Conor Doherty sporting a big smile after a quick tickle shave adventure with Dad this morning Many famous “autistics” were not diagnosed until they were adults and have turned their diagnoses into good career opportunities: John Elder Robison, Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne’eman and Mr. Ne’eman’s colleagues, the fellow corporate trustees of
Continue readingTag: intellectual disability
Facing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Speaks Enters Into "PURE" Autism Research PACT; Excludes Autism With Intellectual Disability
Autism Speaks has entered into a Research PACT to continue its focus on “pure autism” (referred to in the PACT as core symptom autism), while ignoring 50% of the autism spectrum, those with intellectual disability (WHO, September 2013): “Working together, the PACT team is developing a platform of preclinical tests to
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: 50% Some WHO Autism Awareness: Autism and Intellectual Disability 50%
Questions and answers about autism spectrum disorders (ASD) Online Q&ASeptember 2013 Q: Do persons with autism always suffer from intellectual disability? A: The level of intellectual functioning is extremely variable in persons with ASD, ranging from profound impairment to superior non-verbal cognitive skills. It is estimated that around 50% of
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: #autism gene AUTS2 tied to dyslexia ADHD epilepsy ID motor delay microcephaly MORE SYMPTOMS should be part of ASD DX
“Dr. Lynn Waterhouse @autismideasfail 6 Sep http://bit.ly/17WbZVi #autism gene AUTS2 tied to dyslexia ADHD epilepsy ID motor delay microcephaly MORE SYMPTOMS should be part of ASD DX” The above Tweet by Dr. Lynn Waterhouse, author of Rethinking Autism: Variation and Complexity, who also worked with Dr. Lorna Wing on the APA DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Writes Off Child With Autism AND Global Developmental Delay (Intellectual Disability)
CHEO: No Teddy Bears & No Autism Program for Severely Challenged Children The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has been added as a respondent in a human rights proceeding, and accused of discrimination, after it kicked an autistic child with global developmental delay, severe intellectual disability, out of an early intervention
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: SFARI Highlights Serious Risk of Epilepsy for Young Children and Teens with Autism and Intellectual Disability
“Children with autism who are older than 13 years and have low intelligence are at the greatest risk of having epilepsy, says one of the largest epidemiological studies on the issue to date1. Children are typically diagnosed with epilepsy after having at least two seizures — uncontrolled surges of electrical activity in
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Breakthrough? Autism Speaks Recognizes Autism Heterogeneity!
Rethinking Autism Variation and Complexity by Lynn Waterhouse is a recent work which provides a thorough, expert and extremely well researched picture of the variation and complexity of autism spectrum disorders. Hopefully the rest of the professional and academic autism community will read Rethinking Autism and come to grips with
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: OTARC Panel: Dr. Giacomo Vivanti: Does Severe Autism Cause Intellectual Disability?
Excellent panel discussion by the La Trobe University Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC) with Dr. Giacomo Vivanti, Dr. Cheryl Dissanjake and Dr. Cynthia Zierhut. The panel comments on the cultural representation of autism as genius in movies such as Rain Man and television series such as the Big Bang
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Severe Autism Breakthrough: J. Cole Offers Sincere Apology And Acknowledges Existence of Severe Autism
Rapper J. Cole has offered what appears to this observer to be a very sincere apology, one offered without qualifications and one which actually offers a breakthrough for those who, like my son, suffer from severe autism. Unlike most prominent autism advocates rapper J. Cole actually acknowledged the existence of,
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Dear Anna Kennedy: Please Stop Misrepresenting Autism, Autism Is A Health DISORDER NOT a Gift
Anyone described as “having autism” or “being autistic” would have received an autism disorder diagnosis pursuant, in all likelihood, to either the DSM or the ICD Dear Anna Kennedy My 17 year old son Conor who was diagnosed 15+ years ago with “autistic disorder” (now autism spectrum disorder) and profound developmental delays (
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Sound Advice for Autism Speaks
In yesterday’s commentary Autism Speaks Joins Drake And J.Cole In Insulting 40% With Autism AND Intellectual Disability I criticized Autism Speaks for stigmatizing persons with Intellectual Disability, particularly the 40% of persons on the autism spectrum with ID, the 40% that Autism Speaks seldom acknowledges in its promotions and literature.
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Speaks Joins Drake And J.Cole In Insulting 40% With Autism AND Intellectual Disability
Autism Speaks has joined rappers Drake and J. Cole in insulting persons with Intellectual Disability particularly the 40% of the autism spectrum with intellectual disability. The rappers had published song lyrics referring in an insulting manner to persons who are “autistic, retarded”. Autism Speaks did not simply criticize the rappers
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: 40% Intellectual Disability In Autism Disorders: Coincidence or Consequence?
I have never subscribed to the assumption that Intellectual Disability is a co-morbidity as described by the authors of a new study examining Intellectual Disability in Autism: (unrelated in etiology and causality from the ASD itself) I have been frustrated by the historical tendency of “autism” researchers to exclude intellectually
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: CBC News Misrepresents Autism By Omitting Any Reference to Intellectual Disability
In “The new definition of autism” CBC News provides detailed descriptions of autism as represented by the five pervasive developmental disorders in the DSM-IV and the Autism Spectrum Disorder in the now published DSM5. With one major exception the article is a good summary of autism disorders pre and post
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism and Seizures: Conor’s Second Grand Mal Seizure (That We Know Of)
The pictures above were initially posted on this site on May 26, 2012, several months before Conor’s 1st known Grand Mal Seizure in November. As I posted then, external conditions were perfect and Conor was enjoying a favorite activity in a favorite location when he suddenly began hitting himself in
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Speaks Reluctantly Confesses: 40% Of Persons On Autism Spectrum Have Intellectual Disability
Intellectual Disability remains the Elephant in the Autism Living Room;no one wants to admit it’s there or to talk about it It is politically incorrect in today’s autism world to acknowledge the existence of the invisible autistics, the one’s unlike Ari Ne’eman, John Elder Robison, Alex Plank and Michelle Dawson all
Continue readingFacing Autism Symptoms in New Brunswick: UNDERdiagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
A study presented at the IMFAR 2012 conference this spring in Toronto, Underdiagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Individuals with Intellectual Disabilies, seems to provide evidence contradicting the widely propagated assertion that the DSM-IV era has seen autism incorrectly diagnosed as a substitute diagnosis in many cases of intellectual disability.
Continue readingFacing Autism Symptoms in New Brunswick: The Harsh Reality End of the Autism Spectrum
If you believe IACC Neurodiversity advocates present and past, Ari Ne’eman and Matthew Carey, autism is not something that should be cured. You won’t see much about the harsher aspects of life with autism disorders if you read their writings. In their view autism is nothing more than a
Continue readingFacing Autism Symptoms in New Brunswick: IACC Neurodiversity Member Matt Carey Single-Handedly Reduces Intellectually Disabled To A "Small Segment of the Autistic Population"
The Interagency Autism Co-ordinating Committee (IACC) plays an important role in autism research and understanding. It is unfortunate that sitting as a public member of the IACC is lbrb blogger Matthew J. Carey, a member of the Neurodiversity movement which, at its core (1) portrays autism as a different way
Continue readingFacing Autism Symptoms in New Brunswick: Autism 2012: Disaster for the Autism Spectrum’s Intellectually Disabled
“Autism Spectrum Disorder Must meet criteria A, B, C, and D: A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across contexts, not accounted for by general developmental delays, and manifest by all 3 of the following:” Autism annual reviews have been published by a number of sources most of which ignored
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