On Vaccine Scares · 2005-11-17 08:00

by Gayle Fitzpatrick, M.Ed., BFA

Gayle has been an artist and educator for 25 years, in public schools, private foundations, community programs and colleges. Using research, best practice in education, combined with thinking outside the box, Gayle has developed programs for effective education that respect and honor the student’s mode of learning. Gayle is the parent of two children with Asperger Syndrome.

I recently received an email urging me to watch a program starring David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm. Mr. Kirby’s book posits the hypothesis that Autism and damage from early childhood vaccines are one and the same. Many parents of Autistic children in my state received this email, which prompted me to write the following.

The “vaccines stole my child and made him Autistic” mentality does absolutely nothing useful and is incorrect. There are individuals who have been damaged by vaccines, and there are Autistic individuals. They are not the same.

It is insulting to Autistic individuals to refer to them as “poisoned,” in need of “cure” or as part of an epidemic. It insults my family members and my friends. Consequently I feel very strongly about this.

I am also deeply concerned because many parents of newly diagnosed children, and especially of younger children, tend to believe everything that they hear or read. They may, in retrospect, think that their children have been “poisoned” by vaccines. This concept has led numerous families to seek questionable (and often expensive) medical treatments, and unusual diets, which have often not helped, and in some cases caused harm to their children. When I’ve questioned these parents as to their Pediatrician’s response to implementation of these questionable therapies, I’ve been told, “Oh, he doesn’t believe in this, but we’re pursuing it anyway.”

A profitable industry to “cure Autistics” is available to desperate and uninformed parents. This became apparent to me in the last two years. Profiteers of this industry contacted me frequently during the summer of 2004, when my son’s name was in newspapers reporting on our civil action suit. Nearly every week, I received an unsolicited call from one company or another promoting their “cure” for my son. I questioned these telemarketers at length to discover that objective criteria and medically verifiable results were not available to substantiate their claims.

Not only do I have philosophical difference with the “cure” concept, but also valuable resources are wasted in such an effort. It’s my opinion that time and money spent on questionable “cures” could better be spent on developing communication, playing with a child, and teaching skills necessary to navigate the environment.

The quality of life of Autistics is on the line here. How many children feel that they are such disappointments to their parents that they must be “cured.”

Because of the many issues families are facing and the many decisions that they are expected to make in response to a diagnosis of Autism, many do not have time or, perhaps even ability, to read the medical research, attend many conferences, to make informed decisions. Kirby plays upon this with sensationalism, emotion, and specters of doom.

I caution parents to take the time to read, research, inquire and demonstrate informed skepticism in response to “cures.” I ask parents to consider the message a child lives with when his parents embark on “curing” him or her.

Recently my delightful, honest and very logical son came downstairs to report on a CNN newsbrief. For the first time he had heard about the search for a “cure” for Autism. “Mom, someone thinks that they can cure Autism. What do they plan to do—go in and rewire our brains? That’s insulting. We’re not broken, we’re different.”

Fostering awareness, respect, acceptance, and support for individuals with Autism are worthwhile goals. Kirby’s book does not further this mission.

My eleven-year-old son realizes this. He has no shame attached to his being. I sincerely hope other parents consider how the message of “cure” impacts their child’s sense of self and how therapies undertaken respect their child’s sense of worth.

Comments


  1. “Fostering awareness, respect, acceptance, and support for individuals with Autism are worthwhile goals. Kirby’s book does not further this mission.�

    That’s it in a nutshell. The likes of Kirby and Dan Olmsted are just trying to further their own careers – until it all blows up in their faces. We’ll
    win in the long run, because there’s no truth or science in what they’re saying. — Clay    2005-11-21 18:19    #

  2. Your respect for your children is very moving.
    please forgive me in contacting you. I dont have a child with Autism but a dear friend’s child has. His parents are working hard to communacate with him on his terms & also dealing with so much negitivness towards their child .
    Some weeks ago I saw this amazing programme on a british channel � I just want by son back� It was about this family who took their son to a centre in the USA who taught the parents how to enter their sons world on his terms .It was wonderful . One of the last clips was the young boy playing with his older brother & so pleased to be playing.Something he hadn’t been able to do 6 months before.Part of the programme this centre was for the family to build a play room .As far as I can remember he was to stay in this room for quite some time.
    I’m trying to find out the name of this centre .It was run by a couple who’s oldest son had Autism and through their dedication he is an independent person leading his life .The centre had a wonderful team working with the child and his parents .A big theme I got was the team taught the parents to respect their child for who he was. There was no talk of cure’s quick or other wise.
    If you have any information I would be very happy to pass on to my friend.
    Thanks you for your time,
    Diana — diana    2005-11-25 10:16    #

  3. Hi Diana. I believe you are thinking of Son-Rise. I personally don’t agree with their practice of locking children in play rooms for long periods. That can be very stressful to a child.

    It is a myth that autistic children have no imagination and do not know how to play. Rather, they have an innate preference for more systematic play. For example, an autistic child may play with toy cars by lining them up, instead of rolling them across the floor. In his mind, he may be creating a parking lot, or a car dealership, or a traffic jam on the highway. That is just as valid as any other form of imaginative play, and I believe that a parent ought to respect the child’s preference, rather than forcing him to play in the same way as a non-autistic child. — Bonnie Ventura    2005-11-26 20:12    #

  4. The lining up cars thing is something my autistic son has done from a very early age. His older brother thought the patterns his brother were making were cool, so he would run around the house, dig in all the toy boxes and bring his brother cars so he could see how long of a line he would make or what kind of pattern he would come up with.

    In many cases, my non-autistic son found ways to interact with his autistic brother, and would then tell the nighbor kids how to play with him so he would understand the game.

    Neither of my kids needed to be taught how to play with each other. I find the concept of being locked in a play room pretty disturbing. — Linda    2006-02-07 19:25    #