I guess there has been a lot of animosity towards those of us that attended AutismOne floating around the blogosphere. I’ve heard we are pretty horrible people that are forcing crazy interventions on our children with autism. That we must not care for our kids and some say we even abuse them. Sometimes these kind of complaints come from what appears to be a Neurodiversity camp. It makes me sad, and angry. First, let me set this straight. If you are a person with autism, you are old enough to make your own decisions, and you wish to remain autistic, I have no problem with that. I would never tell another person how to deal with autism in themselves or in the minor child under their care. Also, and I don’t mean this to be callous, but I just don’t care if you wish to be recovered or not. I only care about helping my son, and those folks that wish to improve the health of their child. So, if I can offer you that courtesy, could you please do the same?
But I think the thing that gets me hot under the collar is that our desire to help our child is misconstrued as something else. We want only the best for our children. We know they are ill and we do our best to make them healthy again. We want our children to eat real food that is pesticide and herbicide free, instead of the commonly accepted processed foods that are chock full of chemicals. That sure does sound crazy, doesn’t it? We use these crazy things called VITAMINS and MINERALS, I think you can find some full of artificial color at the grocery store shaped like cartoon characters, if you feel better following the masses instead of using healthy products. We don’t drink soda pop! Yes, you read that right. My children do not drink soda pop. Quiver. Instead we naturally ferment drinks just like people have done for thousands of years. I’m sure many people would feel a lot better if our drinks came in bottles with nice labels that read High Fructose Corn Syrup on them, somehow that would seem more normal than using natural, organic foods. See, doesn’t all that sound like we are totally off our rockers? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. True story – took Matthew to see his neurologist a Johns Hopkins, showed the doc our list of supplements, etc. The doctor took one look at Matthew and told us that if this stuff was producing these kinds of results, he needed to look more closely at it. He proceeded to tell us that the levels at which we were dosing our son was nothing to be concerned with and we weren’t doing anything wrong.
Lastly, these folks that see Biomedical as such a threat always seem to pull out a group of adults with autism, all of who say they would not want to be changed. Don’t try to “fix” them! Which is perfectly fine, but why is it they never speak to the autistic child that used to chew their hands and arms to shreds, until they started biomed? Because their argument would not be so convincing then. Or how about the kid that needed to stay in diapers because he just couldn’t be potty trained, even at age 14? Then the child starts the GFCF diet and he is potty trained and starting to gain weight. How come they don’t ask those children if they preferred being untreated by biomedical interventions. Even the AAP is saying we need to treat these “co-morbid” illnesses in children with autism. And a child that doesn’t feel sick will be more compliant, happier, more focused and all around “better”. These folks that call us crazy never seem to want to speak to the families of the children that stay up all night, laughing maniacally. Nor do they talk to those that used to bang their heads into the walls and windows, screaming when touched. These children, after receiving treatment for very real co-morbid diseases, begin to function and live. They begin to heal, and with that healing they begin to lose some of these “autistic” traits.
No, we aren’t crazy, hateful or hurtful. Instead we are caring, loving and generous. And most importantly, we are right. Stay Well.
