All About a Doctor and a Dog

An unexpected but very welcome benefit of my trip to London, is how much closer Duncan has grown to Gordon. He is even more excited than usual to see him return form work. He calls out for him often when he's frustrated or needs help. Yesterday, he came to me and announced, "Daddy is a doctor - helps sick people - makes them feel better."
Yes darling, he does!

Gordon was delighted when I told him later. He said he'd talked to Duncan about what he does when he's away almost every day, trying to explain to him why he has to leave home. Duncan obviously got it.

Yesterday I took the children to the animal rescue centre. One of the staff thought that a Collie dog might be good for us. I'd explained that Duncan, who was at the time making a lot of noise, is autistic, and though he's loud, he's gentle. She asked me, "what kind of autism does he have?" leaving me sort of stumped and stammering something like, " he's just um, very autistic!"
What are you supposed to say to that?!

The children were able to play with this beautiful dog for a while. Duncan kept telling me to take it home; "put it in the boot."

On reading about the breed further, I know we'd not be able to meet the demands of such am energetic, intelligent dog. We need something lazier and dumber! But Duncan enjoyed telling Gordon about our day. I prompted him to explain what we'd done and he readily told where we'd been and what we'd done;

Played with a dog. Throw the ball.

What was the dog's name?
Dog - Chep!

Yes! It's called Shep! What colour was the dog?
White and black - and grey.

I didn't notice any grey, but if Duncan says he was partly grey, then it was so!

3 go to London

It was only to be expected, but we had a fantastic time visiting C. in London.

When we arrived, we took the tube out of Liverpool Street, and sort of on a whim, got out at Holborn. We still had our bags with us so we headed off to the British Museum to use the cloakroom there. Having discarded the bags we were able to dander around the museum for a while. I used to live in university residences not far from there (it's where Gordon and I first met) so had been in the museum before, but not since the refurbishment. It looks wonderful. Lady was particularly keen to see the Chinese items so we looked around that section first, marvelling at what these people were achieving while the people where I'm from were busy bashing each other with clubs...or something. Thomas wasn't very interested, though he did call my attention to some of the stuff. We looked at the Egyptian area next. Lady explained to C. the process of mummification. There were plenty of examples, including mummified cats and crocodiles.

We didn't want to overdo the whole culture thing, and we all needed to eat to we went to the Pizza Express across the road. It's somewhere we used to go as students to treat ourselves. My friend D. and me were there once when a couple sitting next to us walked out leaving their deserts almost untouched. D. noticed my look of horror at such waste (we would have been sharing one pizza and drinking tap water) and assured me that one day, I too would be able to afford to order desert and leave it, but I'm still too tight to waste food just to make a statement!

The next day we went to the London Aquarium. I'd bought our tickets online in advance thus saving about 25% on the cost of entry. This also meant we were able to bypass the enormous queue and go straight inside, whew! This is a great place. Thomas however was less than impressed. Thomas is happier when jumping, running, climbing or when watching TV or playing computer games. Looking at lots of pretty fish didn't do much for him. He told me he was bored after only 20 minutes or so, "they're just fish, just animals, what's so interesting about that?" Delightful eh? Did I complain to him about being ungrateful, did I mention how much I would have given to be flown off to London as a child, and taken to restaurants and activities? Well obviously! Anyway, Lady loved it. One of her occasional ideas for her future career, is a marine biologist.

When we left we walked across Waterloo Bridge, keeping an eye out for a bus to take us up towards Leicester Square. For some reason we didn't pass a bus stop for ages, and it was so very cold and windy. When we did get a bus, it was a single decker, causing Thomas to huff again for a while. But not to mind because we were soon at China town and in the Harbour City for dim sum. C. doesn't eat fish so I didn't order my favourites. Thomas only ate the spare ribs, but Lady had everything. It was very good.

As promised, we then went to Hamleys. This was one of the highlights for the children. In the computer games section, there are a few Wii games set up for customers to try. There were around 20 people gathered around this sofa in front of a huge TV and console, where a couple of teenage boys were playing Mario Kart. When they finished another boy took up one of the controls, and Thomas decided to take the other. (No-one else was volunteering.) He sat and played the game, totally unfazed by the watching crowd. At the end I congratulated him for playing what was to him a new game, and doing quite well at it. He replied, "I didn't do that well, I didn't win!"

Lady choose a toy dog that can jump and bark. She has called it Master Harry, the jujitsu-shihtzu. Thomas picked a Simpson's torch and lucky bag. I had bought a gift for Duncan before I left home, to be sure of getting exactly what he wanted.

We took a trip on a double-decker bus to kill some time, and because it was what Thomas really wanted. Later we went to Planet Hollywood for dinner, since I had some Tesco vouchers. I'm glad I didn't have to pay, it was awful.

On Saturday, I had arranged to take the children out to stay for a night with Lady's best friends in the whole world. They both loved their time there. They went to a really cool playground and the maze in Hampton Court palace. For them both, it was the best part of the trip. I enjoyed catching up with my friends too, and in the evening, my sister and I met another of my oldest and best-est friends. We went to a lovely Thai place across from Centre Court in Wimbledon (I can't remember its name). Then since my sister was so incredulous that in all my time living in London, I had never been inside an O'Neill's pub (it's a chain of Irish themed pubs) we went to one for a while. It was a dive, but at least we had somewhere to sit, and to be honest, we were only interested in our conversation.

I lay in the next day, enjoying being child free for a while. My sister and I had lunch then went to a crepe place for desert. The crepes were OK, but Thomas can make pancakes just as good. I wondered if I should buy one of those crepe burners, and put the children out to work in the summer! They'd make a fortune!

We collected Lady and Thomas again then for once, had a quiet night at home. The next day we were leaving, so we packed up and headed to Waterloo station, and walked along the embankment to the Tate Modern, stopping for lunch at Wagamama on the way. We choose the smaller, lunch meals but these aren't as good as the food from the standard menu.

We hung out at the Tate Modern (leaving our bags in the cloakroom again for a while) and watched Thomas sprint and roll all over the polished floor in the Turbine Hall. Well, the main floor was closed; they're repairing that artful crack and installing a new item, but he was able to run over a smaller, raised floor. We didn't look at any of the art, but we enjoyed the big, open, ugly splendour of the building.

We crossed the Millennium Bridge (after passing the Globe Theatre, famous in our family for its inclusion in a Doctor Who episode) and caught a bus to Liverpool Street station. Our train was delayed for half an hour and I worried we'd miss the flight, but although we had to run to the security check, we were just on time to get to our gate and line up to board right away.

Once back, Gordon and Duncan came to meet us. It was so good to see them. Duncan was grinning and hugging us all. He was happy with his promised gift; the remote control Brum. They had both got along just great. Duncan was happy to be with his dad, and knew we were only away for a short time.

All in, it turned out to be a great trip for everyone. Now I have to finalise my plans for Disneyland Paris. We go in just 5 days!

London bound

I'm going to London tomorrow for a long weekend with Lady and Thomas. We'll be staying in my sister's new flat, and meeting up with other friends. Duncan and his dad will have some man time together. They are both looking forward to that. I've promised Duncan that I'll buy him a toy he has coveted on the Ebay listings for a long time; a "remocon troll Brum" aka Remote Control Brum. (I actually bought it months ago but kept it hidden until a time of need.)

I dare say I'll post about all our adventures when we return.

Be good enough!

Our gallery

Duncan usually makes his pictures on the computer these days, but sometimes he produces a drawing on paper. Last week he created this Noddy puppet, entirely by himself.

He also enjoys little books, that he draws and writes on, and that he sometimes asks me to illustrate too. These books have such a combination of his favorite things. He has one with the title, "Enid Blyton's Noddy's Toyland Adventure, by Dr Suess" and another called "Atari Tarzan" showing a picture of Disneyland's Space Mountain coaster. This one has an interesting story too;


It wose a chilet day in toyland
was a roket

Jafr and Tarzan and Lady Noddll

The range wose Noddy

(And the writing on the page shown)

Now Alice trap
Tarzan posh Clayton
angry
It wose Tarzan poshe Clayton.

Well, it's clear to see poor Alice is indeed trapped, and that's Clayton looking angry at the bottom on the right, where Tarzan must have pushed him. You will also notice the many deadly looking arrows shooting all over the place, as well as the sword. It's all very exciting!










Lady draws too. For a long time she produced mainly pictures of the 5 of us, embellished with hearts and flowers and her name in Chinese characters. This picture of the 3 children in a paddling pool (drawn a few years ago) is typical, and the duck-billed platypus is a more recent creation. She has been drawing lots of animals lately.

One of her - stranger - pictures is this one, created 3 years ago, and apparently showing the birth of Thomas!
That's the newborn Thomas at the bottom of the bed, and some hospital equipment to the right. Gordon, Duncan and Lady are all looking very pleased with the new arrival, while I'm saying ouch, as it hurts a bit when you have a baby.


I've no idea what the purpose of the number line is, and by the way, the children were not around while I gave birth!


Thomas is not very interested in drawing, so it's something I'm trying to encourage him to try to enjoy more. He sometimes copies Lady's work, coming up with pictures like this monkey.

Yesterday I photographed many of their pictures drawn throughout the years. It'll help ensure I can enjoy these images for a long time to come.

The week that was

My sister spent a few days with us, so we had a few outings together. One was to W5, which was busier than it usually is on a school day. There was one school group there and many of the children were acting up, while their teachers ignored them. I had to keep Duncan away from them as they buck-lepped (that's west Tyrone speak for jumped wildly) around at his favourite exhibit; the weather camera. Lady and Thomas enjoyed showing their aunt around all the cool stuff. They ended the day with Duncan and Lady arranging furniture in the doll's house.

My personal favourite time didn't involve my beloved children. I'd arranged baby sitting, and myself, Gordon and my lil' sis took public transport into Belfast where we meet my dad and step-mum for a fantastic Thai meal washed down with much wine.

The children didn't want C. to leave, but eventually she'd had enough of us (or had to go back to work or something). On Saturday, the children spent an hour at their Grandma's house while Gordon and I went for a run. We were totally out-done by my brother though, he ran about 21.2 miles further than us on Sunday in London, along with about 34 thousand others. You go bro!

Yesterday we piled into the car intending to drive to local park, but decided instead to drive up to the north Antrim coast. It was perfect driving weather and the road from Larne to Carnlough (where we stopped) is spectacularly beautiful. Thanks to my Blueprint inspired new interest in local geology, I noted the chalk cliffs topped with basalt. The locale provided the backdrop for some of the scenes from that programme too.

It was my first time along that part of the coast; I'd always been coming from west to east before and never made it past Bushmills or thereabouts. We had chips (good) and ice-cream (poor) in Carnlough and the children burned off some of their vast quantities of energy in a playground before we headed for home.

And just so you know, Duncan was not wearing a Santa hat, despite how it appeared to the several people who smilingly remarked on how out of season he was. He was, in fact, dressed as Noddy, which should be obvious when you note the blue shorts, red top and yellow scarf! Also, it's perfectly acceptable to carry the case of a Thomas the Tank CD Rom around with you in a playground!


Instead of driving back along the coast, we headed south towards Belfast, taking us into some lovely countryside. We passed a mountain and I looked at the map for its name. It was Slemish, which I obviously know (as a good wee girl I'd absorbed all this information) as the place where the captured Briton later known as St Patrick, was sent to watch sheep and where he did a whole heap of praying. It was nice to see it for the first time. Again, thanks to Blueprint, Lady reckoned it was once a volcano. We looked it up later, and yes indeed it is the plug of erosion-resistant hardened lava from the inside of a dead volcano.

Oh and that reminds me, another family tradition for all but Duncan (who finds it too scary and watches familiar videos instead) we enjoyed the Pompeii episode of Doctor Who, in which the volcano was far from dead.

Right, I do believe I'm all caught up again.

No measles here

For all my bluster here, I recently realised something worrying; Duncan never had the second MMR vaccine, probably due to an oversight when we changed from a London GP to our local one several years ago. I was looking through the children's health records when I made the discovery, so I contacted the health centre, spoke to a GP, and arranged a time for him to catch up on this important vaccine.

My sister was spending a few days with us, so she stayed with Lady and Thomas while I took Duncan to the doctor. He ran into the health centre quite happily, but wanted to go back to the consulting room he'd been in the week before, so I had to hold him back while waiting to check in with the receptionist. He was shouting various angry/worried film lines. I kept asking him what film what he was saying comes from, then he'd calm down just long enough to tell me, and perhaps a few minutes more, then he was off again.

The health visitor came put to ask me how we could best approach the mechanics of the vaccination for Duncan, and I asked that it all be done as quickly as possible. The GP was wonderfully considerate. Duncan yelped in pain and surprise as the needle went in, but wasn't half as bothered by it as I'd worried he would be. He had to have a look at his bottom to check he wasn't bleeding later (he worries that he's bleeding after every little knock or bump, and if a kiss doesn't cure his pain, a plaster is almost sure to do it), but there was only a tiny mark.

To reward him, I said he could buy a new toy. He choose to go to the charity shop rather than the standard toy shop. He has been collecting old videos recently, mostly to examine their cases and the idents shown before the films. On that day, I found him a really old BBC video of a cartoon called "Ivor the Engine" and he was so happy later to see it had one of his favourite idents; the BBC stars. He has invited me to snuggle beside him to watch it many times since, and I've obliged for the sheer joy on his face.

He also found a toy Big Ears (friend to Noddy) which has had lots of play this week, while he dressed himself as Noddy.

So anyway, he's caught up on his vaccinations. I just didn't want to risk exposing him to measles. One MMR dose wasn't enough, and there are far too many cases of measles among children these days. I was particularly worried about the possible risk of infection when we go to Disneyland later this month.

Kathleen Subpoenaed - Video

I am gratified to see the extent of the outcry on Kathleen's behalf. Clifford Shoemaker must rue the day he decided to take a shot at that particular lady. There are few bloggers who are as revered and respected and who are capable of enlisting so much support. However, this incident has demonstrated that even the lesser bloggers could count on the support of their blogging peers if they came under this kind of unwarranted attack. The principle still stands.

The follow video summarises the issues.



Edited 8th April to add another a video by Autism Diva:



See another video by S.L. at Stop. Think. Autism.

And finally, from dkmnow, there's this;

Neurodiversity Blogger Unfairly Subpoenaed

Kathleen Seidel, owner of the Neurodiversity website and blog, has been served with a subpoena in what appears to be a craven attempt at intimidation.

The website is one of the best, most extensive online resources on autism and more general disability issues. The blog provides a masterclass on what the very best bloggers can achieve. I choose Kathleen for the Thinking Blogger Award last year, and as I wrote then, "She is clever, dogged, unfailingly polite, thorough, fair, compassionate, dedicated and whatever the highest award available to bloggers is, she should get one. She writes about autistic advocacy and anti-scientific theories of autism causation and 'treatment'."

Kathleen Seidel has blogged about the activities of the Rev. Lisa Sykes and her husband Seth Sykes, who continue to claim, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that their son's autism was caused by mercury poisoning via vaccines. Sykes is suing a several pharmaceutical companies, alleging her son was damaged by their vaccines. Among the lawyers representing Sykes, is Clifford Shoemaker, about whose earning from vaccine litigation Kathleen wrote just before she was served with a subpoena, (issued by Shoemaker) to produce extensive, personal documents and records for the Sykes' suit.

Kathleen has written (what looks to my ignorant-of-law eyes) a great reply to quash the subpoena, detailing the many reasons against it's validity. Among these she writes;

I am not a party to Sykes v. Bayer, and have had no personal acquaintance or contact with any of the parties to it.
...
http://www.neurodiversity.com is not a legal entity, an organization or a business; rather, it is an Internet domain name that I own. My website is a one-woman labor of love, creativity, conviction and conscience.
...
I have not otherwise been paid by any person or organization for developing or maintaining the website, for writing, or for my political advocacy or charitable work.
...
Even if the subpoena were not unconstitutional, illegal and barred by the journalist’s privilege, it is excessively intrusive in its terms. Plaintiffs and their counsel seek not only to rummage through records that they suspect pertain to themselves, but also through my family’s bank records, tax returns, autism-related medical and educational records, and every communication concerning all of the issues to which I have devoted my attention and energy in recent years. I have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to this material. It would be wholly inappropriate for the court to compel me, a nonparty to this civil action, to subject myself, my family, friends and acquaintances to the hostile scrutiny of plaintiffs in order to enable them to argue some point that would not even help to prove their case.
...
WHEREFORE, Kathleen Seidel prays her motion to quash this unconstitutional, unreasonable, irrelevant, excessive, invasive, burdensome, frivolous, and clearly retaliatory subpoena be ALLOWED.

I have glanced over the subpoena, and there is no indication that Kathleen is being accused of having done or written anything in any way illegal. It does ask for all correspondence between Kathleen and “religious groups (Muslim or otherwise), or individuals with religious affiliations,” as well as most of the people whose blogs are on her blogroll, including this one! What purpose could all this possibly serve? And what on earth is that bit about religious groups supposed to mean?!

I find this action against someone who has always been so fair and scrupulous in her activities to be reprehensible. I also think, like every previous attempt to persecute a blogger without just cause, this will go badly against Sykes and Shoemaker. Haven't they heard of the Streisand effect? Why would they want a judge (or whomever is responsible for deciding on these matters) to read all of Kathleen's work which shows their claim for what it truly is. She also details Sykes' involvement in the Griers IRB which approved their "research" on chemical castration agent, Lupron, as one of the cornucopia of supposed treatments foisted on autistic children, among them, the son of Rev. Sykes.

As someone in the comments section of Kathleen's blog wrote, as far as this goes, and in the tone of Kubrick's famous film, when someone goes picking on one of our own, I am Kathleen.

All these others are Kathleen too ;-) Let me know if I've missed anyone out.

1. (There are comprehensive lists at I Speak of Dreams and Holford Watch too; they've most likely got links I missed.)
2. Autism cranks attempt to intimidate blogger by subpoena from Pure Pedantry
3. Autism cranks going after bloggers from Denialism Blog
4. Evidence of Slime from GreyMatter/White Matter
5. Kathleen Seidel Slapped With unconstitutional, illegal, barred by the journalist’s privilege, and needlessly invasive subpoena from I Speak of Dreams
6. Vaccine lawyer subpoenas Kathleen Seidel from Overlawyered
7. Clifford J. Shoemaker and Lisa Sykes: Putrid Lawyering from Whose Planet is it Anyway
8. Kathleen Seidel's Blog: Influence Means You Get Subpoened
9. and Olson's Trumpet - Blogosphere Unites Behind Kathleen Seidel from Law and More
10. Rediculous from Autista
11. Attempted suppression of Seidel from Pharyngula
12. More legal thuggery, this time against Neurodiversity.com from Respectful Insolence
    
13. An open letter to David Kirby and Dan Olmsted about the Kathleen Seidel subpoena from Respectful Insolence
14. We are all Kathleen Seidel from Letting Off Steam
15. Sandy: Blogger on autism hit with subpoena ** from Jack's Newswatch
16. Blogger on autism hit with subpoena ** from Crux of the Matter
17. Trusted MD
18. Another day, another gasket from Poohflingers Anonymous
19. I am Kathleen from Autism Street
20. Kathleen Seidel Has Received a Sub-Poena: Streisand, Spartacus, Shoemaker, They Start with S and End the Same Way from Holford Watch
21. JREF discussion
22. Anti-Vaccination Parents stoop to new lows from Rev. BigDumbChimp
23. Aspies for Freedom discussion
24. Vaccine-Litigant Thuggery: Subpoenaed For Blogging from Popehat
    
25. We are Kathleen too from Runman
26. Kathleen Seidel: "Subpoenaed" from Homo Autistic
27. Blogger Troubles - SLAPP from Left in Alabama
28. Kathleen Slapped-Blogs Slap Back from Club166
29. All for one and one for all from Normal is Overated
30. Shoemaker’s Witch-Hunt: An Open Letter from dkmnow
31. How to Treat a Bully from One Dad's Opinion
32. Rallying the Blogosphere Again from Mythusmage Opines
33. The Plane! The Plane! from Dr.J's House Calls
34. Blogger ensared in hotly contested autism-vaccine lawsuit from Strategic Thinking and Execution
35. Welcome to the "I am Kathleen" Scavenger Hunt from Asperger Square 8
36. Neurodiversity blogger subpoenaed in "vaccine-autism link" lawsuit from Women's Bioethics Blog
37. We are Kathleen from The Rettdevil's Rants
38. Quash this unconstitutional, unreasonable, irrelevant, excessive, invasive, burdensome, frivolous, and clearly retaliatory subpoena from Swiftspeech!
39. Abuse of Process: Blogger, Unrelated to Action, Hit With Subpoena from New York Personal Injury Law Blog
40. Neurodiversity blog intimidated by lawyers from Bad Science Forum
41. Clifford Shoemaker, What a Dick, Plus Other Views from Natural Variation
42. The Mozlems Want You to Have Autistic Babies from Victoria's Corner
43. Autism-Vaccine / Neurodiversity War Getting UGLY from Axinar
44. Blogger ensnared in hotly contested autism-vaccinne lawsuit from Ars Technica
45. Can I Play Sykes Google Hit Too? from Liv's Journey
46. Shoemaker’s subpoena is a load of cobblers from Action for Autism
47. Open Letter to Kirby and Olmstead from Action for Autism
48. Bloggers On The Seidel Subpoena from Autism Street
49. Autism Lawsuit from Galactic Poolhall
50. Seidel subpoena a threat to citizen journalism from Junkfood Science
51. Seidel subpoena a threat to citizen journalism from Kitchen Table Math
52. Misbehaviour of Behaviorists Discussion Board
53. Conflicts of interest disclosure from Natural Variation
54. Flippin' heck, bloody hell, stone the crows! from Incorrect Pleasures
55. HealthBlawg
56. Attorney Clifford Shoemaker v. bloggers from Autism News Beat
57. Bullying Attorney Thug from Skeptico
58. Legal Thuggery Against Neurodiversity.com from Daylight Atheism
59. Lawsuits and Autism: A Back-Door Effort to Suppress Facts from Odd times signitures
60. Emotion and irrationality run amok from A life less ordinary?
61. Implication by Association? from ASD :Commentary
62. I am Kathleen from Stranger than you can imagine
63. You gotta fight for your right to blog from Clotted Cognition
64. Kathleen Seidel from Left Brain/Right Brain
65. In Support of Kathleen Seidel And Her Work from The Joy of Autism
66. Autism, Clifford Shoemaker, and Kathleen Seidel from Autism Street
    
67. Thoughts on an absurd subpoena from Women Scientist
68. Subpoena the Blogger from The Washington Independent
    
69. Another Attack on Free Speech and a Science Blogger from Neurologica Blog
70. What’s is all about, Clifford J. Shoemaker? from Grey Matter/White Matter
71. In the matter of Shoemaker v. Seidel; Court of public opinion; The Hon. Bugs Bunny Presiding from Graphictruth
72. Autism Blogger Subpoenaed from Adjunct Law Prof Blog
73. I am also Kathleen from Stop. Think. Autism.
74. Because someone had to do it from dkmnow

Blueprint

I watched the new BBC NI programme Blueprint last night. I rarely make an effort to watch TV as it happens now, preferring instead to watch the few shows I like online via the BBCi player or something. But this I wanted to see properly, and it was well worth it.

The show described how the land we live on has changed over millions of years, how it's position on the globe has changed, how 2 sections of the island were formed from land masses that were once thousands of miles apart. I was fascinated to learn about the Caledonian mountain range stretching across North America, Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia, and which in these parts, now comprises the rolling hills of the Sperrins near where I lived. I never knew this land was once a baking desert, or covered by a tropical ocean. See what a good school education can leave out.

It was great to see such a well made, local science programme. The special effects looked good. I liked the sand world map on a Sligo beach to demonstrate plate tectonics. William Crawley is an engaging presenter, though I did wonder why he was wearing pale coloured trousers as he kept having to tramp through mud.

But guess what, there have been complaints to the BBC about the programme. I was reading the presenter's blog and came across a comment I assumed was a parody; "I, along with many others are disgusted that the BBC is using license payers money to spew out this filth over the airwaves. It is evolutionary nonsense, which is in complete opposition to the Biblical account of Creation."

Eh?! That can't be for real...can it?
Unfortunately I soon saw a link to a group criticising the programme (I've broken the link) and its makers for not covering their notion that somehow, the bible should be accepted as a literal interpretation of the earth's formation;

In it [Blueprint] they will teach the theoretical 600 million year history of the island of Ireland. No reference will be made to a Creator or Intelligent Designer and no reference will be made to important biblical events such as God's 6-day creation or the worldwide flood of Noah's days as recorded in the book of Genesis.
...
I am very angry that the BBC, yet again, is siding with evolution in the debate about the origins of the world. These programmes are about to launch a massive attack on the Christian values of our country and I hope Christians can be persuaded to make their voices heard with the BBC. I think this is the most dangerous TV series in NI for years. If possible, I would like to see Christians gather in prayer outside Broadcasting House in protest at this insidious attack on our society's foundational values.

They even suggest a form of letter to use in complaining to the BBC about this "massive/insidious attack";

Dear Mr Crawley,
In relation to the upcoming series of BLUEPRINT programmes I wish to register my protest to the BBC NI about this offensive abuse of the licence fee money of the many Christians in Northern Ireland who accept God's account of His own Creation as recorded in His Word in the book of Genesis.
I would ask, for the sake of balance, that BBC NI expend a similar amount of finance and give a platform to Scientists, who are Christians and 'Biblical Creationists' to explain the visible scientific evidence that concurs with their beliefs on the origins of the island of Ireland.

Dear oh dear.

But, thankfully, sense and science have prevailed. Many people, theist and not, will enjoy this series and learn from it. I'll be watching again with Lady later. What a bonus for our home-education!

1st April

I was just watching BBC Breakfast with Gordon when they showed a film clip from a new natural history programme called "Miracles of Evolution." The clip was said to show penguins as never seen before.



Tery Jones was not in the short clip shown on the news nor was the story about their "migration" to the tropics, so it took me that bit longer to twig onto what was happening, but once the birds were swooping over the water it was obvious. Nicely done though!

Some decadent days

We went to my brother's house in Leitrim for Easter. Lady and Thomas played with their cousins, Lady mostly played up with 6 year old C. and Thomas with 4 year old E. They get on really well together. Duncan preferred to ride a trike around outside. He had a notion to buy a toy bow and arrow (or "boanarro" as he wrote on his first trial on Google) and didn't really accept my explanation that toy shops are closed on Easter Sunday. Well, copious quantities on chocolate helped settle everyone, and we adults enjoyed good food, a few drinks and much chat.

Lady and Thomas stayed for 3 extra nights with their cousins, which was, by all accounts, a very successful event. They went swimming in a super duper, waves and slides pool, then they all won medals in some children's races at a 10k race my SIL ran. The village they live in seems to be populated by a strange breed of Irish folk who all run. Well, there are worse vices than could inflict them.

It was odd having just one child. Gordon and I took Duncan into Belfast on the train. We visited the Disney store to buy his much wanted bow and arrow toy, then we ate at Nandos in the newly opened and very posh Victoria Square shopping centre. Duncan was marvellous. He had his shouty moments. He always does, but so what. He was as happy as a boy can be on the train. Watching him, we talked about how fantastic we think he is, and how glad we are to have him. Having autism enter our lives was unexpected, unwelcome at first (before I figured out that autism=Duncan, which is obviously all good) and something that shook us right up, leading us to make choices in nearly every aspect of our lives that we might otherwise not have made.
But mostly, Duncan is just so blinkin' adorable, with his big eyes, his big tooth, his curls and all his games.

Duncan too had a night away from home at my dad's apartment, leaving we adults home alone. We ate out that evening, and then to be even more decadent, went out again for breakfast. In the afternoon we all drove around to pick up the travellers, so had our wee family back together again.

Since then, I can't quite remember what we've done. Lady went to a holiday activity scheme at a leisure centre a few times with her friend from next door. The children's usual classes and activities were off for the school holidays, so even though we're home-educators, the children were in holiday mode and we were (even) more disorganised than usual.

I do remember yesterday though. It was our 12th wedding anniversary. I don't know how that's even possible seeing as I'm still 24... My dad and step-mum took the children for a few hours and Gordon and me went for lunch at the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast. Rather romantically, among the songs playing softly in the background, was what we choose for the first dance at our wedding party. (OK, pass the sick bucket!) More importantly, the food was fabulous, and it's somewhere we'll definitely be back to.

My youngest brother and his family had also come up to Dad's place, so we enjoyed seeing them for the first time since his baby's christening. Both Thomas and Duncan were delighted with baby D, sitting beside him stroking his little head, though Duncan was a bit worried about D's touch of cradle cap, saying he had to sort the 'creepy crawlies', referencing what I tell the boys when I'm checking them over for nits!

So it's back to normal today, or at least what passes for normal here.

More on the Autism-MMR trash story

I wrote recently about a terrible newspaper article entitled "Court links MMR to autism."

Last Sunday's edition contained my letter of complaint about that article;

LAST Sunday, Phil Doherty wrote an article titled Court Links MMR to Autism.
The USA Vaccine Injury Compensation hearing did not link autism to the MMR. The child under discussion, Hannah Poling, has an extremely rare, genetically acquired, metabolic disorder affecting her mitochondria.
The court, which requires a much lower burden of proof than scientific or medical procedures, has agreed only that the vaccinations “significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder” resulting in a brain disorder “with features of autism spectrum disorder”.
That is not the same as stating she “did develop the condition — autism — after a series of jabs”.
Mr Doherty wrote: “The vaccines reacted with a DNA defect in her body . . . a defect found in 38 per cent of those with autism.”
It is pure fiction to suggest that 38pc of autistic people have the same rare DNA defect as Ms Poling. The MMR jab has never included the mercury containing compound thiomersal, which was used as a preservative in some vaccines.
Inaccurate and irresponsible reporting such as this is frightening more parents into forgoing vaccinations for their children

The newspaper addressed some of the points my letter raised, but it began with a straw-man argument;

Sunday Sun says . . . are you saying that, even if a vaccine was described as aggravating an underlying condition, it has in no way contributed to it?

I did not say this.
If your article had accurately said that "a vaccine was described as aggravating an underlying condition," there would have been no reason to complain. But instead, the headline of your 9th March article was, "Court Links MMR to Autism" and further, Mr Doherty wrote that she "did develop the condition — autism — after a series of jabs".

Secondly, research into mitochondrial DNA disorders in the population, which says 38pc of autism patients have it, has been peer tested and published in respected medical journals.

This is not true.
Dr Poling, Hannah's father, has co-authored a paper called "Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child With Autism."

I presume this is the peer reviewed published paper you refer to? It is a case study on Poling's daughter. It is also a retrospective study of the levels of an enzyme, creatine kinese, in a group of autistic people, 38% of whom were shown to have elevated levels. The paper concluded that, "further metabolic evaluation is indicated in autistic patients."

The paper does not say that 38% of the autistic population have "mitochondrial DNA disorders." Raised creatine kinese is not diagnostic of the rare condition of mitochondrial disease. It can be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, but also can be linked to such conditions as inflammation of the heart muscle, stroke, muscular dystrophies and lung tissue death.
(Thanks to S.L. at Stop. Think. Autism. whose work here I've nicked for the above paragraph.)

We agree that the majority of child vaccinations are safe. However, even the Department of Health admits that a number of children will be damaged by inoculations. We never said Mercury was in the MMR vaccine in the UK . . . we said it was found in other vaccines in the UK.

The Polings were claiming that the mercury in thiomersal in Hannah's vaccines was what aggravated her condition. Yet your headline, and the line I quoted earlier, both attempted to implicate the MMR.

Since our story, we have received an emailed letter from Hannah's father, neurologist Dr Paul Poling, saying that his daughter does indeed have autism.

She may well have autism, but the US government's court documents state that she had "features of autism." Even if she is autistic, it doesn't follow that she was made autistic by the vaccines. Remember, this child has a rare, genetically acquired mitochondrial disease. Her father is on record saying that her mother has the same condition, though presumably to a much lesser degree.

Yesterday I received an email from Phil Doherty, author of the original, flawed article. His letter is said to be his personal opinion and not to represent the views of his employer:

I have been asked to respond on behalf of the Sunday Sun.
I would like to point out there are 4900 cases before the vaccine courts in the US from families claiming vaccines damaged their children. Whether these are the result of underlying Mitochondrial dysfunction or thiomasol or something else would be up to the law court and medical experts to establish.

Wrong again. As I have already informed these people, the Polings were for a while among the cohort of 4900 people in the Autism Omnibus hearings, who claim vaccines caused their child's autism. But the Polings dropped out of that group and pursued an individual claim, that vaccines aggravated a pre-existing condition. In fact, as Kathleen Seidel has shown, the Vaccine Injury Court have paid out before to children with a pre-existing physical condition who have been diagnosed with autism or related conditions after they sustained documented, verifiable vaccine injuries. It is only fair that compensation is paid in those very rare but sad times when a vaccine does result in one of the known, negative side effects.

The Autism Omnibus is trying to prove something different, that vaccines directly led to autism. In spite of the thousands of cases available to choose from, those selected to be heard as test cases last year, presumably the most convincing among the cohort, had very poor arguments easily refuted by scientists called by the US government's representatives. It is very unlikely they will win their cases.

According to Hannah Poling's doctors, her parents (one of which is a doctor) and other experts she has autism.
To say some one has features of autism is not-surprising disingenuous double-talk by the US government. As you will be well aware autism is not one disease as such but a set of symptoms that together are classed as being on the spectrum. As an expert I have spoken to this week put it - if you have features of autism you have autism whether those features are mild or severe.

The doctor who diagnosed her, not the US government, said she had 'features of autism.'
Perhaps she does have autism. I'd certainly consider her as autistic, politically. I'd love to see her and her parents tackle the ignorance and prejudice about autism, and help promote the rights of autistic people, starting by tacking the myth of vaccine poisoning.

The expert you spoke to isn't much of an expert. You wouldn't want to name him/her would you?
Actually, many people have features of autism but are not autistic. These issues are explored further here.

We never said in our article that mercury was present in the MMR jabs in the UK.
However - it is in two of the vaccines Hannah received and was used widely in US vaccines - including the earlier versions of the MMR.

In the US, anti-vaccers blame mercury for causing autism, and in the UK they blame the MMR.
Your headline and article were written in such a way as to lead readers to assume that the court had conceded that the MMR caused autism when it did no such thing. Since the MMR is the big bogeyman in this part of the world, thanks to some shoddy work by Wakefield, and years of credulous reporting by the media, you knew that emphasising the fact that she's had the MMR would catch people's attention here.

It might have helped you sell a few more newspapers, but at what cost to children's health?
Also, the MMR has never contained mercury, not even the earlier versions.

As for your assertions that there are no peer tested research on the issue of Mit dysfunction in autism sufferers. I suggest you refer to a study by Daniel Rosignol and Jeffrey Bradstreet. In their study you will find that some studies have found up to 43 per cent of autistic sufferers have mit dysfunctions and 35 per cent were found to have classical mit disease.

Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate it when Senior Reporters with such an obvious aptitude for science offer advice on these matters.

I have read the article (pdf link). It has been expertly analysed by S.L.

The authors confuse mitochondrial dysfunction with mitochondrial disease, make unproven assumptions about (shudder) 'toxins' causation. They are DAN! practitioners whose preferred option for dealing with autism is the whacko DAN! protocol, an abusive, unregulated , experimental 'therapy' inflicted on many autistic children. It includes Chelation, yes really! That practise killed an autistic child, but these guys still promote it. They promote their own favourite, Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Reasonable people realise that this is crazy, outlandish and cruel.

Is that really who you go to for information about science?

You end your argument saying that just because Hannah has autism doesn't mean that she got it from the inoculations - why did the US Government pay out compensation then? We both know that unfortunately some children do get damaged by inoculations.

Seriously? You need to ask?
The court ruling stated;

In sum, DVIC has concluded that the facts of this case meet the statutory criteria for demonstrating that the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, respondent recommends that compensation be awarded to petitioners in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 300aa-11(c)(1)(C)(ii).

The court paid compensation for the reasons given above, but not because she "got it [autism] from the inoculations."

We both agree that vaccinations are the best way of protecting the vast majority of children from the harm that these terrible disease can do to them.
However, we are a newspaper with a public duty to bring such issues to the forefront for debate.
This may not play very well with medics or the Government - but I'd like to point out that these same institutions have told people that medicines and other practices were safe when they blatantly were not (Thalidomide, vCJD etc - medical science moves all the time and new knowledge shifts our understanding).

You have a duty to report accurately on these issues, and not to misinform, either from ignorance or a deliberate mission to sensationalise and sell more papers.

And seriously, you're using the thalidomide story as an example of nasty scientists? This is one of the alternative medicine brigade's favourite lines! Surely you can do better than that. Drug testing practices have changed since the effects of thalidomide in pregnancy were discovered. Finding out what happens when drugs are used and publishing the results, that's what doctors and scientists do.

At this point in time we feel that entering into any further correspondence on this issue would not be to anyone's best interests.
Yours sincerely,

Phil Doherty
Senior Reporter
Sunday Sun

How honoured I am to have been written to by a Senior Reporter.

More what is probably the fullest and best explanation of this case and the attempted rebranding of autism, from 'mercury poisoning' to 'general toxins in vaccines and the atmosphere' to 'mito dysfunction' see this by the ever-excellent Orac.

The Censure of Strangers

It was Paddy's Day, which I don't much care about any more to be honest, but the steam train in Downpatrick would be running for the first time this year, so we jumped in the car and drove down.

Since there was a parade in the town, we parked at the small station on the outskirts, and rode the train from there into town. We were just in time to board, paid our £20 return fare, (pretty steep for a pair of 6 minute journeys but it contributes to the upkeep and restoration of the museum) and took our seats for the journey. Duncan and Thomas stood by the open window all the way, blinking at the smoke a few times, and starting at the loud whistle.

In town, the parade was just about to start. Gordon stood with Thomas and Lady to watch, and I walked up and down the pavement behind the crowds with Duncan, stopping off to buy some sweets as soon as the packed shop cleared of customers. For part of the time, he rode on my back because I'd not been wise enough to take his buggy. He wasn't much interested in the parade, and was probably a bit stressed out by the loud speakers and crowds. After a while we retreated to a low stone wall set well back from the main throng, and there we happily waited for the others, while enjoying the now not-too-loud music and glimpses of parade components.

Then we made our error. The parade ended and like many, many others, we gathered on the small platform in the town railway station to take the train back to the country station where we had parked. We waited at one end of the platform where it was slightly less busy, but when the train pulled in, we were standing in front of a guards carriage that we couldn't board. Duncan was obviously panicked that we wouldn't get on the train and was desperately trying to push his way past the crowds waiting to get on the 3 small carriages, while I was just as desperately trying to hold him back and settle him down. Eventually we got on an already packed carriage. There was one seat and knowing Duncan wouldn't settle in an aisle seat anyway, I asked Gordon to sit there and take Thomas on his lap. A family of 4 was taking up a couple of seats (that would easily have sat 2 more people if they'd bunched up a bit) and I asked if they minded letting Duncan stand at the window between them to look out. Duncan was distressed by what had happened, and was shouting more than usual. On the way back, I was so very relieved that they journey was short. It was unpleasant. I tried my best to distract Duncan, stop him from shouting, and I had to prevent him getting past me to try to run up and down the aisle where a few other people were standing.

But what affected me more, was that which I can usually ignore; the censure of strangers. Always when we are out, I am aware that my almost 8 year old child is not performing to the accepted norms of a child his age. He often shouts and wails, gets upset when he doesn't get what he wants, or reacts in unexpected ways to situations. Just at the periphery of my senses, I am aware that some people are disapproving, via their looks and posture, but I refuse to acknowledge them. I do not look directly at them and deny them the opportunity to condemn us explicitly. I do not care what they think of my family, of my child.

Yesterday, as I was stopping Duncan from pushing past people on the platform and as he was shouting in the confined space of the train, it was harder to ignore, and a few times I let them catch my eye and show me what they think. I tried and mostly succeeded to maintain my usual composure, the stance that says, this might look bad to you, but we're just fine really, and anyway, screw you.

But I blamed Duncan. I was angry with him when he were walking to the car and I held his hand just too tight and told him off for having been a bad boy on the train. He said he was sorry, said "Don't call the police, Mummy is not angry, Mummy likes Duncan!"
I reassured him, at least a bit, and got in the car feeling thoroughly wrung out. As we drove home, I briefly cried quietly at the whole mixed up situation. I felt responsible for having put him in too difficult a situation, and I failed to handle it well enough.

The censure crossed the boundary on Friday too. We went with friends to W5, and were having a marvellous day. In the afternoon, Duncan was standing in front of his favourite bit, the camera with the blue screen where you can record yourself giving weather reports. I took my eye off him for about 2 minutes to talk with my friend's son about another exhibit just 2-3 metres from where Duncan stood. I was roused by a woman saying crossly, 'excuse me, is this your child' to see Duncan holding the arm of another slightly younger boy, in front of the camera. Duncan was trying to make him play with him, in what he intended as a rough and tumble way, but which had, not surprisingly been interpreted as fighting. The mum was angry, as I would if I though another child was trying to hurt my child. I immediately apologised and said 'he has autism, he was trying to play with him, I'm sorry, are you hurt?' (spoken to the boy). He said no, but that Duncan wanted to fight him. I assured them that he thought he could play with him like he does with his brother. The mum said, 'well OK, I thought he had something' the unspoken end of which was clearly, something wrong with him.

I wish I had prevented that whole thing. I talked to Duncan about it afterwards, trying to explain that he mustn't grab children; it can hurt them and make them sad. I must in future watch him more carefully when he's using that particular device, because he has watched the other children and they always bash into each other and jump about there, so he thinks that's what you're supposed to do.
I wish I hadn't immediately offered up the excuse, 'he has autism' but it was out before I'd stared to think properly.

I sometimes think that we have a little light around us, and outside that is the fog of people who don't know and don't care. Sometimes I suppose my light isn't bright enough and the fog spreads inside our protective bubble. What should I be more worried about, trying to change Duncan to make him more acceptable, or trying to give more people lights to hold with us? By that, I do not mean pity!!!

I do want Duncan to be the best he can. I would love to see him better able to control his impulses and the shouting. But a few more lights in the fog would be nice too.

A day with autism

I have breakfast early with Gordon before he goes to work. As usual, Thomas is the first of the children to rise, but then, he's always first to fall asleep too. After I've opened their curtains and hassled them both a bit, Lady and Duncan manage to drag themselves out of bed at 8.30 or so. They have breakfast, then Thomas goes to play The Simpsons Wii game, which he desperately wants to finish; he's going well too. Lady heads upstairs to get dressed and tidy her room, then she has to feed her guinea pigs. Duncan settles in front of the PC to watch YouTube films (mostly Noddy) and to play Roller Coaster Tycoon. He's getting very good at it now, and designs all his own coasters rather than using the pre-set selections. While they're occupied, I tidy up and do a few chores. For the rest of the morning, the boys each do some reading with me, Lady works on some maths then does some work on the BBC schools website. In between, I check my mail, read a few blogs and the paper, and sort the laundry. I don't remember that there were any significant 'behaviours' (don't you just hate that word?) from any of us.

We have a quick snack before leaving the house just after 12 to go to the swimming pool, like every other Tuesday. I always try to park the car so there is no need to cross the car park to get to the leisure centre. Often when we arrive, the children in the school beside the car park, are in the playground on their lunch time break. Perhaps because of the noise they're making, Duncan may ask me to carry him. A few times he has been so distressed at this little transition, that I have had to carry him for a bit, but usually I can make a game out of racing to the door, and persuade him to walk or run.

Once inside the leisure centre, I pay for our swim, and the children look at the trophy cabinet, or if you're Duncan, at the jar of jelly beans beside the reception desk. Often, Duncan makes a lot of noise here, enjoying, perhaps, the echo effects of the large, sparse room. They all wait until I have paid, and as soon as I say lets go, they race down the stairs, full of enthusiasm.

Duncan wants to take the stairs going the other way to the fitness centre. He is upset and refusing to go the right way. I ask him if he wants to swim, and say that we need to get changed. He says 'no monsters' pointing to the changing rooms and I assure him that there are none. I playfully say that I scare the monsters away!
Another time, he was walking down these stairs, when he stopped beside a woman leaving, touched her carrier bag and, full of admiration, said it was a 'Disney bag.' She said no, and told him what shop it was from, and I said, 'it's a colourful bag, it's like a Disney bag.'

We always change in one of the 2 changing rooms for disabled users, allowing us to stay together in one room. In the pool, Duncan grabs a foam float, and walks up and down the shallow toddler pool, falling forward and drifting for a bit. He jumps in from the steps. He splashes and watches the patterns. He closes his eyes and jumps, laughs, shrieks and feels the water. He is loving it.

Thomas dons his orange goggles and swims with more determination than style, and Lady goes over water and under water, swimming, jumping and pirouetting. They mostly stay together, and I focus on watching Duncan, though he often sends me away if he wants more space.

Whenever there are other children around, I pay even more attention to what Duncan is doing. He is not usually interested in anyone else there, just myself and his siblings. He will walk right through a group of people if they're in his path. He doesn't bump or splash; he just carefully passes through. He doesn't have the same sense of personal distance that many have.

A boy, about 4 years old, is wearing Spider Man armbands. Duncan goes up and touches one. The boy's mum looks a bit annoyed. I am right beside Duncan, and say 'it's OK, he's wearing nice Spider Man armbands.' I'm not sure who I am talking to, the mum or Duncan. I try to smile at her but she avoids me.

When it's time to leave (because a school group comes in just after 1) Duncan takes my hand and we go to the changing room. Duncan shivers but will not take a shower. There's a shower in the disabled users' changing room, which is handy. I help Duncan get dressed while Lady and Thomas shower. On our way out, I return the locker key and the boys huddle round the jelly bean dispenser, fussing about who is going to turn the handle. The woman working on reception calls over to tell them they are very noisy. I am taken aback, and just look at her without saying anything. They get a few beans now, and I save some for when they're in the car.

Duncan decides to run to the car. I keep him in my sights. When he's getting close to the car park, I catch up with him and take his hand, fearful that he will run in front of a car. We all get safely into the car, everyone puts their own seat-belt on, and the remaining jelly beans are dispensed (after Thomas answers the sharing sum!)

As a treat, we stop off for some chips, and eat them in the car. Duncan prefers the thin, crispy ones. Then I am required to go to the other nearby town, where Duncan lost a home-made Noddy book the day before in the Tesco shop. He had been very distressed by this, and I'd promised we'd go back when it was open to look for it. I ask in the shop if it had happened to be found, but explained it was unlikely as it would look like litter to anyone else. (They weren't to know how much time and effort a little boy had put into those words and pictures.) The woman on the till, remembers us from the previous day, I wonder how?! But, as I expect, they don't have it and Duncan is upset. This leads to lots of scripting, of angry film characters. I've learnt that the worst thing I can do is to ask him not to shout. Instead, I engage with what he's saying. For example, if he's shouting about Cruella de Vil, I ask about her, and he changes tone to tell me that she is nasty and wants to catch the puppies.

I ask if he wants to visit the charity shop to look for a video, so we do. He chooses a few Disney films, and finds a Noddy book! How lucky was that! Thomas is very pleased to discover a Doctor Who 2006 album. Charity shops are great.

We go home then, and in the afternoon, I help Duncan to make a new Noddy book. He writes out the story as before;

Noddy's Toyland Adventures
Noddy and the warm scarf

Won day it was a chilet
One day it was chilly.

No longer

Jorafes!
Giraffes!

Stop stop Mr Plod.

I can understand his concern over the loss of his earlier manuscript!

Anyway, I think that's enough.

I wanted to write this out, as it was a typical day, involving time out and about. When Gordon asked me later how our day had been, I was able to tell him, as I usually do, that we'd had a great day and to tell him all the funny little things they'd said, and the adventures we'd had. This is what our lives are like. It's nice, most of the time, though we have our down times too.

So I get irritated when I read articles like, Living with autism - the harsh reality faced by one mother, in a local Irish newspaper. The mum interviewed has had unnecessary obstacles to deal with, due to inadequate state health and education facilities. That is shameful, and I would back their claim to much better services.

But, and there's always a but, why is it, that the needs of the autistic people who are no longer children, never seem to be mentioned? And why do these interviews with parents always focus on the negative?

His behaviour has become aggressive and inappropriate, he had become more withdrawn and the temper tantrums have escalated to the point where it’s proving almost impossible for his family to cope.

“I’ve never seen this behaviour in him before. He’s very aggressive... the temper tantrums leave him inconsolable... he hits me and behaves in a way that isn’t age appropriate. He wants to stay at home the whole time, it’s impossible to get him out of the house because of his rituals and routines,” said a devastated Ann.

As you can imagine, this places enormous strain on normal family life making many of the things we take for granted like shopping, family visits, holidays or simply leaving the house impossible for Ann and her family.

“It’s very hard to cope with and very embarrassing and stressful when it happens in public,” said Ann, agreeing that because he looks like a normal child, people can be very unforgiving.

It's not her son's fault that people are 'unforgiving' and the public need to be educated to tackle these disablist attitudes.

Keith Duffy, Ireland's own 'autism advocate' celebrity, is in the media again this week. He describes the day he realised his daughter was autistic; "Afterwards as I drove home I cried like I hadn't cried in years. That was the worst ever day of my life."

His wife joins in, "I felt utterly cheated and I was very angry," says Lisa Duffy. "I had this beautiful boy [son Jordan, 11] and then I had this beautiful girl and I felt that this cannot be happening to us."

That line reminded me of the 'attitude of entitlement' explored in this post by Club 166.

Mr Duffy's daughter, as he has told us before, had bucket loads of ABA treatment. I listened to the linked radio interview, and he says she was at an ABA school from 9 to 3.30 every day, when she was only two years old. She's now at a mainstream school, which they describe as a 'miracle'.

I am fed up with these descriptions, but they seem to be accepted, no...expected in discussions about autism. All these parents follow the script, and reveal, in 'emotional, honest and affecting detail', how awful their children are, or how hard they are to deal with. I'm no super hero, I'm an ordinary good enough mum, a bit lazy, but fascinated by these creatures temporarily in my care and enjoying their company enormously. I don't have any special qualities that make it easier for 'someone like me' (as I have, irritatingly, been told before) to cope with a non typical child. Basically, I decided to have children, so I just have to take what I get and make the best of it, and there is a lot of good to be had.

"Court Links MMR to Autism"? Well, no actually...

Oh dear. The latest source of nonsense and misinformation has reached this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

I noticed this headline yesterday, from a UK local newspaper (Newcastle's Sunday Sun), "Court links MMR to autism."

This little piece of fiction is attributed to Phil Doherty;

FAMILIES who blamed the MMR jab for their children’s autism may be vindicated by a landmark court case. The Government has denied a link between the immunisation and autism, but a US court ruled that a girl did develop the condition after a series of jabs.

No it did not. The child in question, Hannah Poling, was found to have an extremely rare, genetically acquired metabolic disorder affecting her mitochondria.

The case was heard by the USA Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, which requires a much lower standard of evidence than scientific or medical procedures would require. This is so as to make it easier for plaintiffs seeking damages in those rare cases when it is more likely than not that there is a negative reaction to a vaccine, no matter what the specific injury is. As Hannah's father himself says;

Proving the link legally is quite different than proving it scientifically, Poling says. "When you are talking about the courtroom vs. science, the burden of proof is different," Poling tells WebMD.

"We showed there was a plausible mechanism, we showed that an injury occurred shortly after her vaccination. Her growth curve went flat for months."

To prove something scientifically, rather than legally, he points out, only a 5% possibility (or one in 20 chance) that something happens by chance is allowable.

The case documents have been published on an anti-vaccination propaganda site.
www.ageofautism.com/2008/02/full-text-autis.html

The court ruling states;

In sum, DVIC has concluded that the facts of this case meet the statutory criteria for demonstrating that the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.

These show that the court have agreed only that the vaccinations “significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder” resulting in a brain disorder “with features of autism spectrum disorder.” That is not the same. Mr Phil Doherty, as stating she "did develop the condition [autism] after a series of jabs."

Moreover, the ruling mentions that she has "features of autism spectrum disorder." It is not confirmed anywhere that she has a diagnosis of autism, which requires that many different aspects of the diagnostic criteria, be met. Many people have "features" of autism but are not autistic.

To continue the Newcastle Sun article;

The vaccines reacted with a DNA defect in her body . . . a defect found in 38 per cent of those with autism.

Excuse me, but WTF?
Where on earth is he getting this figure from? This one, flawed sentence, is the only reference to Hannah's underlying mitochondrial disorder, in the whole dodgy article. I would exhort Mr Doherty to learn from the great university in his city, who have a helpful section on their website about mitochondrial disease. They might be able to help him with his statistics.

Ah well, lets take a look at the rest of this astonishing article;

The ruling was made last November but “sealed” — or not made public — until a compensation figure was agreed. However, details of it have been leaked to the Sunday Sun, and we understand there are a further 4900 similar cases to be heard in the US.

Oops! Who'd a thought, it's another mistake. This documents has not been leaked to just this newspaper as if they got some great scoop. The document has been published in several places online.

There are not 4900 similar cases to be heard. This family had been part of the Autism Omnibus hearings, a large cohort of people who feel that their children's autism had been caused in one of 3 ways; by the MMR vaccine, by the thiomersal that used to be in some vaccines, or via a combination of these two. However, the Pollings removed themselves from the Omnibus. They are not in any way, representative of the rest of those claimants. They were unable to show that thiomersal caused autism in their child, so they settled for the more likely scenario, vaccinations may have aggravated the pre-existing mito disease leading to brain damage and some autism like features.

I'd like to continue examining the Sun article;

It’s thought the disorder in the girl was triggered by the existence of mercury, used to make the vaccines more efficient.

I almost pity him.
The MMR has never included the mercury containing compound thiomersal, so the headline's way wrong. Also, thiomersal was used as a preservative in the vaccines.

Mercury has now been removed from child vaccines in the UK but many parents whose child developed autism when it was in use will feel the case backs up their suspicions.

UK parents have had their day in court. £15 million of tax payer's money went on Legal Aid fees to lawyers and "expert" witnesses, in an effort to link autism with vaccination. It failed, and the children received nothing.
This effort was also entirely unrelated to mercury.

Paul Shattock, regular speaker at the DAN! conferences is quoted;

“No one has ever claimed vaccines caused all autism, which can have many different routes, but around seven per cent of parents say their child was developing normally until they were immunised. “There is now a link to vindicate their view and this has been proven in court.”

One wonders if Mr Shattock is aware of the child's mito diesease.

There's a bit of a history of Andrew Wakefield, and his MMR baloney, then there's this;

After the ruling, the US Government said it wasn’t the vaccines which caused her autism, but a DNA defect in those who were inoculated which was triggered by the jab. According to research, just 0.2 per cent of the general population have the defect, compared to at least 38pc of autism patients.

I can't actually understand this. What DNA in "those who were innoculated" is he talking about? And again, there's the strange and obviously wrong figure of a condition (the mito disease) affecting just 0.2% of the general population but somehow rising to 38% of autisic people?!
Actually, although Mr Doherty hasn't been open enough to source these numbers, I am aware that they come from David "autism is mercury poisoning, no it's environmental toxicity, no it's general toxins in vaccines, no it a misdiagnosis for mito disease, no it's [fill the gaps as time progresses and new theories emerge]" Kirby. The figures have been masterfully deconstructed by SL on the Left Brain/Right Brian blog here.

Mt Doherty then quotes a Jabs ("a support group for vaccine-damaged children"; no, it's a frighteningly off base anti-vaccination propaganda group) who was thinks it is "vital the Department of Health put in a screening programme for this defect before children are given jabs."

Just to refer people back to Newcastle University's Mitochondrial Disease site, where the process for diagnosing this disease is outlined, and involves analysis of samples of blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, (via a lumbar puncture) and muscle (via a muscle biopsy). The condition is rare, and can be very serious, even fatal. It is a whole lot more worrisome than autism, and more research is required to understand it and help the people affected.

Finally there is a short injection of sense in a quote from a Department of Health spokesperson;

MMR is the safest and most effective way of protecting children from measles, mumps and rubella. This issue relates to one child with an extremely rare metabolic genetic condition. In the US, rates of autism have continued to rise since mercury was removed from its vaccines. This case has no relevance therefore for vaccination in the UK.

Inaccurate and irresponsible reporting such as this, is frightening more parents into forgoing vaccinations for their children. Already in the UK, the number of measles cases has risen 30% and at least one child has died of this disease.


For more, and better explanations of the Poling vaccine injury case, see these posts; (the start of this list has been shamelessly nicked from Orac.)

1. David Kirby and the government "concession that vaccines cause autism": The incredible shrinking causation claim
2. The new strategy of the antivaccination movement: Autism is a "misdiagnosis" for mitochondrial disease
3. Antivaccination propaganda about the Poling case: A Saturday morning link roundup
4. Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism? by Steve Novella
5. Autism payout reignites vaccine controversy (New Scientist article)
6. Vaccines, Autism and the Concession
7. This Whole Mito Thing (My Final Vent...Hopefully!)
8. Something is beginning to smell...
9. Recent Vaccine-Autism Award Not the First by Arthur Allen
10. It's Not Our Fault!!
11. "Evidence of Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Autism
    
12. Autism & Mitochondrial Disease
13. Where's Her Mito Pin???
14. Strange--Parents Don't Mention Mito!
15. Chain of Events: The "Concession Case,"
16. And It Begins...
17. David Kirby Asks Now What?? I'll Tell You...
18. Metaphors, Mitochondria, and the MMR
19. The NYTimes misportrays the autism “debate”
20. About This Autism Debate
    
21. The Case of Hannah Poling
22. What the Government Said and What It Didn't
23. Autism, Mito, Vaccine Court, and the Polings
24. Concessions, the post where a picture says it all.