Wrong Planet

Autism Rights Watch grieves for the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the community of Newtown, CT. We are devastated. Our wishes and condolences go to the many families affected. Our thoughts also go to the first responders who faced this horrific scene.

The news of the gunman massacre was an absolute shock. “Evil visited this community” said Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. 20 year-old Adam Lanza made a horrible individual choice. He decided to shoot four weapons, kill his mother, attack an elementary school and take his own life.

Last fall, President Obama signed the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act, which ensures that Federal autism research and services programs will continue without disruption. The act also directs the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) to continue charting a course for autism spectrum disorder research while simultaneously advancing the delivery of needed services.

Shortly after the act was signed, I received a call asking if I’d agree to be nominated to serve on the Committee. I agreed. Yesterday, I received the news of my appointment by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Read on. . .

Autistic Dr. Temple Grandin, a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, is an icon in the Autistic Community. Her life has been a beacon and an inspirational story and after a long negotiation is getting her biography brought to HBO. Claire Danes is in negotiations to star as Grandin in the film which is currently moving forward after nine years.

"I made a commitment to Temple that I was going to make it and make it right," said Emily Gerson Saines, one of the executive producers, who has a son with autism. "I never pushed to get it made until now, because now we got it right."

X-Files: I Want to Believe star Amanda Peet has spoken out against the "fringe medical groups and parent advocacy groups who claim that vaccines cause autism, or that they have too many "toxins," or "viral challenges" for our tiny babies' bodies to handle." In an article in Cookie Magazine, Peet is quoted saying "Frankly, I feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites."

Peet's comments are consistent with the medical community's growing concern that parents will not vaccinate their children out of a false fear that such vaccinations could cause Autism. Scientific studies have repeatedly found no link between vaccines and Autism and parents' fears to vaccinate their children are leading to outbreaks in the United States. Thiomersal, which contains mercury, was largely removed from vaccines a couple of years ago and the rate of autism diagnoses has continued to increase.

Read on for more information and links.

For International Autism Awareness Day, Ari Ne'eman delivered the following testimony to the Florida Autism Task-force.

Thank you for this opportunity to address the first meeting of the Florida Autism Task Force on today, the first World Autism Day. My name is Ari Ne'eman and I am here today in my capacity as the President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a volunteer non-profit organization run by and for adults and youth on the autism spectrum. ASAN works to promote the autistic culture movement and other opportunities for individuals on the autism spectrum to interact with each other as well as work to improve the representation of the autistic community in public policy deliberations about autism and disability affairs.

Yesterday, I attended a Washington, DC meeting of the IACC, a US governmental administrative committee that decides where to invest federal autism research money. The meeting took up the entire day. The most interesting part of the event was probably the last hour when people were permitted to make comments.

Various members of the autistic community were present at the meeting to express their discontent with the current state of Autism research. The most memorable comments were delivered by Katie Miller, an autistic advocate who articulately and succinctly denounced committee member Allison Singer of Autism Speaks (who happened to be sitting three chairs down from Katie) for making derogatory comments about the value of autistic life. Read on to find out what exactly transpired.

Washington, DC - 2/18/08 – The autistic community mourned the loss of Genevieve Edmonds, a UK-based advocate and author on the autism spectrum who committed suicide this past week.

Genevieve was a leader in advocating for increased visibility and support for adults on the autism spectrum. She authored four books: The Asperger Social Guide: How to Relate to Anyone in any Social Situation as an Adult with Asperger's Syndrome, The Asperger Personal Guide: Raising Self-Esteem and Making the Most of Yourself as a Adult with Asperger's Syndrome, Asperger Syndrome And Employment: Adults Speak Out About Asperger Syndrome and A Self-Determined Future with Asperger Syndrome.

The Washington Post Reports:

Children born to fathers of advancing age are at significantly higher risk of developing autism compared with children born to younger fathers, according a comprehensive study published yesterday that offers surprising new insight into one of the most feared disorders of the brain.

The finding comes at a time of great controversy over autism in the United States, as a recent surge in diagnoses has fueled speculations about various possible causes of the disorder. For scientists, both the origins of and potential treatments for the disorder remain a mystery.

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls, researchers said on Wednesday in a study that may help explain why the condition is more common in boys.

And other genes may play a role in the early onset and late onset forms of autism, the researchers at the University of Washington reported in the journal Molecular Genetics.

Pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) like autism and Asperger Syndrome have been on the rise for years. Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccines and thimerosal-containing vaccines (which are approximately 50 percent ethylmercury) have been suggested as possible causes. A new McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) study, published in the scientific journal Pediatrics, assessed the link between childhood immunizations and PDD in 28,000 Quebec children and finally clears MMR vaccines and thimerosal-containing immunizations as risk factors.

CBS News Reports 'Eleven-year-old Parker Weishaar is just about the most well-behaved kid you'll ever meet — now. Parker has a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports that one of the symptoms can be meltdowns." His parents, Wendy and Mark, "couldn't deal with it. We would have incidences in the classroom where he would kind of clear off the bookshelves."

What worked for them was Candy. Not the sweet stuff — a dog … named Candy. She's a certified assistance dog whose job basically is to be with Parker; to stick right by his side, 24/7.'

GroovyDruid Reports:

After months of waiting for Mozart and the Whale to hit theaters, I decided to take decisive action. I strolled into the Millenium/Nu Image Films offices here in Los Angeles and asked to have the straight dope on when this movie would be widely available. They couldn't tell me, but they were kind enough to give me a copy of the movie so that I could review it for WrongPlanet. So here it is! Read on!

Mozart and the Whale, a film for which WrongPlanet has provided a good deal of exclusive coverage, will be coming to Spokane, Washington, its filming location. A special advance screening will be held on April 12, two days before the films official limited release date of April 14. The film stars Josh Hartnett.

We're re-publishing our interview with Jerry Newport, the man whose life the move is based upon. Newport is a member and contributor to the WrongPlanet Forum community and has the username, thewhale. Be sure to congratulate him on the movie's current and future success. Read on for the in-depth Newport interview!

As George Mason, a team many thought should not have been in the 65-team NCAA field, threatened to become the unlikeliest Final Four team in decades sent the crowd at the Verizon Center into rafter-rattling delirium, a sign read, "Can you hear us now?"
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The message, an echo of Verizon's U.S. cellphone advertising campaign, came through loud and clear after five minutes of overtime. With players dancing and administrators crying, a deep voice spun a crazy, swirling dreamlike celebration both deeper into euphoria and more sharply into reality.
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"Your attention," a voice blared above the din. "Would the winners of the Washington, D.C., Regional please assemble on the center stage?"
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Up jumped the George Mason players. Above the chaos, the scoreboard silently offered the bare facts: Mason 86, UConn 84. Top-seeded Connecticut, which had won two NCAA titles since 1999, is not going to the Final Four. Eleventh-seeded George Mason, which had not won an NCAA tournament game until nine days earlier, is.
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In one of the greatest upsets in NCAA tournament history, the team with nothing to lose somehow won.?
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If you're wondering what this has to do with Asperger's or Autism, I'll tell you:

* Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith is an economics professor at George Mason. Vernon Smith has Asperger's Syndrome.
* WrongPlanet.net founder Alexander Plank is a George Mason student and is caught up in the celebration

The Vines frontman Craig Nicholls kicked his cannabis habit, because he fears the drug exacerbates his Asperger's Syndrome.

A seventh-grader with Asperger's Syndrome at Cooperstown Central School confidently spelled his way to first place at the fourth annual Daily Star regional spelling bee Saturday.

We also have more information about the Autistic hoops star going Hollywood!