for over a decade. Where are the government officials, and why has there not been a massive response to something that endangers far more children than, say, the threat of HIV through contact with another child – where they was a huge panic reaction a couple of decades ago. Why are people seemingly numb, frozen, chained?

****

The more one is free of the frozen brain syndrome, the more one responds to what is going on.

But like rabbits that freeze when caught in headlights, most people freeze, given something out of the ordinary. It asks too much of them to respond. And anyhow, most likely it won't be their child. It will be someone else's. And what if the reports are wrong?

And so most people live – and children who might otherwise be healthy are condemned to autism. One could say that many adults show autistic tendencies – lack of contact with material, lack of responsiveness.

Time to unchain. A long process. But each person who frees themselves from some mental chains helps.

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****

The spark for my thoughts. A few days ago, I saw an interview with a mother of an autistic child on Larry King Live. She'd done so much since her son's diagnosis, found every possible help for recovery. She had, before her son's illness, loved him just as much - but she'd gone along with the vaccination program. 37 shots.

An ounce of prevention, goes the old proverb, is worth a pound of cure. I'm all in favor of cure. But why, I asked myself, isn't there more done for prevention? Surely preventing autism is more important than preventing measles.

Note: I don't hold parents responsible - just as parents aren't responsible for the death of children at the hands of drunk drivers. But to stay silent is to acquiesce to the situation. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers started as a group of mothers (most of whom had lost a child to a drunk driver) who refused to stay silent. They became a powerful lobby for strong drunk driving penalties - which now save many children's lives, though more has to be done. My hope is that, likewise, parents will come together powerfully to protect their babies and toddlers as much as is possible against the threat of autism.

I pause. And the question keeps going through my mind: how much (or how little) responsibility do parents have? To care is more than to feel caring. We need knowledge, we need to have the courage to act on information, we need to have enough commitment to our children to do things that aren't easy - to address bullying, whatever. We need healthy priorities.

So I won't say parents have no responsibility to keep their children as safe from autism as possible. Far more children are struck by autism than struck by cars. Way more children are hurt by autism than are abducted by evil strangers. I would say that parents of healthy babies and toddlers should care enormously to do all to protect them from autism - get information, get together with other concerned parents, and act.

Your comments, ideas and experiences are very welcome. I wonder: how will you respond? Anger? Interest? Agreement? What are your thoughts?

signed,

Elsa
October 1 , 2007

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A tiny bit of online research - several articles on mercola.com, a big alternative health site - indicates that, yes, one possible cause of autism may be a mercury-related substance used in vaccines.

"Doctors in Britain and America are recognizing more autistic children than ever. The US National Institute of Health estimates that one American child in 250 is affected, compared with one in 10,000 a decade ago. A recent survey by the National Autistic Society in England suggested that one in 86 primary school pupils may have the condition."

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There's a lot more on the site.

Some general information: part of the increase in autism diagnosis is a consequence of the change in definition of autism. However, not all.

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copyright © Elsa Schieder 2007, all rights reserved
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2007

For more on autism, and especially on successful treatment options,
a good starting place is:
Jenny McCarthy's Louder than Words. Available at Amazon.

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The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to ideas - ideas about reality, ideas that need to be checked against reality, not just believed in like the tooth fairy is accepted by a child. But how does one check them? What qualifies as proof, as evidence?

And why, so often, is evidence of no interest to people? We have masses of evidence of how good many people are at denying evidence when it goes against what they believe. Millions have denied, and continue to deny the equality of women and men, of Jews and nonJews, of atheists and Muslims, gays and heterosexuals. People are incredible experts at denying reality - what is seen, experienced. Of course we need to interpret reality - we do not know it "pure" but through our limited senses, our limited memory, our limited ability to perceive and make sense of the amazing array of information that does gets perceived.

Still, it boggles the even slightly rational mind - how can so many people be so utterly blind to, let's say, findings about nutrition? It amazed me to find out, when I was growing up, that there was evidence for the health benefits of whole grains over refined products - because masses of people stuck with white flour, white rice, white sugar. How could they be so closed to evidence? Somehow they had a wall against the evidence.

The ideas I want to explore are those that go with, not against, the evidence, that try to make sense of evidence.

So, the Idea Emporium - a place for ideas.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are explored.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are entertained , played with,
looked at from many angles.
The Idea Emporium, a place where ideas are evaluated.

What is an idea, by the way. I hadn't thought of that when I chose the name of The Idea Emporium. It just seemed the obviously right name. It was months before I realized I had a hard time putting into words what I meant by idea. I began to think about the word. Sentences with the word, idea, floated into my mind. Like, "I have an idea. Why don't we order pizza?" That was an eye-opener for me.

My guess is that most of us use the word without knowing exactly what it means. "I have an idea of what we might do. Maybe we could go out for Chinese food. But It's just an idea" - meaning this need not come to pass, but we think it might be fun. That is obviously not what I meant by idea.

"I have an idea. Maybe you left your hat in the car." Again, no

""My idea is that we go in together and talk to her." No.

These are all legitimate uses of the term, idea, but it's not what I meant when I came to name The Idea Emporium. And I'm sure it's not what people might expect if they click on The Idea Emporium - because it's not what most people mean by the word "idea."

Word has a built-in dictionary. This is what it says:

Idea -
a personal opinion or belief;
a thought to be presented as a suggestion;
an impression or knowledge of something;
a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done;
the aim or purpose of a plan or project;
the gist or précis of something such as a book, report, project or plan;
a thought about or mental picture of something such as a future or possible event;
a concept that exists in the mind only;
a mental image that reflects reality.

The last is what I'm most interested in - ideas that reflect reality as well as possible. But I've decided that I like it that idea is such a wide term.

Here I am taking idea to mean (and I think this is what most of us think of when we think of the meaning of the word, idea) some thought one has about something. "I have an idea" - meaning, I am not sure this concept fits reality, but it is a hypothesis I have formed.

I also think that, when I named The Idea Emporium, I was blurring words together in my mind - idea, concept, conception, understanding, hypothesis.

The Idea Emporium - a place for all these things.

This is not the same as people having "an idee fixe" - meaning, a fixed idea, a rigid belief that something is one way or another.
The sooner people get rid of such ideas, the better. The Idea Emporium is not a place to set out rock-hard beliefs and stone people with them, hurling them like missiles at all and any that come within striking range.

That is not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium - a place to present and explore ideas - for now my ideas.

That does not mean the idea need to be timidly set forth, all hemming and hawing, tentative even when the evidence is strong.

The Idea Emporium – the goal is smart opinions, critical thought, perception, good analysis.

The Idea Emporium. Smart opinions - meaning, drawing on every resource possible, rather than "it's my opinion, that's why I believe it, and it's as good as yours any day. Who are you to say blacks can do math, women can learn to read, Jews deserve to live. I have every right to my opinion." Personally, I'd rather do my best to think well, but many others are clearly proud of their avowed right to be thoughtless.

That's not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium. Critical thought - that means we do our best to think well, to apply logic, information, all our capacities.

The Idea Emporium. Good analysis. Again, that means we try to ensure that we use valid arguments - not, "because it's my opinion," "because I say so" "because I know that's right" "because my god says so" "because everyone knows that's right" . We both draw conclusions from evidence (so there may be evidence showing patterns and tendencies in certain groups (for instance, I've done lots of research on the impact of rights movements on those who get involved, and have found lots of evidence for patterns of response) - and at the same time we are careful not to generalize, to draw conclusions beyond what we have evidence for, and even contradicting the evidence ("Women are ..." "Muslims believe ..." "everyone this happens to ..." "Jews are..." "Gays are ..."

The Idea Emporium. Perception. Not easy to perceive. We each do it through a filter of experience, memory, assumptions, and so on. We have all learned not to perceive many things - denial - and to magnify other things. The goal at The Idea Emporium (and this should be the goal everywhere) is to be as perceptive - taking in as much information - as possible.

The Idea Emporium. i could go on and on. But this is enough for a start. More important now to put it into action - because it's ideas came first, surging inside me, wanting to find a place to be heard.

I'm (among other things) a college teacher, so my teaching gives me one outlet for my ideas, to express them, modify them, listen to other ideas, test the evidence, the power (or lack thereof) of different arguments.

But that hasn't been enough for me. One small class at a time.

I have a sense that I have some ideas that could be valuable to many people - ideas many people don't have (many have very different ideas), ideas where my ideas may help other people struggling with some of the same concerns, and so on. I think these ideas could help make some kind of positive difference in the world, reach people who are reachable, maybe even break through some shells many people live inside, shells that stop them from perceiving things.

There will be space for the ideas of others as well. Right now I am starting with a few ideas of mine. But I envisage that The Idea Emporium is a place that will grow, enriching both others and also myself - that I and my ideas will grow from some of what comes back.

Elsa
July 30, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2011
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006, 2011

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