Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the link to the study on physical height and workplace success. I remember you having previously mentioned the book "Blink".

Real authority is founded on deep knowledge about a particular subject, and moral integrity; not on superficial knowledge and saying what people want to hear.

In the fearless prediction dept., and based on the speaker list for the National Autism Association conference, see http://www.nationalautismconference.org/allspeakers.htm ...

I'm not sure why they didn't give Dr Carbone his BCBA, but there are two BCBAs in the line-up. You might notice that Dr Gutstein is also being featured.

This is just one among many ominous and persistent signs of things to come.

Therefore I fearlessly predict a future convergence among DAN, ABA, and RDI. It's already well under way. NAA's advisors re early intervention include Dr Gutstein and Dr Lovaas. Combinations of RDI and ABA are all the rage (I think I previously mentioned a Yahoo group). And BCBAs are also trying to get RDI certified. A quick survey of ABA and RDI and ABA/RDI people would likely find a high percentage also doing DAN.

And here's the whole happy gang at one conference. The future is clear: the ABA/RDI/DAN convergence. The triumph of marketing over science and ethics.

Maybe we should put this to work. We start by persuading the biomedical gang (like Autism Canada) to organize an autism=poisoning rally in Ottawa on Nov 17. They could come with their globs of mercury, their syringes, signs about the "truth" and the "power of parents", signs saying "my baby is toxic and it's your fault!", etc. They could give speeches about how chelation has saved their children while the ABA parents are yelling that ABA has saved their children. Maybe some RDI people could show up too. They could shout "RDI is medically necessary too!"

Edited by author 10-29-2005 03:14 AM
Hi Philip,

I'm five foot two. Why should anyone listen to me--I have practically no authority at all [grin].

From your link, I found the study, "The effect of physical height on workplace success and income: preliminary test of a theoretical model". The abstract is here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...15161403&query_hl=4

I also remembered where I found the information about height and CEOs. It's in Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink", a book I may have previously mentioned I'm not impressed with, when it comes to Mr Gladwell's views of autistics.

The work on CEOs and tallness is Mr Gladwell's own survey of about half largest US corporations, and apart from finding that most CEOs are white men, he also found they are almost all tall, with an average of a bit less than six feet (the average male is about five foot nine). He adds that while in the general population, 14.5% of men are six foot or taller, among CEOs this is 58%. And so on. He concludes that being short is as much of a handicap (or is it a disability?) as being female or black.

Then he describes the inches-of-height as related to salary study.

He concludes that very common kinds of poor decisions about who should be in charge may explain why so many "mediocre" people make their way into positions of authority.

In the "autism community", to get into a position of authority, you must creatively and thoroughly demean and denigrate autistic people. I believe this could maybe be measured. Who are the Canadians who say the worst things about autistics in public? Sabrina Freeman. Jean Lewis. Mike Lewis. Andrew Kavchak. Norah Whitney. Carmen Lahaie. Peter Zwack. David Vardy. Pierre Poilievre. Peter Stoffer. Etc. All are heralded as wonderful leaders.

If you are autistic and want to be in a position of authority in the "autism community", you have to praise and collaborate with one of the non-autistic leaders (see list above) who say horrible things about you. You will then have authority, but this will be limited to promoting the view that while some high-functioning autistics like you are okay, those low-functioning autistics are horribly sick and have to be fixed.

Or, you could "recover". Then you instantaneously achieve a position of absolute authority. The "autism community" will collapse at your feet and worship.

Edited by author 10-29-2005 02:35 AM
I laughed at the "Armistice day" reference. Very cute.

There's some major trench warfare going on over there, with some of the uber mercury parents using the verbal equivalent of mustard gas on their opponents in the trenches. I suppose it could be the odor of a certain "Rescue Angel" man's breath ... but maybe I'm stretching a bit there.

John Best Jr. wrote on Kevin's blog that he thought that Kevin and the ND (Neurodiverse, aka autstics) had set up the AWARES.org conference as a sham to trick him into exposing himself (again) in writing.

In other news, Rick Neubrander offered to let Kevin to the front of a two year waiting list so that Kevin's child might be cured ahead of someone else's who is already on that waiting list... I guess. Or maybe Dr. Neubrander (Rick is his brother, if I remember) would take Kevin on a Saturday or something. JB (autism is only mercury poisoning and Buttar can cure it - easy) Handley offered to pay Kevin and his family's way to the US to see a DAN! doc. Earlier he offered to get someone tested for mercury through Doctor's Data lab... no kidding.

gack.

In other news, someone showed me how it is that methyl B12 shots could induce seizures in some kids, and this person says that some of Neubrander's patients have had seizures come on after starting the m B12 injections. Also, m B12 can cause a depression in certain cells of the immune system.

Methylation is not always good. This was news to me. I heard it at a presentation I told Michelle about already... from a Dr. Meaney from McGill U. Meaney was talking about stress and rats (not the kind that Michelle has in hot and cold running form... but lab rats) and said that they put methionine directly into the rat brains to cause methylation of some genes there, and that caused them to have bad stress reactions. (not dampening the HPA axis negative feeback loop thing)

Autistic kids sometimes have high b12 levels because something isn't getting processed, so why give them more b12? I have to do some more reading to catch up on what this person is telling me, but the upshot of it is, the mB12 shots are not necessarily benign. Surprise!

Where will you give your presentation? I wish it was here at the university.

Edited by author 10-28-2005 10:29 PM
Re /m2740 , the anniversary of the Auton SCC decision is November 19, 2005. On November 17, the day numerous important people will yell at the top of their lungs that autistics are sick and have to be medically fixed--I'm scheduled to give an invited presentation. The subject: outcomes in autism. Irony everywhere.

The AWARES online autism conference http://www.awares.org/conferences/ has again been extended, this time to November 11.

Given the nature of many of the AWARES discussions, is the decision to extend this combat until Armistice Day supposed to be symbolic?

Hi Michelle,

I was thinking about the anneversary of Auton and if there will be any celebration to mark the occasion. Some 'dedicated parents' are planning to wave placards on the Hill-maybe you should have your own rally? Here's a press release from Anti-Autism Adcovate Andrew Kavchak:

Ottawa, ON — On Thursday, November 17, from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM, families of children with autism will gather on Parliament Hill - and other cities across Canada - to mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in the Auton case and call upon the federal government to develop a National Autism Strategy.

One year after the fateful ruling against the rights of children with autism to be included in Medicare for their core health treatment need, the federal government remains AWOL, in the face of an unprecedented autism epidemic. One in every 200 children born this year will be diagnosed with this devastating neurological disorder. Yet, the federal government stubbornly refuses to address the shameful reality that Canadian children with autism are excluded in every province from Medicare for their physician-prescribed, medically necessary treatment.

Despite two British Columbia court rulings that ordered the government to fund autism treatment, and court findings that the lack of publicly funded autism treatment is a discriminatory violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the SCC’s November 2004 decision in the Auton case revealed the weaknesses of the “equality” provisions in the Charter and the “universality” provisions in the Canada Health Act. Regrettably, both texts are empty promises for children with autism.

Families of children with autism are calling upon the federal government to demonstrate strong health care leadership by developing a National Autism Strategy that:
1) Expands Medicare to cover autism treatment for every child diagnosed with autism;
2) Provides timely diagnoses, so no child waits more than two weeks for diagnosis;
3) Creates graduate level programs for autism treatment professionals in this vital field so Canadians will not have to relocate to the U.S. for training.

Simultaneous rallies will be held across Canada on November 17 including Halifax, Vancouver and Nanaimo. These rallies are supported by Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT) of B.C., Ontario, and Nova Scotia and the Autism Society of B.C.

- 30 -

For more information, contact:
Andrew Kavchak (Ottawa) H: (613) 731-7175; W: (613) 954-3063
Laurel Gibbons (Ottawa) H: (613) 821-9038; C: (613) 816-4225
Jean Lewis (Vancouver) H: (604) 925-4401; C: (604) 290-5737
Jim Young (Halifax) H: (902) 455-0362; C: (902) 483-2046
Diane Therriault (Nanaimo) H: (250) 468-9864; C: (250) 751-9328
www.CanadaAutism.com
Attachment: Autism Fact Sheet

___________________________________________

He includes an autism fact sheet that I'll spare you so close to dinnertime- you can see it on FEATBC's discussion board...it isn't altogether factual but you could've guessed at that!

Edited by author 10-28-2005 01:54 PM
Hi Michelle,

I've found this about the financial advantages of height in the workplace - http://www.wsbtv.com/employment/2561766/detail.html.

Four large-scale research studies - three in the USA and one in the UK - involving thousands of people found that "Each inch of height amounted to about $789 more a year in pay." Height was found to be an advantage in management and in sales especially, but also in other areas such as engineering. Tall people are supposed to be more authoritative. Well, I am about 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 10 inches and I don't have feel authoritative.

When I was a young child - it was when I was at least three years old, probably four years old which would have been in 1953 - I went to a nursery school in a house in the middle-class suburb in the northern fringes of London where I was living with my parents at the time.

I remember very little of what I did there, how many hours a week, and for how many months I went there. If I remember rightly it was two to three hours in the morning for maybe two or three days a week. But I remember the name and location of the street where it was. Also I remember the teacher getting the children to sing the song "Ten Green Bottles" and do the appropriate accompanying actions, and of looking on bewildered at the other children while they sang etc. Also I have a possibly mistaken memory of wetting my pants there one time.

I don't remember if I liked it at all there; there may have been some equipment I enjoyed playing with by myself. I don't remember any of the other children, but at least they were too young to be bullies.

I am sickened and angry at the exploitation of autistics by NAAR, doing work which is about informing parents about what a "crushing burden" they (the autistics) are. If they are paid I would have thought NAAR would have said so. I don't expect the students who work one day a week are paid.

Edited by author 10-28-2005 01:18 PM
I have become convinced that facts and truth are meaningless in the face of 'dedicated parents'<thunderclap>. I have met a number of such parents who could learn a thing or two about social skills from autistic people (if only the parents weren't so desperately mindblind)

When an organization includes autistic people then the culture inevitably shifts- groups like NAAR wouldn't express a goal of stamping out autism if they actually knew and valued autistic people (even if they still *thought* about it)

I'm a big fan of James Williams- he's only a teenager and yet his talks go a long way to helping conference attendees understand Autism from an autistic point of view. Here is a newer essay from him about Neurotypical Meltdowns: http://www.jamesmw.com/meltdown.htm

Here's an excerpt-

" It’s not that autistic people fall apart and normal people don’t, it’s just that autistic people are put in more situations that force them to fall apart because of their autism. But neurotypical people would not be any different."

___________________________________

Edited by author 10-28-2005 05:41 AM
In the too-angry-to-be-coherent dept. [takes deep breath]

We all know about those wonderful, dedicated parents who run NAAR, the largest private autism funding body in the world (they say). They are such heroes. They are so selfless, rolling up their sleeves and dedicating their sweat, their toil, their hard work to such a great cause--stamping out autism.

They are very careful also. Not one autistic person is allowed to be in any of their decision-making processes. They have a lay ethics committee, but no autistics are allowed there either. Autistics are not considered able to participate or make decisions as equals.

We are only allowed to be study subjects...

... and cheap, captive, compliant menial labourers. See http://www.naar.org/news/render_pr.asp?intNewsItemID=321

The people who really do all the work at NAAR are autistics. And they don't seem to have much of a choice, not the ones whose work for NAAR is part of their behaviour programs (where enthusiasm--proper affective display--is mandatory). I can't tell if any of them are paid or how much. I do know they get prompted (how nice). Maybe they get tokens.

I'm sure the job coaches get paid. Of course--they're real people.

But it's the autistics who are working their butts off. They are stuffing and distributing envelopes full of the information that their very existence is devastating to their own parents, that they are a "crushing burden", that the world would be better if they did not exist at all.

They are the essential workers who keep NAAR running, who ensure that NAAR is big and powerful and can spread the NAAR message that autism must be prevented and cured, and the further NAAR message that autistics must not ever get in the way of this goal. To the contrary, we can be good little workers, good little soldiers in the war against ourselves.

Edited by author 10-27-2005 10:16 PM
Thanks Philip--the Diva has commented on the Guardian article about Temple Grandin, http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/10/dr-...m-then-and-now.html . I mostly agree with her (the Diva, I mean), except that a lot of Canadian parents seem (from reports in the media and from "autism advocates") to place their autistic children--as children--in the "care" of groups homes/institutions.

If there had been day care when I was young I would have been doomed. At the time, no one minded when a kid spent a lot of time alone absorbed in things. There was no requirement to be typically (verus autistically) social--not until I was well into school years and had shown that however strange I was, I would write exams and complete assignments (even if it took me ten times longer than everyone else--I just didn't give up).

Re weight issues, in Canada and the US, overweight adults are in the majority. Normal weight people are a minority (nothing is said about underweight people). Disqualifying people not on the basis of qualification but on the basis of weight means seriously excluding a lot of talent from your organization. But I also know that there are very few short CEOs (I forget where I read this). CEOs on average are very tall. Does this mean short people are less qualified? I don't think so.

I certainly have a lot of experience with "human resources" people and I would never confuse them with "professionals" of any kind.

Edited by author 10-27-2005 11:40 AM
Here is an interview with Temple Grandin published in The Guardian - http://educationguardian.co.uk/higher/prof.../0,,1599485,00.html.

Also in The Guardian this news story about the appallingly high degree of discrimination against overweight people in employment - http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1600042,00.html.

A survey of 2,000 "human resource professionals" found that 93% of those questioned would favour a "normal weight" candidate for a job over an overweight person, even if they were identically qualified. 30% regarded obesity as a valid reason for not employing someone, and 10% thought being overweight was a valid reason for dismissal.

Sex selection clinical trial is launched

HOUSTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. physicians have reportedly started a clinical trial to assess the effects of allowing couples to choose the gender of unborn children.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?...00-bc-us-gender.xml

What choices regarding ones children will be added next?

Edited by author 10-26-2005 09:46 PM
Speaking of robots ( /m2731 ), and vying for most reprehensible autism research blurb of the week--see http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05299/595326.stm , an article reprinted from the Wall Street Journal.

The only non-nauseating part is the statement that behavioural approaches are often only minimally "effective". Then there's the revelation (again) that parents are trying hard to get autism diagnoses for their kids. They just want their kids to be "heart-rending", I guess.

Here's a bit about how robots are used to "prove" there is something terribly wrong with autistic children:

"These devices can be programmed to monitor where the child is, or whether the child has said anything, and then to say something appropriate. In other cases, the robot head will spout things randomly. Prof. Scassellati said that with three year olds, nonautistic children will continue to interact with a robot that is responding appropriately, but will quickly tire of one that isn't. Autistic children, however, show no such preference, and will be equally fascinated by each."

Isn't that terrible! Autistics are interested in how and why things work, and this of course is just one of the reasons we are ill and diseased... Fortunately, robots can be recruited in the battle against this "heart-rending mental illness", sort of to spell off (or replace?) the exhausted human soldiers working valiantly to make sure that, above all, all autistics emit eye contact:

-----------------------------------------------------------

But he and others can't help but think of the ways that robots might be useful one day in actually treating the disease. That would mean taking on some of the behavior-based conditioning that, in the absence of a solid medical explanation for autism, is now state of the art.

Working with autistic children can be exhausting, notes Prof. Scassellati, but machines don't tire. "It is hard to focus on eye contact if the kid is standing a centimeter away from you," as autistic children do, he says. "But that would be very easy for a robot to do."

Researchers at Yale, and many other places, are designing robots and tools such as videogames to teach socializing skills to autistic children. The robot maker's standard tool kit by now has all the technologies needed for a computer-controlled machine to interact with a child for a period of time.

The machines are no panacea. With human teachers, autistic children often don't apply something learned in one situation to a related situation. Prof. Scassellati says it's not yet known if things will be any different with robots.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I have some confidence that autistic kids would respond to such a robot by closely inspecting it and then vigorously trying to dismantle it in order to learn how it works. And I'm pretty sure this autistic learning behaviour would be immediately seized upon as dysfunctional, inappropriate, maladaptive, inadequate, etc, and therefore would be promptly extinguished.

On divided attention, I've often had trouble doing a lot of things at once or switching my attention rapidly. But the weird thing is it depends on how I look at it; I can prepare my dinner extremely well but I can't follow a list of verbal instructions usually. Preparing a decent dinner usually involves many more multiple tasks and attention switching than following a simple list, but I percieve all the actions of making dinner as just one thing: making dinner. Following a list of verbal instructions is harder because it is usually a lot of seperate things and people tend to be poor communicators(aren't we supposed to be impaired in this regard?).

I can ask my Mom to stop giving orders and tell me what they are for, she may tell me "Because the house needs tidying" and I say "Well why didn't you just say that before instead of making me jump through hoops?". I think this does demonstrate how others are so willing to invent deficeits in us that aren't there and ignore their own.

I suppose if this is used in autism it will put a new truth to robotization.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/9816703/

Edited by author 10-26-2005 01:59 PM
Here is the obituary of Rosa Park in The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1600274,00.html; and also in The Guardian: 'Taking a stand by sitting down' an article about the significance of her life - http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1600910,00.html.