Communications Shutdown for Autism - Nov. 1

Can you live without Facebook and Twitter for ONE DAY!?! I bet you can. And now you can do it and raise money for autism worldwide. National Autism Association is one of the beneficiaries. All it takes is a small donation - and some willpower to avoid FB and your Twitter! Join me in tuning out for a day and raising awareness.

Fox News Steps Up to the Plate on Autism

Regardless of your political leanings, autism warrior moms and dads should tune in for continuing autism coverage on Fox and Friends - they have made Saturday mornings newsworthy several of the past weekends!  To those following autism in the news, CBS's Sheryl Attkisson often seemed like a lone media voice willing to investigate and report on controversial autism issues.  Now she is joined by Fox and Friend's Alisyn Camerota.  In late September and early October, Ms. Camerota has presented three segments on controversial autism issues.

First, TACA's Rebecca Estepp went head to head to with Dr. Marc Siegel regarding the Hannah Poling case and "Vaccine Court" (the omnibus proceeding), among other things:

The next weekend, Mary Holland, an NYU law professor, and Dana Hall, a parent with a case pending in the autism omnibus proceeding, appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss recent developments in the omnibus proceeding:

Mary and Dana captured in a few short minutes many of the flaws in the omnibus proceeding and why it has failed. Mary summed up with this powerful statement:  ". . . we will look back at this proceeding in shame." 

Then, on October 2, Dr. Bob Sears, a board-certified pediatrician and author of The Vaccine Book, appeared to discuss the CDC's failure to test vaccines in real world circumstances - i.e., to test the safety of vaccines given in the multi-vaccine combinations in which they are administered to infants and children.  Dr. Sears called out the CDC on its testing failures and challenged its blanket claims of vaccine safety, including the CDC's claim that vaccines present lower level exposures than children may encounter in their environment - pointing out that inhaling and injecting are very different!  Finally, he touched on the issue of bias and scandal surrounding some vaccine research. 

This coverage is welcome and we hope to see more.  Let Fox & Friends know that you are tuning in and continue to support Sharyl Attkisson's superb coverage on CBS as well.

Restaurant Review: Pure Food and Wine - Haute Raw Vegan Cuisine

Haute raw vegan cuisine - not words you usually imagine putting together.  But you can at Pure Food & Wine on Irving Place in Manhattan.   I had the pleasure of dining there a few nights ago with a good friend and I cannot wait to go back.  I love casual, down-to-earth eateries too but for a change of pace, haute raw vegan rocks it!

The restaurant space is beautiful and sophisticated and it has a large back garden (but it was too hot a night for me to enjoy outdoor dining so we opted for inside).  The menu is likewise sophisticated.  I started with king oyster mushroom scallops in a lemongrass/coconut broth and my friend had an heirloom tomato and watermelon salad.  Both were amazing.  The king oyster mushrooms had a texture that was remarkably like a scallop.  We shared a plate of Dr. Cow's nut cheeses (made locally in Williamsburg (Brooklyn)), with rosemary crisps and strawberries, mache and raw honey as accompaniments.  Yum! For a main course I had a delicious zucchini "fettuccini" with asparagus and peppers and my friend had beautiful stuffed squash blossoms.  We were too full for dessert - a huge regret because they all looked great.

You can also order some of the products used to create delicious raw vegan cuisine, along with some awesome raw cookbooks featuring recipes from the restaurant, at the OneLuckyDuck website.  I am going to try the tomato/watermelon salad in the next few days - I think that was my favorite thing out of all the things I tasted at dinner.

I have stockpiled a bunch of raw cookbooks and want to start incorporating more raw meals into my diet.  I appreciate that Sarma Melngailis, the owner of Pure Food and Wine, admits to not being raw, or even vegan or vegetarian, all the time - definitely takes some of the pressure off - especially for raw newbies, like me.  That said, every raw recipe I have tried so far has been great - so fresh and just "good" - getting back to the essence of what food tastes like.  You don't even need a recipe to be raw (though there are some great ones).  One day I just pureed chunks of butternut squash in the VitaMix (this may be a must-have for vegans and raw food enthusiasts -- never have I seen a blender work so well.  It  costs $$$ but is worth it). The raw butternut squash soup - seasoned with some fresh herbs, was amazing.  This past week, I had a lot of Crenshaw melon at home - I pureed it, with some lovely oil, vanilla infused sea salt, a touch of (non raw I think) maple syrup, cayenne pepper and seeded cucumber - delish, even my husband loved the fresh and 99% raw fruit soup.

 Plus, eating raw brings incredible health benefits, preserving many of the enzymes naturally found in foods.  I have a tendency to go full bore at something for awhile and then tucker out but I can definitely see slowly incorporating more raw cooking ideas into everyday life -- it is all about the balance (see Sunday's post - but then ask why I am up at 3am??? - work in progress....).

Balance

My "Balance" ecoBowl

Balance is my new mantra... Wish me luck!

I spent two weekends in August in New England working on ideas related to energy healing.  First was a series of workshops led by Dr. Miriam Wolf in Putney, Vermont.  Two days of learning and working on healing techniques on many levels - it was eye-opening, challenging, very positive, and centering.  After that great experience, the next weekend, the whole family (it was our anniversary too!) traveled to Exeter, New Hampshire for a little R&R and for me to work with Hilary Crowley, to catch me up in my Reiki master level training.

Both these weekends got me thinking much more about balance and the need to reestablish balance in my life.  I tend to go 110 miles an hour on everything, rather than balancing.  So now I am going to start making a conscious effort toward more balance.  That may mean letting go of some of my preconceived notions of how and when things need to get done, figuring out what it is important to focus on at any given time and what can wait.  I am hoping that this new outlook will be liberating but it will definitely be work for me to let go of some of the old paradigms.  I also have to recognize that it won't happen overnight - it will take time to recalibrate and, in a first step in that direction, I recognize that this is okay.

While in New Hampshire, we stayed at the lovely Exeter Inn - our stay was terrific, the only downside was that our shower, while beautiful, was not designed for tall people (the building is older and space constraints dictated what they could do).  While I worked with Hilary, the boys explored Exeter and then we met up to check out Portsmouth, New Hampshire - which was completely charming.  While there, I happened upon a great shop that had opened up only days earlier called Presence of Nature.  This shop sells beeswax bowls (ecoBowls), the creation of which helps beekeepers (who sell their scrap beeswax to create the bowls).  You use the bowl as a vessel into which you can place all sorts of materials, including air plants, to create a very personal environment (you can buy pre-made versions or create your own with their huge selection of items).  The shop's (and website's) tag line is "No matter what you choose, it's right."  You cannot make a mistake - I love that! When I walked in one of the first things I saw was a small flat stone with the word "Balance" engraved on it - there's a message for you!  I used that as a centerpiece to create my own bowl, which is now in our dining room (see the photo above).

Both weekends inspired me to continue to learn more about different energy healing modalities and to challenge myself to open up my mind to new ways of thinking.  One thing I am now very excited to learn more about is Matrix Energetics, a powerful healing modality developed by Richard Bartlett, DC.   But there are so many other things to learn about as well.  Dr. Wolf introduced me to some amazing books a variety of aspects of energy medicine that I cannot wait to dig into.  Of course, I have to balance all this new learning with the rest of my life!

Just one of the cutest things ever!

Thanks to HuffPo, I was just introduced to a photo blog with some of the cutest pics around.  Check out Mila's Daydreams, where new mom (and super creative person) Adele Enersen creates the sweetest photo tableaux while her little girl is napping!  The photo below is "Surfer Girl" (natch!)  Kudos to Adele for her creativity and capturing just how sweet little babies are. 

Who is Showing Callous Disregard?

Dr. Andrew Wakefield recently spoke at a meeting of the New York Chapter of the National Autism Association. Almost 100 people attended - it was a full house! I have had the opportunity to see Dr. Wakefield speak several times, including at the recent NAA-NY Metro Chapter event as well as at AutismOne in Chicago this May. He is always eloquent and impassioned and he did not disappoint on July 8 at NAA-NY Metro. You can read more about his appearance on the NAA-NY Metro Chapter blog and on Age of Autism. Parents and medical professionals are becoming increasingly aware of issues surrounding vaccine safety and they want to learn more.

As were many others, I was quite curious about Dr. Wakefield's book, Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines - The Truth Behind the Tragedy, which recently was published by Skyhorse Publishing. Dr. Wakefield has been vilified in the media, but this vilification most frequently comes in the form of prepackaged attacks that rehash the same stories over and over. I also repeatedly see stories recasting as "fact" the opinions of those who disagree with Dr. Wakefield. It is unfortunate that many journalists seem to have forgotten about investigative journalism, merely taking at face value what their "sources" tell them - sources who frequently have significant conflicts of interest which go unmentioned. I am not asking journalists to disregard those whose opinions are contrary to Dr. Wakefield's. Absolutely not. I merely ask that both sides be presented in a balanced way, which almost never happens. Without both sides presenting their respective points of view, there cannot be true discourse.

In Callous Disregard, Dr. Wakefield sets the record straight - in methodical fashion, with numerous citations to both evidence and to scientific/scholarly works. Dr. Wakefield walks the reader through complex materials in a way that both parents and medical/scientific professionals can appreciate. This is a book that reaches both audiences, at least in part because Dr. Wakefield respects that parents of children with ASD are knowledgeable and are eager to learn all they can about their child's illness. Even if you disagree with Dr. Wakefield, I encourage you to read this account, and examine the evidence yourself, with an open mind. I also commend to readers an article written by Dr. William Long for Autism File magazine.

Dr. Wakefield continues his fight to clear his name and continues his work to help children with ASD. He has sacrificed incredibly for our children. It would have been easy for him to quit long ago and quietly walk away. He chose not too. I think that speaks measures.  Dr. Wakefield's commitment to children with ASD has won him many followers, but many critics as well. I continue to be amazed at the level of animosity toward Dr. Wakefield in some circles. In particular, much cyber-energy is spent in the blogosphere (though certainly elsewhere as well) trying to discredit Dr. Wakefield. Critics of Dr. Wakefield make scathing personal attacks, they belittle both parents and scientists who are open to Dr. Wakefield's work and the work of other scientists exploring a possible link between vaccines and autism. If Andrew Wakefield really is as unimportant and irrelevant as they try to paint him, why waste all that energy? I have to wonder if this is some kind of attempt to convince themselves that his work, and the work of others exploring these issues, is no threat to their their neat little world where there is no potential downside to mass vaccinations at unprecedented levels.

Do these critics think that if they merely repeat over and over again that Dr. Wakefield is a villain and that vaccines are completely safe, everyone will believe them? In fact, the contrary is true; more and more parents are becoming wary and distrustful of bald claims of vaccine safety. As a Harris Poll commissioned by the Center for Personal Rights and conducted this spring shows, a majority of parents believe that the pharmaceutical industry has too much influence over the vaccine schedule, a vax'd vs. unvax'd study should be conducted, parents (not the government) should have the right to choose which vaccines their children receive. Moreover, this poll and a recent study published in Pediatrics show that many parents also are concerned about serious adverse effects from vaccines (48% in the CPR poll, 54% in the Pediatrics study).

As parental distrust mounts and parents ask more questions about vaccine safety, I also have to ask why there are many writers who misrepresent the findings of studies concerning vaccine safety. For example, it is disingenuous (at best) to tell parents that a study vindicates vaccines when a study merely finds that a link between vaccines and autism is not proven - those statements are not equivalent and it simply is wrong to equate them. We can read, and curious parents are, more and more, going to the sources themselves. When they discover a study's actual conclusions and find they conflict with the spin, the spinner loses credibility. The bottom line is that the studies conducted to date are insufficient to prove or disprove a link between vaccines and autism, though there is a mounting body of evidence suggesting a connection, for at least some children. I blogged awhile back on the frightening implications of lack of scientific curiosity on this issue (or fear of what results may show).

On a separate but related note, the vaccine safety studies done to license vaccines are, as a general rule, woefully inadequate: they are short-lived (in some instances only days or weeks and, therefore, unlikely capture many possible reactions other than acute, immediate onset reactions), subject to manipulation, conducted by the vaccine manufacturers themselves (not objective third parties), and do not address the safety of the current vaccine schedule as a whole. Most parents do not know this. I even wonder how many pediatricians are aware of the inadequacies of vaccine safety testing when they tell their patients that vaccines are subject to rigorous testing? You can go to the FDA website to review pre-licensing testing information, and see for yourself what is considered sufficient - it is eye-opening.

Vaccines have become sacred in the public health sphere and to challenge that doctrine is a heresy. However, I think it is becoming more and more apparent that we do need to challenge the current vaccine schedule, challenge the inadequacy of safety testing, and challenge the lack of appropriate studies concerning vaccines and their possible role with respect to many diseases, including autism. As the CPR Harris Poll demonstrates, parents are becoming more aware of this issue, and asking more questions. This issue is now mainstream - half of parents think that there are serious issues with respect to the U.S. vaccine program. Those involved in the U.S. vaccine program need to recognize that parents no longer are willing to accept a pat on the head, telling us that they are the "experts" and know what is "best." Parents and a growing number of doctors and scientists are demanding that more and better testing take place and we are demanding honesty.

As a postscript I want to encourage my readers to also check out this post on Adventures In Autism.  Ginger Taylor's posts are always timely and insightful. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an officer and board member of NAA-NY Metro, a board member of the Center for Personal Rights, and on the steering committee of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy.

Photos from France

For your enjoyment (I hope), here are a few of my photos from our recent trip to France. Cliff still has my camera on his research trip so I don't have access to all my shots and I am switching to a new computer so I cannot try out some new Photoshop stuff I just learned about and cannot wait to try. These are unretouched (not that I retouch much but I have just seen some new effects to use with Photoshop that blew me away - I have it on my PC but am not savvy and want to learn more). My laptop having lost an unfortunate battle with a palmetto bug in Florida this spring, I am capitalizing on the opportunity to switch back to Mac after many years and am very excited about the Macbook Pro making its way toward me now. To start using the Photoshop effects I have been eyeing I will need to buy the Mac version of Photoshop too! I find taking these pictures so relaxing and am ready to step it up and invest in a nice digital SLR camera (Nikon D90 maybe?) We have great old Nikon film cameras and oodles of excellent Nikkor lenses (hoping some of the lenses can be used). My current digital camera has some manual functions but I would like more flexibility. Next step, a Miksang (contemplative photography) course at the Shambhala Center in NYC - hopefully they will offer another soon that I can join!