Aspies For Freedom

Dr. Casanova is ready to begin working on wiping out autism entirely
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=...v=menu31_3

Hi DW_a_mom,

what would you think about the following website?
http://www.gettingthetruthout.org/

I think the problem is the wording. People who do the reasearch seem to not understand that "wiping out Autism" to Autistic people equates to wanting to wipe-out people who are Autistic. I don't think that's what he's after.

I think he's looking for a treatment for Autism, nothing crazy like pre-natal testing for Autism, so that Autistic kids are never born again. More like, ok we know now that this is most likely the root of some of the problems with Autism, maybe we can develop a neuroleptic drug to repair that.

Drugs are incredibly blunt tools - changing one thing tends to offset a lot of other things. Ask anyone who's ever taken an SSRI about the side effects. Especially in the brain it's very difficult to alter things chemically without causing problems of some kind.

When this guy says $40,000 to build a brain model I do have to wonder what drugs he's been testing on himself  :lol:

I googled Manuel F. Casanova.  He is a career university researched and published many papers.  He's done alot of research on the brains of people with schizophrenia.  I guess that autism is the hot area of research now.  Must be some drugs on the way.


I do not want drugs - and their side effects.  I would just like to have a job and stop being discriminated against.  That is all I need.

Same here, all I want is to be able to live a full life without fear of discrimination, not drugs. Been there, done that and suffered the side effects, from SSRI's.

He responded to a mother's blog entry about the article:

http://www.autismvox.com/brain-research-...out-autism

Kassiane (Rettdevil) bitched him out totally, so he might be a bit nervous about showing up here.   :lol:

Dr. Casanova, I'd like to say that from the beginning I never thought you were one of those doctors or organizations out to make money to benifit themselves, off of discussing only the negatives of Autistic people and claiming how they're all helpless and suffering.

I am curious about the TMS thing, for one, is it meant for low-functioning Autistics or high-functioning Autistics like Aspies, or anyone on the spectrum?

Alot of us Aspies have become rather paranoid of late, due to the media consistantly broadcasting their view of advocacy for people with Autism. Which usually is them claiming all Autistics are like low-functioning Autistics, that they suffer, and we need to find a cure. This of course is insulting and frightening to higher-functioning Autistics who see nothing wrong with themselves. This most likely is why at first those on this forum reacted to your suggestion of helping to find a solution to Autism.

I'm also concerned, could the TMS thing accidentally trigger something like, say damage a part of the brain and cause epilepsy. This isn't because I don't trust that you know what you're doing, it's that I have been an avid video gamer for years. So it's been a great fear that I would loose the ability to play video games, due to something like an accident, or somehow aquiring epilepsy somehow. Since they say the blinking lights and action in a video game could possibly set off an epileptic attack.

Just out of curiousity, I was wondering what your thoughts would be on video games in general. There is alot of negativity out there about games, that they're violent which is true, for only a few games. If you buy only Nintendo video game products, they have had a long history of only publishing family-friendly games. I know this is off topic, but I do think if someone of your profession said, video games do have merit in helping to learn skills like problem-solving, and puzzle-solving. Maybe it might make parents less apprehensive about their children playing video games. I mean, it's using your brain, I don't see what is so wrong with that.

Dr Manuel Casanova wrote

It doesn't surprise me one bit that you believe that there is a hyper-excitability in the autistic brain. It seems the obvious explanation for the many features and "comorbids" that are found in or with autism such as epilepsy, sensory hyper-sensitivity, emotional excitability, Tourette's and intellectual giftedness.

I have a very big objection to the idea of trying to "correct" this hyper-excitability. I have read in a few credible sources that the sensory hyper-sensitivity that is a common, but not universal feature of autism/Aspergers is also found quite often amongst the intellectually gifted. I don't think any researcher has done the work to find out just how common this sensory condition, often labelled as "Sensory Integration Dysfunction" or similar terminology, is in the gifted, and whether it is proportional with increase in IQ over the norm. I have also read a few reports of intellectually gifted people who have synaesthesia, or who have both synaesthesia and sensory hypersensitivity, or even have autistic traits, syn, the sensory condition and are also gifted. I don't like to appear boastful, but I do seem to have an above-average IQ, I regard myself as an aspie, and I have a number of different types of synaesthesia. All of my kids are classified by their government school system as intellectually gifted, and all have synaesthesia, at least one has sensory hypersensitivity, and all have some autistic traits.

I could write a long article detailing the evidence; anecdotal, scientific and expert clinical opinion in favour of an association between autism/Aspergers and intellectual giftedness and/or enhanced creativity. Just he other night I saw an Australian autism expert, Dr John Wray, pointing out the fact that siblings of autistic kids are often "brilliant". Do you see where my argument is going?

How the hell, Dr Casanova, can you guarantee that "fixing" any hyper-excitability in the brain will not impair general intelligence or specific skills? There do appear to be links between autism and giftedness, and sensory-hypersensitivity and giftedness, so I don't see how any autism "cure" could not involve the risk of slashing a person's IQ points significantly.

I have read that one of the drugs that is used to treat Tourette's syndrome, which seems to be quite often found in autistics, is regarded by some who have first-hand experience of it as a mind-impairing drug. Some believe it reduces intellectual ability. At least the effect is reversible by discontinuing the drug.

Sophist wrote

Actually, I hadn't thought of it that way. It's an interesting thought.

From what I've read, that searching for words that you describe, which I know some of the most talkative aspies can have significant problems with, is pretty much the same as the effect of acquired brain damage in some language areas of the brain. I really doubt that it could be fixed by any targeted treatment, as if this were possible I think the scientists would have already figured out an effective treatment, and no one would be left with no speech after a stroke.

Never has so much crap been promoted by so few by so few to so much lethal intent!

I did e-mail you directly, and without prompting, so why, exactly, did you fail to respond?

Did I fail to mention? I met Mano at the Awares conference, 2003, and tackled him about Einstein's autism status...and it got pear shaped very quickly!

If you think this guy is kosher, invite him to debate with me? On an open forum?

Hey, why not bring along Attwood, Baron-Cohen, Lorna Wing...

Come on guys, there must be people with money who have noticed society is going downhill?

Casanova? Manuel F. Casanova to be precise; Hey, why not bring along Attwood, Baron-Cohen, Lorna Wing...why don't you require them to answer me?

I can only guess that some "normal" people reading this have the gumption to realise that something is amiss?