But something really disturbing I noticed about the brilliantly put “mercury militia” seems to like to make it out as though all people associated with Western medicine are part of a conspiracy to hide the truth so they can profit at our expense, that they are inhuman, etc.

Granted, some things do need to be challenged, and many do so with facts, insight, and calm. For example, a lot of people a challenging common prenatal care and birth practices in Western hospitals, many of which are founded, some of which are questionable.

Some have optimism, insight, calm, and facts. Others are downright preachy and close-minded.

Moreover, just becuase it is alternative, or “natural,” does not make it any good, either in general or for anyone in particular. Some natural substances are useless or poisonous, and look at “Attachment Therapy.” A fringe pseudopsychotherapy that violates the human rights of its patients, traumatizes them, even injures and kills them.

And yes, many of them are autistic. (I imagine you know something about this?)

Even people who prefer alternative medicine strongly encourage seeking traditional Western medicine for serious or life-threatning illnesses. The goal for alternative therapies is more prevention and maintenance-based.

Personally, I like both alternative and traditional medicine. It depends on the illness. I love meditation. It works really well for me, as does burning herbs, and I love to make tea! I do lots of things like that. But I have recently developed a severe rash that might be due to lupus or a serious allergy, and that has to be treated quickly with a corticosteroid-prednisone, and an andidepressant, doxepin. Once it’s gone, then I can maybe make natural salves to keep it down.

Sorry…bit of a tangent, but I thought it might be food for thought, since we are talking about controversies in medicine.

The recent million dollar payout to a girl with a genetic cellular disorder who developed ‘autistic tendencies’ after a series of vaccinations too overwhelming for her body to cope with, has brought the purists out in droves. But she isn’t truly autistic shouts one side, but she became autistic shouts the other. And then there’s Amanda Baggs whose situation raises the case of autistic regression in puberty and whether someone can be on a seemingly ‘high functioning’ autistic spectrum at one age and then an entirely different part of the spectrum in adulthood.

My own case rocked similar boats back in 1990 at a time when Asperger’s wasn’t yet a diagnosis, Semantic Pragmatic Disorder was virtually unheard of and 90% of those with autism were still believed to be severely mentally retarded. Today, however, the children once labeled psychotic and disturbed in the 50s and 60s are being diagnosed with ASDs, including autism and this view of tidy boxes has given way to realisation their are not poles but spectrums and that some people move along them in unexpected directions for a multitude of interconnected, often complex reasons.

I was assessed at St Elmo’s Private Hospital in 1966 aged two as ‘psychotic’. I was admitted because it was suspected I was deaf, had signs of immune disorder (I was tested for Leukemia) and was coughing blood (later understood to be a severe coughing tic).

In primary school professionals from the Psych and Guidance service assessed me as ‘disturbed’. At age 9 I was again tested for deafness and my family came to understand that I wasn’t deaf but couldn’t understand language. They then began to use slowed, simplified speech with gestures and representational objects and from here I began to come to comprehend simple sentences.

Around age 10 I was taken home by a teacher named Christine who was the fiance of a car dealer friend of my fathers and worked at Thornbury Primary School in Thornbury, a suburb of Melbourne.

After spending the night there and the next day she found I couldn’t understand anything. Anyway, the Elvis film, Change of Habit (1969) about an autistic girl who he ‘cures’, had just come out in Australia around 1971. It was 1972 or 1973 and this teacher brought me back to my parents and told them I was autistic.

In those days this was more an adjective than a diagnosis because in the 1960s and 70s those who didn’t precisely fit the stereotype of the day of autism (silent, sullen, middle class boys) were labelled psychotic or disturbed children (as was the case with me). But the word ‘autistic’ was far more insulting to mothers than the terms ‘psychotic’ or ‘disturbed’ applied to their children. The word ‘autistic’ in the 1950s, 60s and 70s meant ‘your mother had caused it’. And the Elvis film said so too. Needless to say that whilst my father (who could barely read or write) was all ears, my mother was not. It was emotionally easier for her to introduce me as disturbed or psychotic so that visitors might understand if I head butted them, threw things, hit myself or failed to respond. My father would introduce me as ‘feral’ so people would understand why I appeared uncontrollable, impulsive or incomprehensible. And for him, feral had the hope that, just like Elvis, some people had the skill to tame such children. So for them, the word ‘autistic’ simply wasn’t as practical.

In 1990, a year after treatment for gut, immune and metabolic disorders, I was formally diagnosed as autistic by Australia’s most well known Educational Psychologist, Dr Lawrence Bartak at Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne. He has worked with people with autism for almost 40 years at that time.

My IQ at that time was assessed as overall just under 70, putting me in the mildly mentally retarded range although I had university degrees. Within that score, other parts of testing found genius range skills apparently impossible for most non-autistic people to replicate. For example I could regurgitate patterns at a very high level but struggled to give back the meaning of a passage I had to read. My paternal aunt who had been involved with my family all my life (I was given to her at one point but they were unable to adopt me) had been interviewed about my early history and Lawrie Bartak later met another friend of my family who had known me since I was 7.

My diagnosis in 1990 was autism due to having dysfunctional language indicative of a significant language processing disorder. Though I was ‘functionally non-verbal’ I always sang and recited advertisements, TV shows and bits of people’s sentences. Though I’ve had phases of Selective Mutism, I have never been non-verbal in the silent sense though due to meaning deafness until late childhood my language was highly idiosyncratic, non interactive and largely incomprehensible for much of my childhood. I was diagnosed with a receptive language processing isorder around age 9 after further testing for deafness and reassessed with the same at age 42 when I sought further help to improve receptive language processing.

Whilst I fitted today’s far broader DSM for autism, back in 1990 this DSM was far narrower and Asperger’s was not yet a diagnosis. In 1990, I more likely fitted Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder with Autistic Tendencies, but SPLD also didn’t exist as a diagnosis in 1990. So I was diagnosed by Dr Bartak as close as the words existed at the time. Today the DSM diagnoses as autism people who would have been highly controversial with such diagnosis in 1990. We are the untidy boxes and purists would surely prefer had we remained labeled just ‘psychotic’ or ‘disturbed’ and blame our developmental disabilities on neglect, abuse or attachment disorders whilst only ‘good families’ had ‘real autistic’ children.

An ABC interview in 1996 featured my ex-Supervisor from my honours year at University, a man with no qualifications in the autism field or child development. But having a PhD in sociology meant that to the layperson his title of Dr. could be read however the audience wished and of course his claim of ‘knowing me’ personally. Of course knowing a person personally can mean many things and in this case meant that I’d spent 10 obligatory 30 min appointments alone in his office as my thesis supervisor. Beyond that, anyone interested in my impressions of those appointments can read about him in Nobody Nowhere.

The interview also featured a student who claimed to be in my teacher’s course. She did share a one hour English class once a week with me and was on two of my teacher’s rounds with me. She is featured the book Somebody Somewhere for those who’d like to glean some insight into her desire to feature in the interview.

Others once featured in the interview have been dropped from it. One in particular, Ms. Nan Caterina, mistakenly thought she’d been my Prep grade primary school teacher (at age 5). Appalled, one of my real Primary school teachers, Mr Frank Ryan, called her and I put up a photo of my real teacher, Mrs. Caroline Reeves, (who’d had me for grades Prep, 1 and 2 in a specialised class called The Country Infants Room) on my website.

Expert opinion was sought from a US Autism specialist, Dr Volkmar, who had never met me. Nor had the interviewer, Kathy Golan. Dr Bartak appeared to feature in the interview but in fact was also not present in the interview but was edited into it from an interview years before to give the semblance he is present in this one.

This was the quality of the ABC interview, considered to be ‘credible investigative journalism’. Today the interview is generally seen as outdated and highly ignorant about ASD.

Donna Williams *)

http://www.donnawilliams.net

I agree about the criticism aimed at the vaccination programs and the way it is being applied. It’s just asking for trouble. 28 vaccinations is 24 months I heard. My view is that (if the above poster is right) patents need to be reviewed and the program needs to be expanded in time from two years to five. That way time is given for any abnormalities to be responded to.

And off topic, Donna, in case you don’t know - some twit on Wikipedia is trying to add an interview you did with the ABC in Australia in 1996 as evidence to query your Spectrum diagnosis. I read that you’d refuted it somewhere, and it would be handy if you could confirm that.

haha this is like Hillary Clinton’s kltchen sink method…………..a small but vocal group of parents is pushing the government to admit there is a link between autism and vaccines, even if those parents don’t say so outright.

The idiocy here is laughable……for a short time. But then reality hits that people take this crap seriously……

Where the hell does the government get over a million dollars to pay the settlement anyhow? From taxpayers…………..so, those parents are responsible for wasting taxpayer money, because the government is FORCED to use it to avoid an ugly battle………..and waste even more money….

by the way, Hillary Clinton’s kitchen sink method, for anyone confused by my reference to it, basically is a desperate smear attempt by her against Barack Obama…….using any disgusting means possible.

That woman has certainly gone ’round the bend………………..UTTERLY gone potty!

By the way, these are usually people who have no idea really what autism is, they assume that all autistic people cannot talk, use the toilet, are mentally retarded, and have detached retinas because they bang their heads so much, and all of these other stereoypes of autism. That their children will have nothing for the present and no future at all.

This is not to deny that some cases of autism are severe, or involve mental retardation, self-inflicted injury, or that autism can cause severe distress for families, by the way.

What is equally sad are those parents who DO have an accurate picture of autism, including that a lot of cases are mild and that those who are autistic CAN get help and DO have futures, but simply don’t want their children to be one of ‘those children.

Vaccinations are important, and controversial as well, for legitimate reason, but let us be rational about it.
‘

As a parent what do I do??? I don’t want my children to be exposed to dangerous disease by avoiding vaccinations, but I don’t want to expose them to the threats that vaccinations themselves could cause. After doing a great deal of research and prayer, I have decided to get the vaccinations while doing everything I can to protect my children’s immune systems. First of all, I will not get a vaccination unless my child is completely healthy- coming back to the doctor’s office a week later is a burden I’m more than willing to bear. Additionally, I have spaced out my children’s vaccinations. In a few cases, they have received 2 at one time but usually, I have only gotten one at a time. This may be less convenient, but for me, just the idea of bombarding the immune system with so much at one time does not make sense. What drives me crazy is the way I was treated by many doctors for just asking if I could alter the immunization schedule. If we could all just be rational about this issue and look realistically at the data available insteading of coloring everything with our agendas, everyone would be a lot better off.