Thoughts on Autism Speaks from a Volunteers prespective

As I clean my 10 year old eMachine (or what was formerly called the kids computer until the laptop bit the dust a few months back) tonight, I was amused to find a link to Autism Speaks 2006 tax return. The original link is now broken, but you can access the tax return at Autism Speaks website. Finding this link made me wonder if other people wonder why I am so bitter towards Autism Speaks and maybe that this might be a good time for to tell about my life before Autism and why it frustrates me that an organization who raises so much does so little for families and kids with Autism.

In June of 1997, my husband graduated from Cleveland State. With our 2 children, Ashley and Nick, age 7 & 5, in tow we packed everything we could into our Plymouth Neon and a turtle shell thing on top of it and headed back to our home town, Carlsbad. You would seriously laugh at the things we brought with us in that tiny of a car. Our clothes, obliviously, what ever toys the kids could fit in a back pack and play with on the ride, our TV, stereo and video games all squished in the trunk. We honestly did not care if we had nothing we just wanted to go home to Carlsbad.

Unfortunately there was one Primer who was NOT so happy with leaving her friends and basically her entire 2nd grade life. The school year was tough with Ashley missing her best friend, Emily Kestner, and trying to adapt to a new way of life and new friends. So Ashley was promised she could do cheerleading through Carlsbad Pop Warner. I went in March of 1998 to sign her up; I was looking for her a scholarship. I try really hard to never promise my children anything I can’t deliver and here I was basically looking for the most favored toy at 6pm on Christmas Eve, and hoping I could deliver since I knew our budget could NOT!

Ed was working as substitute teacher in Carlsbad Unified School District, and I was subbing as anything and everything in San Deiguito Union High School District, we were trying to make ends meet and keep food on the table and gas in the car. For anyone not familiar with how substitute teachers (or any other sub position) in a school district get paid here it is. In the state of California, you get paid a month behind. Basically you work September 1st thru the 30th and then get paid on October 31st. It’s a long, long, did I say long time between pay and work.

So long story short, my stint in volunteer work began. They gave Ashley a scholarship as long as I coached 10 little 7, 8, & 9 year olds in cheerleading, something I had never done, EVER!!!! This led me to join the Carlsbad Pop Warner Board the next year and eventually co-run the Carlsbad High School Football teams snack bar for 5 years.

By now your wondering what in the world does this have to do with Autism Speaks? In reality it has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH AUTISM SPEAKS!!!

I know when you hear snack bar, you think oh like we had at Little League, candy and pop and maybe a hot dog if you were lucky, and let me tell you that perspective is completely wrong. At the high school level it’s huge! We had sales between $5000 to $10,000 a night on an average of 4 or 5 regular season games and hopefully 1 or 2 play off games with home field advantage.

To put this in to perspective, at the time I worked at the most popular breakfast place in Carlsbad, Don’s Country Kitchen. Don’s has 7 inside tables, 8 counter seats and at the time 4 outside tables. A very, very, very small restaurant! On Sunday morning between 7 am and 2 pm (7 hours) we averaged between $2000 and $3000 sales a day. Our football snack bar between the hours of 4:30 pm and 9:30 pm ( 5hours) was averaging $5000 to $10,000 a night and at that we did it on volunteers, no one was paid. Over the 5 years I did it I worked pretty much with Kelli Strawhun and Wendy Butler for hours at a time, we did all the purchasing, pretty much all the stocking and pretty much all the scheduling. Emily and Austin pretty much thought the snack bar was a second home. Kelli, Wendy, and I never took money for any of our time, none of our home copy supplies, internet usage, gas, and mileage on our car from shopping or pricing different products to get the best price or begging local stores to give us free stuff or at least discounts to cut costs. We were in it to lower costs to help kids who could not afford to play, for bigger and better football and cheer gear, and to pay the extra stipends the school district did not cover for coaches. We were in it for the kids.

So the moral of this story you ask? The moral is here is a community project I worked on, where I raised the money, I did not have a child on the football team at Carlsbad at the time, but I did it without advertisements, with out celebrities and without putting the bottom line in jeopardy. Waste not want not was our motto.

Yet here is this giant Autism organization, with a great little logo, or as I call it the evil little blue puzzle piece, raising $60 million dollars a year and I have yet to find one child this money actually helped., actually made a difference in their life. Over the life of my husband’s football coaching career, I can find many children who are now adults that the money raised at that snack bar, no matter who ran it, had their lives changed for the better because of the CHS football program. No matter where I go in my community, I hear people yell out for me or my husband and thank us for our work and ask how our kids are doing. We made a difference, my husband is still there making a difference.

Our football program now also has (off the top of my head) 3 NFL players who are giving back to the Community of Carlsbad. These are people who now make a difference because some one fundraised so they could play high school football. We also have many successful graduates in many other professions who give back to the program and many kids who go into teaching and coaching because of their love of the sport. This love came from the CHS football program that was fundraised by parents!!!

For Autism Speaks I still only see their bottom line! A Park Ave office, huge salaries, huge travel expenses and yet in my journey over the last 6 years of Autism I can’t find one family who yells from the mountain tops Autism Speaks helped me, they changed the life of my child.

So when you hear my adorable 10 year old say with a straight face, “Autism Speaks does not speak for the Primer’s, TACA does”. Please realize there is a reason, a very important reason they DO NOT SPEAK FOR US or anyone we know.

I post often on Facebook and on my blog on why I like certain Autism Charities, but the number one reason is I can find many families shouting from roof tops saying how this organization’s changed their child’s life. As for Autism Speaks and their $60 Million budget, I have yet to find one.

As always here are my favorite Charities for Autism, in no particular order, but have given me nothing physical, but have give me the ability to change my child’s life, gave my child camp, gave my child the ability to surf, lobbied for my child with Congress or just educated me along the way. I don’t need physical stuff, neither do the rest of my friends who are Autism parents, we want them, but what we need is tools, tools to make our kids lives better and for our kids to have a chance to be productive parts of society and not a burden on it. So please support the organizations that support us…

Talk About Curing Autism Now (TACA)
Surfer’s Healing
Autism Society of America, San Diego Chapter
National Autism Association's (NAA)
Autism Link

Generation Rescue

Mom's Against Mercury

Safe Minds

(I am sure there are other’s I missed please feel free to remind me and I will add them, also)

I will close this with the next time some one asks you for a $1 to put your name on a little blue puzzle piece, please politely decline and then write their corporate offices and tell them Austin Primer prefers Autism Charities that actually help kids!! Until next time PITAup and do something to change the life of a child with Autism, the life you change maybe your own!!!

Diagnosis day

What do you do on the day of your child’s diagnosis? Is it a day of reflection, a day of tears (happy or sad) or is it just another day.

When Austin was diagnosed 6 years ago today, June 15, 2004, I never cried. Not once. I cried when a co worker of Ed’s child was diagnosed a year later, because I worried what she was walking into with our district.

I have cried over success and failure of friends children, but until this year I don’t think I have actually cried for me, for the Primer’s and for our losses and gains from Autism.

Some how I think this year is different. I have been weepy for the last few weeks. Not all the tears were sad and not all were happy. I have just been a mix of emotions lately. I do fear I have gone soft. SHHHH don’t tell anyone, it’s our little secret!!!!

I have cried every time I think about our Special Ed Director, Bruce Kramer, leaving Carlsbad Unified, I cry because I know what a difference he has made for Austin, and I cry because I worry about who is coming to replace him. Will it be like it was at the beginning where I had to fight for everything or will our district bring another Autism knowledgeable person in to continue Bruce’s work?

I have cried because an awesome warrior mom, Christina Martynec, who I met at the Green Our Vaccine Rally in June of 2008 and now know personally had her child undiagnosed a few weeks ago.

I have cried over Austin leaving parrell play and actually seeking kids out to play with. He may not always succeed, but he is trying. So thankful he has kids who want to help him be successful. Not just the kids at school, but kids like Paige and Julie. Tag seems to be a universal game every child can play even the non verbal ones!!!

Some how all these tears seem different then when I cried for Ed’s co worker all those years ago. Those tears were angry tears. These tears are tears for all the emotions I have felt over the last 6 years. They represent the ups and downs I have gone through. They represent my fears of the future and how I am unsure my kid will ever be recovered. They represent my thankfulness of how far we have come. They represent the things I know that I have changed and made better for the person who walks into Autism after me. They represent the things I know I still have to fight in the future.

Today not only do I reflect on my own child’s diagnosis, I reflect on those who came before me and paved the way for me and others like me. Thank you Lisa Ackerman, thank you Becky Estepp, thank you Katie Wright, thank you Dana’s view, thank you Karen L. DeFelice, thank you Dr. Wakefield, Dr. McCandless, thank you all DAN doctors who have stepped up and thank you all who I can’t mention who made a difference the for me and many others who follow us. I hope even if I change the world I live in, that I some day have the right to stand next you all, because you all changed the world for me, Austin and the entire Primer Family. We don’t have the recovered kid, but we have a completely different kid then we had 6 years ago today.

PITAup, you may not be able to change the world, but you have the ability to change the world you live in!! If it was not for someone like you, I would have had to gone home and done what our Kaiser, go home and don’t “thrive”, neurologist said and learned to live with Autism. Instead, I am today on our 6th anniversary of our Autism diagnosis, I get to reflect on the ups and down, but I know my life is better because of parents like me.

Thank you also to all that I call PITA, without you I could not get up every day and do what I do. You give me strength and courage to continue to fight. Love you all!!!

Is it wrong to some days just hate your friends who do not have a child with Autism?

Is it wrong to some days just hate your friends who do not have a child with Autism? Because right now I hate you all equally, as my mom used to say about me and my siblings.

Ok not because I hate you, I hate the fact that you can worry about such trivial things like wither or not your kid is getting into the right school, or camp, summer camp, or can even go to camp or if its your vacation to some exotic place I can only dream of going!!!

Honestly, my older kids dream about not working through college, they dream of a life without $50k in student loans they dream about a day that they may not be responsible for their sibling with Autism and they wish their parents could afford to pay their college tuition or take them on a cruise or to Europe, Emily dreams about an over night camp. My husband dreams of vacations far from Carlsbad. I dream of a weekly massage and unlimited shopping trips, but hey I am easy, lol.

Unfortunately that is not our life!!

Ok maybe it’s been a bad day, a really bad day!

Just because my special ed director decided to leave our district right as I hit my period and just one week before the 6 anniversary of Austin’s diagnoses, and I have to worry about the fact that a day camp for Austin can cost $1000 to $2000 a week, and that this is really the rest of my life.

I guess I am not sure why I am surprised by my negative reaction to everything (yes that is sarcasm).

I guess today is the day that I am not little miss sunshine, lollipops and life is good.

I really try. I know how far Austin and our family has come but some days you just have to say it!!

Today sucks. Autism sucks!!!

The one person in Carlsbad Unified School District that actually had the power to make a difference has left. His supervisor ended his message to the teachers about his departure with this ominous message, “We began talking this afternoon in executive cabinet about how best to fill this incredibly important position in these tight financial times.”

I honestly wish Bruce well, but I am so sad by him leaving. It breaks my heart and makes me want to go back to the crazy parent I was 5 years ago when Bruce met me. Chances are I will, but there is a small part of me that hopes that Dr. Roach is right when he said, “He has helped us “right the ship” in services to Special Education students. We have made tremendous progress in the five years Bruce has led that division.”

I guess if nothing else Bruce gave me hope. Well here to me PITAing up and keeping the hope.

"The parents are not going away."

"The parents are not going away. The children are not going away. And I am certainly not going away." ~ Dr. Andrew Wakefield on The Today Show May 24, 2010.

I once read “adversity doesn't build character, it just brings it out.” Thank you Dr. Wakefield once again for showing us character. I wish there were more people like you in the world.

The easy route is always the one of silence. It’s much harder to stand up and question what the norm thinks. Dr. Wakefield is one brave man for doing it.

For those of you not familiar with The Today Show or Nancy Snyderman (who used to work for Johnson & Johnson a major maker of vaccines, can you say conflict of interest?) neither is very fond of those of us worry about the Vaccine/Autism connection people. So Matt Lauer’s response to this story is really not that surprising either.

I guess what surprises me is how few true people of character exist in the media now days. Where are the reporters that helped these famous whistleblowers? From http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/whistleblower/famous-whistleblowers.html ...

Daniel Ellsberg - a former State Department analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, a secret account of the Vietnam War and its pretexts to The New York Times, which revealed indemic practices of deception by previous administrations, and contributed to the erosion of public support for the war.
W. Mark Felt, (aka Deep Throat) - Until very recently, a secret informant who in 1972 leaked information about United States President Richard Nixon's involvement in Watergate. The scandal would eventually lead to the resignation of the president, and prison terms for White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and presidential adviser John Ehrlichman.
Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom and Sherron Watkins of Enron, who exposed corporate financial scandals, and Coleen Rowley of the FBI, who later outlined the agency's slow action prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The three were selected as Time's People of the Year in 2002.
Katharine Gun - a former employee of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency who in 2003 leaked top-secret information to the press concerning illegal activities by the United States and the United Kingdom in their push for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Joseph Darby - a member of the United States military police who in 2004 first alerted the U.S. military command of prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison, in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
Christoph Meili - a night guard at a Swiss bank. He discovered that his employer was destroying records of savings by Holocaust victims, which the bank was required to return to heirs of the victims. After the Swiss authorities sought to arrest Meili, he was given political asylum in the United States.
Walter DeNino - a student who questioned Eric Poehlman's integrity
Paul van Buitenen - who accused European Commission members of corruption.
Jeffrey Wigand - former executive of Brown & Williamson who exposed his company's practice of intentionally manipulating the effect of nicotine in cigarettes on the CBS news program 60 Minutes.

Come on one of you all has to still be out there reporting and investigating? Why can’t you work for the Today Show? Isn’t there some new reporter who wants to be on that kind of list?

Maybe I am asking the wrong question, why isn’t there a news show that supports that kind of thinking outside the box reporting? Well I know the correct answer, its money!!! Big pharm companies bring big $ to news networks. Shame on you all for picking the money over your supposed love for journalism.

Don’t worry you pharma whore news shows, Dr. Wakefield is right, "The parents are not going away. The children are not going away”. The more in denial you are about this, the more money you take for them, it does not matter. The numbers of Autism is huge and growing day by day. You can deny us but we are here and we are not going any where. Just like 50 years ago when it was proven that smoking causes cancer, this too shall be proven!!! It may take years, but we will have our victory. I just hope you are alive to see it and that you all apologize for the damage you are doing to us now!!!

Until next time. PITAup! Its better then being a big fat coward like Matt Lauer and the Today Show!!!

To Dine Out or Not With Autism?

As the parent of 4 children I am often thankful that it is my youngest child who has Autism. Since the two older children are 10 and 12 years older then Austin, I think we put sometimes unfair expectations on Austin even with the autism. And by unfair I do not mean we ever pushed him to the breaking point, but we pushed him to very close. We pushed him to learn how to behave in public, including sit at football games, to behave at eating out and how to behave at amusement parks. It really helped that the two older children had really busy social calendars and even with Autism we kept doing those things on a regular basis.

While I do not think my child is anywhere close to the typical child with Autism, I do sometimes think that parents of small children with Autism think their child could never do “something”. My example of something for this purpose is sit at a restaurant for dinner. I often hear from my mentees that their 3 year old could never ever make it through dinner at a casual restaurant like Chili’s, Applebee’s, Bob Evans, Coco’s, etc. I also hear that because of diet they could never eat out at any of the above places.

I want to put both of those myths to bed. First and foremost just saying the words “the American’s with Disabilities act” generally makes anyone objecting to me bringing in food for Austin to stop objecting. If that does not work I will use the phrase “anaphylaxis” allergy and liable if injured or death occurs from food eaten at the restaurant, most managers then back slowly away and tell the server it is ok.

Yet this is not why I am writing this blog, it is more for the parents who tell me, my child would never sit through dinner. If you think that way your child will never sit through dinner. You will end up with an adult with Autism who can’t sit through dinner.

Now I am not suggesting you show up to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse at 6 pm on a Friday night with your 3 year old with Autism. That would be stupid and a waste of money. What I am suggesting is showing up at somewhere for dinner at 3 pm, when the crowds are small and the servers have very few tables. Then if your child with Autism acts up you can redirect and work on the bad behaviors with less of an audience. You also can leave and take your food to go if necessary. Once you have done this successfully a few times you move the time slot to 4 pm. Now the 4 pm time slot along with the 5 pm time slot will be a tougher crowd. You may have the older people crowd who do not always understand autism and who may think you are not spanking your child enough. The plus will be that the restaurant will still be less busy, but a little busy and more stimulus going on so your child can work on learning the skills he or she will need to make it successfully at a restaurant at dinner.

Always be prepared when going out- place a bag full of items in your trunk. One's that your child doesn't play with at home or only see's when going out. Not only will they keep them occupied, the new toys/books will keep it fresh and fun! We used to always travel with a portable DVD player and lots of stuff to do. Now days we travel light with an iPod Touch and some fun inexpensive apps. Another great trick to helping children behave in restaurants is to pick a loud restaurant, one that plays music or has TVs are always good choices. Then the noise of a small child is less noticeable

After successfully getting through dinner, you can work on so many things when out in public places- sitting quietly, waiting, behaviors, manners, etc. Don't be afraid to go places with your child with autism - get them out into the world, the sooner you do the sooner you both will realized that it can be an enjoyable experience. You can have family time and eve a family meal in public. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go well the first time. Don’t give up on your child. They will thank you for it later :)

Until next time PITAup and make the world a little more Autism friendly.

Blog ideas

I am looking for blog ideas. As a parent or a parent of a child with Autism or a parent of a gluten free child, or as a parent of a child with food allergies, I want to know what questions do you have for other parents? What other random thoughts pop in your head that you wish some one would give you insight to?
Honestly I love helping other people find solutions to their problems. Unfortunately everyone’s problems are not always apparent to me. So I am giving everyone on my blog, Facebook, & twitter page the opportunity to tell me what they need help with. I know I do not know it all, even though I do often act like a “know it all”, but I know I have friends who might be able to help you.

I am a problem solver, I like to find solutions to peoples problems and maybe I can do that for you. I will never claim to know the right answer for you, but I am willing to help you try to find some solutions for your issues, you just have to ask.

Questions, comments, and thoughts can be sent to pita_up@yahoo.com

As always PITAup and change the world, because only you can change the world you live in!!!

Autism Lives Here

When you become a parent you know there is going to be times when you worry. You know you will worry about how children will change your marriage or relationship, you worry if you be a good parent, you worry if you can provide everything a child will need and you worry for your child’s future.

As a parent of a child with Autism, these worries are compounded to the "n"th degree, instead of just the above worries you also worry about your entire family’s future, and how a child with Autism will impact your other children’s present and future. You worry about your sanity due the constant having to fight for everything my child needs to be as independent as possible in the future, you worry that your child may never be independent in even the simplest ways like potty training, crossing the street alone, preparing their own meals, cleaning up after themselves, living independently, surviving once you are deceased and I am sure a million more I have missed or have yet to think of.

Then you read a story, like the one published Tuesday, April 27, 2010 in The Independent, about a father, age 44, and son, with Autism, age 22 being found in what appears to be another murder/suicide of a child with Autism. It makes parents like me think again that we are not worried enough, we don’t fight enough and there is no way for us to plan enough.

It is also makes parents like me wonder and worry about when the United States Government and our elected officials are going to even worry about our children with Autism. If the numbers are already 1 in 110 children have Autism, when will the number be high enough for them to worry? How many more precious lives have to be lost due to a parent not having enough support, enough help or a child not getting enough services to help them survive and live as independently as possible?

I can tell you it is not anytime soon. The government, especially our state governments, is cutting services on a daily basis from families, like ours and the one in the news story. These types of things are going to be happening more in the future, this was the 2nd such story I have read in the last 3 months. The 1st was from The NY Daily News on February 5th 2010. The child in this story was only 8 years old, the same age as my child, Austin.

I don’t want this for my future or any ones future, won’t you PITAup and ask our government to make a difference in the life of their constituents’?

You can contact your federal and state representatives and let them know you concerned about families like the ones in these stories and families you actually know. You can contact your U.S. Senators here and you can contact your House of Representatives here. In California, you can find the contact information for your State Senators here, other states will need to Google the information.

Don’t let Autism Die this way, show our families some compassion and let us and our children live to our fullest potential.

Big Shout Out!!!

Now don’t fall out of your chairs, I feel a compliment coming on here. Ok that part is not really that shocking, it’s for whom the compliment is for, that may surprise you.

I want to say how much I really and truly love Austin’s teacher this year. Her and the teacher of the 3-5 grade Severely Handicapped classrooms at Hope Elementary are outstanding.

Our teachers are so awesome because they are fundraising for every child in their two classrooms to have iPod Touches loaded with Proloquo2go and other apps on them. Ok every child except Austin. Austin is already getting one through the school district, even though it might be next year before we actually begin using theirs and stop using ours. (Rolls eyes, got to love the School district and how long purchase orders can take).

While to me this kind of action is not surprising, I think it may surprise many. I think a lot of teachers get a bad rap. Now I agree there are some bad teachers out there, I have had one or two, Mr. Hoyle comes to mind (I know all you CBAD grads are now laughing to yourself and hearing his monotone voice say, “Get rid of it”), but I think most teachers get into teaching for all the right reasons. Being the wife of a teacher I might be a tad prejudiced though.

Teaching is truly the worst customer service job out there. Not only do you have to please the parents, the students, the principal, and the public, you get to do it while being underpaid and in the times of budget cuts having to worry about losing your job. If you are a special education teacher or have any special education students in your class, you also get the worry of being sued personally if something goes wrong with implementing FAPE and IEP’s.

In customer service you generally only get to hear how you are doing, when you are doing it wrong. So today your PITAup challenge is to look and see if you have one of those hidden gems of a teachers, teacher’s assistant, or any school district employee who is doing an exceptional job and thank them. Maybe pick up a thank you card or some treat for them, but at the very least say it out loud to them and if you can within ear shot of their boss.

So to Liz and Michelle, I just want to give you a shout out and say thanks for all you do for Austin and all his classmates!!!

Until next time PITAup!!

Risking “life or lung” for autism.

Risking “life or lung” for autism. I know the correct statement is “risking life or limb”, but not in my world. In my world its life or lung!!!

When we started enzymes 5.5 years ago with Austin, I quickly realized that I was allergic to them. It started with small panic attacks, which were really asthma attacks and continued to get worse when I was exposed to the powder. 3 years ago I ended up walking to the fire department which was 4 houses from mine and then at the ER after Austin dumped a ¼ of a bottle of Houston's AFP-Peptizyde HN004-P 200 dose bulk powder, with cellulose. I knew even before I turned around what had happened. I could feel my lungs closing, I could breathe in but not out. I really and truly thought I might die at any moment. Luckily for me my older children were home, I got one of them and without explanation handed Austin to them and walked out of the house. As I tried to calm myself down I realized I had no choice but to go to the fire department. I had my cell phone but was afraid if I called 911 they would not be able to find me. I was also fearful that if I did not hurry and get to the fire department that I might pass out right there on the side of the road and not be found until it was to late. Fortunately when I got to the fire department they were home and they quickly gave me an albuterol inhalation treatment.

That night at the fire department and again in the ER I was told I should just stop giving the enzymes to Austin. I looked at them like they were crazy while they looked at me like I was crazy.

What’s the point of this story is the simple one; I would do anything for any of my children to make them feel better even risk my own life. I know this concept is hard for some but it is not for a mother. The thing I don’t understand is why this surprises people. When your children are born something happens that you can’t explain. A feeling comes over you; a feeling of protection. You just want to protect that little being from everything. You would risk your life or even die for your children, because life would not be worth living without them.

Anaphylactic reaction or not, I would do anything to help recover my son, Austin. I do now have an EpiPen and inhaler with me at all times though. Bottom line I am in this for the long haul…I am a Wife, a Mother, a PITA!

If you want to learn more about enzymes you can here.

Warning: I will photograph you in the handicapped spots at the Elementary School and post them on FB and my blog!

There is nothing more annoying then someone who does not have a handicap placard and parks in a handicap parking space, in the stripped loading zone between the handicap parking spaces or in the handicapped loading zones in front of buildings.

In the Hope Elementary parking lot we have 2 handicap spots and one loading area in front of the school. The buses and handicap transportation vans all park in front of or near the later area about 15-20 minutes before school get out and leave by at least 5 minutes before school lets out. On non rainy days this works out wonderfully because that is when the parents of disabled children who do not ride the bus pull in as the others leave and we can easily get pick up their child up in a safe manner of the 2 spots are filled.

Many of you who have long followed me on Facebook know how many times I have posted on this subject before. It annoyed me so much that I even occasionally posted pictures of the offending car that has illegally parked at least once a week since the beginning of school. The week of the time change, the worst offender parked there every day that week and I finally said something to her. I was nice and polite, but I did explain how it was against the law and rude. So far, at least in my presence, she has not repeated it.

So yesterday it rained and on rainy days, here in “sunny” California parents think little “Johnny” and “Suzy” will surely melt like the “Wicked Witch” if they are touch by one tiny drop of rain. This makes the parents crazed and they all fight for the area the busses were in. The majority of that area is all red curbed just like the rest of where the regular education kids load and unload, but there is an approximately 12 foot spot that is clearly painted blue, has a wheel chair ramp and a legal blue sign stating it is for handicap loading. Just because its not an actual handicap spot I think the parents miss it is still legally only for people with handicap placards or handicapped transportation vehicles. The pathetic person who did it today got yelled at by some old guy with a placard, I was secretly cheering him on.

I know many people look at my family when we step out of the car in a handicap spot and think why do they have one. People need to be reminded that some handicaps are hidden. My friend Kelli’s heart only works at 40% and you would never know it, she looks as healthy as can be, but even a small cold can make walking and doing things difficult for her. My friend Cindy is only 30 and has an extreme back problem that makes walking difficult. Then you have families like mine who are kids look “normal” and at times even act normal, but at any moment might take off into traffic. Our kids with Autism are huge safety risks.

If after hearing me rant on this subject you are still considering parking on a handicap spot, the stripped area, handicap loading zone, you might also be surprised to learn it is also illegal to be just stopped within 3 feet of pavement, ramps, etc., per CA vehicle code 22507.8(a) and (c) 3. In California you are also subject to hefty fines, between $250 and $1,000, for violating disabled parking laws and according to the newest legislation in 2010 the following acts will net you the enhanced fine:
1) A disabled person who knowingly permits his or her disabled placard or plate to be used by a person not entitled to it
2) A person displaying a disabled placard that was not issued to him or her (except when transporting a disabled person), or a disabled placard that has been canceled or revoked
3) A person using a vehicle displaying a special identification license plate issued to another who parks in a parking stall or space designated for disabled persons
4) A person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false disabled person placard.

So PITA up and if you don’t have a placard DON”T park in the blue, if you don’t have a placard and qualify go get one!!! And remember what my friend Megan said about me,” Warning: I will photograph you in the handicapped spots at the Elementary School and post them on FB and my blog!”

Have a great day and PITA UP!!

Peer Pressure

When my brother-in-law Clem got married we went to Las Vegas for the ceremony. The night before the wedding my sister-in-law to be wanted all of us to go out to The Ghost Bar at the Palms Casino. For those of you who know me well, I am afraid of heights. Hate them, don’t do them, nope not me, but here I was frantically searching for a drink while waiting an hour in line to get into this club which happens to be on the 55th floor. 2 tiny drinks later, I found myself in the Ghost Bar. Unfortunately to get the next drink I had to walk onto that beautiful patio you see in the photo or wait an hour in the massive line at the inside bar. I thought about peer pressuring my friend Kimmy into going out there until she walked out and her Marilyn Monroe style skirt went flying up from the winds. So through out the night, being the good friend I am, I went and got Kimmy and I numerous drinks on that patio. It did get easier with a few more drinks. Thank goodness for peer pressure or I would never have had that awesome experience of the amazing view from the top of the Palm's and it was actually a fun club. I like to think I would go back, if the fear of heights still did not paralyze me.

So after the wedding, my then 14 year old, Nick, begged me to go take him to the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino and to go to the top with him for their X-Scream roller coaster. I of course had to explain to my child that I was afraid of heights. He tried to reason with me that just the night before I was on the 55th floor of the Palm’s. I then had to explain to him how peer pressure works and how he was not my peer. .

I want the world to know I believe in peer pressure. Yes I do!!! Some of the best things come out of peer pressure. Poor “peer pressure” gets a bad rap for all the bad things people do but really some good things come out of it too.

A great example of this is the term PITA as used in my original blog and as it refers to our San Diego and Orange County Mom’s Night Out groups. If it was not for a joke between my friend Janine and me, the PITA’s would not now be quite what we are today. We had the Mom’s night out group going before the name PITA was added to it. The MNO group while the people are the same as then, it was not quite what it is today. It all started when some of the other PITA’s heard I started a PITA Facebook group, as a joke, to amuse Janine. I got 10 why didn’t you invite me, with those looks that you know they mean business. That was the beginning of what you see the PITA’s as the group it is today. I was peer pressured into making us an “official” group. It then is when we all went out as groups we started referring to ourselves as the PITA’s, (if you read the book “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” think Ya-Ya’s). That little Facebook group is now 2 yahoo PITA groups (one for the SD activities and one for OC activities), a photo shoot, a Facebook fan page, a PITA bodybugg group (which trust me is a whole bunch of more peer pressuring and a different blog, lol) and a whole bunch of requests to become PITA’s and give help on how to get a group like us started in another part of the country.

So today’s message is to go peer pressure someone into doing something good. It might be to make a donation to your favorite Autism Charity, it might be to help you with your child with Autism, but go out and do it.

So go use your PITA powers and peer pressure someone to help for our cause or to follow me;-)!!!

Emotional Vampires

Do you have some one in your life that is just so negative that they are pretty much an emotional vampire? I have a couple in real life and few who are Facebook friends most who have children with Autism. Some days, most days, I think about defacing them, I mean unfriending them. Honestly, I get tired of the whole life sucks, autism sucks, they have nothing positive to say about their child/children, Jenny McCarthy sucks, DAN doctors are snake oil salesmen, vaccines suck, etc.

YES WE KNOW AUTISM SUCKS!!!

HEY!!! It could always be worse. Many of my friends with kids with Autism that are dealing with that and a whole bunch more, they would be thankful to only have Autism to complain about.. Here are a few examples off the top of my head.
1) CPS.
2) Fighting cancer
3) husband’s has passed away in the past year
4) many with chronic immune issues
5) chronic pain
6) heart issues
7) domestic violence
8) drug abuse
Most of the friends I have with the above issues complain but not 24/7, and they do post some positive things when they have a good day.

I seriously worry about people who can’t find something good to post about once in awhile. I’m not looking for huge things; the something good could be that your child with Autism smiled at you, the sun came out, or you caught all the green lights on your way home. Any happy thing here would make me feel better.

This may sound like I am dissing one of my fellow autism parents’ but I am not trying too. If I was I would have already defaced them and moved on. I just want to feed them some food for thought. I think most of us on Facebook and have a child with autism are Autism Awareness 24/7 but I fear the always negative message may scare off the people in your lives who do not live and breath Autism 24/7. I also fear it will scare the new parents to autism from trying some of the interventions that have helped other kids. 6 years ago I was a lot like my emotional vampires friends, well except I am pro Jenny and DAN. Then I realized that I was sounding like a crazy person and alienating those I wanted to help. I then took a step back and changed the way I worded things. I gained a lot more supporters and people who do not have a child with Autism, but know someone who does and may need the information I have learned.

A great example of this is my Cousin Renee’s aunt friended me the other day. I’ve know this aunt all my life, she is like an aunt to me. She friended me a year and half after she heard me talking to Renee’s cousin April about why she should not use Dreft on her baby’s clothes. Renee’s aunt is becoming a grandma and she heard me talking to April at Renee’s daughter in law’s baby shower, trust me I wanted to yell full force to April to not vaccinate, but I didn’t. I did not because I knew I would send April the other way. Instead I talked to her about something small, because I DO NOT scare pregnant women. I want pregnant women to feel free to have an open dialogue with me at anytime. My calm attitude when speaking to April, left the door open for someone who was listening to talk to me about their concerns 1 ½ years after the initial conversation.

This same dialogue with April also lead me to friending and talking to another one of Renee’s cousin’s wives. Her child has been extremely sick and was recently diagnosed with multiple food allergies, and needed help with finding foods her child could eat and my thoughts on eating GF at home for the entire family. Had I stayed the crazy person both these people may not have learned the knowledge I had to share.

I guess the point of this blog is to:
a) Think before you speak, don’t scare off the people who want to listen to you
b) Remember you may not be able to change the entire world at once, but you can try to change the world one person at a time
c) Most important don’t be an emotional vampire, let your friends know something positive every once in a while other wise we will worry about you!!!

PITA up, you know you want too!!

Ever wonder what is a life changing event?

Ever wonder what is a life changing event? Ever wondering how many life changing events one person can have? I have…

For me they stand out pretty clearly. The first was having cancer, the second was having children, the third was having diagnoses of Autism and the fourth was having diagnoses of heart disease.

Ok that might be a bit deceiving because I have never had cancer, Autism or heart disease but I have lived through them all, and I am only 38!!! I have lived through my boyfriend, soon to be husband having cancer when I was 17, having kids at 18, my youngest child’s diagnoses of Autism and my husband having a heart attack when he was 39.

I always thought Autism would be the MOST life changing event, but I was wrong. The heart attack was. Surprise surprise.

The heart attack made me really think of how short life is. It made everything go into perspective; it made me realize I wanted to live. I guess that is what is different before kids and after kids, because cancer should have done that, right?

Nope.

As mom’s we are notorious for taking care of everyone but ourselves, and that becomes ten-fold after the diagnoses of Autism. I remember those first 9 months reading 40 hours a week on Autism. While most of you may think I live Autism now, trust me, this is the calm me. I know hard to believe, but free to ask Ed, Ashley & Nick. Before I get a 100 Facebook posts (since I know no one comments here, lol) yelling at me for not including Emily, I will point out it is different because she has only known a life with Autism, because Austin was like this since she was 3 and he was about 18 months.)

Ok back to the subject at hand, taking care of ourselves. You have to do it. You are not getting any younger, and the kids they are getting bigger and stronger every day. Eventually they will be able to out run us and you darn well better starve off that day as long as you can!!!

First let’s get rid of the excuse you are now yelling at the computer.

Excuse #1 taking time for me is SELFISH. I am pulling out the BS card on this one and telling no its not, it SELFLESS!! The better your health the easier it is on hubby and the kidlets!! The better you feel the better the household feels and runs.

Excuse #2 I don’t have the time, I work fulltime. Again I am pulling out the BS card you have the time. Every parent I know watches at least one 30 minute TV show a day, either give that up or exercise while you watch. If you work and you say you are too tired at the end of the day, again I say BS. You are entitled to two fifteen minute a day breaks and at least a 30 minute break for an 8 hour shift. Walk quickly for 10 of those 15 minutes and go to the bathroom in the other 5, and to make it more difficult take the walk up the stairs if you can. At lunch walk the other 10 minutes. Heck I just put “10 minutes of exercise 3 times a day” into Google and came up with 9 million hits.

Excuse # 3 I don’t have time I am a stay at home mom. When you pick your child up, pick up under the shoulders and lift once or twice and use the body resistance as a weight. Potty training? Use the door jam to do push ups off, run in place, etc.

Excuse # 4 I have some type of disability, war injury, stubbed my toe, etc. There are chair exercises and ways to adapt most exercise, be creative. Can’t think of any adaptations send me an e-mail or Facebook me and I will find one or ask around and find one.

Last and final BS excuse I won’t exercise. Fine then set down that Starbuck’s White Chocolate Frappuccino® Blended Crème at 760 calories and do some serious calorie counting. And don’t do it alone, invest in the bodybugg my best friend from high school does not exercise and has lost 45 pounds just by counting calories with the bodybugg telling her how many calories she burns everyday. You don’t have to give anything up, you just eat in moderation. Is it as good as eating wisely and exercising? No, but losing the weight and being in a healthy size will extend your life and make you more likely to exercise. I love mine. I lost 45 pounds and went from a size 16 to a size 6 in 9 months. I have also used the system to maintain that weight loss for over 7 months, and in those 7 months I have survived Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter, are there holidays that you eat more then those?

Ok now when you see the price of the bodybugg, don’t come running to me to tell me it’s to expensive or I will write you a list of why you can afford it and how too;-) If you have a flex spending account let me know, I got Ed’s covered under ours.

Now go PITA up and get healthy!!!

(Updated March 24, 2013 because Bodybugg has changed their software and the new info is at http://bodymedia.extole.com/m/1270648960)

Why does the little blue puzzle piece and its organization not speak for me?

Why does the little blue puzzle piece and its organization not speak for me?

I get asked this question A LOT!!! Well today they do not Speak for me, because they take the money out of the pockets of great charities that actually help parents. My wonderful friend, Cindy Killeen Waeltermann, today is worried about her awesome little charity not making it because of “No money. Tired of making ends meet. Autism Speaks wins”.

An example of how Cindy’s charity helped me personally is that a few months ago when a fellow San Diego PITA asked for help for a friend that went to college with her, Cindy and her charity were the first to help out. Cindy personally sent me a message on how to get the child an evaluation ASAP. This is a mom, who started a charity because she wants to get kids services and her charity reflects that. When she posts on Facebook about “events” they are doing, many of those are events are kid related, not just about raising money. When was the last time the little blue puzzle piece threw a party for the kids with Autism? When did they do a conference to educate new parents with Autism? When did they sponsor a parent of a child with Autism to go to a conference? Honestly what have they done for me lately, oh wait they have not done a damn thing for me ever!!!!

Today, my older son Nick, who turns 18 in a few days and is realizing that he will have to go to a junior college because of lack of funds asked me what Autism Charity gave scholarships to siblings of children with Autism? I laughed and challenged him to get the little blue puzzle piece to do it, so I could stop bitching about them. Well hopefully his hopes are not high because I am sure that they will fail him just like they have failed his brother and his parents for the past 6 years. Instead of helping me or anyone I know they have instead used their money for a very fancy Park Avenue office and bad mouthed the daughter of the founder for believing in biomedical help for Autism.

So if you are still wondering why you should not donate to the little blue puzzle piece and their big fat NY offices, remember that of the $60 MILLION donated last year only $837,000 were donated to expand Autism services, so do the math less then 1/60 of their revenue, $341,000 went to expanding recreational services, but that does not mean any child actually saw a recreation service it means they were expanding them.

Yet they paid $1.3 Million on advertising, their chief science officer got $669.000, yes you read that correctly they got almost as much was used to “expand Autism Services” and twice as much as was used to “expand recreational services”
There are so many more stats that I could fill up the library of congress, ok maybe that is a bit far fetched, but I could at least fill up at least the Carlsbad Library with their wasted funds.

Here is a couple of awesome youtube videos on this subject if you want more info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fc_qtWxMes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S-9yQrsras

So PITA up and help the little charities that help real families right now.

Here are a few of our favorite ones

www.firstgiving.com/austinprimer (Talk about curing autism now)
http://www.sd-autism.org/givingPrograms.html
www.surfershealing.com
https://ssl.charityweb.net/genrescue/ (Generation rescue)
www.autismlink.com
www.nationalautismassociation.org/

What’s for dinner?

What’s for dinner?

After almost 6 years on the Gluten Free Casein Free diet, I especially find it amusing hearing how hard the diet is and how someone could never do it. Sorry people it is not that hard. PITA UP!!!

When we started 6 years ago we ate bark, literally most thing tasted like bark!!!

Ok I should be forthcoming, the Primer household doesn’t all eat GFCF, but I am also not a short order cook. Had we only had Emily and Austin when we started the diet we would have all been, but we had a 12 and 10 year old who had a life before GFCF and before Autism. At that point in their lives we were so upside down we decided it was not fair to make them give up everything and trust me after meeting Autism we gave up everything, it might have been good for them to give this up too, but I would not ask it!!!

We did for an entire year though not have any commercial cereals and this was before EnviroKids had much more then Gorilla Munch. It was the one thing Ash and Nic used to leave down and one day I hit my limit and said, in the mom voice, “If you leave that down one more time, we will never have it again” and then for a year we did not. But trust me when their favorite bread was the next thing they left for Austin to eat got the threat, they did NOT leave it out. The learned they adapted!!

So for the record we all eat the same dinner and I make Austin his own “TV dinners” to take to school every day from the leftovers. I freeze them in wax paper and Ziploc baggies and they serve at school.

The diet is like any life change, i.e. exercise, moving, changing jobs, whatever, it is a mind set, once you realize that is just the way it is you get through it. Today’s GFCF people have it easy. I envy you all since we are now GFCFEFSFAF, for those newbie’s, those letters mean Gluten Free (no Wheat, rye, oats or barley), Casein Free (no milk), Egg free, Soy free and Apple free. For most things now days you can find tasty foods that are free of a lot, but generally they are either GFCFEF or GFCFSF, but you can’t be both. All you companies out there thinking what does the public want next, we want GFCFEFSF ;-)

OK so I have days where I have simply run out of ideas for what is for dinner. I figured others might also. So I thought I would share my new favorite GFCF recipe and that in a future blog I will share some of my other new favorite GFCF things.

Today I managed to make Emeril's Chicken Marsala. I subbed rice & potato flour for the wheat flour and ghee for the butter. It turned out fabulously and I am highly recommending the recipe!

Let’s put into perspective how well this was loved. The child who 6.5 years ago would eat no meat, veggies, fruits and definitely not a sauce with mushrooms in it, he ate it, and as I type is licking the plate, and before this when he was done eating his food he had seconds, and then moved on to his dad’s food!!!

That means we will be eating this at least once a week now!!!!!! YUM!!!

Oh and for those of you who say my kid is toooooooo picky for GFCFSF this is the same child that 6.5 years ago found a small piece of hot dog my sister tried to trick him into eating and he figured out how to get it out of the piece of Mac & cheese, without loosing his gluten filled opiate food and only spit out the hot dog!!! The more restrictive we have gone with the diet the better my child eats!!!

OK I will continue this subject in the future because I have some other fun and great new products to promote!!!

Until then PITA up and make the world a better place for our 1 in 91 kids with Autism.

”She should label that kid" and Tanya said, ”Yes like the book the Scarlet Letter or mark you with a capital I for idiot!”

Seriously, what are we getting for 60 million dollars? Does anyone know?

Because I am always being told that Autism Speaks at the very least (and I use that term loosely while my faces contorts into some gawd awful look) promotes Autism Awareness.

If we are getting Autism Awareness after all those walks and all that cash, I want to know why I’m up at 3:29 am pissed off that I again have to educate some ignorant Disneyland employee about Autism. $60 million is a lot of money, and we should have a whole hell of a lot of Awareness going on. No wonder most of us have to call it Autism Action Month, come on Autism Speaks send some money to California to educate Disneyland employees to not yell at children with Autism who are walking independently and staying with their big person, even though it was through the stroller exit and wasn't through your stupid turnstiles, the ignorant British woman who told me not to yell at the staff and “idiot” guy who wanted to put a label on my child. The worst part is I swear at least once a year I have to march into City Hall and give this lecture. When is Disney going to educate the entire staff, because I am tired of doing it myself? (OH and the quiet room will not being making me quiet, nope not this time, not ever when it comes to Autism Awareness and Action!!!)

Seriously the numbers are 1 in 91 we can’t be the first person with Autism that these 3 ignorant people have met, can we? OK maybe we can, but I am sure we will be the most memorable. Especially after I told the British lady that in this country children like mine had rights and laws to protect them while her husband sized up my husband and wondered if he could take us if he needed to. Sorry lady, I don’t care if you were a foot taller then me, my scrappy little American arse could have taken you and your husband out, and you do not mess with a mommy on mission to protect her child from ignorance!!!

Ok so here is the challenge of the day, if Autism Speaks, who doesn’t speak for the Primers and can’t make people “aware”, I guess it is up to all of us in Autism Action month to do it. So PITA Up and make the world a better place by taking some Action on Awareness today!!! (OH and Disneyland you can thank me later for not publishing your phone number at the end of this and asking my 521 Facebook friends to call you and complain too!!!)

Disneyland, 10 year olds birthday, 12 kidlets.

Not enough mimosas, lol!

iPod Touch one of the best inventions EVER!!!

Wants the world to know how great the iPod touch is! Honestly it may be the best invention ever, at least for my household and a few of my friends’ households. It has even passed up the baby wipe and the Ziploc bag in my top two inventions ever, and you all know how much I love my iPhone, computer and internet. Funny thing is I should be blogging about http://proloquo2go.com/ which is awesome, and my friend Malinda would tell you it changed her life.

Malinda Cook says, “The proloquo2go program on the iTouch has changed my life as well as my non-verbal daughter! Since we started using the program in October 2009, she has been able to communicate her wants and needs much better. She uses the program at home as well as at school. I was able to customize it to her needs – proloque2go is so easy to use and program! I recommend it to anyone who needs a communication device for their child. There are 1000’s of icons that are not only up to date but familiar to children – no more stick figures. You can also download you own pictures easily. I highly recommend proloquo2go.”

We just got our proloquo2go.com in December and we are seeing nice progress in communication and we happen to think it’s great also. We especially love it since after 5 devices in 5 years we have one we can program our self and are not dependant on a speech teacher to do it. LOVE THAT!!!!

The part I never expected was games, or apps that can be downloaded on to an iTouch. As a wife of a video game addict and mother of 3 other children who also love to play video games, I love that Austin at 8.5 is now playing video games, even if they are just the toddler ones! I was often jealous of my fellow PITA’s who had kids that played video games and often wondered how much easier my life would be if my kid was a video game addict (how lazy does that sound? lol).

Well Thursday night I got that pleasure. We sat at quietly at That Pizza Place in Carlsbad, enjoyed adult conversation with out of town guests and Austin did not object. Ok he got up and tried to run a way a few times, but he sat and played for a long time. After 8.5 years of having Austin this was huge for us. Even my sister could not believe how well he did. If you haven’t thought about buying your kid an iTouch, I am highly recommending it and give it 2 thumbs way up!!!

Ok while thanking things that have us gotten here, I should include, we could not have done it with it out TACAnow.org, GFCFSFEFAF (ok it feels like a million things free), Houston Enzymes, Dana’s View, and all the wonderful PITA’s who showed me the way.

So as usual PITAup, and don’t be like my friend Nicole and think anything bad about up after the A. ;-)

Think of it like Cowboy up, lol. Change the world, be a PITA, and PITAUP!!!

Is there a difference between a Soccer Mom and a Football Mom?

Is there a difference between a Soccer Mom and a Football Mom?

According to my husband, the high school teacher and football coach, there must be. Since I lost 40 pounds and stopped wearing dumpy clothes, he keeps teasingly asking when I am heading to the soccer field or PTA meetings. Should I be offended? Luckily for him I am not. It feels good to have lost 40 pounds and to get to enjoy new clothes and have a new self confidence at almost 39 years old.

By now you are probably wondering what this has to do with Autism. Really it has nothing to do with it, but in reality it has everything to do with Autism. On June 15, 2004 my life changed when my youngest child was diagnosed with Autism. For the next 4 months, I read 40 hours a week on Autism, I was a one track mind “mom on a mission” (thanks Lin Wessell), and until November 8, 2008 I continued on the path to help my child and any other child I met on my way. On November 8, my world once again changed. My husband was admitted to the hospital and a few days later we were told he had a heart attack at 39.

Again you are probably wondering what this has to do with Autism. It has everything to do with Autism. We as parents, and especially us mom’s when we get the diagnoses we drop our lives and we do anything and everything Autism. One of the huge things we neglect is our health. November 8, 2008, I realized how short life is and how important health is. I made a point from that day forward to work on my health, partly for my health, but mostly for my 4 kids. I saw our family life pass before my eyes and realized that they needed one parent to live.

Luckily I have the best set of friend’s, my local mom’s night out group the PITA’s who were there to help me along the way. Victoria who recommended the bodybugg.com system, Amy who walked on what Ed refers to as our “death marches” with me everyday, and to all the others who cheered us on.

Now back to Autism, some of you may still be wondering what this has to do with Autism; it has everything to do with Autism. During Autism Action Month I want all the Autism Mom’s I know, all the PITA’s I know, to PITA up and start doing something for their own health. Stop thinking 30 minutes of exercise is selfish and start thinking it is “selfless”.

PITA up!!!

Why is Temple Grandin different then the rest of the crowd?

Why is Temple Grandin different then the rest of the crowd?

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is different from the rest of the crowd because she the most well-known and probably the most vocal adult with autism in the world. Like most parents with children with Autism her parents were told she should be institutionalized. Thankfully her parents like many parents I know did not listen to that and she is now a renowned author and works as a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Templin also is a well known speaker on both autism and cattle handling.

From Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Temple has said, "I have read enough to know that there are still many parents, and yes, professionals too, who believe that 'once autistic, always autistic.' This dictum has meant sad and sorry lives for many children diagnosed, as I was in early life, as autistic. To these people, it is incomprehensible that the characteristics of autism can be modified and controlled. However, I feel strongly that I am living proof that they can".

Despite the above quote the Autism News still titles their Feb. 2, 2010 article “Temple Grandin warns against ‘curing’ autism”. I personally do not read this quote as saying that, “I believe there’s a point where mild autistic traits are just normal human variation. Mild autism can give you a genius like Einstein. If you have severe autism, you could remain nonverbal. You don’t want people to be on the severe end of the spectrum. But if you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn’t have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social ‘yak yaks.’” (http://www.theautismnews.com/2010/02/02/temple-grandin-warns-against-curing-autism/

While a lot of high functioning people with Autism and Aspergers do object to “recovery” or “curing” a child with Autism, I believe Temple has PITA’ed up and said while she would not change herself she is not opposed to helping our kids who are not HFA“. For a parent of child who most consider low functioning, I think this is wonderful that she can see the difference. I wish others could too. I would never ever take away my child’s “normal human variation”, but I also do not want to leave him in the autism alone. Before diet and enzymes he colored and spinned 22 hours a day and thought of me as nothing more then the furniture. 6 years later he has a smile that lights up a room, and when he looks at you and smiles because he knows you it could melt even Frosty the snowman.

I hope someday he can be as accomplished as Temple, and tell his thoughts and opinions on the subject of Autism. Not only do I think Temple is pretty special so does TIME magazine, you can now vote in “The 2010 TIME 100 Poll for the leaders, artists, innovators and icons who you think merit spots on this year's list of the 100 most influential people in the world”

http://tiny.cc/fo4em

I hope everyone who thinks like me takes the time to vote, let’s show the world that some one with Autism can be the most influential person of the world.

As always PITAup and vote for Temple!!!

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