why the whole what causes/cures autism bs pisses me off:

"*He has, by influencing a change in the national dialogue about
autism, helped to create a situation where funding must be dedicated
to grasping after theories long-since discredited. Not only with
regards to Hg=autism, but also with MMR=autism. You see, we live in a
world with limitations. Among these limitations are funding
limitations. When a given community has a finite amount of dollars
that can be used for research and direct support, then resources must
be budgeted. Ideally, they will be budgeted towards areas that will be
of most immediate and direct benefit to autistics through research,
treatment, and occupational/educational/functional supports. Not so in
the autism community, where we continue to throw good money after bad
with call after call for more research into the mercury/vaccine
causation theory. "

from http://onedadsopinion.blogspot.com/2008/03/leopard-cannot-change-his-spots.html

Honestly, I could give a rats ass about the person this blog post is
talking about. But I do care about where money is going to fund autism
research. Around 16% of autism cases are proven, proven to be genetic
(because of the genetic diseases that can cause autistic symptoms).
being that the other 84% is we don't know. And we honestly still don't
know what causes a myriad of other disorders, many of them actually
devastating (I don't consider autism devastating. and no my son isn't
'high functioning.' his 2 yr old sister blows his 5 yr old self out of
the water developmentally, and she did in a lot of respects at 1)

Without a 'cause' and with very little understanding of this
neurological disorder, we can't have a 'cure'. Since 16% are genetic,
but we don't know what the other 84% are (note I'm not saying it's NOT
toxin's I'm saying 'we don't know'), there's obviously more than one
cause, and more than one way autism presents itself biologically which
means we'll have more than one cure. And knowing the cause doesn't
mean you can necessarily prevent it, esp because we never really know
the cause in things like this, just risk factors. and the word risk
factors means you can still get it even if you do everythign humanly
possible to avoid it.

So rather than wasting money on finding a cause... we need to pour
money into investigating how this 'disorder' affects the brain in
comparison to typical people, and we need to pour money into
researching treatments in more than just a few narrow subgroups of the
autism spectrum.

But are we doing that? No. Because we're too busy prescribing to scare
tactics like our culture just loves to do.

And on a more positive note....

I got an Ipod Touch. Open Box, from Best Buy, of course, why the hell
do I want to spend $60 more on new with updated apps? I'm fully
capable of updating... I haven't synced it with my stuff, but since it
can get online, um, I'm really in no hurry - that's what my 30 gig
iPod Video is for.. did I say I liked gadgets.. but hey the video had
a good excuse - I used it for watching course videos on the run, and
backed up my hard drive on it (no, I don't have a whole lot that I
HAVE to have, file wise)

I'm a sucker for consumerism. esp when it comes to dolls and gadgets.

My wonderful tablet got skewered by my wonderful son.

And I didn't want to wait to save up the money (even though I'm now
further from being able to do so)

And I got the check from the left over escrow after refinancing (a new
escrow was set up)

I like it. There's a few things I'd change.... but for the most part,
I love it.

I'd been wanting something super portable. My tablet had been pretty
damn close. When I was trying to decide between the tablet and an
EEEPC (because I didn't reeeeallly need a full fledged PC, I had a
laptop I picked up from a friend) I read a comment re the eee pc...
why don't you just get an Iphone (except the iphone doesn't have a
keyboard)

So I opted for the next bext thing without a cell plan (I did look at
pdas, and space/what it does/pricewise, the ipod is still the better
buy, even though you don't get a portable keyboard)

Because the iPod Touch is basically the iPhone without the phone,
camera, bluetooth but with more drive space for the money.

Anyway, it's a nifty little tool for being online anywhere, and make
taking care of children while computing much easier. esp since it
remembers where you were when you turn it off and throw it in your
pocket and comes back from sleep quicker than a laptop.

I got the griffin iClear to hold it, and so far I'm happy. supposedly
it's hard to get it in and out but umm I haven't needed to because I
don't use a dock...

On Race and Politics

Let's be a little racist here; we'll jump on the media bandwagon.

On those that like to incite fear of an angry black man for president...

Hell Yes! I want an angry black man for president (although I don't
agree Obama qualifies as an angry black man, by 'angry black man,' I
do mean him - I'm responding to recent media bullshit, inspired by a
comment on a blog about him and civil liberties...)

He seems to be more likely to shore up our civil liberties, which have
been crumbling away, seeing as he's from a culture that values them so
much more than comfortable white folk do, who are more concerned
apparently with being paranoid. I know it's sacrilege, but I'm not one
wit afraid of terrorism. I am afraid of losing my liberties, I am
afraid of our nation pissing the rest of the world off enough to start
a bigger war than we're already in, and I'm afraid of further
warmongering.

(disclaimer, I'm not black, but I am half white - I apologize to
anyone annoyed by the half bullshit... it's how I grew up hearing it,
hell my mom thought I was half catholic, but you can't be half a
religion... anyway, mom is white, makes up half of my genes. half
white - ... I grew up in a fairly privileged way, while at the same
time being from a mostly lower middle class to poverty level
upbringing... My dad and mom made sure I grew up privileged, while
keeping my eyes open to reality, and I appreciate them for that)

Tristan being Tristan

Tristan gets in these moods, usually when tired, where he runs around
laughing and repeatedly smacking/kicking/pulling people/things. The
people/things often tends to be me, and my hair. (guess that's a
reason to get me another pixie cut)

well, anyway, he did so last night.... like practically all night.
like my husband got out of bed at 11:35 and took off b/c the
repeatedly getting woken up was getting on his nerves, and he was
having difficulty keeping his cool. So I changed Tristan's poopy
diaper (probably the initial reason he was going psycho) but that
didn't really abate it. Then when he finally did lay down, next to me.
Lily decided now was the time to get mad at tristan for being near
mommy. and she stood next to him, and didn't move. So that set off
another firestorm...

I eventually ended up having to strap him in his high chair until he
fell asleep.... which makes me feel bad, but otherwise I wasn't only
not getting sleep, I was getting beat up!

Oddly enough, though its annoying, it doesn't really make me mad, and
it actually kind of makes me laugh. I guess, because he's not really
trying to hurt me, and I understand that. I just wish I knew how to
get him to redirect that energy in a less painful manner....

argh...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7308509.stm
"Afterwards, Mr Cheney called on other Nato member states to increase
their commitment to Afghanistan's security in the face of a growing
threat from the Taleban."

because, you know, we're spending too much money in Iraq to do it
ourselves, instead of, you know, like spending money fighting the
group that actually attacked us... sigh...

Smiley

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by Navi_

Okay, so this was taken with my camera phone, and the picture is not clear. but what can you see? what is it that stands out in this photo?? (besides the big, black, dishwasher)?

His big, bright smile. and his hand. but really. it's the smile. :)

Relationships, Divorce & Autism

Husband's therapist discussed the high rate of divorce in parents of
children w/ autism at one point in time. Mentioned it's almost as
difficult as bringing up an extremely intelligent child (I guess it's
supposedly especially so when your child with autism is extremely
intelligent?) my husband says he quipped that we've got one of those,
too... (Tristan is probably also extremely intelligent, but
developmentally delayed, btw)

but I keep thinking. Why does everyone immediate relate our issues to
autism? My husband was ADHD and bipolar before my son was born. I had
issues with functional depression before he was born (though the
depression was more major during my pregnancy - I was a virtual
vegetable... but still managed to take my daughter across town by bus
to preschool... hmm, maybe not so much of a veggie... I also usually
had absolutely no reason for feeling crappy. I just felt crappy. I
also craved veggies and spurned meat... which is weird because I'm
almost a carnivore, besides my huge appetite for lettuce & carbs...)

Maybe the high rate of divorce is because parents of autistics are
more likely to have issues prior to having the autism diagnosis than
parents of the general population? Especially b/c parents of autistics
are more likely to have autistic traits, which contribute to social
issues, especially when people aren't willing to accommodate and
warring spouses aren't generally willing to accommodate?

I know it's a hell of a lot easier to deal with my bipolar husband on
medication than it was when he was off (on medication, I deal with
just the ADHD, which I adore, at least in him, well in other people
to, when they remind me of him), before or after Tristan was born...
and the mild meds I take for depression keep me from going too much
into vegetable mode, which means I'm less likely to piss my husband
off... So maybe parents of autistic kids need, not marriage therapy,
but self therapy...

Here's to 10 yrs of marriage, as of the end of last year. 5 of them
with an autistic cherub.

voting for Hillary and feminism

I didn't vote in our primary, b/c I got out of work late, and the
option was vote or visit dad in the hospital. I felt terrible for not
voting, for not taking part. But. visiting our are limited and my
husband would have been lonely.

If I did. I probably would have voted for Gravel. or Uncommitted.
Gravel was still on the ballot, and while I don't agree with
everything he says, it would have been a vote for my husband, who
couldn't vote, because who I wanted to vote for wasn't on the ballot
(and is no longer in the race anyway). And I also believe that if more
people voted based on their beliefs rather than who they think is
likely to win, or who they like, there'd be more people like him in
office. He wasn't running to win. He was running to get his views out,
but unfortunately no one but NPR apparently cared to look into them.
My husband heard him talk, and actually wanted to vote. My husband has
never had any inclination to vote; he's never liked a politician. He
doesn't think there's much of a point in voting. Anyone who can get my
husband to want to vote deserves a vote in my book, and besides, while
my husband liked what he said about other topics, I certainly agree
with his stance on immigration.

Now, on to the topic of this post, I keep reading on feminism and
voting or not voting for Hillary Clinton. How women feel guilty for
not supporting her. As a matter of fact, I've probably posted a blog
about it already, I'm sure.

Supporting her because she's a woman is just as sexist as not
supporting her because she's a woman. Yes, it's a good idea to examine
whether your lack of support is because you're holding her to higher
standards, because we've been raised in a patriarchal society and
sometimes its hard to get past our upbringing. That makes sense. But
if you're choosing on the issues, there's no need to feel you've
betrayed your gender.

Seriously. Yes, it is feminist to say a woman can do just as good a
job, or even a better job than a man. It is equally feminist to say a
man can do just as good a job or even a better job than a woman. I
think it's feminist to say that you are not about to hold men to the
same double standards that women have to deal with.

another report to support my opinion that vitamins and herbals are simply less or unregulated drugs...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7271189.stm

Too much vitamin E can increase the risk of skin cancer. (which
reminds, me I know there have been scientific studies that look into
whether or not vaccines cause autism... what about a stastical
'increase risk'? which would require comparing the incidence in the
vaccinated vs. the non vaccinated - yes the non vaccinated do get
autism I think there have been, but those haven't been good enough to
quell the anti vaccination crowd, so now they're spending money on
blood testing to show there's no difference in contaminants supposedly
from the vaccines btw typical and autistic children. It wouldn't be a
true causation because statistics are tricky, and can be manipulated,
and purely coincidental occurrences can look like an increased risk,
but it'd be interesting to see the results. Of course it'd be
difficult to get a large enough sample of the non vaccinated in this
country (risk factors, even genetic ones, can be shown to be different
by geographic location so you can't really compare us to another
country/culture - like they've narrowed down different genetic issues
in Italy than in the US...)

Anyway, back on topic. From what I've heard, it's vitamin B that
autistic kids are being given to help out, so at least this won't
affect them (and from what I understand vitamin B is one of the more
benign ones - so its probably not hurting them, regardless of if it's
really helping). But I look at vitamins and herbal supplements with
just as much suspicion as I would a pharmaceutical, sometimes even
more so, because there's less oversight on these items. You can't
argue the "comes from plant life" point as a large portion of our
prescription and non prescription drugs do as well. so basically you
have the same thing, only one is stronger and regulated, and the other
doesn't get regulated until it hurts enough people. It's not that I
think they don't work. I'm sure a lot of them do, just as a lot of
prescription drugs do (I'm doing a dance of joy for the prescription
that my husband's taking, that seems to make him so much more... him.
It doesn't make him feel better; it helps him be himself. and that's
what a drug/supplement should do) I just don't see vitamins/herbals as
any different than popping a pill.