Autism Doctor Called on the Carpet

Dr. Wakefield called on the carpet.

One, of Autism's top doctors Andrew Wakefield has been called on the carpet according to the Sunday Times-Britan Sept . 11.2005 reporter Brian Deer. I directly quoted some parts of the two page article at the end of this blog entry.

I have proposed for many years now in this blog and other places Autism might have attracted some lesss than steller doctors and researchers. These allegiations if proven might bear me out eventually. I was shocked when I attended my very first autism convention at the age of 35-6 and got to hear several doctors speak on various subjects. Many seemed to be in a fame game, one I listened to had previously been in Cerebral Palsy Research and had jumped to autism research. The Cerebral Palsy folks as I heard it asked him to leave. He was in it for his own good. He seemed to be trying to first to discover something -anything- it seemed.

Working with disadvantaged populations like Autism, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and many more offer a greater opportunity to "mess-up" our fudge a little more as your patients might not be easily believed or perceived as too retarded to even make an intelligent statement let alone offer honest constructive criticism. Then I wonder if the Rain Man effect didn't roll out a red carpet not only making Autism a buzzword but, a cricuis type attraction. Obviously, no one in autism research could care enough about our long -term double blind autism research to do more than hide it. A true science based research engine would LOVE to have a living anthropology to study, providing they even admit to us. Sadly, we were dropped from their radar when they discovered our anthropology didn't fullly support the new autism. With motovation similar to Dr. Wakefileds driving autism it is little wonder our high functiong group of peple that have figured out autism have been ignored. To be honest, our thought process has never been in a text book before, so even the very best of experts doesn't even know what we are doing thought wise. Thinking In Pictures was just the tip of or thought process, most of us do MORE than the autor wrote about.


At one of the last conventions I attended, I was introduced to a old autism researcher who like me was there on the sly. He was there seeing what had become of autism. He came up to me in the hallway while a speech was going on and gently introduced himself. He seen me rolling my eyes at some comments being made on the stage. He said "you think in pictures, have a pain tolerance and an obession" of course I replied. He said he knew all about it and was forced out of autism research as Rain Man style autism took over. He was told to get with the new program or quit. We discussed a few things made a few comments and he was intrigued I had done more than Temple Grandin. He was not all shocked there was an anthropology of us and he was also not shocked most of us were in the gay spectrum as well. He thought that intense social interactions being gay called for was a perfect social skills lession for autism. He encouraged me to finish my book and give them "hell". When he left he said I know you don't do hugs but give me a hug!

The following are the quotes I mentioned at the start of this entry.



"The Sunday Times - Britain
September 11, 2005 MMR scare doctor faces list of chargesBrian Deer
THE doctor who sparked a worldwide scare over the MMR vaccine faces a six-week hearing before the General Medical Council (GMC) over allegations of serious professional misconduct, including dishonesty and intending to mislead.

A list of preliminary charges served on Dr Andrew Wakefield alleges that his research, which purported to find a possible link between MMR and autism, led to 11 different counts of misconduct. "
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The Sunday Times - Britain
Page 1 Page 2

Sources indicate that in recent months additional complaints have been levelled at Wakefield by senior doctors and scientists, questioning much of his research since the early 1990s. These are understood to include claims that MMR and related vaccines may be responsible for the inflammatory bowel disorder Crohn’s disease, and other research papers, in The Lancet and elsewhere, making claims about autism.
Since leaving the Royal Free “by mutual agreement” in 2001, Wakefield has worked mainly in America, where he continues to campaign against MMR. He has also started a business in Austin, Texas, to carry out research on autistic children.