Aspies For Freedom

I think you guys are pretty paranoid at times! Every time you see a news item that has the word autism in it and doesn't agree with your theories, you think 'everyone is out to get you'!

I believe MOST OF THE TIME autism is genetic. But there have been many documented cases of people becoming autistic (probably not the same kind of autism) after vaccination and after overuse of antibiotics.  So, why not with the use of the highly controversial antidepressants?

Vaccination has been one of my obsessions, and I studied it extensively for more than ten years. It happens more often than you guys would ever admit (since you refuse to even consider it) that a perfectly normal child at the age of 18 months (who will have had very bad reactions to previous vaccinations, but recovered) will suddenly exhibit autism after the 18 month boostershot.

Other children just die (often after suffering horribly for days), some end up *** or physically handicapped (or both).

I know that the medical community will get very angry with these reports, and put out in the media that none of this is true. Of course, vaccinations are the bread and butter of pediatricians, and they are big business.

My youngest daughter is the only unvaccinated child I have, and she is also the healthiest of the five by far. My oldest daughter had for more than ten years a barking cough after the PPT shots. She had a terrible reaction after the first one at three months, so they gave her only half of the pertussis vaccine at six months. She was very sick with a terribly swollen arm the second time around, so she didn't get the pertussis part any more after that. Still, that cough persisted, and even now (at the age of 24) it comes back at times, without her having a cold. Her teachers used to tease her about 'barking' in class, that's how bad it was.

Anyway, it would be good if some of you would realize that yes, autism can be caused by things other than genetics. Children who are outgoing, affectionate, vocal, intelligent etc., who suddenly become withdrawn, refuse to be touched, lose their speech, stop walking, wail and scream etc., and then are diagnosed with autism probably weren't born autistic.

When it is genetic, it is pretty obvious right from the beginning that something isn't right with the child. My earliest memories are from when I  was about two, and I remember a lot of things from my earliest years.

I know that I sort of played with other kids. But often I didn't understand why we were doing certain things, and felt like I was only partially there. Part of me was elsewhere, it was like there was a fog around me. I only talked to other children when I wanted something (like riding their trike or bike).

It was somewhat different with my siblings, because they were 'supposed' to be there. Plus, they played like me, since most of them are probably Aspies, too.

I know that I always was who I am now. I never heard anybody say, that any of us changed suddenly, because we didn't. I think those cases when that happens are pretty obvious. And I also can understand why parents get terribly upset in those cases, wanting their child cured, meaning 'restored to who they used to be'. If they would always have been 'different', these parents wouldn't be so desperate.

Also, in cases were autism is truly genetic, you will always find others on at least one side of the family who will be on the autistic spectrum, because the kid had to inherit the genes from somewhere.

It looks to me as if Asperger Syndrome is always genetic (I have never heard of any Aspie who suddenly changed from being totally normal, to being somewhat autistic), while severe autism CAN also be the result of braindamage. Not always, of course. But it happens.

Realizing that autism can be caused by braindamage still isn't an excuse for some of the 'treatments' that are out there. Even though some do no harm I believe (where can be the harm in giving vitamins, or a special diet? Sugar and milk can cause all kinds of things, for instance. Milk causes me to be much more withdrawn and causes gastrointestinal problems, so I avoid it). As long as the autistic person is treated with respect, and loved for who they are, trying gentle treatments to better the lot of everybody is not wrong. The emphasis is on 'gentle' here. I think it is barbaric to hold any autistic person by force, to 'teach' them to enjoy being touched. There is a lot of quackery out there, and I don't deny that. But the odd thing WILL be good and true and helpful. It might be a good idea for you guys to acknowledge that.

Uschi

Okay, Brightman, I agree that when severe brain damage happens, it will most of the time be diagnosed as autism. And the doctors will likely never admit to that, because then they'd have to admit that they were causing harm.

But of course, those kids that have been damaged and made to look autistic are precisely the ones that might be helped by diet, vitamins and such. And it might be possible to cure them, if the effects of the toxins (specifically the toxins in immunizations) can be reversed.

So, since the parents don't realize that in the case of a kid being braindamaged by vaccines for instance, the diagnosis of autism really isn't true (and the doctors deny that such a thing can even happen), they join with the people who fight for a cure for autism (wrongly so). Personally, I can't blame these people who used to have a normal kid for doing so. They don't know any better.

It obviously harms the real autistics, because now they are subjected to the same 'cures' as the braindamaged kids, and it will harm them (maybe), rather than help. And it stops their parents from accepting them as they are.

It's a big problem, and I have my doubts that it will ever be solved.

Now to the vaccines being good. The media will never admit that, when there are measles outbreaks in schools, they ALWAYS start with a kid who has been fully vaccinated, and most of the other vaccinated kids will get it. And these kids who have been vaccinated will usually be much sicker than an unvaccinated kid getting it. It's much more likely that a vaccinated kid will die from the measles than one that isn't vaccinated.

The efficacy of vaccines has never been proven. The evidence actually shows that vaccines make you more susceptible to getting the disease, rather than actually immunizing you against getting it.

All the diseases they now claim were wiped out by vaccines were steadily declining long before vaccines were used. That was due to better sanitation and better diet. If your immune system works well because you get the right nutrients, you don't catch things easily.

The statistics that show how polio declined after the vaccine was introduced start when they started vaccinating. If they would also show the 30 years before that, everyone could see that it was declining even faster before people were vaccinated. The only people who have died of polio in North America in the past 30 years got it from the vaccine (either directly or being infected by a family member who got the vaccine).

And if you'd do a little research on mercury, you would find out that it is one of the most poisonous substances on this planet. In the USA they are giving babies and little kids nearly 50 vaccines (in various combinations and at various times) before the age of five. If all of them contain mercury as a preservative (never mind all the other toxins they put in, like formaldehyde), it should surprise no one that some kid's brains can't handle that and that these kids then get braindamage.

Do you know that NOBODY ever did any longterm studies on vaccines? That they give them to kids (adults, too) without EVER having done any studies of the longterm consequences these vaccines cause?

Most people have been completely brainwashed to believe that these vaccines are good for you. I could find you many stories that make it obvious they are not.

For instance, studies have shown that after the hepatitis B vaccine was given to teenagers in various parts of the world (I have seen studies about British Columbia and New Zealand particularly) the rate of kids being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes in those areas went up by as much as 50% by the following year!

I firmly believe that the rate of kids being diagnosed with autism has been skyrocketing lately not because most of these kids were born autistic, but because of vaccinations particularly.

Do you know that they had not even recognized autism as a diagnosis in Japan until after the US mass vaccinated all their kids? And did you know that the rate of kids dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was getting so high a few years ago in Japan, that they stopped immunizing kids before the age of two, and then the death rate went down by nearly 90%?

I know a kid in our neighbourhood who was perfectly normal until the age of 18 months. He was running around, playing with his siblings, talking, being outgoing (as I said, very normal). Then, suddenly he became ***! He steadily declined mentally over the years, until they had to put him into an institution last year (he is 18 or 19 now, and big), because he was physically attacking his mother. She was fearing for her life, and had no choice but to remove him, for her sake and the sake of his younger sisters. It's very sad. And they never figured out why this happened. I could give them a hint, but what's the point? It wouldn't change anything. They think he is autistic, too. I don't think so.

Of course, our governments will do anything to make the people who tell their stories or write a book about these things look like idiots. But the facts are the facts. Even if the majority believes otherwise.

Okay, the article was throwing autism in with other things totally unrelated. They don't realize that ALL these things really are braindamage, and it isn't really autism. It's hard to blame them for that, when the majority of people don't know the difference (including doctors).

And I never said that people with severe autism (if it really is autism) have nothing going on 'upstairs'. They just don't know how to communicate. With most of them we will never know, unfortunately.

Uschi

Well, Amy, I guess we just have to agree to disagree. I have been doing this research, on the Internet, by talking to people directly affected, by reading many, many books etc., and I know what I am saying. You are just one of the people who believe the propaganda out there.

And I, after reading what Brightman said and thinking about it, have changed my mind on who is really autistic and who is not. I previously thought that autism=autism, when it is so diagnosed. So, now I admit to being wrong there, and that it is braindamage when caused by other than genetic factors. You should be glad I changed my mind!

Uschi

I am not on either side of the immunizations debate.  I did have difficulty
with my immunizations.  Due to problems with my immune system.

I received all of my vaccinations on time and per dr's orders.  When I
was three I got 3-day measles (rubella) and had them for almost a year.
I was 7 when I got mumps.  

If suffering can be reduced through vaccinations it should.  I don't
remember having measles, but I know what mumps is like and it was
not only very painful but scary too.  

My immune system doesn't work as well as most.  Auto-immunity disease
runs in my family.  I also have thyroid problems caused by my immune
system.

No other children got measles or mumps from me.  They suspect that I
probably got sick from being in the hospital visiting my mother.  (she has
RA)  

I was the fluke, not the vaccines.