Aspies For Freedom

Hello,

(I apologise in advance for any offence this  post may cause, but I'm genuinely interested in hearing the AS perspective on 2 particular subjects. I assure you I don't mean to intentionally offend in any way, just looking for a different point of view, for purposes of balance. I should mention that I'm an NT and, no doubt, hopelessly tactless in my wording:-)

OK, I recently had a discussion (on my alternative diet group) about the current mercury-in-fish scares, and was able to show via reasoned argument   and reference to a major comprehensive study in the Seychelles, a website called http://www.fishscam.com  etc. that there was absolutely no reason to avoid eating fish, unless the fish you eat happens to come from an area near the coast, where toxic waste, such as industrialised mercury is regularly dumped(eg:- Minamata Bay).

My fellow group members were mostly reasonably convinced by my argument, but one member mentioned the theory of mercury in vaccines causing autism. I immediately showed reliable scientific reports from the Web showing no link whatsoever between the two - plus scientific evidence showing that symptoms of mercury-poisoning are quite different from symptoms of autism.

I also mentioned, in passing, the current idea that  one  reason why autism rates are increasing is due to the fact that changing diagnosis methods now have reclassified people with milder conditions as being within the autistic spectrum, whereas they would have been put in completely different categories before this. As a result, many people, such as those within my group, are under the impression that most current people diagnosed as being within the autistic spectrum, are as severely affected as Dustin Hoffman's "Rain-Man" character or worse ( the "Rain-Man" comparison was my group's idea , not mine!). My view, based, on online articles and visiting sites such as yours, is that most of the people currently within the autistic spectrum are actually only mildly affected.

Also, I pointed out to my group that autism is now currently being viewed by the public as a "trendy" condition, and with all the money and new researchers entering the field of autism, parents often try to pressure doctors/psychologists to give a diagnosis of autism, so as to ensure better levels of care, thus increasing rates of autism diagnosis.(On a wider level, psychologists also seem to be heavily involved with "disease-mongering" these days, whereby former perfectly acceptable conditions, such as shyness, are viewed instead  as "social anxiety disorder" etc.)

Anyway, after I put forward these ideas, I got a lot of comments from  members stating that I was dead wrong. I even had one parent of an autistic child write in, saying that she'd cured her son of autism, simply via chelation therapy to remove mercury from his system.
Now, I have read a lot of info on autism in the past, for various reasons, and genuine autism has always been described as incurable. While some of the lesser conditions within the current autistic spectrum(such as ADD) might well be curable, for all I know(it's notorious that many school-children have been forcibly prescribed Ritalin for supposed ADD symptoms, when they were in fact perfectly ADD-free and just naturally active like all kids are), I can't help but have my doubts that genuine severe autism can be cured simply via removal of mercury from the system. Plus, mercury-chelation therapy has resulted in one boy dying, and complications for several others,  so I'm a bit dubious of its effects. I'm also not willing, as yet, to accept the views of a parent of an autistic child, as I feel that many may well be biased, as they would presumably be more reluctant to accept the current theories re genes being linked to autism, whereas it's easier to blame pharmaceutical companies.

Anyway, I need to find out the facts, and  I figure you'll be more likely to have the correct answers than any other segment of the population.Have any of you had success with mercury-therapy, or have you heard of fellow autistics who've benefited from such treatment, or is it all just false hope?

And do you believe that autism rates have been dramatically rising in recent years, perhaps due to some environmental factor such as mercury-pollution etc., or do you  think that rates have stayed the same(or  even decreased)?

Thanks,
And I again apologise for any offence I may have caused.

Hi-- in the News and Media section there is a post on the whole mercury controversy. I can't speak for everyone but generally at AFF especially aspies and autistics are firmly against methods like chelation, one reason being that it is highly dubious as you say and even potentially fatal, as has it has been in several cases, and also because autism is a part of who the person is and is not separable-- unlike like a disease. Thirdly, here at least, most of the members strongly believe autism or asperger's syndrome isn't something that needs to be cured in the first place and should be accepted as a way of being.
of course that in itself can be highly controversial--- there is a constant state of war between the curebies i.e. those who want a cure for autism, and those who don't-- and there is always a question of what constitutes a cure, shldnt help be rendered to completely uncommunicative autistic children lacking in self care skills etc... i dont think youll find two people from the asd spectrum who will have the same opinion on this, although most people who join this forum obviously would share those views.
and you are right-- the diagnostic criteria has been very much changed to include a much broader spectrum including those with milder difficulties.

cant think of a username, he asked for OUR opinions, not a dissection of the views of forum members under a microscope, through your own perception.
Why dont you give YOUR views, and then let other forum members give theirs.

sorry... misinterpreted the qn  :oops:
if it was a misrepresentation let me know and ill take it off.

It's nice to see some sanity about the mercury crap, it's very simple:

Mercury poisoning is not autism, end of discussion.

Why can't it be? I like to believe that this is causing Autism, and that autism is becoming more common because of it. It's a fantasy, but it's fun to think that a simple dose of Hg can cause such wonderful results.

Mercury poisoning does not resemble autism, subatai, you might as well pick another fantasy cause, and enjoy that.

Get a dictionary and pick a page. Could be caused by pumpkins, peanuts, or pomegranetes.

Potatoes!  My dad (Swiss German, fuck stereotypes) is always talking about the benefits of potatoes, autism could very well be one of them.  It's at least as scientific as the mercury doctrine anyway.  Give potatoes a chance!  

In all seriousness, though, I think there's a very easy solution to this question.  To wit:

Asperger syndrome was not included in the DSM until 1992.  Autism was similarly unavailable as a special education category until the nineties, and not less than a year after it was an option did they require it be reported.  Children who were previously labelled mentally retarded or learning disabled now ended up under the umbrella of Autism Spectrum, with an accompanying decrease in MR and LD that matched the increase in autism diagnoses.  Still, even today there is a large amount of ignorance about the autistic spectrum even among diagnosticians, so by necessity the numbers will not be what they should be.  

That's if you ignore broadening of criteria for specific conditions.

Not only that, but as can be seen from these forums, there are a number of high-functioning adult Autistics who were not diagnosed at a younger age, but would still count as "new diagnoses."  Females are similarly believed to be underdiagnosed because of the different ways girls are socialized in western society.  

So as you can see, there are a large number of factors that obviously and undeniably would contribute to an increase in "cases."  Until you can correct for and counteract such items (and to date, I haven't witnessed it, although I have seen them ignored quite loudly) the Autism epidemic and all explanations for it, including mercury, can be considered nothing better than the crack-pot theory du jour.  

My own thoughts on the matter.

My views?

Well, I've never recieved Chelation and don't intend to. One thing I did do well at at school is biology and Chemistry. And I know that in humans, Methylmercury (A common Mercury compound in the environment, and most common cause of accidental exposure) is only toxic in that it has a cumulative effect, many years of eating a tainted foodsource may with time cause poisoning symptoms.

Themirsol, the standard agent used in older vaccines, with time breaks down in closely related ethylmercury, ethylmercury however, is excreted by the bodies natural systems, and does not have a cumulative effect, what few tests have been done show it's less damaging than other mercury compounds. So, on paper, you're worse off eating Seychelle Tuna than having a thermirasol jab, and I'd go with the science, not the hearsay of a few parents.

The confusion about the jabs is that Autism first becomes noticable around the same time you get your MMR jabs, and parents mortified (needlessly) by the diagonosis likely scrabble around saying "How could this have happened... it was YOU! *pointing at jab*"

From those few unbiased studies that have been done, it's generally thought that autism is caused by spontaneous mutation, although -like albinism-, it can also be inherited. Those same studies have looked into the rumors that mercury poisoning can cause autism, and have all concluded that, for lack of a better word, those claims are all bull sh#%.
If there’s still any doubt, put a list of autism symptoms next to a list of mercury poisoning symptoms. You’ll find very little in common.

If you feel as if you are being pressured to perform chelation on your son, remember this. Chelation is an incredibly expensive procedure with equally incredible profit margins.

And if you do suspect mercury poisoning, a very easy procedure involving ten minutes, a one quarter millimeter incision, a probe the width of a pin, and a 50 miligram liver sample -all of which would grow back in less than 24 hours- can find it.
Of course I still HIGHLY would NOT recommend this unless both you and a doctor suspect mercury poisoning. And of course since you’re son is obviously autistic, I highly doubt this is the case.

My opinion is that you are treating it as something that has to get solved when in reality there is nothing to solve.

Autism itself has never been a problem. However for some odd reason all NT's have an urge to cure you if you don't feel like being a social 'whore' and group with everyone and all the time, the desire of curing someone with asperger or another form of autism has always come from someone that is an NT, I have rarely read or heard anyone with autism that wanted to be cured.

If people just would get accepted as they were then a cure wouldnt be needed, but wouldnt a cure be much easier than adjusting the mindset of the rest of the population? Sure but then we can cure woman so the become men, then we can cure all coloured people so we all become white and so on, its the same method of solving.

when it comes to the epedemic increase of autism its because the autism itself doesnt have to be so deep anymore with the new diagonse, you can still be autistic without being a drooling rainman counting matches, and the fact that he enviorment has changed.

I also believe that the amount of autstic/Asperger are much higher than what is stated. Just take me for instance, im an asperger and borderline to autism but i learned after observing how to act with other people in social interactions so i 'seem' normal, throw whatever stupid test you can find at me visual or theoritical and ill solve it in such way that it seems 'right' for you, and it doesn't matter how complicated that test might be because in reality all this social crap aint that hard to figure out, the NT's are like stupid Savants, its shallow  social games, you do alot of things but you don't know why you are doing it, its alot of crap but no dept its easy to mimic if you give it some time and practice

NT's world really suck you cant do anything for yourself but have to relie
on others example: if you succeed with something and you are happy and share it with your so called friends and they don't care or get jelaous and says it sucks then it all the sudden doesn't mean anything for you either
NT's always look for others approval when they want to the smallest things, this often ends up with that they are doing nothing, most of the time they also base their succes and failures of what other thinks, which kinda sucks, and most NT's ( the ones i know) have no motivation at all at doing things. These things alone makes me wanna stay asperger, it's too much luggage to carrie if you wanna suceed with anything.

thats my five cents.

I just had a crazy idea - let's look at the periodic table and randomly pick an element and then say it causes autism and convince a random parent of it. Then show them this thread. Who wants to choose?

The point of this of course would be to show the stupidity of the mercury cause

The "silver nanoparticle" theory of autism!

Reliable* research has recently shown that exposure to silver nanoparticles may increse the chances of a child developing autism.

Silver nanoparticles are currently used in several cosmetics, and also as a bacteriocide. As the use of them in products increses, worry has been spawned over the effects of such nanoparticles in the body, as it has been shown that they are capable of penetrating capilaries.

On May 30, 2006, acclaimed** neuroscientists discovered that the nanoparticles were also capable of penetrating the brain-blood barrier. Rats which were treated with the nanoparticle solution developed autistic-like symptoms, including incresed sensitivity to loud static, a lack of desire to socialize, and loss of motor coordination.

Recent surveys have shown that roughly 20% of all households contain one or more nanoparticle-containg solutions. Says Dr.Marty Zimmerman "Parents are constantly worried about the health of their child, so they buy all sorts of antiseptics and saftey devices. They don't realize is that most of the details of how the body handles nanoparticles are largley unknown"



*just kidding
**still just kidding

Don't post things like that dammit! There might actually be some people out there who'd believe it!

Let's rework that into something less obviously a joke and try to pass it off on a random NT parent. Then show them this thread.