here's the article from the CBC.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/02/18/autism.html
what say you? not a great message coming across in this article.
it's curebee oriented. 'how to save the autistics'. there's no mention at all of autistic pride.
'if your child is autistic (gasp) DON'T blame yourself, your poor thing.'
here's the article from the CBC.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/02/18/autism.html
what say you? not a great message coming across in this article.
it's curebee oriented. 'how to save the autistics'. there's no mention at all of autistic pride.
'if your child is autistic (gasp) DON'T blame yourself, your poor thing.'
hmmm, I suppose though that as far as debunking myths about chemical and vaccine causal theories, it's a good thing. and it also mentions how autism is best understood as existing on a continuum, given its complexities.
*sigh*
Sorry, I'm being fatalist. I don't mean to sound so depressing. I just hate the idea that people will do what they do when the genetic tests come back and say a kid is going to have down syndrome... go straight to the abortion clinic.
It isn't fair when innocent kids are aborted just because they're different.
I think you make a great point Callista - the article mentioned that parents are asking for a genetic test for autism.
Yeah but the popular image of a child with Down syndrome is a sweet, loving child who's always happy. The popular image of an autistic child is an asocial, unhappy, non-adjusted child who's prone to temper tantrums and occasional violent acts.
And the genoicide begins.
I wonder if we're the last generation?
Yep. Those CAN Commies begin their atrocious holocaust.
I doubt we are the last generation...but let's hope not.
The Down Syndrome is being diagnosed for years and still there are mothers who accept children with it. So, if the same practice goes with autism, it won't mean there will be no autistics at all.
My thoughts exactly.
The Down Syndrome is being diagnosed for years and still there are mothers who accept children with it. So, if the same practice goes with autism, it won't mean there will be no autistics at all.
My thoughts exactly.
Add my voice to this choir...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003578839_autismgenes19m.html
Study locates possible autism gene
By Warren King
Seattle Times medical reporter
A gene that may affect a child's chances of having autism has been identified by University of Washington scientists and other members of an international research team.
In the largest genetic study ever of the disease, the team also found the area of a chromosome where another possible autism gene is located.
The discoveries further establish basic concepts about the cause of the devastating disease and offer new hope for developing treatments.
"This isn't the end, but it's a major first step. ... And it's one of the few times almost everyone in the field is trying to work together," said Gerard Schellenberg, a UW geneticist working at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Seattle and a lead scientist in the project.
More than 120 scientists from 19 countries in North America and Europe in the "Autism Genome Project" worked on the new research reported in today's online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.
The new findings "show the power of this kind of collaboration for making progress," said Geraldine Dawson, director of the UW Autism Center and also a lead investigator.
The investigators worked with nearly 1,200 families that had two or more children with autism, including 200 families mostly from the Northwest. The number of participants was unprecedented and required years of recruitment. Many came from the Northwest because the UW is very active in autism research.
Dawson said further research could identify specific genetic markers that would enable diagnosis of autism at birth. Babies could then begin treatment immediately to promote normal development of the brain.
The Autism Genome Project is a collaboration by scientists at 50 institutions. It was financed by the National Institutes of Health and Autism Speaks, a private organization that raises money for research.
People with autism have difficulty relating to others, have language deficiencies and may have significant mental impairment. Others with any of several "autism spectrum disorders" have similar difficulties in varying degrees.
In early February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a new 14-state study suggested autism spectrum disorder could be present in as many as one in 150 children.
Dawson said it's believed that genetics plays a significant role in the majority of autism cases. If one child in a family has the disease, a sibling has a 5 percent risk of having it. An identical twin of someone with autism has a 60 percent chance of having all aspects of the disease and a 90 percent risk of having some of them, such as a language deficiency or problems with social interaction.
Scientists suspect 40 to 50 genes may be linked to autism, including four or five that are more likely than others to play a part in the disease.
The Autism Genome Project identified one gene, "neurexin 1," and an area of chromosome 11 with another gene, both of which were found in many of the participating families.
"These two genetic sites are the best we've seen as [possible] autism genes," Schellenberg said.
Neurexin 1 is associated with the release of glutamate, a chemical that allows brain cells to send impulses to one another. The substance plays an important role in early development of the brain and had previously been implicated in autism.
Glutamate is "critical in the development of learning and in forming memories, and if you have a disruption in the [glutamate system], you have a problem," Dawson explained.
The scientists don't know yet how the chromosome 11 region is involved in autism. Pinpointing a specific gene in the region that is linked to the disease is the object of the next phase of the research, which will begin soon.
Families participating in the recent phase will continue in the project. They spend many hours at the UW and other institutions undergoing tests and interviews.
"I am so impressed with their dedication," said Dawson, who has worked with hundreds at the UW. "They have a great commitment in wanting to understand the cause of autism and to help other families in the future through this research."
Warren King: 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com
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I'll try and get hold of the Nature Genetics paper. I'm really curious.
Notice how many times they use the word 'disease'? 
There's another report about this paper here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6369347.stm
As it's the BBC they quote some of the British researchers involved, eg.
Professor Jonathan Green, who led the clinical fieldwork in Manchester, said: "Autism is a very difficult condition for families - communication is taken for granted by parents of healthy children but is so greatly missed by those with autistic children.
"We hope that these exciting results may represent a step on the way to further new treatments in the future."
Professor John Burn, of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, said the news was fantastic.
But he cautioned: "There will almost certainly be an interaction between several genes so this one discovery doesn't provide a complete answer and may not lead straight to a genetic test but it could be a key step in development for effective treatments as it provides a target for drug development."
Dr Fred Kavalier of the British Society for Human Genetics said a cure for autism was still a long way off.
More positively,
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, said independent replication of the findings was now needed.
I'm sceptical of studies that claim to find genes "for" this or that mental state. Too often the researchers are not testing a hypothesis that the condition has a biological basis, and is therefore genetically controlled. Instead they assume this, and then proceed to find genes that they think must be there.
Well, it doesn't make sense to say you support abortion for NT fetuses and not for autistic ones. The pro-choicers on this board have likely already thought about the situation and made up their minds about the question. So I'd say no, people probably aren't going to change their minds over this unless they haven't thought much about it before (which, for an Aspie, is pretty unlikely). I'm on the pro-life side--have been since I learned what abortion was--and I've pretty thoroughly thought through the question of abortion in the case of disability, especially since I learned I had a "disability" myself.
After reading the posts here, though, I don't think the situation is as bad as it first appeared to me. Even if abortion continues to be legal (and I think it will, despite the debate), the best we can do is to do what we've been donig all along: Encourage acceptance of autistic people, and try to build bridges of communication to the NTs who don't have a clue about us.
We Aspies are already willing to have autistic children of our own; our subculture will keep the autism population alive--if smaller. We can only hope that we will learn to speak out for ourselves in a manner that shows the NTs just how much they need our specialized way of life, and brings home to them the idea that we are just as human as they are.
energia--did they do control studies on families with no autism, or did they just use the usual Human Genome Project data?
Yeah, we have years before there's a prenantal test available.
So have the so called "pro-choice" people among us changed their views to "pro-life"? Ending legalized abortion will be the only way to stop this.
do you oppose legal abortion? or are you saying it's the only way you can think to prevent this?