The world's first Autism magazine is being widely publicised at the moment.
This is part of an article about it-
Education and a cure are autism mag goals
"Cris Italia doesn't have an autistic child, nor does he personally know anyone who has the condition.
But Italia sees the need to give desperate parents hard-to-find information on raising autistic children by heading up the country's only magazine dedicated to autism and developmental disabilities.
"I never really thought about why I did this," said Italia, editor in chief of Spectrum magazine. "It was just something I did. It was a feeling I had."
Just over a year ago, Italia, of Fresh Meadows, left his job as an editor for a Long Island newspaper group to help start Spectrum Publications, Inc. What began as an idea for a newsletter blossomed into a monthly 75-page glossy-cover journal with a circulation of 125,000 copies nationwide.
"This magazine was meant for two things: to educate and to raise awareness," Italia said of Spectrum, first published in April.
It was as a reporter five years ago that Italia, 25, first realized how autism affects families. The difficulties frustrated parents described encountering as they sought services from health providers and schools made it clear to Italia that they had little help.
Most troubling is that it is unknown what causes the brain disorder, which affects one's ability to communicate, and that there is no known cure.
"The thing about autism is that parents kind of hide what their kids have because there's no way to describe what it is," said Italia, who sits on the board of Advocates for Autism Awareness in Middle Village.
In his reporting, Italia met Evelyn Ain, the mother of an autistic boy, 4-1/2-year-old Matthew. It was Ain's idea to start Spectrum, which she presides over as publisher with editorial direction from Italia.
"When my son was diagnosed, I truly believed I could find a network of people who could relate," said Ain. "When I couldn't find it, I created it. My goal is for autism to be understood as clearly as cancer, AIDS and diabetes."
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/stor...0357c.html
Its annoying that he doesnt have autism, or even know anyone with autism, yet he creates a magazine asking for awareness and cure.
I wonder if the vast amounts of money that parents across America are spending over autism concerns are any financial incentive to this person.
While making a healthy profit from advertisements.
At Novembers meeting we will be discussing the possibilty of having our own newsletter/magazine for AFF.
Any ideas and suggestions are welcome.
The popular phrase "not in my name" springs to mind - although instead of being about the war in iraq it would make a good referrence to anyone making money at the expense autistic people.
Hi Cris, thanks for coming and telling us your viewpoint on it. I assume that you found this site recently, as the original post was made in October, when there was publicity out about the magazine.
You said "To accuse me of making a profit off of autistic children, adults and their families saddens me."
Is the magazine a non-profit org?
"Although I understand your plight it is not fair for the members of this message board to judge me unfairly."
What is the plight?
"The honest truth is we don't do this for money. As a matter of fact we've been out for over a year now and have not made a single profit to date."
Isn't it common for businesses to take a loss or break even at best in the first year?
"I nor my publisher ever got into this with the intent to rake in large amounts of revenue."
Can I ask why you set it up?
"I'm not going to comment on your beliefs in the autism world."
Maybe you could write a story about us for your magazine.
"Evelyn Ain's comments about making autism understood was meant to be a comparison of the knowledge the general public has about cancer, diabetes and/or AIDS. Those comments weren't meant to offend or hurt anyone."
Nevertheless they did hurt.
"I've never shied away from controversy. So if any of you have questions feel free to ask. I'll be checking this message board from time to time."
Would you take money from a well paying advertiser if they advertised an unproven cure, as a cure? How do you check the products and services that are advertised? I assume you have the news stories of children damaged by unneccesary chelation therapy in scams runs by quacks.
"Thank you."
Thanks.
Cros said -
"I wish you guys would read the magazine before you make assumptions."
I have never seen it to be able to read it, and made no further comments on it beyond the initial publicity that was sent out.
I don't think any of us have had the chance to read the magazine, as far as I know. So it would be hard to comment until reading it. As I said before this thread was last posted on some time ago, and those comments related to how we felt upon seeing the publicity for the magazine, as none of us had seen a copy.
I did expect some of it to be online, and to be accessible, many magazines sites have a few articles online to read. We could have then commented further, as it was, no-one made any further comments after the initial publicity, this can be checked by looking at the date that each post was made.
Anyway I hope to read some of the articles on the site, and then we can give an opinion.
Greetings,
Perhaps we should look at this from another angle then. You are right in that we shouldn't be making accusations without all the facts (and I look forward to reading everything you intend to make available)
Let's look at your use of the word 'epidemic' (this dosen't just apply to you by the way). Autism is not a disease, therefore it cannot be an epidemic. Furthermore, there is no solid scientific evidence to suggest that the number of people who have the condition has increased over time. Does the fact that more is becoming known about it and it is easier to regnognise and diagnose mean that more people have it? Anyone who thinks so is a fool. And in fact, research suggests that it has been with us a very long time and is perfectly natural. Where would we be without people like Einstein, Mozart etc.
Anyway - you're probably wondering what my point is. As a community, we are offended when people use words such as 'disease' and 'epidemic' to describe that which makes us special. These terms only serve to instill fear among the ignorant, and you well know how basic human nature deals with that. There are alot of organisations out there (not naming any names) which exploit this by pushing these untruths on the ignorant public and preying on their fears and sympathies.
Think hard before you use words like 'desease' or 'epidemic' because not only are they inaccurate but they are also very harmful.
Cris said "The autistic community does include parents. Sorry we disagree here. How could you not include them? Are they not the ones who fight for services for their children? Some parents look after their children well into adulthood if they are low functioning. How could you ignore that? I've met some incredible parents along the way, not to include them in the "autistic community" would be wrong. While I know there are plenty of high functioning autistics and aspergers that go on to live active lives why would I ignore the parents who struggle with the issues that come with having an autistic child?"
This is a deep issue, that you may not be aware of.
NT parents started using the term 'autism community' to describe themselves, they also call themselves the 'real autism community' and dismiss ideas and opinions of autistic adults. When autistic adults would say 'wait a minute, aren't we the autism community', it was dismissed.
Autistic adults have had to take to using the term 'autistic community' which as the name implies, you would be autistic to be a part of it.
If you now want to take that away and call NT parents the 'autistic community' you are taking something away from us.
You may not have realised this, but its not fair for you to come and argue with our opinions if you are not aware of our culture.
I can suggest that you read the pages on autistics on wikipedia, the community and culture, activism etc, there is a lot of information there.
Cris can you clear this up for us? Where will the profits go from the cruise?
Cris, by your own logic then you could have said 'autism is as misunderstood as how the inside of a computer works, or how the universe was created.'
Can you see the difference in comparing autism to severe illnesses that can kill???
Cris said "On research. Research is also done to find better ways of treatment and education. For as many times as you say you do not want to be cured I can say that there are those low functioning individuals who would be better off if they could recover."
How can you speak for them? How can you assume that? How are you able to say what they want, but we are not allowed to say what they might want? This happens so frequently that we need a phrase for it. How mant times do we get told by NTs that we can't speak for those who are LFA, yet the NTs can speak for them. "NT-autism paradox"?
"I can't tell you how extremely happy I am to know that there are individuals like yourselves that can discuss autism and the issues surrounding it. At the same time I see the other side of Autism."
Whoa! You see the other side of autism but we don't??? How does that one work? My son was LFA, some of our members are LFA, or used to be classed a such, some have kids who are LFA, so how do you, who does not have autism, or a child with autism, understand it so much mroe than us? Again NT-autism paradox.
"Why should an individual struggle with being non-verbal, have no cognitive skills and a lack of motor skills. There will be a majority of children who will never be able to do what the members of AFF have accomplished. Those are the children I am concerned for."
Do we not care for others with autism? Do we not know that autism is a spectrum? There will be some children less able than us in some ways, and there will be some who achieve the same or more, lack of verbal skills does not diminish a person and what they are capable of.
.......
"But I think the biggest misunderstanding is that most if not all the members of this site have Asperger's Syndrome. There are those children that are severely autistic and will never lead the lives you do. What happens to them?"
We have members from all over the spectrum and NTs. We are also concerned with those who are severely autistic, have you heard of the Judge Rotenberg Center? Can you show YOUR concern and do a major article on how wrong it is to use electric shock treatments on children with autism? This is happening at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts. We are all extremely concerned about this, can you investigate it and show the facts in your magazine?
Cris, do you mean that the NAAR UK walk is not happening?
It is still on their website, no sign to say its not on. Where did you get that info?
Cris I actually hope that the NAAR UK walk will be cancelled, they have nothing useful to contribute to the autistic community.
I noticed this at my doctor's office then second time I went for some bloodwork.