Autism and Cancer video now readable

I posted this on Youtube awhile ago, but wasn't expecting Youtube to blur the video and make it unreadable. This one has larger print, so it should be readable now. If you still have difficulty, here's a transcript:


"Autism is no more a 'culture' to be preserved and protected than lung cancer or a brain tumor."
Gary Mayerson
In his article Mischaracterizing the 'Misbehaviour of Behaviorists'
Schafer Autism Report Special Edition: In Defense of Behavioral Treatment for Autism

"Just substitute the word 'cancer' for 'autism' and any 'lay person' could detect a slightly subversive note:
Are there ethical issues associated with recovery from cancer?
What are the economic implications of wide-scale attempts to recover people from cancer?
It seems to me that these questions amount to little more than a call for ammunition against the rising demand for science-based, effective treatment, which at this moment in time happens to be anchored in the field of applied behavioral analysis. Yes, aiming for and achieving recovery from autism is expensive. So is chemotherapy. So is a lifetime of state-supported custodial care. Why would we not attempt to recover anyone from cancer, or autism? No, we cannot guarantee cure or recovery for anyone, but is that any reason to lower the bar? Do we start deciding how many people should have access to science-based treatments for cancer? Do we start deciding how many children should have access to ABA?"
Catherine Maurice
Recovery: Debate Diminishes Opportunities
Association for Science in Autism Treatment - http://www.asatonline.org/

"Autism is worse than cancer in many ways, because the person with autism has a normal lifespan. The problem is with you seven days a week, 24 hours a day, for the rest of your life. My wife and I expect to have responsibility for Adam until we die. We lose sleep over what will become of him after we are deceased. Our financial resources are depleted, so our ability to provide for him is limited."
David
Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, regarding the state of the health care system in Canada

"If my son had cancer instead of Autism, I would move heaven and earth to get him chemotherapy. Why? Because that is the best treatment so far. I also heard that tomato juice is good in fighting cancer and much cheaper. Should I then reason out somehow that because someone said it worked for them I should forget the chemo and just use tomato juice? Can you see how bizarre that sounds? Perhaps I'll use chemo and tomato juice, just make sure the tomato juice you are using is proven safe (chelation therapy?) and don't stop the chemo."

I am autistic. I also have a family history of cancer.

My maternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer, which she developed in her 40s. My maternal aunt recently developed breast cancer, also in her 40s. Most women with breast/ovarian cancer are postmenopausal - they weren't.

Because two women in my family got breast/ovarian cancer unusually early, doctors are concerned that they might have a BRCA mutation, resulting in a genetic predisposition to certain types of cancer. If my grandmother had one of these mutations, my mother would have a 50% chance of having the same mutation, and I would have a 25% chance (0% if my mother didn't have it and 50% if she did).

There are two BRCA genes - BRCA1 and BRCA2. Of families with several high-risk indicators, (ovarian & breast cancer, onset before menopause, bilateral breast cancer and/or male breast cancer), 52% had a BRCA1 mutation and 32% had a BRCA2 mutation (the others may have other genetic susceptibility).

[I will work more on finishing the transcribing later, but I'll just post this incomplete so people can see the video sooner.]

Not Anti-Treatment

A lot of people seem to think that people opposed to curing autism are against any kind of medical treatment, including seizure medications and vaccinations. For anyone who believes that, look at this blog post:

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=419

Kassiane, a severely epileptic autistic woman, lost medical coverage (she lives in US, which has a really screwy health care system) and was running low on the seizure medications that help keep her alive (most seizures aren't life-threatening, but she has had tonic clonic status epilepticus, which is). I couldn't help her out myself, but many autistic activists sent her money to help her purchase her medications.
If we were really against treatment for medical problems, Kassiane would not have received that kind of help from us. We just draw a distinction between life-threatening illnesses and developmental disabilities, and think the two categories should be treated in different ways.

New Video on YouTube

I just posted a new video to YouTube.



Sorry about the poor quality. I'll see if I can edit it later on - try to increase text size and volume.