As with Donna, I also believe in the idea of using community facilities, which are easy to get to on public transport.

I have some important information I would like to share regarding what is causing the increase in autism in your country and elsewhere.

For the past year, I have been researching prenatal ultrasound and have discovered that — countrary to the opinion of virtually all obstetricians — it is neither reliably safe nor non-invasive and may be the root cause of a number of birth defects and disorders.

There are two known biological effects of prenatal ultrasound that pose considerable risk to developing embryos and fetuses. The least understood effect is cavitation, which is a harmonic effect caused by sound waves that destroys cells by causing gas pockets to vibrate at such high rates, cell membranes can collapse as a consequence. (This is probably the reason ultrasounded babies are often smaller than those who were not exposed to this technology — if even a small number of cells are destroyed early in the process of cell division, there will less mass in the resulting organism.)

The second biological effect is thermal, as the vibrations from the inaudible sound waves are transformed into heat when they are absorbed by tissue. Raising the temperature of tissue compromises key enzyme reactions, which effect the formation and replication of genes that direct proper growth. There is evidence that the thermal changes affect neuronal migration, the process that actually “wires” the brain, resulting in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

I have written the article, “Questions about Prenatal Ultrasound and the Alarming Increase in Autism,” which was published last December in the professional journal Midwifery Today. The article, which is supported by more than 40 citations from prominent scientific journals and reports, is available online at: midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp.

I would welcome any comments regarding my article sent to: caroline.rodgers@hotmail.com

good to hear from you.
http://www.auties.org has affordable public speakers’ who are on the autism spectrum and looking for work. I think there is at least one on there from WA. Certainly we’d invite any others to list.

Alpha Autism here in Vic put many people on the spectrum through a recognised qualification to become trainers able to deliver quality presentations to small groups. It’s worth contacting them at least by an email and asking if any autism employment service in WA has considered doing the same and how they might start. Alpha is also listed on http://www.auties.org under the ‘autism friendly’ section in the category of ‘employment services’.

I know several of the public speaker’s who did that training. One of them, Kerryn, has started an online consulting service for people with Aspergers called K-Talk. These folks have had good instruction to attain a reasonably professional level of service and many otherwise struggle to find autism friendly employment or work.

In the UK, I offer local newbies to present for 5 mins at my lectures (they don’t get paid but its good exposure and experience).  This gives poets, musicians and those wanting to gain experience in public speaking a chance to do so with audiences of about 200 people at each event. We also are open to artists have some works on display at the events.  Two of those presenting have begun to get paid work presenting as a result of that exposure.

Most newbies with some experience and/or training in the public presenting area charge around $25-$50. After years of experience and established professionalism they may increase their fee to $100-$150. I charge that rate locally for small groups and charities.  I started out doing 4 years voluntary work in the field before I ever put a fee to my work and I did so as by then I was exhausted and as a teacher I already had a qualification so it seemed reasonable to charge an affordable fee, especially as non-autistic professionals were using my works as they basis for much of their own presentations which they had no problem charging professional fees for.

I think those who are charging more than $250 locally, $500 interstate (plus expenses) and $1500 overseas (plus expenses) are charging at a rate that mocks the expertise of carers and charities who often have years of first hand experience themselves. By charging exceptionally high fees its like they are subconsciously reinforcing the audience members’ views of themselves as being ‘nowhere near that level of expertise’. In fact many just need their own insights refined, some clear strategies specific to the issues of the people THEY work or live with, instruction in how to recognise and get clarity on their own instincts, competence, expectations and feelings about ASD and where to find or how to build affordable resources.

Many of the high paid public speaker’s charging $95 a head are regurgitating a book they’ve written which they sell for $30 afterwards - making their presentation effectively an ‘infomercial’ the audience members have been conned into paying. If the same speaker came out and said, I’m going to regurgitate the contents on this particular book for you which you can order into your library and read for free or sit here and pay $95 a head, most of the audience would run to the library!

Sure, if you’re paying $5-$10 to hear them it might save you the time it’d have taken to read their book/books so maybe that’s a bargain, especially if you don’t read well or text books aren’t easy for you.

…. Donna Williams
http://www.donnawilliams.net
resident cheeky monkey and author of 9 books
which people can order for free through libraries

http://www.adapt.org.au/phpBB2/index.php

A.D.A.P.T Forum is a small community, with no affiliations, that supports parents with children diagnosed with autism.

Donna Williams’ insights are found in our Fan Club/Blog section.

Warm Regards
Shirley