[tri-med] Re: The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jennifer Vanderbeek"
>I had no idea chicken pox could be that dangerous.

I guess thats what we have been trying to say. Its so easy to forget about 
these illnesses when they arent staring you in the face. I am old enough to 
remember the polio epidemics, albeit the tail end of them. I was even 
hospitalised myself with suspected polio when I was little. And I certainly 
remember going to school with many kids who still wore calipers. No access 
for the disabled those days - they still walked up the same humungous hill 
to school that I did, but dragging legs bound up in iron. Makes me grateful 
for todays relatively light weight AFO's, disabled parkinbg spaces and just 
the simple fact that there are more cars around.

And you really can't understand how bad measles can be until you have sat 
through them with a 10 month old who has more spots than skin and who is 
rendered unconscious by drugs in an effort to minimise the seizures tearing 
through her tiny body.

I remember being very naive when it happened. At first we didn't know what 
was wrong because she started seizing before the spots came out. I was more 
concerned at the time that we didn't know what was wrong so when the doctor 
finally came and said he could see the Koplic spots in her mouth I actually 
cheered because I thought it meant that it was nothing after all it was 
"just" measles. That is until he pointed out that we were going to be in for 
a rough ride as there was very little that they could do, they just had to 
let it ride its course. I will never forget the next 14 days and then the 
slow road to getting her back to herself. Followed by the months of worry as 
to how it was going to leave her effected

Many "common" illnesses can have disatrous effects, we just dont realise 
until it touches us.

>>but
> it just irritates me that healthy people in their 20's and 30's who get 
> the
> flu shot just because it's there and their insurance covers it.

Thankfully that doesnt happen here - you really have to justify needing it 
with your doctor.

>>Again, I'm
> all for the vaccines for those who need it, but it seems as if people 
> don't
> take the time to inform themselves, and the public programs just want
> everyone to do what they say, no questions asked.

Thats true too - but thats probably because they expect everyone to know 
what they have seen first hand - and thats the effects of these illnesses. 
They forget that the average person has only seen the benefits of life where 
vaccination has been in force to minimise the number of acute illnesses from 
these bugs and viruses. I guess that they could go back to showing the 
dramatic movies we had when I was a kid about polio, diptheria and whooping 
cough. They certainly had an impact on me - enough that when we had a public 
health alert that there was a whooping cough epidemic in our local area I 
was straight over to Alex's immunologist and had him admitted to get his 
catch up vaccine. With his broncho-tracheal malacia and apnea problems no 
way would he survive whooping cough.

But despite my best efforts the vaccine didnt take (and that happens more 
often than we realise because they dont do titres to check on most kids). So 
Alex is dependent on the rest of the world having had their vaccinations - 
and I can tell you that there are a heck of a lot of people out there who 
havent. Alex has just had a couple of weeks off school again because someone 
in his class had chicken pox. Twas nothing to that child, but if Alex gets 
it I know it could be deadly, and how would that parent feel if the worst 
happened? If it were me I wouldnt be able to live with myself.

I'm the last person to defend the "powers that be", I am very embittered 
after the battles I have fought and am still fighting for Alex and I admit 
it. But really the government (or powers that be) are not really out to get 
us most of the time - they are trying to help. But like everyone else they 
are human and they make mistakes sometimes, but they do do their best. I too 
am horrified at the number of people who don't educate themselves. Sometimes 
I wonder if I admire them for their blind faith or if I am frustrated by 
their lack of insight. But then again I also get frustrated when people only 
get half the information and make a stance on that.

If I was in the mood I could sit here and pick a thousand holes in that 
Amish article for gross over generalisations and misrepresentations of the 
facts, but I'm not so I wont. Suffice to say we have some self confessed 
high functioning autistic parents on this list and I know a few more adults 
that could and would be diagnosed with autism in this day and age. They are 
certainly in the numbers the article quoted for current figures, but they 
certainly arent in the figures for the past - they "pass" in society as 
unique individuals :-)) we are just more aware these days - maybe too 
aware??

Take care both ways when assessing the facts.

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
-- Victor Hugo

Keep Looking For Rainbows!!
   _--_|\
 /Karen \
 \ _.--._ /
          v Karen, Mum to Alex (10 years, T-18 Mosaic)
http://members.optushome.com.au/karens
 

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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