Autism Vox

This Week’s Top Posts

by Kristina Chew, PhD on April 6th, 2008

It’s April, it’s Autism Awareness Month, and last week saw the inaugural World Autism Day on April 2nd, and there were a whole lot of autism stories in the news——and there’s still three more weeks to go.

This April has some added significance for me: It’s Charlie’s last month of being 10 years old as his 11th birthday is in May.

• Vaccinations do not cause autism
  How many times does one need to say this?
• Florida’s “Window of Opportunity Act”
  A new piece of legislation in Florida, “The Window of Opportunity Act,” would “require large group health insurance plans to provide diagnostic screening, intervention and treatment of autism. It would prohibit insurance companies from denying autistic children therapy.”
• Karen McCarron Sentenced to 36 Years
  Former pathologist Karen McCarron has been sentenced to 36 years in prison for the May 13th suffocation of her then 3-year-old daughter, Katherine “Katie” McCarron.
• The Rebranding of Autism
  Once again, David Kirby has a new term to describe autism and its causes as the latest news and developments in autism research suit him.
• Vaccines and Genes
  While some worry about how a vaccine might cause autism in a child who is “not yet” autistic, I’m thinking, scheming, strategizing to the day when I won’t be able to drive Charlie to the grocery store and explain to him why we only need to buy one bag of frozen French fries, and when Jim and I won’t be able to take him on walking treks in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
• How Do You Pay For What You Need?
  To help other families who could not afford the intensive therapy that Ryan has had, Lorri Unumb of South Carolina has written a bill, recruited other parents to help her lobby state legislators, and two years later, got the bill passed. Known as Ryan’s Bill, it will go into effect as Ryan’s Law in July.
• Autism According to Jenny
  Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey on CNN: “We believe autism is an environmental illness.”
• Gamers and Asperger’s
  A new study to be presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Dublin has found that “people who showed more signs of games addiction exhibit the following personality traits: neuroticism, lack of extraversion and lack of agreeableness”—all of which are signs of Asperger’s Syndrome.
• Does Your Child Know That It’s Autism Awareness Month?
  Does your autistic child know that Wednesday was World Autism Day and that this whole month is Autism Awareness Month?
• $6200 Less a Year: Loss of Income in Families with Autistic Children
  The April issue of Pediatrics contains a new study on the household finances of families with autistic children. Families’ annual income falls short of average predicted income by as much as $6200; families also spend thousands of dollars on health care and educational and other therapies and services.
• Vaccine Awareness from David Kirby
  During Autism Awareness Month, Kirby’s posts seem to be more and more about vaccine awareness, and to be anti-autism awareness and to be contrary to understanding what autism is.

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POSTED IN: Crime, Disability Rights, Genetics, Health, Insurance, Legal Issues, Legislation, Media, Money, Politics, Psychology, Rhetoric, Science, Stereotypes, Technology, Treatment, Vaccines