Autism: What Science Refuses to Know

The Brainwashed Parents of Autistic Children

2011-11-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

To continue the topic of "The Brainwashed Society", I would like to focus on the nuclear "society" of the family, where I have found that the exact same rules that Milgram exposed in his experiment of Obedience, apply!

Discussion of Autism treatments based on the Milgram "Obedience Experiment"

While Milgram’s research raised serious ethical questions about the use of human subjects in psychology experiments, no such ethical rules apply about the use of children in multiple (experimental) autism treatments and therapies.

Thomas Blass (1999) reviewed further research on obedience and found that Milgram’s findings hold true in other experiments and, from my personal experience and other witnesses, also hold true in how parents experiment with their children in order to cure their child's Autism!

Why do many of the parents expose their children to treatments and supposed therapies that in many ways hurt and abuse their child's self-esteem, psychological health, mental well-being, and physical safety on the instruction of an authority figure, represented by an autism "expert"?

According to Milgram's findings, there are a number of situational factors that can explain such high levels of parental obedience:

- The physical presence of an authority figure, played by a child psychiatrist, child developmental expert, and any other person that assumes the role of an expert, dramatically increases compliance.

- The fact that many of the therapies and treatments are either sponsored or promoted by organizations such as Autism Speaks, or the National Autistic Society, or any other known and trusted and authoritative institution leads many parents to believe that the treatments and therapies they submit their child to, must be safe and will help or cure the child from Autism.

- The selection of experts and therapists status seems random, and gives the feeling that since so many support these treatments and therapies, they must be OK.

- Parents assume that the therapists are competent experts.

- The therapies and treatments to cure Autism are said to be harmless, helpful and necessary for the child and not at all dangerous.

The main problem is that these competent experts, deliberately discard the opinions of adult autistics concerning such treatments and therapies, and disregard the idea that autism is not an illness but a state of being.

They also disregard the possibility that autism is a cultural/social issue shared by all who are labelled autistics, and what seem as difficulties when exposed in the neurotypical society, are actually shared characteristics of all members of a sub-cultural group. Something very similar is seen in the sub-cultural group of the deaf, who have a shared culture, social manners, and language.

Another issue that has been forgotten is, that the subjects had a profit. They were paid a nominal fee. This financial transaction created yet another sense of obligation towards the whole idea of the experiment and its completion.

The same obligation (in a profitable reverse way) we see in the Autism experiment. Once parents pay the experts to fix their children, these parents feel a moral obligation and eliviation of their feelings of guilt, parental responsibility, and anxiety of their child's future. They buy hope!

The only problem is that the "hope" they buy is a fake hope. Autism cannot be cured. The true hope they can get is to accept the truth about their child's autism, to accept that their child was born autistic, and it will be autistic for all its life.

No one has better formulated this truth than Jim Sinclair and many other autistics, including myself, who has tried to expose what autism is. Only autistics know the truth about autism.

So, dear parents, I also hope you will manage to escape this "obedience" experiment Autism has become in the hands of the many so called experts, and embrace the facts about autism.

DON'T MOURN FOR US
by Jim Sinclair

[This article was published in the Autism Network International newsletter, Our Voice, Volume 1, Number 3, 1993. It is an outline of the presentation Jim gave at the 1993 International Conference on Autism in Toronto, and is addressed primarily to parents.]

Parents often report that learning their child is autistic was the most traumatic thing that ever happened to them. Non-autistic people see autism as a great tragedy, and parents experience continuing disappointment and grief at all stages of the child's and family's life cycle.

But this grief does not stem from the child's autism in itself. It is grief over the loss of the normal child the parents had hoped and expected to have. Parents' attitudes and expectations, and the discrepancies between what parents expect of children at a particular age and their own child's actual development, cause more stress and anguish than the practical complexities of life with an autistic person.

Some amount of grief is natural as parents adjust to the fact that an event and a relationship they've been looking forward to isn't going to materialize. But this grief over a fantasized normal child needs to be separated from the parents' perceptions of the child they do have: the autistic child who needs the support of adult caretakers and who can form very meaningful relationships with those caretakers if given the opportunity.

Continuing focus on the child's autism as a source of grief is damaging for both the parents and the child, and precludes the development of an accepting and authentic relationship between them. For their own sake and for the sake of their children, I urge parents to make radical changes in their perceptions of what autism means.

I invite you to look at our autism, and look at your grief, from our perspective:
Autism is not an appendage Autism isn't something a person has, or a "shell" that a person is trapped inside. There's no normal child hidden behind the autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence.

It is not possible to separate the autism from the person--and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the same person you started with. This is important, so take a moment to consider it: Autism is a way of being.

It is not possible to separate the person from the autism. Therefore, when parents say, I wish my child did not have autism, what they're really saying is, I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead. Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence.

This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces. Autism is not an impenetrable wall You try to relate to your autistic child, and the child doesn't respond.

He doesn't see you; you can't reach her; there's no getting through. That's the hardest thing to deal with, isn't it? The only thing is, it isn't true.

Look at it again: You try to relate as parent to child, using your own understanding of normal children, your own feelings about parenthood, your own experiences and intuitions about relationships. And the child doesn't respond in any way you can recognize as being part of that system.

That does not mean the child is incapable of relating at all. It only means you're assuming a shared system, a shared understanding of signals and meanings, that the child in fact does not share. It's as if you tried to have an intimate conversation with someone who has no comprehension of your language.

Of course the person won't understand what you're talking about, won't respond in the way you expect, and may well find the whole interaction confusing and unpleasant. It takes more work to communicate with someone whose native language isn't the same as yours.

And autism goes deeper than language and culture; autistic people are "foreigners" in any society. You're going to have to give up your assumptions about shared meanings. You're going to have to learn to back up to levels more basic than you've probably thought about before, to translate, and to check to make sure your translations are understood.

You're going to have to give up the certainty that comes of being on your own familiar territory, of knowing you're in charge, and let your child teach you a little of her language, guide you a little way into his world. And the outcome, if you succeed, still will not be a normal parent-child relationship. Your autistic child may learn to talk, may attend regular classes in school, may go to college, drive a car, live independently, have a career--but will never relate to you as other children relate to their parents.

Or your autistic child may never speak, may graduate from a self-contained special education classroom to a sheltered activity program or a residential facility, may need lifelong full-time care and supervision--but is not completely beyond your reach. The ways we relate are different.

Push for the things your expectations tell you are normal, and you'll find frustration, disappointment, resentment, maybe even rage and hatred. Approach respectfully, without preconceptions, and with openness to learning new things, and you'll find a world you could never have imagined. Yes, that takes more work than relating to a non-autistic person.

But it can be done--unless non-autistic people are far more limited than we are in their capacity to relate. We spend our entire lives doing it. Each of us who does learn to talk to you, each of us who manages to function at all in your society, each of us who manages to reach out and make a connection with you, is operating in alien territory, making contact with alien beings.

We spend our entire lives doing this. And then you tell us that we can't relate. Autism is not death Granted, autism isn't what most parents expect or look forward to when they anticipate the arrival of a child. What they expect is a child who will be like them, who will share their world and relate to them without requiring intensive on-the-job training in alien contact.

Even if their child has some disability other than autism, parents expect to be able to relate to that child on the terms that seem normal to them; and in most cases, even allowing for the limitations of various disabilities, it is possible to form the kind of bond the parents had been looking forward to. But not when the child is autistic.

Much of the grieving parents do is over the non-occurrence of the expected relationship with an expected normal child. This grief is very real, and it needs to be expected and worked through so people can get on with their lives-- but it has nothing to do with autism.

What it comes down to is that you expected something that was tremendously important to you, and you looked forward to it with great joy and excitement, and maybe for a while you thought you actually had it--and then, perhaps gradually, perhaps abruptly, you had to recognize that the thing you looked forward to hasn't happened. It isn't going to happen.

No matter how many other, normal children you have, nothing will change the fact that this time, the child you waited and hoped and planned and dreamed for didn't arrive. This is the same thing that parents experience when a child is stillborn, or when they have their baby to hold for a short time, only to have it die in infancy. It isn't about autism, it's about shattered expectations.

I suggest that the best place to address these issues is not in organizations devoted to autism, but in parental bereavement counseling and support groups. In those settings parents learn to come to terms with their loss--not to forget about it, but to let it be in the past, where the grief doesn't hit them in the face every waking moment of their lives. They learn to accept that their child is gone, forever, and won't be coming back.

Most importantly, they learn not to take out their grief for the lost child on their surviving children. This is of critical importance when one of those surviving children arrived at t time the child being mourned for died. You didn't lose a child to autism. You lost a child because the child you waited for never came into existence. That isn't the fault of the autistic child who does exist, and it shouldn't be our burden.

We need and deserve families who can see us and value us for ourselves, not families whose vision of us is obscured by the ghosts of children who never lived. Grieve if you must, for your own lost dreams. But don't mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we're here waiting for you. This is what I think autism societies should be about: not mourning for what never was, but exploration of what is. We need you. We need your help and your understanding.

Your world is not very open to us, and we won't make it without your strong support. Yes, there is tragedy that comes with autism: not because of what we are, but because of the things that happen to us. Be sad about that, if you want to be sad about something. Better than being sad about it, though, get mad about it--and then do something about it.

The tragedy is not that we're here, but that your world has no place for us to be. How can it be otherwise, as long as our own parents are still grieving over having brought us into the world? Take a look at your autistic child sometime, and take a moment to tell yourself who that child is not. Think to yourself: "This is not my child that I expected and planned for. This is not the child I waited for through all those months of pregnancy and all those hours of labor.

This is not the child I made all those plans to share all those experiences with. That child never came. This is not that child." Then go do whatever grieving you have to do--away from the autistic child--and start learning to let go. After you've started that letting go, come back and look at your autistic child again, and say to yourself:

"This is not my child that I expected and planned for. This is an alien child who landed in my life by accident. I don't know who this child is or what it will become. But I know it's a child, stranded in an alien world, without parents of its own kind to care for it. It needs someone to care for it, to teach it, to interpret and to advocate for it. And because this alien child happened to drop into my life, that job is mine if I want it."

If that prospect excites you, then come join us, in strength and determination, in hope and in joy. The adventure of a lifetime is ahead of you.

Jim Sinclair
jisincla@mailbox.syr.edu

The Brainwashed Society

2011-11-18T02:02:00.000-08:00

From pain/fear to submission

"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act."
–Stanley Milgram, 1974

Let's go back some 5o years, when Psychology first began experimenting with human behavior, when laws were more flexible and did not prevent such experiments, mostly laws changed later on not so much to protect the experiment's subjects, but more to avoid similar findings that would open too many eyes to the true workings of the social mechanism of mass manipulation!

One of the pioneers was Stanley Milgram, a Yale University psychologist. Milgram used his experiments to push the limits of understanding human behavior and of course the workings of human fear and submission to bullying and terror.

One of the experiments that Milgram did was "The Obedience Experiment".

As the title announces, Milgram wanted to find out how difficult it was, or how easy perhaps, to turn a "normal" human being into a monster. Lets not forget that his experiments took place after the cruelties of World War II were exposed in what is known as the Nuremberg Trials, and shortly after the trial of the WWII criminal Adolph Eichmann had begun. These trials brought a shock to the world of how easily perhaps, "normal" German citizens had turned into Nazi monsters and the cruelties they did during the war and in the many concentration camps.

So, what turns a "normal" human being into such an inhuman monster? Milgram set an experiment to find out!

What if a person in a position of authority ordered you to deliver a 400-volt electrical shock to another person, causing them pain and discomfort, would you follow their orders and do it?

Most people would answer this question with an adamant no, but Milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments during the 1960s that demonstrated surprising results. These experiments offer a powerful and disturbing look into the power of authority and obedience.

Introduction to the Milgram Experiment

Milgram started his experiments in 1961, shortly after Adolph Eichmann's trial had begun. Eichmann’s defense that he was simply following instructions when he ordered the deaths of millions of Jews roused Milgram’s interest. In his 1974 book Obedience to Authority, Milgram posed the question, "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?"

Method Used in the Milgram Experiment

The participants in the Milgram experiment were 40 men recruited using newspaper ads. In exchange for their participation, each person was paid $4.50.

Milgram developed an intimidating shock generator, with shock levels starting at 30 volts and increasing in 15-volt increments all the way up to 450 volts. The many switches were labeled with terms including "slight shock," "moderate shock" and "danger: severe shock." The final two switches were labeled simply with an ominous "XXX."

Each participant took the role of a "teacher" who would then deliver a shock to the "student" every time an incorrect answer was produced. While the participant believed that he was delivering real shocks to the student, the student was actually a confederate in the experiment who was simply pretending to be shocked.

As the experiment progressed, the participant would hear the learner plead to be released or even complain about a heart condition. Once the 300-volt level had been reached, the learner banged on the wall and demanded to be released. Beyond this point, the learner became completely silent and refused to answer any more questions. The experimenter then instructed the participant to treat this silence as an incorrect response and deliver a further shock.

Most participants asked the experimenter whether they should continue. The experimenter issued a series of commands to prod the participant along:
"Please continue."
"The experiment requires that you continue."
"It is absolutely essential that you continue."
"You have no other choice, you must go on."

Results of the Milgram Experiment

The level of shock that the participant was willing to deliver was used as the measure of obedience. How far do you think that most participants were willing to go?
When Milgram posed this question to a group of Yale University students, it was predicted that no more than 3 out of 100 participants would deliver the maximum shock. In reality, 65% of the participants in Milgram’s study delivered the maximum shocks.

Of the 40 participants in the study, 26 delivered the maximum shocks while 14 stopped before reaching the highest levels. It is important to note that many of the subjects became extremely agitated, distraught and angry at the experimenter. Yet they continued to follow orders all the way to the end.

Because of concerns about the amount of anxiety experienced by many of the participants, all subjects were debriefed at the end of the experiment to explain the procedures and the use of deception. However, many critics of the study have argued that many of the participants were still confused about the exact nature of the experiment. Milgram later surveyed the participants and found that 84% were glad to have participated, while only 1% regretted their involvement.

Discussion of the Milgram Experiment

While Milgram’s research raised serious ethical questions about the use of human subjects in psychology experiments, his results have also been consistently replicated in further experiments. Thomas Blass (1999) reviewed further research on obedience and found that Milgram’s findings hold true in other experiments.

Why did so many of the participants in this experiment perform a seemingly sadistic act on the instruction of an authority figure? According to Milgram, there are a number of situational factors that can explain such high levels of obedience:
- The physical presence of an authority figure dramatically increased compliance.
- The fact that the study was sponsored by Yale (a trusted and authoritative academic institution) led many participants to believe that the experiment must be safe.
- The selection of teacher and learner status seemed random.
- Participants assumed that the experimenter was a competent expert.
- The shocks were said to be painful, not dangerous.

Later experiments conducted by Milgram indicated that the presence of rebellious peers dramatically reduced obedience levels. When other people refused to go along with the experimenters orders, 36 out of 40 participants refused to deliver the maximum shocks.

"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority" (Milgram, 1974).

Milgram’s experiment has become a classic in psychology, demonstrating the dangers of obedience. While this experiment suggests that situational variables have a stronger sway than personality factors in determining obedience, other psychologists argue that obedience is heavily influenced by both external and internal factors, such as personal beliefs and overall temperament.

Suggested Reading:

Milgram, S. (1973). The perils of obedience. Harper’s Magazine, 62-77.
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. Harpercollins
Sucked into Obedience

Suggested Viewing:

The 5 Monkeys experiment

A Tiger in a Lions' world.

2011-05-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

Opinions needed:

What are some of the most important topics young adults and adults face in dealing with social settings as they learn to navigate the neurotypical world?

Well, as an autistic, I feel that the neurotypicals need to learn more how not to pretend, they seem to have a constant anxiety of showing themselves "naked". They hide behind masks and that is why it has learned to say many white lies. Now lies have colors you see.

Yes, in the neurotypical world, what you say is sensored by invisible rules and mores. Showing their true feelings and thoughts, is a no-no, they need to say what the other needs to hear, or better what they think the other needs to hear. So they also need how to show respect by talking less and listening more, because if they listened they could hear and know what we autistics really want. To hear, and maybe to hear only silence.

But unless they talk, they look at you judgementaly, they look at your hair, your clothes, your bag and shoes and watch, and mascara and what not. That is why neurotypicals need to learn how to be less superficial, how to look for qualities in a person other than the brand of his/her clothes and how stylish/fashionable they are.

That also means that they will have to learn to expect less and be more open to new possibilities, to slow down and live the moment, to look more at details and not the big picture, to trust more their sixth sense and not just their eyes/ears, to be less greedy, to be more punctual, etc., etc., etc...

Once, with the right program and therapies, the neurotypicals adjust their behavior I am sure that autistic/Asperger people will have no problem with contacting them, dating them, and even marrying them. If they do not adjust their behavior, we will try to just avoid their vulgar ways and pretend we don't see them!

Just in case you thought that it is ONLY OUR PROBLEM that we "can't" socialize as you expect us to do! We can socialize, and make friends and date once we see that the other respects our social norms. We like quiet, still, peaceful, repetition, familiarity, units not a mass.

I hope I did not upset someone, but frankly speaking for autistics to be able to fit in today's society, adjustments need to be made TRULY FROM BOTH SIDES. Yet, we seem to accept neurotypicals as "normal" and expect autistics to fit their behavior to those "normal" standards. I feel that this is an unfair situation.

And for me dating a neurotypical is just a way to look for problems. I have always and only dated and had long relationships (2-5 years) with autistic men. The reason the relationships ended was my need for more moving space and freedom.

To explain exactly what I mean let me ask you why is an autistic thought as impaired in comparison to a neurotypical?

When neurotypicals seem to think they know what autism is and what Aspergers/HFA, why do they split autism into 3 "parts" to make it look like a spectrum?

Autism is not a spectrum, it is ONE and the same for all autistics (autism = basic way the brain functions and decodes the world around us). And since auties an aspies share this same basic viewpoint of the world, if you look clearly you will realize that what they call "autistic behavior" (either severe, mild or lite), is actually the rituals, social rituals, social language, social communication of our kind, we are a different kind of people, a different species of human race, just as the neuroticals are a different species.

The human kind just all other mammals has subspecies. Autistics are not broken "neurotypicals" we are a separate species of the human kind. The autistic mannerisms we have that science sees as disabilities, are not such when we are in the company of each other. Because we all behave within familiar social signals, our behavior is not strange to each other, our mannerisms are within our social norms.

The same way, tigers and lions are part of the same species but a different kind. Tigers are loners (much like the autistics) and the lions prefer to live in groups, with the male as the leader and the females doing most of the work around the family (more like the neurotypicals).

So, are tigers broken or impaired lions?
Are the neurotypicals impaired autistics?
Well, here is the autism puzzel my dear friends.

I consult families, autistic families should I say and teach them how to come out of their fake neurotypical personas and reconnect with their autistic kids, and 'poof' there goes autism out the window. Once the parents reconnect with their own autistic nature, and regain their long lost autistic language and social cues, they can reconnect with their own children much easier.

That is what I do. I heal the tigers that were taught to behave like lions to ensure their survival in a lion's world...

Investigating & Exposing Psychiatric Human Rights Violations

2011-01-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

We are not alone!!!

The Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)

And their YouTube site with lots and lots of videos exposing the fraud of psychiatric illnesses and the DSM!

Stigma and Mental Illness

2010-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

The "Journal of Mental Health" issue of August 2010, published an article about
"Stigma and Mental Illness"

(note: Mental Illness also includes Autism!!!)

It says: When applied to individuals with mental illness, this kind of moral imputation has egregious effects on a number of levels, what we have called public stigma, self-stigma, and label avoidance.

- Public stigma is the phenomenon of large social groups endorsing stereotypes about, and subsequently acting against, a stigmatized group: in this case, people with mental illness.
- Self-stigma is the loss of self-esteem and self-efficacy that occurs when people internalize public stigma.

- Label avoidance is a third example of stigma: people do not seek out or participate in mental health services in order to avoid the egregious impact of a stigmatizing label.

Public stigma is conceptualized as a staged process. In the first stage, the general public infers mental illness from explicit cues: psychiatric symptoms, social-skills deficits, physical appearance, and common diagnostic labels. These stigmatizing cues often elicit stereotypes, knowledge structures that the general public or individual with mental illness learn about a marked social group.

Commonly held stereotypes about people with mental illness include violence (people with mental illness are dangerous), incompetence (they are incapable of independent living or real work), and blame (because of weak character, they are responsible for the onset and continuation of their disorders) . Knowledge of a set of stereotypes however, does not necessarily constitute agreement with them.

Therefore, the outcomes of public stigma are most damaging only when people who are prejudiced endorse negative stereotypes (‘‘People with mental illness are violent and incompetent’’) and generate negative emotional reactions as a result (‘‘I am afraid of them’’) . In contrast to stereotypes, which are beliefs, prejudicial attitudes involve an evaluative (generally negative) component.

Prejudice is a cognitive and affective response that leads to discrimination, a behavioral reaction. Discriminatory behavior constitutes a negative action against the out-group, which may manifest as avoidance, not associating with people from the out-group, or loss of opportunities or treatments that would promote a person’s goals.

Public stigma harms people who are mentally ill in several ways.
Stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination can rob people labeled mentally ill
of important life opportunities that
are essential for achieving their life goals.

Studies have shown that public stereotypes and prejudice about mental illness have a deleterious impact on obtaining and keeping good jobs and leasing safe housing. It appears employers avoid workers with mental illness by not hiring them. Landlords ‘‘protect’’ tenants from people with mental illness by not renting to them. The negative impact of self-stigma can be just as great. Prior to the onset of mental illness most people are aware of the culturally endorsed stigma associated with mental illness. Upon receiving a diagnosis, the beliefs associated with stigma are activated, affecting one’s sense of self.

Living in a culture steeped in stigmatizing images, persons with mental illness may accept these notions and suffer diminished self-esteem, and confidence in their future. Research shows that people with mental illness often internalize stigmatizing ideas that are widely endorsed within society and believe that they are less valued because of their psychiatric disorder. Persons who agree with prejudice concur with the stereotype; ‘‘That’s right; I am weak and unable to care for myself!’’ Self-prejudice leads to negative emotional reactions; prominent among these is low self-esteem and low self-efficacy.

Low self-efficacy and poor self-esteem have been shown to be associated with failing to pursue work or independent living opportunities at which people with mental illness might otherwise succeed. The negative impact of self-stigma on self-esteem and self-efficacy may result in a ‘‘why try’’ effect in individuals with mental illness. The person may avoid situations where he/she expects to feel publicly disrespected. Behavioral consequences in the ‘‘why try’’ model exceed notions such as social avoidance. People who apply stigma to themselves may feel unworthy or unable to tackle the exigencies of specific life goals.

One might think that beliefs like these arise because the person indeed lacks basic social and instrumental skills to accomplish a specific aspiration. However, lack of confidence may reflect doubts raised by defining one’s self in terms of specific stereotypes. A person who has internalized stereotypes such as ‘‘the mentally ill have no worth because they have nothing to offer and are only drains on society’’ will struggle to maintain a positive self-concept. Research has suggested that many people engage in label avoidance, that is, they choose not to pursue mental health services because they do not want to be deemed a ‘‘mental patient’’ or suffer the prejudice and discrimination that the label entails.

For example, negative attitudes about mental health inhibit service use in those at risk of a psychiatric disorder. Findings identified stigmatizing beliefs that might sway people from treatment. These included concerns about what others might think and the desire to solve one’s own problems. Endorsing stigma predicted in research, whether adults were compliant with their antidepressant medication regimen 3 months later.

Furthermore, research has suggested that people with concealable stigmas (people who are gay, of minority faith-based communities, or with mental illness) may decide to avoid harm by hiding their stigma and staying in the closet. These individuals may opt to avoid the stigma all together by denying their group status and by not seeking the institutions that mark them (i.e. mental health care). This kind of label avoidance is perhaps the most significant way in which stigma impedes care seeking.

DSM-V and stigma

The American Psychiatric Association recently made public initial draft revisions proposed by the DSM-V work groups. The draft was presented on the APA website with a message from the DSM-V task force leadership asking for the public’s input and feedback about the suggested modifications. This is the first time that APA opens its doors to broad public review of the process and considerations that go into revisions of their most widely used diagnostic system, and giving mental health professionals, researchers, and persons/family members affected by mental illness the opportunity to provide feedback and input.

It is a commendable initiative and undoubtedly reflects APA’s response to the requests of increasingly proactive advocacy groups for greater transparency and openness in the conceptualization of mental illness, as well as cognizance of the need to understand mental illness and the effects of diagnoses from the perspective of those impacted by them the most.

Whether and how professional and public input will impact the final version of the DSM-V scheduled for release in 2013 remains to be seen. We have identified a number of elements in the interim draft of the DSM-V that we view as especially relevant to stigma in the context of the processes discussed in the previous sections. We present specific revisions suggested by the task force and briefly discuss them from the framework of mental illness stigma.

Autism spectrum disorders

The proposed new category will incorporate the current diagnoses of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. The new category reflects recent advances in the field of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders showing that the symptoms of these disorders represent a continuum from mild to severe.

This proposed change is being criticized by advocacy groups of the disorders considered ‘‘less severe’’ who currently view their condition as distinct. For example, the Asperger’s Association of New England has written a letter to the DSM-V committee requesting that the Asperger’s syndrome label remains unchanged as it clearly differentiates people with this disorder from other people on the autism spectrum, and has come to take an important role in the way many individuals understand themselves, and explain their experiences to their families and communities.

Resistance to the new classification can be conceptualized
as fear of groupness and perceived homogeneity –
being viewed by the public as having much in common with
the more severe, highly stigmatized label of autism.

To help reduce public backlash, it may be necessary to change the name of the new diagnosis so that it is not anchored in the most severe of the disorders on the continuum. It may be prudent, more clinically representative, and less potentially stigmatizing to focus on the actual dimensions being assessed (i.e. social interaction and communication, presence of repetitive behaviors and fixated interests).

New proposed conditions

With every updated edition of the DSM, new, more specified, diagnoses are added. This isperceived as a reflection of advances in the scientific examination of mental illnesses andimprovements in clinical assessment and symptom identification. For the upcoming DSM-V,there are a number of proposed diagnostic labels including apathy syndrome, complicated griefdisorder, parental alienation disorder, melancholia, and more.

We would like the reader to consider that along with the potential treatment gains that may be associated with these new diagnoses, there is also the risk of pathologizing what are essentially individual differences and diversity in human behavior. While some diagnostic labels offer relief, normalization, and a possible sense of shared destiny and community with others suffering from similar conditions, not all deviations from the norm in terms of affect, interpersonal functioning, and coping constitute a disorder.

For example, different people will have different idiosyncratic patterns of coping with the loss of a loved one that will undoubtedly be influenced by their cultural background, social context, and nature of the relationship with the individual.

Although these coping behaviors may be personally adaptive for the bereaved, they might be difficult for an outside observer to understand or assess. By introducing more and more diagnoses, we may narrow what is considered the range of ‘‘healthy functioning’’ to the point where few if any people meet such strict parameters. Non-suicidal self-injury is an example of a proposed new DSM-V diagnosis that assigns adiagnostic label to a particular behavior (including its purpose). Although there is little doubt that this behavior is pathological, it is problematic to consider a behavior a disorder.

Diagnostically labeling people based on a particular behavior will increase groupness, thereby suggesting the homogeneity of those who engage in non-suicidal self-injurious behavior and their distinction from both those with other disorders and the general public. It also will suggest that there is something stable that characterizes these individuals, as opposed to emphasizing a behavior that varies over time and may, in fact, completely disappear.

Through both increasing beliefs of homogeneity and stability, this new diagnosis is likely to increase both public stigma and self-stigma. In addition, in order to avoid this labeling, people engaging in non-suicidal self-injurious behavior may under report the frequency and severity of their actions, or avoid entering treatment altogether.

Summary

Diagnostic labels have clear clinical and research utility, but may have a number of negative implications for public stigma, self-stigma, and active label avoidance in people with mental illness. Through socio-cognitive processes of groupness, homogeneity, and stability, stigmatizing diagnostic labels may impact housing and job opportunities, as well as individuals’ selfesteem, self-efficacy, and treatment utilization.

Initial drafts of APA’s DSM-V show a commendable trend of greater transparency and movement toward more dimensional approaches to diagnosis which may help reduce stigma in the future, but also include a number of proposals that may have a negative impact on stigma. Ultimately, clinicians using the DSM system need to be cognizant of potential stigma related pitfalls associated with generating summarizing diagnostic labels, and make continuous efforts to educate their patients and the public about these issues.

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My thoughts on Stigma are:

We often tend to "stigmatize" everyone viewed all "less" than we are. Within Autism, the "less" are thought to be the severely autistic and the "more" are the Aspergers!

I feel there is no less or more in Autism. We are all autistics (whether diagnosed as severe or mild or ligh functioning or Asperger) as we all share the same brain structure and way of viewing the world around us. Whether some autistics have the ability to speak, or have the ability to solve complicated mathematical equations, it does not mean that they have a less or more form of Autism. One IS autistic, one does not have (a degree of) Autism.

One IS autistic because all autistics are born with the same fundamental sameness of brain structure and brain function that is different from the non-autistic brain. In a way autistics are the brain "Blacks" or brain "Asians", they differ in the brain area as blacks differ from whites in the skin area, or Asians differ from Europeans in the eye-shape area!

It is NOT an illness to have black skin or almond-shaped eyes, as it is not an illness to have an autistic brain. Some differences are external (skin color, eye-shape, etc) some differences are internal (brain function, point of view, social skills, etc.). When will science realize this simple fact???

So, lets stop this on going stigma of Autism and the autistics. We are not mentally ill to begin with, so Autism does not even belong in the DSM!!!

Who’s Normal???

2010-08-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Expected Changes In DSM-V Leave Some Questioning Who’s Normal

By Michelle Diament

July 27, 2010

With several new diagnoses expected in the forthcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a group of leading mental health professionals is questioning whether anyone will still be considered “normal.”

Citing what they call three false epidemics in recent years — high rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and childhood bipolar disorder that emerged after the current DSM-IV was published — several psychiatric experts are taking on the wide variety of new disorders expected to be added to the DSM in the August issue of the Journal of Mental Health.

“In the new edition, temper tantrums among toddlers and heartache over a lost spouse could now be defined as mental health conditions,” says Jerome Wakefield, a social worker at New York University. “One of the most frightening scenarios is the potential for medicating people — particularly children — who haven’t yet shown any signs of illness in a bid to ‘treat’ them for Psychosis Risk Syndrome, as identified by the new draft of DSM-V.”

The DSM serves as the bible for mental health professionals, researchers and insurers by determining what symptoms warrant an official diagnosis. The current edition was released in 1994 and the American Psychiatric Association is presently compiling a fifth version, which is expected to be published in May 2013.

Among the chief concerns outlined in the Journal of Mental Health articles are the stigma that’s associated with mental illness and how that could impact a growing part of the population and fears about over-medication that may result if more and more symptoms are considered worthy of diagnosing.

Revisions to the DSM can be heated and debate emerged about the currently proposed changes even before an official draft was revealed in February. In particular, a proposal to bundle several labels including Asperger’s syndrome under the term “autism spectrum disorders” has proven particularly contentious.

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The new DSM-V has featured my blog once in the past. To see the post click on the link below:
http://aspergermindspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/02/behold-new-dsm-is-coming.html

Destroying our planet bit by bit!

2010-08-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

What Are the Potential Physical Health Effects From the Gulf Oil Spill?

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began on April 20, 2010, when an oil rig exploded in Louisiana, killing 11 workers, is now the worst US environmental disaster. The amount of oil that gushed into the Gulf since then could be as high as 60,000 barrels a day. Various measures to cap and stop the flow had been unsuccessful until July 15, when the oil leak was observed to have stopped after a new containment cap was completely installed on July 12. Also on July 15, a well integrity test was implemented to measure pressure within the oil well and to determine whether the new cap will successfully hold back the flow of oil or prevent a new leak from forming elsewhere. At the time of this interview, the results of the test remain uncertain.

Regardless, the impact to the local ecosystem and to the livelihoods of residents in the affected Gulf states continues to worsen. Detrimental health effects are being observed in the animal and marine life; the body of water of the Gulf itself remains contaminated by an estimated current volume of 90-180 million gallons of oil; oil and tar balls have been washing up on the shores; and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are still being released into the surrounding ambient air.

The methods used for cleaning up the oil, such as the application of dispersants and burning the oil, are also presenting challenges, introducing new exposures from other chemical pollutants and from particulate matter (PM).

A significant growing concern is how the health of coastal residents and response workers involved with the cleanup efforts could be affected over the short and long term.

At the request of the US Department of Health & Human Services, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) quickly convened a workshop, "Assessing the Human Health Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill," on June 22 and 23 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Experts in attendance agreed that existing research that evaluated the adverse health effects for humans from previous oil spills is surprisingly lacking; many of these studies were small, used poor methodology, or focused on short-term health outcomes only.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a collection of content updated daily for health professionals, coastal residents, response workers, and the general public that is devoted to this disaster on their Website, CDC: 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.Vikas Kapil, DO, MPH, is the Associate Director for Science for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response at the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Kapil spoke about the potential physical health effects in humans who are exposed to an oil disaster and what clinicians can do in response to such situations.

(My comment: WHAT ABOUT THE CITIZENS OF MEXICO???? Who will offer them help when they become ill and suffer the health problems of this spill? Will anyone care for them? And what about the MARINE LIFE??? All the birds, fish, sea mammals, etc. that live in this area of the Gulf?)

What are the potential hazardous substances related to the oil spill itself as well as its cleanup, and what are their specific effects on human health?

Dr. Kapil: The recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill more likely presents a risk for adverse ecologic impact rather than severe adverse human health effects. However, depending on the exposure, the potential exists for human health effects.

On the basis of data from oil recovered from other wells in this area, we expect that the more hazardous substances found in crude oil, such as benzene and sulfides, will make up less than 1% of this oil spill.

Workers at the site of the spill may be more at risk of being exposed to the VOCs, such as benzene or toluene, that are present in crude oil. This guides the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH's) recommendations on personal protective equipment for workers. Oil spill workers may need to wear personal protective equipment on the basis of the particular cleanup duties that they perform. The NIOSH Website has more information about their ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of response workers.

Many of the VOCs have largely evaporated from the weathered oil that reaches the shore, so they present less of a risk for the general public and for those working onshore.

The crude oil involved in this oil spill is called medium sweet crude. "Sweet" means that the oil contains fewer sulfur compounds and is therefore less toxic than other forms of crude oil. Medium crude generally has fewer VOCs and fewer chemicals known to pose long-term health risks compared with other oil types.

One method being used to reduce the amount of oil before it arrives on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico is to burn it. Burning oil may generate PM. PM includes a mix of very small airborne particles and liquid droplets. PM varies in size; some of the smaller PM can be inhaled and deposited in the lung.

Because intentional burning is being conducted far offshore, it is unlikely to reach inhabited areas of the coast. In situ burning is monitored by the US Coast Guard for safe operational practices. As crews burn spilled oil, they carefully watch the weather, wind, and water conditions and monitor the air. If any problems are encountered, oil burning is stopped immediately. The CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) are monitoring the air sampling results to help guide public health decisions. Up-to-date information about the public health effects of burning oil can be found on the CDC Website.

If PM does make it to the shore, it may pose a greater risk for people with underlying health conditions, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or heart disease.

People in the area who smell or see smoke may take certain steps to protect themselves:

They can choose to leave the area. Those at greatest risk of breathing smoke should evacuate.
They can limit their exposure to smoke by remaining indoors and using an air conditioner to filter the air. If available, air conditioning units should be set to "recirculation mode." Those without access to an air conditioner may wish to evacuate until the smoke is completely gone.
They should refrain from physical exertion. Physical activity that places extra demands on the lungs and heart -- exercise or physical chores, indoors or outdoors -- should be kept to a minimum.

Dust masks, bandanas, or other cloths -- even if wet -- will not protect against smoke inhalation.

The oil spill is not expected to affect any municipal water supplies. If people have concerns about the quality of their water, they should contact their local water utility.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is monitoring the air quality in the region. Maps and charts at http://gulfcoast.airnowtech.org show current ozone and fine particulate Air Quality Index values that are being measured by air quality monitors located along the Gulf Coast. These maps and charts are updated hourly to show the most recent conditions.

Oil spill response workers may be exposed to many different chemical and physical hazards. The risk for each type of exposure depends on the type and location of the oil spill, the type and stage of response, and the workers' specific tasks.

Chemical exposures may include:

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and other VOCs;
Oil mist; or
Naphthalene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Physical hazards may include:

Heat stress due to the high temperatures and humidity;
Ergonomic hazards that can cause injury to the musculoskeletal system;
High noise levels;
Sun exposure and dehydration; and
Injuries due to slips, trips, and falls on slippery walking and working surfaces.

Other safety hazards may come from the use of tools, equipment, machinery, and vehicle operations near workers.

The dispersants used in the oil spill have been COREXIT® 9500 and 9527 [Nalco Company; Naperville, Ill]. Both will begin to break down once applied to the oil slick. In aquatic environments, each will break down within 16 days. Exposures to dispersants will most likely occur among workers applying the material.

Health effects that could be experienced are dependent on the extent of exposure to the dispersants and may include:

Defatting and drying of the skin and possibly dermatitis, as a result of prolonged contact with the skin;
Chemical pneumonitis, if aspirated into the lungs;
Respiratory irritation as a result of repeated and prolonged inhalation exposure to vapor; and
Eye irritation as a result of repeated and prolonged exposure.

Repeated or excessive inhalation exposure to dispersants may lead to nausea, vomiting, hemolysis, renal or hepatic injury, metallic taste, central nervous system depression, or anesthetic or narcotic effects. 2-Butoxyethanol, a component of one of the dispersants, has not been classified as to its carcinogenicity. For most people brief contact with a small amount of oil dispersants presents no harm.

Employers should train oil spill response workers about their potential hazards and safe work practices to prevent and control these risks.

What is the CDC doing to monitor or track the potential human health effects in the areas affected?

Dr. Kapil: The CDC and the US Department of Health & Human Services recognize the importance of anticipating, monitoring, and responding to any potential public health hazards that may affect human health. Currently, over 300 CDC and ATSDR staff members are involved in the response, including a number of staff members deployed to Gulf Coast states.

The CDC, along with state and local health departments, is conducting surveillance across the 5 Gulf states for health effects possibly related to the oil spill using national and state-based surveillance systems, including the National Poison Data System (NPDS) and BioSense. These surveillance systems track symptoms related to the eyes; skin; and respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and neurologic systems of exposed persons.

This tracking effort also includes collecting data on persons with worsening of asthma or those with cough, chest pain, eye irritation, nausea, and/or headache. If these surveillance systems identify groups of people with these symptoms, state and local public health officials will be able to follow up as needed to investigate whether an association is present between the symptoms and the oil spill. This follow-up is important because the same symptoms could be related to a different cause.

NIOSH is working to protect workers and volunteers from potential safety and health hazards related to the spill and cleanup efforts. The CDC is sharing its health information with industry, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the US Coast Guard, and other federal and state agencies. NIOSH is also helping OSHA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) by providing technical assistance for training response workers.

Furthermore, NIOSH is collaborating with British Petroleum (BP) Safety and OSHA compliance personnel to coordinate the collection and analysis of injury and illness data that BP are reporting to OSHA. NIOSH is also establishing a voluntary roster of workers participating in the response to create a record and a mechanism to contact these workers about spill-related symptoms of illness or injury, if it becomes necessary.

More than 45,000 responders -- BP-trained, volunteer, vessel of opportunity operators, and federal workers -- have been added to the roster. Workers are entered into the roster through a voluntary system at the staging areas to which workers report daily and during worker training, and through an electronic version of the form that is posted on a secure Website; NIOSH has provided the link to multiple federal agencies and BP, and has asked them to refer workers to the Website to complete the roster form electronically.

A CDC team of environmental health experts continues to review environmental data packages in coordination with the EPA. CDC scientists are reviewing these data to determine whether exposure to oil, oil constituents, or dispersants might cause potential short- or long-term health effects. These data include sampling results for air, water, and soil/sediment as well as waste oil samples, which are material actually reaching the beaches or marshes.

Some of the pollutants that have been reported may cause temporary eye, nose, or throat irritation; nausea; or headaches, but scientists believe that levels are not high enough to cause long-term harm.

The EPA and CDC will continue to monitor the air, water, and soil/sediment. If we begin to find levels that may be of health concern, we will update the public. The latest information on air quality and monitoring data along the Gulf Coast is available on the EPA and Data.gov Websites.

The breadth of this type of disaster is unheard of in this country, and its potential toll on human health has yet to be fully determined. Exposure to oil appears to affect multiple systems of the body; however, few human studies or experiences are available that provide actual guidance on what to expect. What might be extrapolated from existing data about the potential acute or short-term physical health effects?

Dr. Kapil: Any potential acute or short-term health effects are generally dependent on amount and duration of exposure. Prolonged skin contact with crude oil and petroleum products can cause skin erythema, edema, and burning. Swallowing crude oil, unless in large quantities -- for example, greater than 8 oz -- is unlikely to result in more than transient nausea, vomiting, gastrointestinal tract disturbances, and diarrhea. Ocular exposure can cause chemical conjunctivitis. Serious ocular injury is uncommon in the absence of other contaminants. Exposure to fresh crude oil may result in inhalation of associated vapors from volatile hydrocarbon components. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, confusion, nausea, or vomiting.

Heat-related illness, such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, or fainting, related to cleanup of the oil spill is an important health concern, particularly for responders. In addition, workers, volunteers, and residents of affected communities may experience stress and fatigue and may also be at risk for more serious mental health consequences. It's important that responders and residents of affected communities monitor their health and well-being closely and seek professional medical and/or mental health assistance when indicated.

One of the main concerns is whether this exposure to the oil spill might promote the development of a malignancy in the future. What do you anticipate to be possible malignancies or other chronic health effects?

Dr. Kapil: Questions about long-term human health effects are important and complex. Little research has been conducted to examine the long-term health consequences of oil spills and related human exposures, including cancer outcomes. Much of what we know is from our experience with occupational exposure to crude and refined oil among oil workers, and a few limited studies of previous oil spills that primarily focused on short-term health outcomes. Findings from these previous studies are difficult to extrapolate for the current situation because many differences exist in the nature of the exposures and other related circumstances.

We can also look at the limited toxicity data related to individual components of the oil or dispersants. Evaluation of the impact of exposures is complicated due to a number of factors, including weathering of oil components and the presence of complex mixtures of substances. In other kinds of exposure settings and in some toxicologic studies, some of these substances and degradation products have been associated with a variety of chronic and/or long-term health effects. Therefore, people should be advised to minimize exposures to oil and dispersants in general, with particular attention to vulnerable populations and those with existing comorbidities.

Although some components of oil are known human carcinogens (such as benzene), associated cancer risks are difficult to assess due to a number of factors that affect exposure and influence health outcomes, including:

Weathering and degradation of oil components;
Level of adherence to exposure prevention efforts;
Individual susceptibility;
Other common exposures to carcinogens;
The particular circumstances surrounding the exposure; and
Routes of exposure.

The CDC is working closely with the EPA and other partners to attempt to better assess potential exposures related to the oil spill among workers and the general public in the affected areas of the Gulf states.

To date, environmental assessments for various crude oil constituents in air, sediment, and water have revealed levels above the limit of detection in only 5%-15% of all samples. Environmental samples of oil constituents measured above the limits of detection have been at levels far below those associated with any long-term health effects. In conducting this assessment, the CDC is using the most conservative estimates of exposure possible, for example, 70 years of exposure even though the vast majority of exposures will occur over days, weeks, or months.

On the basis of our current assessment and understanding of exposures, the likelihood of long-term health effects, including cancer, remains low, but scientific gaps exist in our knowledge. The CDC is working closely with many partners and stakeholders, including affected communities, to further evaluate and better understand the longer-term health effects.

At the request of the US Department of Health & Human Services, the IOM held a public workshop in June to draw upon the best scientific expertise available to examine a broad range of health issues resulting from the oil spill, including:

Reviewing the current knowledge about the effects on human health of exposure to oil, weathered oil products, and dispersants, and identifying gaps in this knowledge;
Reviewing and assessing ways to monitor the spill's potential negative effects on health in the short and long term; and
Exploring methods and strategies for gathering data to further our understanding of the risks to human health.

The report from this workshop is due in August 2010 and will be posted on the IOM Website.

Certain populations appear to be more sensitive to or at greater risk for adverse physical health effects. Pregnant women, infants and children, the elderly, and people with preexisting respiratory conditions or compromised immune systems have been identified as populations of concern. What might be the particular adverse health effects experienced by members of these special populations?

Dr. Kapil: The oil may contain some chemicals that could, under some conditions, cause harm to special populations, such as children, the elderly, and pregnant women or their babies. However, the CDC has reviewed and continues to review sampling data from the EPA and believes that the levels of these chemicals are well below the level that would generally cause harm to persons in these vulnerable groups. The effects that chemicals might have depend on many things: means of contact with the oil; duration and frequency of exposure; and the overall health of the person exposed.

People can be exposed to oil spill-related chemicals by inhalation from the air, by ingestion from water or food, or by skin contact. If possible, everyone should avoid the oil spill-affected areas. The EPA and CDC are working together to continue monitoring the levels of oil in the environment. If levels are more likely to become harmful, the public is informed. The EPA Website has the most current information on monitoring data along the Gulf Coast.

Swimming in water contaminated with oil will be unpleasant and should be avoided. The public needs to be alert to local beach closings and advisories. Visitors to the Gulf of Mexico should stay away from cleanup activities and follow the advice and warnings from state and local health departments.

For now, those in populations of concern should avoid touching any oil, as well as any oil-stained water and sand. They also need to stay clear of areas where cleanup activities are under way. If some of the oil gets on their skin, they should wash it off as soon as possible with soap and water. If they notice a rash or other skin abnormalities even after washing the area of skin that came in contact with the oil, they need to consult a healthcare professional.

The amount and extent of seafood consumption by people could also potentially pose a health concern. As a general precaution, fishing areas affected by the spill are closed to fishing and oyster collection, for both personal and commercial use. Any seafood available in stores comes from waters open for fishing. Seafood that is unsafe will not be allowed in stores.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service are monitoring the oil spill and will alert the public if any problem is found with seafood from fishing areas in this area of the country. If harmful levels of chemicals are found in Gulf-area seafood, the CDC will work quickly with other federal agencies, such as the FDA and state agencies, to make sure that the public is notified.

The FDA Website has some general guidelines about eating seafood during pregnancy in case your pregnant patients are interested in more information on this topic.

Contact with dispersants is unlikely for the general public because they are applied subsea or under controlled conditions offshore. The use of dispersants is carefully controlled and monitored because some of the chemicals in the dispersants can cause harm to people under some conditions. Pregnant women and children should avoid contact with dispersants. For most people, brief contact with a small amount of oil spill dispersants will not cause harm.

However, contact of longer duration can cause a rash, dry skin, and/or eye irritation. In the unlikely event of breathing in or swallowing dispersants, other health effects -- such as nausea, vomiting, and throat and lung irritation -- are possible. Individuals concerned about oil spill dispersants should contact their local poison control center. The CDC Website also has more information on oil dispersants.

How can healthcare providers adequately screen patients from various populations exposed to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or a similar disaster? What other guidance would you recommend that providers offer or communicate to their patients?

Dr. Kapil: Because many environmental-associated diseases either manifest as common medical problems or have nonspecific symptoms, an exposure history is vital for correct diagnosis. By taking a thorough exposure history, clinicians and specialists in toxicology, neurology, emergency medicine, occupational medicine, and other specialties can play an important role in detecting, treating, and preventing disease due to a potential toxic exposure. More detailed information about taking an exposure history is available on the ATSDR Website.

Some people may have dermal reactions to crude oil. Depending on the amount and duration of exposure, skin contact with crude oil may be mildly to moderately irritating; in a sensitive individual, the skin effects may be more pronounced after a smaller or shorter exposure.

Prolonged skin contact with crude oil and petroleum products may cause skin erythema, edema, and burning. The skin effects can worsen by subsequent exposure to sunlight, because trace contaminants in the oil, such as PAHs, may be more damaging when exposed to light. Skin contact with these products can result in defatting of the skin, increasing the possibility of dermatitis and secondary skin infections.

For most people, an occasional brief contact with a small amount of oil, such as that found in a tar ball, will do no harm, but this type of exposure is not recommended. Individuals, however, may have idiosyncratic reactions to various chemicals, including the hydrocarbons found in crude oil and petroleum products. They may have an allergic reaction or develop dermatitis even from brief contact with oil.

In general, dermal contact with oil should be avoided. If contact occurs, washing the area with soap and water is the preferred method for cleaning the skin. Do not use solvents, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, or similar products on the skin. These hydrocarbon-based products, when applied to the skin, may present a greater health hazard than the smeared tar ball itself.

Healthcare providers can obtain assistance with questions about the treatment and management of oil- or dispersant-exposed persons by calling their local poison control center.

If providers are managing the care of persons exposed to crude oil and/or oil dispersants, they can consider some general guidelines depending on the route of exposure.

If a patient presents with skin contamination, no major complications should be observed; the oil can be wiped off whenever convenient in the patient treatment process. Oil- and oxygen-enriched atmospheres are potentially explosive; oil-contaminated clothing removed from patients, and oily cloths or rags used to wipe off patients, represent a potential fire hazard due to the risk for spontaneous combustion.

If a patient presents with wound contamination, current occupational practices for external and superficial wound cleaning are being modified to include use of waterless hand cleaners, white petroleum, mineral oil, corn oil, or antibiotic ointments. These agents must also be removed as completely as possible from within the wound after efforts to remove the crude oil have been completed.

If a patient presents with ocular exposure, which can result in irritation and transient conjunctivitis, no serious injury should result if treatment is instituted rapidly. Immediate treatment should include flushing the eye with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes. If the person wears contact lenses, remove them prior to irrigation. Contaminated contact lenses need to be discarded.

If a patient presents with ingestional exposure to a small amount of crude oil, clinical signs of toxicity are generally limited to mild gastrointestinal disturbances. The main danger of swallowing crude oil is that it can cause a chemical pneumonia if ingested oil is vomited and subsequently aspirated into the lungs. To treat patients exposed via ingestion, do not induce vomiting because this may lead to aspiration of the crude oil into the lung. Healthcare providers can consult their local poison control center for consultation.

If a patient presents with inhalational exposure to fresh crude oil vapors, inhalation of associated volatile hydrocarbons can also result. Symptoms, including headache, dizziness, confusion, nausea, or vomiting, may occur from breathing vapors given off by crude oil. Inhalation of weathered crude oil vapors is of less concern because of the diminution of volatile hydrocarbon amounts. Relocate the patient to a clear area and provide supplemental oxygen if needed.

Guideline Highlights

Oil- and oxygen-enriched atmospheres are potentially explosive; oil-contaminated clothing removed from patients, and oily cloths or rags used to wipe off patients, represent a potential fire hazard due to the risk for spontaneous combustion.
Dermal contact with oil should be avoided. If contact occurs, however, wash the area with soap and water.
Immediate treatment of ocular exposure should include flushing the eye with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes. If the person wears contact lenses, these should be removed prior to irrigation. Contaminated contact lenses need to be discarded.
Patients exposed via ingestion should not be induced to vomit because this may lead to aspiration of the crude oil into the lung.
Oil spill workers may need to wear personal protective equipment on the basis of the particular cleanup duties that they perform. The NIOSH Website has more information about their particular ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of response workers.
If any questions remain about the treatment and management of oil- or dispersant-exposed persons, call your local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

Many clinicians may not be involved with the direct care of patients exposed to an oil spill or similar disaster. However, they may be interested in becoming involved in other ways. What can they do to assist with disaster relief, either at the local or federal level?

Dr. Kapil: The response to the Gulf Oil Spill is being managed by a Unified Command made up of many federal agencies as well as BP and Transocean, the 2 private companies involved in the spill. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering, please call the Deepwater Horizon Response Volunteer Request Line at 1-866-448-5816. Interested individuals can also search the Internet for state-specific volunteer opportunities, including in the Gulf states directly affected by this oil spill:

Are there any final takeaway messages that clinicians and other healthcare professionals can keep in mind as we learn more about the health impact of this and similar disasters?

Dr. Kapil: Local poison control centers are an excellent resource for clinicians with questions about the evaluation, management, and treatment of persons exposed to both crude oil and oil spill dispersants.

The CDC recommends that people in the areas affected follow local and state public health guidelines and warnings related to the use of beaches and coastal water for recreational activities and fishing. The EPA is collecting samples of water along the coast to estimate the effects on fish, wildlife, and human health. The most up-to-date information on water sampling results is available on the EPA Website.

Web Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Available at: http://emergency.cdc.gov/gulfoilspill2010 Accessed July 21, 2010.

Institute of Medicine. Assessing the Human Health Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Institute of Medicine Workshop. June 22-23, 2010.

Available at: http://www.iom.edu/Activities/PublicHealth/OilSpillHealth/2010-JUN-22.aspx Accessed July 21, 2010.

THIS IS OUR SOCIETY...

2010-03-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is the society...

That allows two sisters to avoid speaking to each other for over 5 years, and now taking one the other to court to get half of the winnings of a lottery ticket the other had bought!

Even our soul seems to have a price today. This is OUR society! We have made it that way. But who is we? We autistics or we neurotypicals.

According to the neurotypicals, they are the normal and they have a normal society that follows norms and laws. Rules. We, autistics are blamed for NOT following those norms and rules and disobeying laws, and in general not doing what we are told.

We are told to sit and we... run around the room hysterically in a frenzy of movement and repetition of the images we see rolling in front of our eyes. We become so fascinated by that movement that you, neurotypicals, call it a disorder. A syndrome.

You assume we suffer from this disorder, while there outside our small autistic world... You, who have labeled us "abnormal", live a normal life, in a normal society that allows a sister to sue her sister. Those are the examples you allow your children to live by, while we live inside us, in a world fascinated by movement and colors that swirl so magically in front of our eyes. We, autistics, live it seems in a self-made paradise, while you labor every day in hell.

A hell of anxiety, of fear, of pain, of exhaustion from work, overwork and lost weekends in meetings. You anguish over your loans, your morgages, your future of survival. You live in hell.

Now, as you have clearly agreed, without our consent or approval, you neurotypicals are the normal and we are not.

You live in hell, and we live in a self-made paradise, that you name "Autism".

I think you are jealous that we can do that "autistic" thing and escape your hell.

You want to show us with force, that the world is NOT as pink and blue and green and yellow, and purple, and orange, and green, and brown, as we think. You put us through early interventions with intensive therapies and abusive behavioral modifications (yes, I am talking about ABA), hyberbaric tanks, and even straight jackets if needed.

All that, you do for our own best interest. Always! No doubt about it. You love us and you want to help us. So, we MUST learn to survive in hell, your hell. It is an obligatory part of basic survival and social living in a normal society.

But,... but,... excuse me... may I say something?

I am autistic and... if I may, I would like to say that you are a little bit off the mark. You missed the point...

You don't have to teach us how to survive, we already know.

We were born with an intense instinctive knowledge of fear. We are always edgy and suffer from anxiety and fear, remember? YOU diagnosed me, and placed all these labels.

So, please, if someone knows about survival this is me, us autistics. We know instinctively how to avoid hell, your hell.

We either create our own paradise, or we die trying and go anyway back to heaven, since we didn't live a life suing one another for half a lottery ticket.

We collect dinosaurs, and toilet brushes, and other odd things and spend hours and hours learning everything about them. We feel obliged to preserve the knowledge of the dying nature that surrounds us. Many of us autistics, we can hardly talk. Or never speak at all. Is there really something to tell you? Or share with you? Have you wondered?
And when we make the effort, you call it echolalia and give us yet another label.

So, who is destroying the world, the perfect normal world as you call it. You or us?

Here enjoy a bit of the thrill and chill that you neurotypicals crave for. Since you don't have the guts to build your own paradise you just want to stop us from creating our own, you'd rather make us share the hell you live in! That is LOVE! Thank you for caring so much for us. We are moved... Moved to another planet, in new cities of our far imaginary places...

Lottery Dispute Takes Elderly Sisters To Court
Sister Claims Entitlement To Powerball Jackpot

POSTED: 10:43 am EDT March 23, 2010

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- Two sisters fighting over a $500 million lotto jackpot appeared in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday.Theresa Sokaitis, 84, of Middletown, and Rose Bakaysa, 87, of Plainville, were in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday.

The sisters barley acknowledged each other in court and walked out separately after proceedings on Tuesday.Last August, the Supreme Court ruled Sokaitis could sue her sister for a share in the $500 million Powerball jackpot won by Bakaysa and their brother, Joseph Troy Sr., in 2005.

Troy told the court he remembers hearing his sisters agree over the phone they would no longer be lottery partners and split their winnings.The sisters did not speak for a year after that and then he and sister Bakaysa won big. Sokaitis said she deserves part of the jackpot.Sam Pollack, who represents Sokaitis, said, “Pursuant to our contract, the 1995 agreement, if there was any money won in the future by either Theresa Sokaitis or Rose Bakaysa, they had to share their winnings with the other sister.

So she needed to share her winnings, whatever she won; scratch ticket, lottery, Powerball.”William Sweeney, who represents Bakaysa, said, “The issue that we’ve tried to present today is whether or not by their actions the parties rescinded the contract, and I believe that the testimony that was offered, that said I’m not going to be your partner anymore and somebody agreeing to that, rescinds that decision.”The judge’s ruling is expected in late April or early May

A Super Sized Society???

2010-03-24T04:16:00.000-07:00

In this March 16, 2010 photo provided by Cornell University, Prof. Brian Wansink, holds a plate illustrating how food portion size has grown over the centuries, in front of a projection of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.. The food in famous paintings of the Last Supper has grown by biblical proportions over the last millennium, researchers report in a medical journal Tuesday, March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Cornell University, Jason Koski)

Study: Last Supper paintings supersize the food

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione, Ap Medical Writer – Mar 23, 2010

Has even the Last Supper been supersized?

The food in famous paintings of the meal has grown by biblical proportions over the last millennium, researchers report in a medical journal Tuesday.

Using a computer, they compared the size of the food to the size of the heads in 52 paintings of Jesus Christ and his disciples at their final meal before his death.

If art imitates life, we're in trouble, the researchers conclude. The size of the main dish grew 69 percent; the size of the plate, 66 percent, and the bread, 23 percent, between the years 1000 and 2000.

Supersizing is considered a modern phenomenon, but "what we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend," said Brian Wansink, a food behavior scientist at Cornell University.

The study was his idea. For biblical context, he sought help from his brother, Craig Wansink, professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va., and an ordained Presbyterian minister.

The Bible says the Last Supper took place on a Passover evening but gives little detail on specific foods besides bread and wine.

"There's nothing else mentioned. They don't say there's a fruit cup or carrot cake," though other foods such as fish, eel, lamb and even pork have appeared in paintings through the years, Brian Wansink said.

For the study, he used paintings featured in the book "Last Supper," published in 2000 by Phaidon Press. They include perhaps the most famous portrayal of the meal, by Leonardo da Vinci. Computer technology allowed them to scan, rotate and calculate images regardless of their orientation in the paintings.

Details are in the April issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

The study is "not very meaningful science," said Martin Binks, a behavioral health psychologistDuke University Medical Center. "We have real life examples of the increase in portion size — all you have to do is look at what's being sold at fast-food restaurants."

A more contemporary test would be to analyze portion sizes in Super Bowl commercials, he suggested.

"That would be a much more meaningful snapshot of how this society's relationship to food has changed," Binks said.

On the Net: Paintings and study: http://www.mindlesseating.org/lastsupper/

----------------------------------------

My comments on this article is that there is nothing sacred any more, and that we are being made into fat, lazy, stupid, obedient slaves that move the wheel of the ever growing consuming society.

Autism is our only escape from this prison. The sooner we realize that, the faster we will release all the autistic children from the "prisons" they live in and are called therapies, ABA, charlatan approaches and more.

Stop this madness, act now. Stop believing all you see and hear and start criticizing more deeply what is happening around you. Wake up and stop this madness.

Thank you!!!

The Drugging of our Children

2010-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

How our good ol' psychiatrists, are destroying our children and our human race.

It's time to stop this madness!!!

WATCH THIS VIDEO. YOU MUST IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN!

http://fulldocumentaries.com/2009/05/01/the-drugging-of-our-children/

Enough is Enough. Pharmaceutical companies and the medical and psychiatric societies must be stopped. They are destroying our children, our future. Please...

BEHOLD THE NEW DSM IS COMING!

2010-02-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

DSM-5: The Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis

Publication of the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in May 2013 will mark one the most anticipated events in the mental health field.

As part of the development process, the preliminary draft revisions to the current diagnostic criteria for psychiatric diagnoses are now available through the American Psychological Association (APA) for public review and comment.

Before we move into the "public review and comment" part, let's first see what the new DSM-5 beholds for our topic of interest: Autism!!!

Well, to begin with, they want to change the part about Aspergher's Syndrome.

It was back with the DSM-4 that finally Asperger's Syndrome became its own master so to speak, by claiming a seat in this wonderful DSM (please read this part with a sarcastic tone of voice in your ears, because the DSM as it is, it is nothing like wonderful).

The DSM began as a manual of all possible causes of death. Yes, following the Aristotelian paradigm, science just loves to place everything into pigeon holes, even though only pigeons love being in such holes.

So, they decided one bright day to make a list of all possible causes of death and to also add to this list all criteria for each such cause. Since the "boom" of psychiatry many more causes of death were added to this manual and of course like all things it took a life of its own.

It became a manual of diagnosis of all possible psychiatric disorders and as autism and Asperger's were thought such a disorder they were also added there with Asperger's being the late bloomer who made the DSM just in the mid 90's!

Only things did not go as science thought they would!

Those anughty autistics who had Asperger's began opening their big fat mouths (blame their non-existant language delay on early childhood) and telling the world that Autism was not a disease, was not a disorder, was not a cause of death and did not belong to any DSM, let alone to any psychiatric ward or psychiatric office...

Aspies messed up things for science.

Not fair thought all the hard working scientists who make their hard earned bread from all those autistic kids worldwide. If Autism is not an illness we will lose far too many patients. We will end up having to explote a different subgroup of the human population, and Autism is sooooo attractive.

There are so many kids all over the eowrld being born that we can easily label autistic and have as clients for ever and ever... Not fair what those Aspies do. Let's kick them out of the DSM. They do not play fair they spoil our scientific fun with Autism telling all those monstrous lies about Autism not being a disorder.

Here is what we will do:

We will wipe Asperger's out of the picture. We will change the criteria for Autism, we will adjust them as we see fit (fit meaning to make these criteria safe and secure from any Aspie saying they can speak for all autistics) and to divide Autism and of course rule!

Here is how we will exactly do it:

Asperger’s syndrome would be folded into “autism spectrum disorders” under proposed changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which is expected in May 2013.

The DSM serves as the bible for mental health professionals, researchers and

insurers as it determines what symptoms are worthy of an official diagnosis. The

current edition was released in 1994.

Experts recommend that autism, Asperger’s syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) should be combined under the umbrella term “autism spectrum

disorders,” with diagnosticians indicating a level of severity.

Changes to the autism diagnoses were long expected to be considered in the DSM

revision, and anticipation alone stirred significant debate. Many with the

diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome said the possibility of eliminating the term which is widely recognized both in popular culture and among health care and educational providers would mean losing a sense of identity.

Nonetheless, the working group recommending the change determined that an

umbrella term would bring clarity. (Clarity to whom I dare ask? Not to the Aspies it seems from their comments...)

“The recommendation of a new category of autism spectrum disorders reflects

recognition by the work group that the symptoms of these disorders represent a

continuum from mild to severe, rather than being distinct disorders,” said Dr.

Edwin Cook, a member of the committee. “We expect that the proposed changes will

improve the sensitivity and specificity of the criteria for autism spectrum

disorders, so that clinicians may be able to more accurately diagnose these

disorders.”

Now the thing is, that with this new measure of what is severe and mild autism, many who have Asperger's might never fit this new DSM shoe and will be left out of the picture. They will not be allowed to speak for those who are in the "more severe" part of the new measure, and science will have a again a free hand to rule and decide for us autistic but without us autistics who do have the verbal ability to say things as they are about OUR Autism!

We do have a last chance.

The American Psychological Association (APA) is open to "public review and comment". So please, if you do care what happens with Autism, if you feel that this travesty called DSM and calling Autism a disorder should stop, then act now. Send your comment to APA through their website at

http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx

THE FOCUS IS NOW ON AUTISTIC WOMEN!

2010-01-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Cambridge Female Autism Imaging Multicentre Study

(AIMS) Project

Written by Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai & Ms. Amber Ruigrok

We are looking for adult female volunteers aged 18 to 45 with a confirmed diagnosis of high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome to participate in this project, in order to help us investigate an important area which has been neglected for a long time: the cognitive and neuroimaging characteristics of females with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). This project has received ethical approval from the NHS National Research Ethics Service, Essex 2 Research Ethics Committee.

What do I need to do in the study?

Participants will need to complete certain tests and questionnaires online. Then participants will come to Cambridge to finish a set of neuropsychological testing with a trained researcher, as well as interviews in relation to ASC. This will be followed by giving a cheek swab (non-harmful brushing of your cheek) and saliva sample for the purposes of measuring DNA and hormone levels. Finally, we will ask participants to take part in an MRI brain scan where we will take pictures of the brain. MRI is a completely safe and non-invasive procedure and this research will enable us to make significant strides forward in our knowledge about the brain of females with ASC. We will also need to invite one of your parents (or main care-giver in your childhood who is familiar with your developments) to participate in an interview for your developmental history as a child. If your parent or care-giver is willing to participate but is not able to come in person, in certain instances we can visit her/him at where s/he lives.

Please note that due to the comprehensive assessments necessary for addressing the research goals, the time needed to complete the whole on-site testing will be around 6 to 8 hours in total, plus less than an hour online testing before you come. If you are from outside of Cambridge, we will try to arrange all the testing in one day; but if you prefer to complete them separately in two days we can also fit your needs. If you are from Cambridge or surrounding areas, you can choose to complete them in one or two sessions.

What are the requirements for participating in the female AIMS project?

You are biologically female.
You are right-handed.
Your first language is English, or you are fluent in English.
You, your parents, and grandparents must all be Caucasian.
You are between the ages of 18-45 years.
You are not claustrophobic.
You do not have any metallic or electrical implants in your body, including dental braces and heart pace-makers.
You do not have epilepsy, intellectual disability, current illicit drug addiction, psychotic disorders, genetic disorders associated with autism (for example, fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, and neurofibromatosis), or brain surgery in the past.
Your parent (or main care-giver in childhood) is willing to give an interview about your development.

Is there any reimbursement for participation?

For participation in the female AIMS project, we will full reimburse all travel expenses and will pay £60 for your time.

What should I do if I am interested in participating?

If you are interested in participating in this study, or have any further concerns or questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai or Ms. Amber Ruigrok.

MY COMMENTS:

I am glad they are beginning to realize the importance of women within the Autism issue, but I know that because of the ISS (Idiot Scientist Syndrome) they will end up assuming (again!!!) the wrong conclusions because ISS affects the judgement and leads to assume that Autism is a disorder so every finding falls automatically under the disorder label instead of realizing that there might be another human species that are genetically different in many levels from the non autistic humans!

I hope a cure for ISS will come soon and we will not have to condemn autism just because Lorna Wing was infected by the ISS back in the 80s and decided to label autism as a disorder and all non autistioc sheep follow her lead without an ability of free thought and free will and free judgement, labelling every research they do as proof of that disorder instead of looking a bit further and noticing the existance of another human species... Let's hope for a cure, an ISS cure!!!

LOSING PRIVILEGES

2009-12-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

Less and Less Masters and Doctors???

We used to think that education, college and university degrees would be a way to a better job, a better life and a better future.

We even created a whole industry that marketed this need.

Higher education schools became money making machines by literally selling this above idea and towing in youngsters as students with their carrot of future promises.

It worked. For many years parents aimed to save money to send kids to college, then when the financial situations changed and the education industry became more demanding, parents did not save for their kids' college but their own pension! Kids had to take student loans to pay their tuition and later when they had the good, better, excellent job this tuition was meant to guarantee them with, they could pay back their student loans and still enjoy the better life and better future that were promised in the first place...

But not for long. Money making is a very delicate thing. You have to make the money while someone is losing their money! Money is not made out of thin air. It simply changes hands, changes value, changes lives.

While someone somewhere is making more and more of it, someone, somewhere is losing more and more of it, through loans, through devaluation, through increased costs of life, etc. Money making is not a fair deal. It seems fair to the one who is making the money, but the coin has yet another side. The one who loses the money does not feel it is fair at all.

This is now happening with the education industry. The promise, the carrot still holds, many if not most of us believe that education is the path, if not the only but surely the best path to a better job, a better life and a better future. Here I need to explain that as better life and future we commonly understand more income, better financial position and of course better social position. The more the letter behind ones name the more social respect the can enjoy! The title "Doctor" whether of medicine with the MD after the Dr, or of anything else is a well respected and well sought after title. It also shows a certain financial position.

To begin with behind the Dr. title there is a huge amount of money that went towards attaining that title. Tuition fees, and books and material costs that reach sky high, living expenses of the student, transportation, all in all we are looking at amounts that reach $30.000,00 and more depending of course of the school one attended. If it was one of the ivory league schools like Yale (my brother did his MA there and my mother knows how sky high his tuition fees were, cause she worked very hard to pay most of his costs...) we are looking at double or triple that amount, if not more...

The education industry to sustain itself, need to reel more and more willing students to pay the fee, lose their money so that the industry can make theirs! One gives (loses) the other takes (makes). Simple formula.

For many years as I said, this formula worked. The students made some money, too. They received a degree that opened many doors for them to a better life and a better future. These doors are now closing, and soon they will be shut and bolted from within! The ones who managed to have a better life and a better future do not want to share this better life and better future with the bigger and bigger masses of college students who have gone deep into dept to also have a better life and better future.

These doors are closing as society is making sure less and less from these masses reach the top of the ladder, whether that is the financial ladder of the social status one. Privileges come with a cost. One has to be become inhuman to be able to hold on to, protect and prevent that others lower the standards of the privileges one holds. privileges is very much like money.

It can change hands and it can become devalued. Those who have the privileges can also change, they can become selfish and self-centered as they refuse to share their position at the top of the ladder with the growing amount of college and university students that wants to be part of the promised better life and better future!

What happens then is a well fabricated financial crisis. All at the bottom of the ladder and the ones climbing the ladder, lose, so that the ones already at the top of the ladder can either hold on to that top and privileges, or make these privileges worth even more. They lengthen the distance between them and the masses.

This works, too. All of these are social tricks that have been used for ages and ages in every society so that the oligarchy, the few with the privileges could keep the masses out and away far from any reach of these privileges. If anyone thinks we are living in democratic societies is gravely unrealistic. There is NO DEMOCRACY, what we are told that is democracy is a game that the oligarchy has us play, we hold elections, we go vote, we think we have the power of decisions, and all that crap.

Nope. This game works, too. Like all games we are made to play as the immature idiots we are and do not get top grow up and stop from playing their games with their rules made for them to win and us to lose!

Then comes Autism! See, you were wondering how the heck all this is going to link to Autism...

Autism is the ability of the human being to see these games and refuse to play them. They call that a disorder, since all the rest of the normal human being do play the game and do not cause trouble and resistance in obeying this simple rule. Autistics do not like obeying rules, as simple as they may be, which do not sound fair. And the game we are all forced to play is NOTHING like fair. As I said before it is fair only for the ones on the winning end, and they never lose.

So, we have two choices. To accept the fact that the game is unfair, and stop using the idiotic cliche "life is unfair" because LIFE is NOT UNFAIR! We make life and living unfair because we have established a "money making-privileges holding-top of the ladder" maintaining game!

This happens of course when the ladder is vertical and there is a top and a bottom! Once this ladder is turned by 90 degrees and becomes horizontal, by magic the top and bottom disappear and we all become equal and the game becomes fair as it should be. This is what we Autistic know. That the wheel of fortune turns, and when it is not fair fair today, it can be fair the next.

This is a simple rule of gravity and a law of nature: All turns, all flows, παν ρέει!

This simple rule of Nature, we humans with our societies and laws and privilege holding have influenced and altered. We have made the game of life unfair for all, except the privileged few who make the rules as they please. The rest just live day by day unnoticing how bit by bit we lose any and every chance to ever reaching the promised better life and better future, the proverbial carrot in front of out noses...

The Job Market: Is a College Degree Worth Less?

By Kristi Oloffson

Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009

Employers and career experts see a growing problem in American society — an abundance of college graduates, many burdened with tuition-loan debt, heading into the work world with a degree that doesn't mean much anymore.

The problem isn't just a soft job market — it's an oversupply of graduates. In 1973, a bachelor's degree was more of a rarity, since just 47% of high school graduates went on to college. By October 2008, that number had risen to nearly 70%. For many Americans today, a trip through college is considered as much of a birthright as a driver's license.

(See pictures of the college dorm's evolution.)

Marty Nemko, a career and education expert who has taught at U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Education, contends that the overflow in degree holders is the result of many weaker students attending colleges when other options may have served them better. "There is tremendous pressure to push kids through," he says, adding that as a result, too many students who aren't skilled become degree holders, promoting a perception among employers that higher education doesn't work. "That piece of paper no longer means very much, and employers know that," says Nemko. "Everybody's got it, so it's watered down."

What's not watered down is the tab. The cost of average tuition rose 6.5% this fall, and a report released on Dec. 1 by the Project on Student Debt showed that the IOU is getting bigger. Two-thirds of all students now leave college with outstanding loans; the average amount of debt rose to $23,200 in 2008. In the last academic year, the total amount loaned to students increased about 18% from the previous year, to $81 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for recent grads rose as well. It is now 10.6%, a record high. The devaluation of a college degree is no secret on campus. An annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute has long asked freshmen what they think their highest academic degree will be.

In 1972, 38% of respondents said a bachelor's degree, but in 2008 only 22% answered the same. The number of freshmen planning to get a master's degree rose from 31% in 1972 to 42% in 2008. Says John Pryor, the institute's director: "Years ago, the bachelor's degree was the key to getting better jobs. Now you really need more than that."

Employers stress that a basic degree remains essential, carefully tiptoeing around the idea that its value has plummeted. But they admit that the degree alone is not the ace it once was; now they emphasize work experience as a way to make yourself stand out. Dan Black, director of campus recruiting in the Americas for Ernst & Young, and his team will hire more than 4,000 people this year out of 20,000 applicants. There are a lot of things besides a degree "that will help differentiate how much attention you get," says the veteran hirer, who has been screening graduates for 15 years.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car hiring guru Marie Artim, who says her company will hire 8,000 of 200,000 applicants worldwide, has found that her applicant pool is changing. "While 10 years ago we may have had the same numbers, today we have higher-quality and better-qualified applicants," she says.

So what does it take to impress recruiters today? Daniel Pink, an author on motivation in the workplace, agrees that the bachelor's degree "is necessary, but it's just not sufficient," at times doing little more than verifying "that you can more or less show up on time and stick with it." The author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future says companies want more. They're looking for people who can do jobs that can't be outsourced, he says, and graduates who "don't require a lot of hand-holding."

Left-brain abilities that used to guarantee jobs have become easy to automate, while right-brain abilities are harder to find — "design, seeing the big picture, connecting the dots," Pink says. He cites cognitive skills and self-direction as the types of things companies look for in job candidates. "People have to be able to do stuff that's hard to outsource," he says. "It used to be for blue collar; it's now for white collar too."

For now, graduates can steer their careers where job growth is strong — education, health care and nonprofit programs like Teach for America, says Trudy Steinfeld, a career counselor at New York University. "Every college degree is not cookie cutter. It's what you have done during that degree to distinguish yourself.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1946088,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1946088,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo#ixzz0ZFRD9x7C

IN SCIENCE WE TRUST

2009-12-02T23:34:00.001-08:00

It used to be "In God we Trust"...

Now, as we have shifted our hope for eternal life (it used to be eternal life in Paradise) we have knelled in front of Science in the hope that as we used to receive a piece of bread for communion, we will now receive a magic pill for eternal health, well-being, longevity, and if possible eternal youth!

We have come to also believe that as long as we have enough money, we will be able to afford anything that Science will come up with to prolong our good health, our sexual function, our ability to be an active (and important) part of Society, and to be able to offer all of the above to our children and grandchildren...

We have become so dependant on everything the sell us, that promises to bring us a step closer to this dream of eternal youth, health and life, that we have lost all measure, all grip on reality.

We have allowed ourselves to blinded, to be brainwashed and to be stuffed of lies.

We have lost the Truth.

We have lost the Truth because we do not want to know the Truth. The truth is that we are all mortal, we are all subject to illnesses, pain, sorrow, and of course... Death!!!

We have veer so far from the truth, following the proverbial carrot that Science has placed in front of our noses, that we have no clue anymore to where it is that we are going.

We are so lost in the darkness of the valley of Death that we have grabbed that carrot with all available hands, are holding on to it so tight drenched in terror that nothing else exists any more.

We have lost the Truth. The Truth is the light that guided our soul, told us that all the difficulties we face have a reason, and the reason was and still is, to make us stronger, and by stronger it means to allow us to understand the stuff that we are made of. We are made of hope and courage, we are made of freedom and justice, we are made of compassion and love, we are made to be both children and parents, experiencing the "coin" of being from both sides. The side of receiving as a child and the side of giving as an adult and parent.

We have become worthless human beings. We have sold our souls to Science, expecting Science to give us all that we want and need, more or less like an infant expects its parents to fulfill all its needs and wants. The more we stay stuck with the carrot, the more we focus on the carrot, the more we loose the ability to grow up and mature and complete and enlightened human beings.

We remain instead stuck into the material existence, which has been now taken by Science. Science told us that we are mater, we are skin and bones, we are organs, we are nerves and blood, we are genes and DNA, we are ill because something is broken and can be fixed with an operation, a medication, a treatment, a therapy.

Science did not acknowledge the fact that we also have a soul. A part that is beyond the material, the visible that could be fixed and cured with the scientific advances of our time and time to come...

Science did not hesitate. This one part of us, the soul, was expressed in many different ways. It was expressed in our hopes and dreams, and fears. It was expressed in our thoughts, through philosophy, through literature, through music and art. It was also expressed in our behavior.

Since Science could not manipulate the soul, it set out to manipulate all expressions of the soul.
Our thoughts can now be manipulated, our fears can now be manipulated, even our desires (sexual mostly) or existential. Our expression through art can be manipulated. All of our behavior can be manipulated.

Science used Psychology to dig into our very soul and manipulate us. Psychology and Psychiatry set up a trap for us. Not many of us could see it coming cause we were told it was for our own good, our well-being. If Science through Psychology could know what makes us tick, Science would make sure to give us all we need so we can tick and tick and tick happily ever after.

That is what we were told! That is also how Psychology became part of Science. It began experimenting. It began experimenting on us! Yes, back in the early 50's and 60's most Psychological research was done either using human objects, or monkeys who were thought to have behavior that resembled the behavior of humans especially in the early stages of development! Yes, human babies and monkey babies are very similar when it comes to behavior as they have the same primary needs and they have DNA that is about 98% the same.

Thanks to these experiments, we discovered many hidden until back then aspects to our soul and mind and behavior. We began realizing that we have patterns of behavior, that we have actions and reactions, that we can be made to like or dislike something without any particular reason. Facts about our inner, psychological workings began surfacing. The human psyche was not a mystery any more!

The uncharted waters of our complex behaviors were now being well charted, well recorded and well understood. Science began dwelling more and more in the inner workings of our mind. It also began labeling what they found as normal and of course abnormal! Science loves labels. So Psychology as a part of Science had to follow the same habits. It also began labeling our behavior as normal and abnormal.

New disorders began to surface. Yes, the deep waters of the mind, of our soul had many turbulent areas, many Bermuda triangles, many twists and turns. It was a new frenzy! tell me who you are and I will tell you all the mental disorders you could have!

You will wonder what purpose did this all serve. Well, the purpose of curing us from all that could endanger our eternal youth, well-being, and life! The DSM was born!!! The DSM is a manual of all possible causes of Death. All possible causes, everything. And when I say everything, let me remind you that once homosexuality was part of this DSM!

Now it is Autism. Autism is also part of the DSM. Autism is a health risk. A mental health risk. Autism is abnormal and everything abnormal can lead to Death. This is how Science thinks. In very much black and white. Labeling is also very black and white. There is nothing gray about labeling. You either fit the label or you do not.

That is why Science needs to make sure it places the right label on the right disorder. if they place the wrong label then it will cause the whole system to crash. Science needs diagnoses, and it needs diagnostic tools. It needs to find a way to look into our bodies and souls and pinpoint what is wrong.

What could it be wrong? I mean, aren't we made in the perfect image of God? Is there something wrong with God? Then how can there something be wrong with us???

Aren't we meant to be all as different as possible and yet share one common thing: our soul, God's own being in us?

We were meant to experience different things in the way of illness, of pain, of suffering, of loss. We were meant to experience these so we could understand them. We were also meant to be able to see different aspects of the same thing, so when we combined them we could see the Wholeness of God and the Cosmos around us.

Science made us forget all that. It showed us that we all had to be the same, or be abnormal.
Escaping from the normal range of things means greater chances to encounter death. Isn't that also the rule of Nature???

Every animal that is less normal than the rest of the herd, will be easily spotted by predators and hunted down for food. Humans are part of the food chain. We have been part of the food chain all along, ever since we existed on this planet, but Science has made sure we forgot that, too. We now think we are at the top of the food chain. We are not. There are many creatures that can use us as their food. Bacteria, Viruses, besides lions and tigers and bears... Yes, we are not at the top of the food chain. H1N1 has reminded us of this fact.

But where do we go from here?

It is more than obvious that Science, from the savior that it was meant to be -and we have fed this monster billions and billions or dollars- it has now become even more greedy. Dollars are not enough. It is hungry for flesh. It must keep on experimenting, it must keep on showing results, it must keep on advancing, it must keep on digging deeper and deeper, it must keep on with all these practices or it will fall apart and deteriorate. It must show that there is a REASON for its existence!

It has become an all consuming money-making, result producing (whether these results are real or not it is not important any more, for as long as there are results available, that can be manipulated to look trustworthy enough), human guinea pig abusing, all powerful and respected machine!

Science has become a snowball that turned into an avalanche, destroying the same thing it was created to help and protect. It has fallen into the trap of money-making hedonism and has forgotten the Hippocrates oath.

Science is now the biggest abnormality, and it definitely deserves a place in the DSM along with everything else that it has labelled and placed in there. Everything else that is actually the basis of the very fabric of life...

WHAT ABOUT THE INTENSE IDIOT SCIENTIST SYNDROME???

2009-11-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Intense World Syndrome – an Alternative Hypothesis for Autism

Abstract

Autism is a devastating neurodevelopmental disorder with a polygenetic predisposition that seems to be triggered by multiple environmental factors during embryonic and/or early postnatal life. While significant advances have been made in identifying the neuronal structures and cells affected, a unifying theory that could explain the manifold autistic symptoms has still not emerged. Based on recent synaptic, cellular, molecular, microcircuit, and behavioral results obtained with the valproic acid (VPA) rat model of autism, we propose here a unifying hypothesis where the core pathology of the autistic brain is hyper-reactivity and hyper-plasticity of local neuronal circuits.

Such excessive neuronal processing in circumscribed circuits is suggested to lead to hyper-perception, hyper-attention, and hyper-memory, which may lie at the heart of most autistic symptoms. In this view, the autistic spectrum are disorders of hyper-functionality, which turns debilitating, as opposed to disorders of hypo-functionality, as is often assumed. We discuss how excessive neuronal processing may render the world painfully intense when the neocortex is affected and even aversive when the amygdala is affected, leading to social and environmental withdrawal.

Excessive neuronal learning is also hypothesized to rapidly lock down the individual into a small repertoire of secure behavioral routines that are obsessively repeated. We further discuss the key autistic neuropathologies and several of the main theories of autism and re-interpret them in the light of the hypothesized Intense World Syndrome.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518049/
Read comments concerning this article:
http://talkingbrains.blogspot.com/2007/11/intense-world-syndrome.html
http://www.aspergerjourneys.com/2009/06/02/intense-world-syndrome/

Genome-Wide Study of Autism

2009-10-08T00:49:00.000-07:00

(Ha! they found the genes, yet again?!?!)

Published In Nature

Combining family- and population-based approaches sheds new light on the potential roles of both common and rare forms of human genetic variationIn one of the first studies of its kind, an international team of researchers has uncovered a single-letter change in the genetic code that is associated with autism.

The finding, published in the October 8 issue of the journal Nature, implicates a neuronal gene not previously tied to the disorder and more broadly, underscores a role for common DNA variation.

In addition, the new research highlights two other regions of the genome, which are likely to contain rare genetic differences that may also influence autism risk.

"These discoveries are an important step forward, but just one of many that are needed to fully dissect the complex genetics of this disorder, " said Mark Daly, one of the study's senior authors, a senior associate member at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and an associate professor at the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

"The genomic regions we've identified help shed additional light on the biology of autism and point to areas that should be prioritized for further study."

"The biggest challenge to finding the genes that contribute to autism is having a large and well studied group of patients and their family members, both for primary discovery of genes and to test and verify the discovery candidates," said Aravinda Chakravarti, professor of medicine, pediatrics and molecular biology and genetics at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins, and one of the study's senior authors. "This latest finding would not have been possible without these many research groups and consortia pooling together their patient resources. Of course, they would not have been possible without the genomic scanning technologies either."

Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social, behavioral and communication abilities. (How long will they keep on repeating this stereotype of Autism like stupid parrots, only God knows!!!)

Compared to other complex diseases, which are caused by a complicated mix of genetic, environmental and other factors, autism is highly heritable - roughly 90% of the disorder is thought to be genetic in origin. (NO KIDDING!!! No mercury from vaccines causing it? No other stupid conclusions?)

Yet the majority of autism cases cannot be attributed to known inherited causes. (Yes, to known inherited causes, maybe you have a lot to still learn? Maybe you dear Science do not know ALL there is to know about inherited causes? How about that possibility? Huh?)

Modern approaches that harness genome-scale technologies have begun to yield some insights into autism and its genetic underpinnings. However, the relative importance of common genetic variants, which are generally present in the human population at a frequency of about 5%, as well as other forms of genetic variation, remains an unresolved question. (Exactly!)

To more deeply probe autism's complex genetic architecture, a large multinational collaboration led by researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere devised a two-pronged, genome-scale approach.

The first component makes use of a family-based method (called "linkage") that analyzes DNA from autism patients and their family members to detect portions of the genome that harbor rare but high-impact DNA variants. The second harnesses a population-based method (known as "association" ) that examines DNA from unrelated individuals and can expose common genetic variants associated with autism and which tend to exert more modest effects.

"Given the genetic complexity of autism, it's unlikely that a single method or type of genomic variation is going to provide us with a complete picture," said Daly.
"Our approach of combining multiple complementary methods aims to meet this critical challenge."

For their initial studies, the researchers examined roughly half a million genetic markers in more than 1,000 families from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) and the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) repositories. Follow-up analyses were conducted in collaboration with the Autism Genome Project as well as other international groups.

"We are deeply grateful to all of the patients and their families who made this work possible," said Daly.The researchers' results highlight three regions of the human genome. These include parts of chromosomes 6 and 20, the top-scoring regions to emerge from the family-based linkage studies. Although further research is needed to localize the exact causal changes and genes within these regions that contribute to autism, these findings can help guide future work.

Read more: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7145/abs/nature05911.html

Before Lucy came Ardi

2009-10-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

New earliest hominid found

AP –Dr. C. Owen Lovejoy, Kent State University professor of anthropology, stands next to the reconstructed skeleton of "Lucy," a near-complete fossil of a human ancestor that walked upright more than three million years ago. A team of researchers including Lovejoy today unveiled research findings of a skeleton older than "Lucy," nicknamed "Ardi.

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer

WASHINGTON – The story of humankind is reaching back another million years as scientists learn more about "Ardi," a hominid who lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. The 110-pound, 4-foot female roamed forests a million years before the famous Lucy, long studied as the earliest skeleton of a human ancestor.

This older skeleton reverses the common wisdom of human evolution, said anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University.
Rather than humans evolving from an ancient chimp-like creature, the new find provides evidence that chimps and humans evolved from some long-ago common ancestor — but each evolved and changed separately along the way.

"This is not that common ancestor, but it's the closest we have ever been able to come," said Tim White, director of the Human Evolution Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
The lines that evolved into modern humans and living apes probably shared an ancestor 6 million to 7 million years ago, White said in a telephone interview.

But Ardi has many traits that do not appear in modern-day African apes, leading to the conclusion that the apes evolved extensively since we shared that last common ancestor.
A study of Ardi, under way since the first bones were discovered in 1994, indicates the species lived in the woodlands and could climb on all fours along tree branches, but the development of their arms and legs indicates they didn't spend much time in the trees. And they could walk upright, on two legs, when on the ground.

Formally dubbed Ardipithecus ramidus — which means root of the ground ape — the find is detailed in 11 research papers published Thursday by the journal Science.
"This is one of the most important discoveries for the study of human evolution," said David Pilbeam, curator of paleoanthropology at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

"It is relatively complete in that it preserves head, hands, feet and some critical parts in between. It represents a genus plausibly ancestral to Australopithecus — itself ancestral to our genus Homo," said Pilbeam, who was not part of the research teams.
Scientists assembled the skeleton from 125 pieces.
Lucy, also found in Africa, thrived a million years after Ardi and was of the more human-like genus Australopithecus.

"In Ardipithecus we have an unspecialized form that hasn't evolved very far in the direction of Australopithecus. So when you go from head to toe, you're seeing a mosaic creature that is neither chimpanzee, nor is it human. It is Ardipithecus," said White.

White noted that Charles Darwin, whose research in the 19th century paved the way for the science of evolution, was cautious about the last common ancestor between humans and apes.
"Darwin said we have to be really careful. The only way we're really going to know what this last common ancestor looked like is to go and find it. Well, at 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it," White said. "And, just like Darwin appreciated, evolution of the ape lineages and the human lineage has been going on independently since the time those lines split, since that last common ancestor we shared."

Some details about Ardi in the collection of papers:

• Ardi was found in Ethiopia's Afar Rift, where many fossils of ancient plants and animals have been discovered. Findings near the skeleton indicate that at the time it was a wooded environment. Fossils of 29 species of birds and 20 species of small mammals were found at the site.

• Geologist Giday WoldeGabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory was able to use volcanic layers above and below the fossil to date it to 4.4 million years ago.

• Ardi's upper canine teeth are more like the stubby ones of modern humans than the long, sharp, pointed ones of male chimpanzees and most other primates. An analysis of the tooth enamel suggests a diverse diet, including fruit and other woodland-based foods such as nuts and leaves.

• Paleoanthropologist Gen Suwa of the University of Tokyo reported that Ardi's face had a projecting muzzle, giving her an ape-like appearance. But it didn't thrust forward quite as much as the lower faces of modern African apes do. Some features of her skull, such as the ridge above the eye socket, are quite different from those of chimpanzees. The details of the bottom of the skull, where nerves and blood vessels enter the brain, indicate that Ardi's brain was positioned in a way similar to modern humans, possibly suggesting that the hominid brain may have been already poised to expand areas involving aspects of visual and spatial perception.

• Ardi's hand and wrist were a mix of primitive traits and a few new ones, but they don't include the hallmark traits of the modern tree-hanging, knuckle-walking chimps and gorillas. She had relatively short palms and fingers which were flexible, allowing her to support her body weight on her palms while moving along tree branches, but she had to be a careful climber because she lacked the anatomical features that allow modern-day African apes to swing, hang and easily move through the trees.

• The pelvis and hip show the gluteal muscles were positioned so she could walk upright.

• Her feet were rigid enough for walking but still had a grasping big toe for use in climbing.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and others.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/us_sci_before_lucy/33589198/SIG=10rasgdoq/

http://www.sciencemag.org/

My comments:

Maybe one human kind evolved from the apes and the other from Ardi... Now who knows? Could it be that the Autistics and the Neurotypicals actually had different ancestors?

Wasn't it Temple Grandin who said that Autistics think like the animals? Well, maybe they evolved from the animals. Maybe that is because they are more in tune with the Earth, the nature, the cosmos...

Maybe we just different human species. Hey science, did you ever think of that???

How Autism can be misdiagnosed and go undetected in adults

2009-09-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Experts ponder link between creativity and mood disorders

By Elizabeth Landau CNN

(CNN) -- The works of David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide September 12, 2008, are famous for their obsessively observed detail and emotional nuance.

David Foster Wallace reportedly battled depression for 20 years.

My note: He did not battle depression, but the side-effects of living as an autistic (most probably with Asperger's) in a non-autistic society. The visible depression signs was one of the side-effects that all autistics deal with throughout their lives! It is ignorance that killed this adult with Autism not his depression!!!
Unfortunately, before Autism became as known as it is today, and the mood ups and downs connected with autism became more known, many autistics were misdiagnosed with a range of conditions including bipolar disorder, chronic depression, eating disorders, etc. If the dots were correctly connected, the larger image that would appear would have been Autism. Unfortunately, most who treat people with mood or mental disorders, do not dig that deep. They just see whatever is most prominent in a patient's condition and label him that!

Certain characteristics of his prose -- hypersensitivity and constant rumination, or persistent contemplation -- reflect a pattern of temperament that some psychology researchers say connects mental illness, especially bipolar disorder and depression, with creativity.
There have been more than 20 studies that suggest an increased rate of bipolar and depressive illnesses in highly creative people, says Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and author of the "An Unquiet Mind," a memoir of living with bipolar disorder.

My note: Bipolar and depression are two very obvious tell-tales of an adult undiagnosed autistic!!! It is the ignorance of scientists like this psychiatry professor that killed David Wallace Foster. Autism includes a high ability that is linked with creativity, and the hypersensitivity that artists have. Look at the list of symptoms of bipolar and compare them to those of Autism. See what I mean???

Experts say mental illness does not necessarily cause creativity, nor does creativity necessarily contribute to mental illness, but a certain ruminating personality type may contribute to both mental health issues and art.

"Unquestionably, I think a major link is to the underlying temperaments of both bipolar illness and depression, of reflectiveness and so forth," Jamison said. This theory could help explain why eminent artists throughout the history, from composer Robert Schumann to poet Sylvia Plath to Wallace -- suffered mood disorders.My note: All of these "mood disorders" are nothing more and nothing less than Autistic frustrations that surface as depression, when things do not go as we know they should, and extreme joy and emotional "high" when things go as we know they should.

"It's pretty clear if you read [Wallace's] books that he was a very obsessive, kind of ruminating guy," said Paul Verhaeghen, associate professor of psychology at Georgia Institute of Technology.
"You can see it in his sentences. ... They're breathless and they need to be annotated, and the annotations need to be annotated again."

My note: "Helloooo! He was autistic!!! Take a look at how Autism is connected with speech and the use of speech."

The research of Verhaeghen and colleagues shows when people are in a reflective mode, they may become more creative, depressed, or both. Previous research shows that when people are in a ruminating mode, they are more likely to be depressed, he said.
"If you think about stuff in your life and you start thinking about it again, and again, and again, and you kind of spiral away in this continuous rumination about what's happening to you and to the world -- people who do that are at risk for depression ," he said.

Verhaeghen, who is also a novelist and describes himself as a "somewhat mood disordered person," had a particular interest in the connection between creativity and this ruminating state of mind.
"One of the things I do is think about something over and over and over again, and that's when I start writing," he said.

Sensitivity to one's surroundings is also associated with both creativity and depression, according to some experts.
Creative people in the arts must develop a deep sensitivity to their surroundings -- colors, sounds, and emotions, says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. Such hypersensitivity can lead people to worry about things that other people don't worry about as much, he said, and can lead to depression.

My note: Wrong again you fools! They are autistic, and that is why they are hypersensitive and that is why they express this hypersensitivity into art. You got the whole chain reaction upside down you fools!!!

"The arts are more dangerous [than other professions] because they require sensitivity to a large extent," he said. "If you go too far you can pay a price -- you can be too sensitive to live in this world."
Terence Ketter is professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University.

Ketter and his colleagues compared a healthy control group with bipolar patients, depression patients, and a control group of graduate students in writing and the arts.
They found that people with bipolar disorder scored better -- up to about 50 percent higher -- on creativity tests than the healthy control group. The creative control group had about the same increase in score relative to the healthy control group.
But more research is needed, says Ketter. The study does not explain the connection or show a causal relationship, he said.

Some have pointed out that being engaged in creative pursuits makes a person more open to experience, while others say the pressure of being engaged in the arts causes negative emotion, according to Ketter.
Still, the temperamental characteristics in question are thought to be somewhat inherent.
"It's a little hard to argue that engaging in creative activity could create the temperament, and it may be a little bit more possible that this temperament gives you a creative advantage," he said.

Verhaeghen's theory that rumination contributes to negative emotions generally sounds plausible and in some ways consistent with his own views, said Ketter.
Many hope that this type of research will be helpful in developing better strategies to manage and detect mental illness. These strategies can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
"Tragically, mood disorders can still present a sudden death in people who have been undiagnosed and untreated, and die from the illness," says Ketter.

My note: YES!!! Undiagnosed and untreated for Autism because that is what they have! They were high functioning so they were never noticed. And as children no one knew what autism was back then. Wake up fools. People are dying!!!

More specifically, Ketter says, just as heart disease sometimes presents itself for the first time as a fatal heart attack, mental illness sometimes presents itself for the first time as a suicide.

An appreciation of David Foster Wallace

AUTISM and SOCIETY - Who is truly ill?

2009-09-28T00:50:00.000-07:00

You see if we have two things, and one of them (Society in this case) decided to label the other (Autism) a disorder (a developmental disorder in this case), we need to question how sound is that decission, and what interests are being served by that label!

My personal belief is that what motivates Society and Science that pulls Society's strings is greed more than anything else. Science has become our Society's new religion, since we have now put all our faith towards preventing death (the one thing that holds our ultimate fear) in Science's hands, where previourly these were God's hands.

And like the good ol' "Church", Science is the one that now controls Society. Maybe it is about time we change that "In God we Trust", into "In Science we Trust" as this would far better apply to today's beliefs.

We have allowed Science to take over, simply because we refuse to accept our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, we refuse to see the inevitable truth that we will all, no matter what, one day die! We wish to avoid this truth, we wish to pay any amount to change this truth, we are willing to make any sacrifice to avert this from happening. We used to pray to God, offer things of value, offer sacrificies such as the lives of others, whether humans or animals, to ensure we would be kept well, and of course... ALIVE!

Yet, this endless game with death came to be a very profitable industry. The promise of eternal youth, of eternal health, of eternal life has become the core of today's Society, where the cosmetics industry, the pharmaceutical industry and whole mecical world have become our new Gods!

To them we sactrifice our income, to them we sacrifice animals (we call them laboratory animals), to them we also sacrifice humans. Ourselves, and our children. Truly, nothing has really changed much since the dark Middle Ages. It has only become more hip, more acceptable, more easily accessed, more integraded into our daily lives. We think about taking medications or not, as little as we think about using toilet paper or not.

We fill our bodies with chemicals that are absorbed either through our digestive system or through our skin, hair, nails, lips, you name it. We never even think what substances are inside our shampoo bottles, are nail polish, our lipstick, our deodorants. Yet, we worry that some mercury inside a vaccine, might cause Autism!

This is how blind we have become to what is happening to us and around us. How we are being "drugged" through small amounts of different chemicals day after day... We then wonder how our Human kind is changing, giving birth to Autistic children.

Mass media has a big saying into this, too. They can also gain profit from this huge money-making industry by reporting new findings, by creating sensationalism out of nothing, by making us accept easier and easier the dark practices that happen around us, by making us immune to them through over reporting, though commercialism, through osmosis. At the end we neither see or hear any more what is happening and how we are being used, abused, misled, drugged, poisoned and yes... killed.

I will not sit here and repeat things others have said better than I ever could. I will just add here the links to articles that explain, support and analyze the fact that Science has turned us all into laboratory animals, abusing our ultimate fear of death and desease, and has allowed medical doctors, psychiatrists, etc. to exploit us like never before.

Ultimately, it is Society that has gone ill, that has become a disorder, a viral infection that is slowly killing our Human kind. It is Society that is creating more illnesses than it can cure, so that we remain eternaly dependant on their practices while it feeds on us.

Read on, there is plenty to take into account the next time you read about Autism and how it is the worst developmental disorder, a true epidemic, a danger to Society and social rules. Think deep what ends serve this Society and the social rules.

Who are behind this "Society" and who make these social rules. Then wonder whether Autism is not yet another scapegoat, another diversion from what truly is the point here: How dependant have we become to the endless dream of a magic pill that cures all illness, including death!

- How Pharma Giants Are Getting Rich By Calling Our Life Problems 'Medical Disorders'

- Mental Illness or Social Sickness?

- ADD/ADHD: Mental Illness or Social Oppression?

I rest my case.

A Time Comes When Silence is Betrayal

2009-06-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

On April 4, 1967 -- one year before his death -- Martin Luther King spoke at Riverside ChurchNew York City saying these same words: "A time comes when silence is betrayal".

Now is that time.

It is with sadness and dismay that I write to you this evening. Alex Barton my son, was ostracized by his kindergarten teacher last year for being autistic.

This evening, Mike Lannon and the school board members of Saint Lucie County Schools decided that the civil rights of people with autism, and those who do not fit their idea of perfect do not matter.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jun/10/st-lucie-county-school-board-allows-portillo-keep-/

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Former Morningside elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said she hopes to return to teaching in local schools this fall, following a unanimous vote Wednesday evening by the school board that lets her keep tenure and contract, a decision that comes more than one year after she lead her kindergarten students to vote classmate Alex Barton out of class.

“I’m overjoyed,” Portillo said after an emotional 90-minute hearing in which more than a dozen teachers and parents urged the school board to relent in the punishment. “I’m happy that I’ll be able to go back to doing what I love to do.”

The hearing was interrupted by applause after each and every speaker supported Portillo. Many who spoke blamed the incident on a lack of adequate policies by the school system to help teachers deal with disruptive students.

Alex was in the process of being diagnosed with a high-functioning form of autism when the incident took place May 21, 2008.

School Board Website:
http://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/

Sadly,
Melissa Barton
melissabarton@yahoo.com

---------------------
Unfortunately, this is the reality for many children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome. They are systematically being removed from the formal education framework and left on the sidelines of education and society in general.

This reality is the majority when it comes to Greece as a country.

Recently, the Government voted a law that allows School Principles to decide whether or not an autistic/Asperger child will be allowed to receive main-stream education in their school (usually beginning with kindergarten).

This way, autistic children in Greece are forced to enter "special school" education which will never allow them to enter main-stream education ever again. Once in a special school always in a spacial school. Special schools are just a form of "day care" that offer absolutely no form of education to the autistic child but meaningless activities that render its brain useless...

Wasn't it Socrates who warned against the tyranny of the majority?

Now I am beginning to know exactly what he meant. in

"Missing Link" Fossil Found; Proof of Evolutionary Theory?

2009-05-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

May 20, 2009 by

47-Million-Year-Old Fossil Suggests Primate Link

"Ida," or Darwinius masillae, is just one of the many missing links that make their way to the divergence of primate evolutionary paths, one of which produced the primate forms of monkeys, apes, and humans, and another which produced animals such as lemurs. In fact, the gap is so large in the known fossil record, scientists are uncertain exactly where the divergence began.

Still, "Ida" has a lemur-like skeleton.

"Ida" also has primate characteristics such as opposable digits, grasping hands, nail-less fingers (as opposed to claws), and relatively short limbs. Since the newly discovered missing link is dated as being from the Eocene era, a time period from which few fossil records have been found, the fossil will be entered into the religion versus science debate.

For scientists, the more important aspect of Darwinius masillae is that it was found in Germany, which might point toward Europe as being more important in the evolutionary spectrum than was heretofore believed. And regardless of where "Ida" stands on the evolutionary path, one thing is unique about the fossil: It is amazingly preserved.

The 47-million-year-old fossil allowed paleontologists to study the fossilized record of fur, soft tissue, and even the remains of the animal's last meal, which consisted of seeds, fruits, and leaves.So is Jorn Hurum's "Ida" really a missing link, another stop on the evolutionary road that has led to the present, or is she just another singularly unique prehistoric creature? "Ida" is both. Her existence will not "prove" or "refute" the argument that every creature was "designed" for a singular purpose, nor will it prove or discount evolutionary theory.

The missing link found at the Messel Pit in Germany suggests itself as a link in the overall concept of evolution and the record of life on the planet, just another piece of the puzzle. Whether one believes that Darwinius masillae was created by an omniscient force or was the end result of ages of natural selection -- or a combination of the two methods of thinking -- becomes the province of subjective accommodation.

******
Source: NationalGeographic.com

GEE! THEY FOUND THE GENES...

2009-03-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

... AND NOW THEY KNOW THAT AUTISM IS LINKED WITH RESPONCES TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND LEARNING!

The question of course is, do they know what that means or will they make again the wrong assumptions that support their wrong claims and offer again the wrong solutions? One thing is sure, if all the wrongs offer them riches, I already know what the outcome will be...

Autism Genes That Control Early Learning

New study confirms importance of early behavioral intervention in treating the disorder (how wish we could find a cure for the Science Disorder at hand...)

By Nikhil Swaminathan

A new genetic analysis of large, inbred Middle Eastern families found that genes linked to a heightened risk of autism are crucial to a child's ability to learn.
A group of scientists, led by a team at Children's Hospital Boston, has pinpointed six new genes that may contribute to autism, a disorder characterized by asocial behavior, difficulty communicating and repetitive actions that affects an estimated one in 150 children born in the U.S. each year.

They report in Science that all of the linked genes are involved in forming new and stronger connections, called synapses, between nerve cells in the brain, which is the biological basis of learning and memory formation."We're showing, on the one hand, that autism seems to have a large genetic component," says study co-author Christopher Walsh, chief of genetics at Children's Hospital. "But, the genes that are involved are actually those that are involved in responding to the environment and learning."

The findings, Walsh says, reinforces the importance of early diagnosis of autism and intervention, particularly behavioral therapy and learning in enriched environments through repeated activities. Performing these sorts of tasks may help strengthen cellular connections, compensating for the malfunctioning genes.The researchers studied 88 families in which one or more children had been diagnosed with autism, and the parents of each autistic child were cousins.

Marrying second and third—and even first cousins—is not uncommon in the Middle East, and by studying such families scientists were able to track recessive genetic traits (caused by mutations that only affect individuals with two copies of the flawed genes). Such traits occur far more frequently in inbred families than in others.The team found a total of six mutations affecting genes that had previously not been linked to autism.

The mutations came in the form of deletions, where part or all of both copies of the genes were missing in a child with the disorder. All of the genes are known to be involved in parts of the same process: creating and strengthening synapses.Normally, when nerve cells (neurons) activate in response to an environmental factor (such as processing a new face or a new sound), synapses between two active cells change to provide stronger connections so the cells can pass on information more efficiently.

As the brain develops, new connections are continuously formed among nerve cells, reinforced and, in some instances, broken as the brain starts to mature and divvy up its different functions to specific groups of neurons.

According to the findings, "All of the relevant mutations could disrupt the formation of vital neural connections during a critical period when experience is shaping the brain," says Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Md. To wit, most children are diagnosed with autism between the ages of one and three years of age.Walsh says the team believes these deletions—which in most cases found here only remove some, but not all, of the DNA that makes up a gene—may mean that the genes can regain some of their normal function.

In fact, some of these genes may just be switched off. "This presents the possibility that in some kids we could get the gene going again without necessarily having to put it back in the brain," he says.Jim Sutcliffe, a molecular physiologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., in a Science editorial notes that the majority of autism research is geared toward prenatal development, even though the brain continues to develop well after a child is born. "Experience and environmental input play an important role in subsequent development," he says.

He calls the notion that learning in early life is disrupted by these autism genes "an intriguing proposal," but says that further research is needed to validate it.

Dan Geschwind, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that to test the hypothesis that autism genes affect synaptic strength, it would be important to examine the 20 to 30 other genes that have been implicated in autism and see which ones also play a role in strengthening neuronal connections. "If its a significant proportion," he says, "that would provide support for the hypothesis being put forward."

Walsh notes that many children diagnosed with autism tend to show vast improvement when they are placed in environments that allow them to practice learning repetitively. He says that these activities essentially train the neurons to make up for their lost function."Our work reinforces the importance of early intervention and behavioral therapy," he says. "The more we understand about genetics the more we understand how important the environment is."

Gee! Not much hope here either. The ISS (Idiotic Scientist Syndrome) has strike yet again!!!

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=autism-genes-that-control

How Society Ate all Human Beings. A true story!

2009-03-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

I am Autistic.

That is about enough to require from me to look at life in a way that others do not. That includes society and social rules. They are utterly unfair because they are simply based on supporting the ones on the top of the social ladder, while making it as hard as possible for the ones underneath, the social underdogs.

After all, all societies, from the very first at the dawn of the so called civilization, until today, needed "slaves" to endlessly turn the wheels of fortune for the ones who sat comfortably at the top. This is a fact that we are forced every day through the mass media to ignore if not completely forget.

What rules is not Love or compation, not even God anymore, not even we humans. We do not rule. We are all slaves. What rules is money. As simple as that. Whoever has it is at the topo of the social ladder, benefits from all the social rules, and struggles to keep that position of priveledge!

Those who do not have it, struggle to fill in the gap with notions such as love, compassion and God. As John Lennon very wisely said, God is the measure of ones hardships. The more the hardshiops, the more we turn to God for help and mostly it seems what we ask is ... MONEY!!!

Now, you will say that there are many people who have money and also pray to God. Now that I feel is a huge lie. One of those social things that people use to interact in a proper way. If people with money pray is only because they are either afraid they might lose that money, or because they have some health issue they can't seem to solve with money, or they are one of these regious fanatics who make money from "selling" faith and God!!!

Oh dear! Did I step on someone's toes? Well, excuuuuuuse me! Maybe your toes were in the wrong place. So mind where you keep them next time. Maybe they are too long and take someone else's space, or simply stand on the way. After all they are YOUR toes so keep your eyes on the ground looking out for on coming feet!!!

Yes, that is the kind of obnoxious way that Autistics tend to think and get in the way of society's rules and status quo. Now, let's imagine that once society and the human beings were friends. Walked side to side caring for each other. One day society realized that the human being had some flaws, some weaknesses that were easily used, easily exploited to own's favor. That is when society began abusing what was meant to help and protect: the human being. Instead it made a new friend. This new friend was greed!

That is what caused society's old friend, the human being to change tactics. It slowly began to be born ... Autistic! This way the human being was not as vulnerable to society's rules and influence. The Autistic human had a free mind and did not feel the need to follow the herd of society nor to act socially. This made society vert upset. The more Autistic humans were born, the less society could exploit them. "Aha!" Society thought, "I have to find a way to claim back my influnce and control!" But that was not as easy as it sounded. Society had to find some collaborators and make them execute a dark and evil plan.

The plan was simple, "devide and rule" it was called and all society had to do was to turn human beings against each other. Not just strangers against each other, that was very easy and it was done daily through greed and brainwashing. Now society had to strike deeper, in the heart of the human family. Society would not do that alone. It has slaves willing to do the dirty work. They are called professionals who, as a reward for their obedience, they are granted high ranking places in the social pecking order, and are given lots of money and even more power, since we all now that power can drive anyone crazy...

These professionals had to come up with a plan to separate the family. First they thought out the family's ranks of weakness. The child was by far the weakest. Bingo! Their strategy was to separate the child from the parents, that way the family would fall a pile of cards. Easy pickings.

Then they came up with a label. Something very horrible, an illness so awful, a disorder, an abnormality, a stigma!!! They did not have to look far for a name. Autism. It sounded Greek, so it had a sort if historical and cultural aura, it was easily pronounced and it sold like fresh baker rolls!

But how? Tell a parent that his or her child is different than the rest, convince them that it will never make it as the rest, allow them to fall into the trap that what causes this difference is something so horrible that has NO CUR, and ... tadah!!! Parents believe it. They want to have the same kid like their neighbor has, they have the same car like the neighbor, they live in teh same house like their neighbor's, they eat the same junk like the neighbor, so why not have the same child like the neighbor???

This sounded so, bad so unfair! Money. They could "buy" a new child. No, that is not possible, what then? They would buy a cure! Yes, a cure. Find us a cure!!! Here is all our money but please, pretty please, give us our child back... but please... make sure it is exactly the same like the one the neighbors have!!! We do not want one that is different.

That was the day when the parents sold their kids to the professionals who labeleld them abnormal and defective, and took the parent's money to fix them and one day, maybe one return them to the parents...

They just forgot one thing these professionals. They forgot the kids. They forgot that the kids grow up and one day can use a computer and one day find a way to break their silence and speak out and defend themselves and accuse the professioanals and the greedy rotten society for doing what it did. That day came, but no one listened. They were all too scared, too brainwashed, to enslaved to listen or care.

They kept screaming for a cure to the epidemic, they were pilling up all their money and asking for more from the UN and all Governments, to stop this curse! To find a cure, to stop Autism from kidnapping their children and eating them up.

They were screaming and yelling louder than any Autistic adult could speak, so no one listened to them, and that is how society won the dirty game.

The End (of the decent human beings)

ZEITGEITS - PART 2

Stigmatized with Autism for EVER!!!

2009-03-04T10:12:00.000-08:00

From Medscape Family Medicine

My comments are at the end of this article!

The Government Push for Electronic Medical Records

Posted Feb. 24, 2009
Author: Nancy R. Terry

The economic stimulus plan currently being considered by Congress allocates $20 billion to health information technology such as electronic medical records (EMRs). Recent postings on Medscape Physician Connect (MPC), a physicians-only discussion board, offer frank opinions about the utility of EMRs in clinical practice -- opinions that are decidedly mixed.

"EMR is the worst thing that has happened to me professionally in over 25 years of practice. My care of patients is impeded and the quality of my care is worse as a direct effect of the introduction of EMR," says a MPC contributor who championed the installation of an EMR system for his physician group.

"I absolutely love our EMR," says a nephrologist. "It has improved the quality of our practice immensely. I spent a lot of time customizing for our practice, but it was worth it. Everything is point and click. To improve care and cost, all patients need a Web-based collection of medical records that include hospitalization, lab reports, x-rays, as well as office notes. That would be the ultimate care."

Physicians who are dissatisfied with EMR systems cite loss of productivity, the negative impact on patient care, and high maintenance requirements. Physicians who have embraced EMRs cite the increased efficiency the systems have brought to their practices. EMRs tend to get high marks from subspecialists and low marks from primary care physicians.

Some of the MPC physicians least satisfied with their EMR systems are those practicing at large healthcare companies or medical centers. "My hospital solicited medical staff support for EMR," says one MPC contributor. "After implementation, administration took over and now EMR is solely for the benefit of medical records as a storage device. To hell with the medical and nursing staffs. RNs are input clerics rather than beside nurses."

"The very few efficiencies were all on the administrative side," says a regional medical director who helped bring an EMR system to a nationwide healthcare company. "A good sales pitch with nice graphics and testimonials sell it, then the clinical staff is left to suffer."

"EMRs need to address work flows and clinical efficiencies and not seek to provide administrative support," says a general practice physician. "Unfortunately, the administrators are the ones with the time and energy. The rest of us are seeing patients."

In smaller practices, issues of EMR maintenance and support infringe upon patient care. "In my clinic," says a family medicine physician, "provider meetings are completely dominated by EMR issues and problems. There is virtually never time left for discussing topics pertinent to improving patient care."

In speaking about their day-to-day experience with EMRs, primary care physicians complain that entering patient information is cumbersome and time consuming, often because of a template-based system that does not reflect the patient encounter.
"The assumption of the EMR is that you already know the diagnosis when the patient arrives." says an MPC contributor. "This may be better for specialty care, but in primary care, patients come in with fatigue, rash, insomnia, diarrhea, and cough. It's difficult to enter all this until after the visit."

An internist who describes herself as "tech savvy" says that her system's scripted entries for patient information are inadequate. "If you free-text, it is much more time consuming. And we are discouraged from free-texting by our administration because it doesn't trigger adequate billing codes. Not only has it reduced my time with patients, it has added an extra 2 to 3 hours of work each night from home."

The Choice of Systems
"My advice to practitioners," says one MPC contributor, "is wait for a decent EMR that produces useful notes that accurately describe a patient encounter in a way that helps a clinician."

Waiting may not be an option for much longer, however. One provision of the government stimulus plan would impose reduced payments on physicians who are not "meaningfully using" information technology. Whatever is meant by the provision's phrasing, one thing is clear: the push is on to go electronic. Physicians must learn how to make information technology work for them. One EMR expert says that it starts with the choice of systems. "Primary care practices should stay away from templates and stick to a new program by Praxis® [Infor-Med Medical Information Systems, Inc., Woodland Hills, California] that uses pattern recognition of similar cases as well as rare cases. It decreases the workload immensely. For specialty practices, I recommend templates, and Visionary™ Dream EHR [Visionary Medical Systems, Inc., Tampa, Florida] is excellent in being very user friendly," says an MPC contributor whose research in medical management focuses on EMR systems.

Another MPC contributor notes that the technologically adventurous can customize an EMR system by using open-source software. In open-source systems, he explains, the source code needed for programming is included in the software, making the program infinitely adaptable. "When you buy most proprietary software, you have to accept the functions that come with it, as designed by the developers. With open-source systems, you can modify the software to your heart's content."

Is a Choice of Systems Really a Choice?
For some physicians, however, EMR systems remain a nonissue, and the heavy government funding of healthcare information technologies is nothing more than a smokescreen obscuring the real issues in primary care.

"The government and the public are not able to deal with the real problems facing medical practice and the real solutions necessary to turn it around (ie, reasonable reimbursement rates, malpractice reform, regulation of the unscrupulous practices of the insurance industry)," says an otolaryngologist. He adds that once healthcare information technology is "fully implemented and solves nothing, we can start to talk about real reform and real answers."

My comments

If you read this article and do not feel you understand the topic "Stigmatized with Autism for EVER!!!" and the connection with the Government Push for Electronic Medical Records, then think that children that are diagnosed as autistic and thus bear the stigma of having the worst disorder of the human kind, will be known to all who have access to their medical records, including those who have access to electronic records whether they are medically trained or not and whether they have an oath of secrecy and protection of privacy towards their patients.

Besides, why is the Government so keen in keeping records of all we do or have, including our Medical records?

To find out this answer, you need to devote an hour or two to watch this documentary. Then you will know why the Government is pushing (if not shoving) to ensure all info is electronically registered.

What seems to be for your protection as patient and as human being might after all look like an endless removal of freedoms and our right for privacy. So be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4573704334162675487