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Stories of Interest
Having just returned from a short trip to Hawaii with my son Matthew, I feel compelled to share with you an experience I had on the remote, sparsely populated East Shore of Oahu, an experience that documents and illustrates that there is serious trouble in paradise too. My 15 year old son Matthew and I decided to go bodysurfing last Friday on a remote, and secluded beach on the eastern shore of Oahu. We arrived on a pristine beach, where only about a half dozen island people were there enjoying the beach, waves, and sun. During a break from daysurfing, I made my way back to our towels to rest for a moment. As I was approaching the towels, I noticed a large group of people, kids and young adults, maybe 15-20, coming my way. As they approached I thought "Gee, this big long beach with so few people here right now....well...". As the group arrived they parked their blankets, chairs and stuff right next to mine. I thought "This huge long secluded beach, and they have to move in right next to me !!". As I was getting ready to go back into the water I heard a sound that is all to familiar to a parent of a child with autism. A little boy about 8 years old had let out a loud "Eeeeeeee". I looked over at the boy who was now flapping his hands and recognized in a moment what so-called autism experts say they are now just recognizing...a child with autism. The young tutor had just asked the little boy "What's your name?" He answered "Andrew" which caused a tutor response of "Good job!". Well, it turns out that the group in part consisted of 12 young Hawaiian children with regressive autism, all suffering from gastrointestinal problems (chronic diarrhea and/ or constipation), sleep disorders, gluten and casein food problems, lots of autoimmune problems, and absolutely no family history of autism or any other developmental disability.... the whole nine yards of what we all have come to know as regressive autism. According to the tutors who were from a Center in the area that deals only with autistic children, these children, aged 3-12, were all of Hawaiian decent and were only a few of the autistic children from the small towns and villages of the East shore of Oahu. I asked the tutors about the numbers of children in the area with autism. They said they had no idea what was going on, but only that there were more and more of these kids all the time. I was shocked to hear that none of these children were from the populated areas of Honolulu or Waikiki, but all were from one small area on the East shore of this one island. I stopped and thought to myself, "Gee another autism cluster...first Brick Township and now rural Hawaii !!" (Knowing all too well that where ever you look in the United States and the developed world you will find the exploding autism epidemic). I tried to think of what in the world Brick Township, New Jersey, Granite Bay, California (1-132 kids with autism), and rural, pristine, Hawaii had in common? I was quickly reminded when I returned to my hotel room, turned on the TV, and watched an aggressive public health sponsored commercial to "vaccinate your child," and within two hours saw three times what I call the "quack commercial," the one showing the sad little yellow duck, you know the Merck commercial for the chickenpox vaccine. Yes, there is trouble in paradise, trouble everywhere we look.
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Statistics Don’t Lie -- Autism IS a National Epidemic Autism, once thought to be a rare disorder caused by a "refrigerator mother" and most recently thought to be a rare genetic disease, is now the number one disability entering California's developmental services system at an alarming and accelerated rate, surpassing mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and all other conditions similar to mental retardation. Prior to the autism epidemic, autism had historically accounted for 3% of the intakes into California's developmental services system. Today, according to the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS), not including PDD, NOS, Asperger's, or any other autism spectrum disorder, autism accounts for an amazing 37% of new intakes. According to figures recently released by DDS, California has experienced an all time record number of new cases for a second quarter reporting period in professionally diagnosed cases of level one autism, which again does not include any of the other autism spectrum disorders. The addition of the 664 new children added to the system from April 3 to July 8, 2001 represents the largest number of new cases of autism added to the system during a second quarter reporting period in the 32 year history of California's developmental services system. The increase represents a 27% increase in the number of new children added to the system over the previous (April to July, 2000) second quarter reporting period. The most recent numbers continue the onslaught of children diagnosed with "full blown" autism and qualified for services in California at the incredible rate of seven new children a day ... seven day's a week. Even more horrifying is the fact that through the first SIX MONTHS of 2001, California added more children with level one autism to it's system then in any other FULL YEAR from 1969 through 1998 !! If this trend continues for the remainder of 2001, California will add over 2,700 new children with autism to it's system in 2001 alone.....A number that would equal 13.5 years worth of new cases of autism, pre-1979-80, or more new cases of autism than entered the system for all of 1994,1995, and 1996 combined !! Another tell tale sign of the autism epidemic is the age distribution of autism compared to the other various disability groups represented in California's system. According to information supplied by DDS, the information displays in graphic terms the marked differences between autism and the other eligible disabilities for both the percentage of young and old persons in the system. |
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