Jenny McCarthy is good at what she does. She’s charming. She’s funny. You can relate to her. When she speaks about the pain associated with getting her son’s autism diagnosis, other mothers of children with autism can’t help but identify with her. She says the things we’ve wanted to say ourselves, but are too afraid to: We are jealous of our friends’ neuro-typical kids. We are tired. We lose hope. Then she goes further. She says mothers who get the diagnosis usually divide into two groups, “Mother Warriors” as she terms them, or those who are “victims.” You want to be a Mother Warrior right? You would do ANYTHING for your child, yes? Then she’ll go on to tell you what caused your child’s autism and how to heal him or her from it. For a second, you forget that this chick, this person trying to sell you the myth that vaccines cause autism along with a pile of supplements, got her start as a Playboy model. In fact, she’s STILL a Playboy model! And that’s why she’s dangerous. Because you forget that her credentials in the field of autism are no better than yours or mine: she’s just one mother of one child with autism. She’s not a doctor. She’s not a scientist. She’s a mother. She relies on old, discredited information, as she runs her organization, “Generation Rescue.” She still champions the cause of Andrew Wakefield, the man whose FALSE research claims gave rise to the anti-vax movement and the very notion that vaccines cause autism. She’s telling impressionable mothers of newly diagnosed children with autism that HER way is the ONLY way and that if you don’t do it the way she did, you’re not a Mother Warrior. You’re a victim. You don’t want your child “cured” because you like the attention that their autism gives you. In the last AutismOne conference (co-sponsored by Generation Rescue) she said this:
“And then there’s this part that takes place, a moment where you have to take charge. Are you going to get up and do everything possible to save your kid? And then there’s something surprising that happens with a lot of moms. They…fall into this victim roll, and they like it. It’s almost as if they didn’t get attention in their lives …and now this incredible door opens where all of these people come over and say, “Suzy…Suzy I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?” All of this attention. And they are like LOVING it. Loving having people feel sorry for them. They get extra home-cooked meals by the neighbors…”
If her unproven biomedical approach worked for her son, that’s fantastic. But she has no right to BULLY other moms into doing something that has never been proven to work in every child with autism and could very well be DANGEROUS to their children. Don’t tell me, because I refuse to give my son a bleach enema and buy him a hyperbolic chamber, that I am “loving” him having autism and the attention I get from it. Because that, Ms. McCarthy, is crap. Any mother of a child with autism will tell you that no amount of attention would be worth what we go through for autism.
We all can’t strip off our clothes to pay for our child’s $100,000 a year education (yeah, that’s what she says she’s paying for when she said that she was posing nude in Playboy for “autism.” Autism she says her son is rescued from…?). We have to fight.
We fight every single day. We fight an underfunded and overcrowded public school system of which Jenny McCarthy knows nothing about. We fight insurance companies for treatments that ARE proven. We fight to improve the lives of our children. We fight people like Jenny McCarthy who believes that autism has no good in it. That it’s only something to be “rescued” from- not something to be embraced. We do this, not because we are “Mother Warriors” but because we are MOTHERS.
We fight without a stage and a microphone, we fight without a mass of followers and bestselling books. We fight, not from Oprah’s stage or Larry King’s chair, but in doctors’ offices, specialist visits, therapy a nd IEP meetings. We do it with our clothes on, for the most part. And yet, we’re the ones she is saying who LOVE the attention autism brings us?
Lexi Mag 
All I keep hearing about is “the children”, and no one is talking about what happens to THE CAKE in all this.
If you are fighting yeast, then you are fighting cake, and that’s just wrong. Stop making cake and other pastry and baked goods the enemy. All they want to do is bring joy to people.
I know it’s tempting to want to force your children to ingest items that are potentially toxic and life threatening, in the name of health, but we need to call off this war against enriched flour.
We need a celebrity god (Oprah) to come forward and extoll the virtues of baked goods and renounce this silly trend of curing with poison.
Because we all know that Oprah could snap that silly Jenny like a silicon-enhanced twig.
You know what? It’s amazing. My son was diagnosed with real food allergies and asthma. He’s still autistic even after avoiding his food allergens. He’s just as autistic as he was before. You know what made the difference? OT for his sensory needs, speech to help him learn to communicate, and *gasp* ABA.
Thank god somebody finally mentioned the cake.
Why won’t people think of the cake????????
you tell them jenny hunny anyone putting you down should look at them selves if they had it they would not b makeing fun of it you are a good mother and you are working hard and takeing care of him you deserve a lotof credit i was engaged my fture wife had passed away in dec 24th 2004 she had attion defisate dissorde and her sn did too he is now wt his grandfather and he is now 19 years old an he is doing well the last i spoke to hs grandmother a few years ago so i know what you are going threw hunny lov you
What? I cannot decipher this.
I agree to a certain extent that Jenny McCarthy can be annoying and out of touch with regular folks who have children with autism. It sucks that she is seen as the collective voice of parents of children with autism in the USA.
What I don’t agree with, is that a professional’s opinion is more valuable than a parent’s (opinion). Many “so-called” professionals are just dead wrong in their assessment and chosen treatment of these children and to discredit a child’s true expert–their parent–is as unfortunate as listening to Jenny McCarthy spew her own brand of nonsense; the thought almost makes her look credible.
Then why go to doctors at all?
Well congratulations….your uneducated write up on Jenny McCarthy has brought out some real geniuses!!!
“uneducated”?
Just because I don’t partake of the koolaid doesn’t mean I’m not educated in what she does or who she is.
I’m on Jenny’s side. She could have hidden her son’s autism but chose to educate others. You don’t have to take her advice but at least she has the balls to say what a lot of parents are already thinking.
Except didn’t it come out that her child didn’t actually have autism at all? She’s not educating, she’s spewing harmful lies.
Actually he did. Was diagnosed by UCLA. What you are referring to is either the media hype or some crappy skeptics blog spewing false information
Babs, Babs, Babs. There’s this thing called “mis-diagnosis”, and specialists in the field have suggested that McCarthy’s son was mis-diagnosed.
http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2008&issue=08070&article=00005&type=fulltext
If I recall correctly from her book, his autism did NOT start with seizures. He stared out the window all day and had no eye contact, then he had seizures.
You are on Jenny’s side, jaydyn93420? You mean you agree that autistics are soulless and damaged?
I hope you don’t have an autistic relative.
Autistic? You mean someone with autism right. If someone has cancer, you wouldn’t call them cancerous would you? And she never said they were soulless and damaged, you’re reading too many opinion blogs and not actual facts
It is both telling and disgusting that you equate autism with cancer, Babs.
Clearly you aren’t in touch with how people with autism prefer to be referred to. Perhaps you should read up on “Person-first language and autism”. Here are a few starter posts for your use, by, well, you know, autistic adults
http://www.mmonjejr.com/2012/12/person-first-language-doesnt-put-people.html
http://www.thinkingautismguide.com/2011/11/person-first-language-why-it-matters.html
http://autisticadvocacy.org/identity-first-language/
I hope you have the integrity and courage to both read them and reflect upon you assumptions.
Babs, McCarthy never said autism = damage? Parse this:
Source
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968100-4,00.html
More on person-first language for Babs.
I do not refer to African-American or Black people as “people with Negritude”.
So, Babs, maybe you would care to share with us how you would have us refer to African-Americans.
Babs, you claim that Jenny McCarthy never referred to her son as “soulless” or that autistic people were “soulless”. You are mistaken.
From the Way-Back Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080405214005/http://generationrescue.org/evan.html
Oh, Jenny and GenResc and so on have tried to sanitize it, by trying to scrub that out of the record — but that is what she wrote, or what what said, that is what she believe[d/s]
Jenny, and the rest of the “autism must be cured” posse — including, possibly, yourself, Babs, believe that autistics “lack a soul”. In the Western world, that implies that autistics aren’t fully human.
Babs, I am sure you can imagine what casting folk as “not humans” leads.
Autistic. It is how people with autism PREFER to be referred to. I tend to trust them as the experts.
Thank you! Person first is not the preferred terminology for ALL disability. It is for Down syndrome, and for SOME in the autism community, but the deaf and blind communities have actually gone so far as to denounce it.
As an AUTISTIC PERSON myself, please. “Person with autism” is just so cumbersome. I have three autistic kids, too. Hmmmm…maybe it’s something genetic….
Stacey, you’re totally right. This was written a year ago when I was still falling all over myself to be “Person-first” correct, and not because of my son’s autism. If you’re new to the blog, I also have a child with Down syndrome. Person first language is almost a religion in the Down syndrome community. If you look at newer posts, you see that I’ve largely done away with it when I speak of autism. I still have to do it when I speak of Down syndrome because they get HUGELY offended if I put the diagnosis before the noun. I hope the Down syndrome community moves away from it, too.
I have a comment in moderation about Babs’s rebuke to me about person-first language.
Girl. Live and let live. Let your hard feelings go and focus on your own awesome children. The anger you have for Jenny? Someone you don’t know? WHO CARES. Do what’s right by you and your loved ones.
Blame isn’t gonna do you ‘a solid.’
Move on, friend.
I am doing what is right by my kids. People not vaccinating for stupid reasons could harm my immunocomprimised child.
I don’t think anything has been proven or disproven absolutely. We constantly read about treatments that were once thought to be great and after studies have found out that they really aren’t working. Right now according to Italy, vaccines have caused autism and there have been several countries who have released studies proving the recently distributed swine flu vaccine has caused terrible side effects in a few patients including debilitating Narcolepsy. I chose to vaccinate because complications from measles made my grandfather blind and his brother died of Typhoid fever. My sister babysat for a family whose oldest son died of complications from the chicken pox. The alternatives are much worse if you don’t vaccinate and if you have a doctor that agrees that you shouldn’t vaccinate they really shouldn’t be practicing and I would question their credentials but vaccines have hurt children too, that is why they have a fund to help people and children who have been harmed by vaccines but they got out of allowing autistic children access by saying there is no relation. It always does come down to money.
That isn’t how science works. The overwhelming weight of the evidence is that the MMR vaccine isn’t causal in autism, and the overwhelming weight of the evidence is that thimerosal isn’t causal in autism.
That’s because of lousy, credulous science reporting that prematurely trumpets “treatments”. As Emily Willingham wrote in Writing About Autism Science? 10 Things
The problem with writing about science, though, is that science isn’t just a story. It’s about facts and open questions, and it’s almost never defensible to write as though a door has closed, a box has been checked, or a mystery has been completely solved. We owe it to readers to avoid simplification to the point of a sin of omission and to avoid overinterpreting to the point of hyperbole.
It is extremely important to be precise, especially when discussing vaccines.
No, right now one Italian regional court ruled that one boy’s autism was caused by his receipt of the MMR vaccine, and used Wakefield’s discredited and withdrawn “study” to justify the decision. A consortium of European medical and scientific associations are appealing the ruling.
A mixture of right and wrong. Yes, one particular vaccine against H1N1 (“swine flu”), Pandemrix, appears to be linked to an increase in the incidence of narcolepsy in children given the vaccine. Pandemrix was not used in the United States. The cause of the increased incidence of narcolepsy is not yet known, but an adjuvant used in the vaccine, AS03, may have triggered narcolepsy in susceptible individuals. cNarcolepsy is a complicated and, as yet, poorly understood neurological disorder. “It is most likely the end result of a number of genetic abnormalities that affect specific biologic factors in the brain, coupled with an environmental trigger such as a virus.”
A study of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and the 2009 H1N1 vaccines in children in the US found ” Most AEFI in children evaluated were not causally related to vaccine and resolved without sequelae. Detailed clinical assessment of individual serious AEFI can provide reassurance of vaccine safety.”
Nothing in life is 100% safe. You must consider the risk. A rough estimate is that for every million doses of vaccine (all vaccines lumped together, including adult vaccines) one person will suffer a severe adverse effect.
“They” — the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program — invested an enormous amount of time and money into addressing the question of vaccines in autism causation, in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding. The standard of proof was extraordinarily low (“50% and a feather”). The three test cases selected by the plaintiffs — the parents alleging vaccine injury — each were found not to have proved their contention that vaccines caused the children’s autism.
In other words, nobody got out of anything. The “autism is vaccine injury” folks flatly failed spectacularly to make their case, even with the very weak standards of evidence.
Vaccines cause autism.
This article reports that the Vaccine Court compensated a child whose autism was caused by the MMR shot. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/post2468343_b_2468343.html
This FDA link for Tripedia DTaP vaccine lists autism as an adverse effect on page 11.
Keep on vaccinating your kids if you think it’s safe. Hopefully, they’ll forgive you when they are adults…..
Here’s the FDA pdf for Tripedia:
Click to access ucm101580.pdf
Page 11 lists autism among the advers effects.
Why in the world are people blaming Jenny McCarthy and the other parents who are into biomedical interventions for Autism for being who they are and doing what they do and speaking out to share it with others? Is it because you think we are all full of crap?
Well, we’re not. That’s the end of it. I am doing things (within the past 1.5 yrs) that have helped BOTH my spectrum boys. That’s just it. That’s all there is to it.
And if you guys or anyone else has a problem with it, I don’t know what to say. I’m still going to be sharing it with people who are willing to hear, because this stuff’s worked for my kids. Period. And I don’t want to bypass someone who could be helped and is wanting this information just to not be judged by people like yourself.
So, contrary to your opinion and article, I DISagree with your judgements of Jenny McCarthy and the rest of us.
I get it that you disagree, but what kills me is, it’s apparent you haven’t even tried any of these interventions/therapies/diets because they all work to varying degrees with different kids. Why in the world would you not want to do those things? Prefer to listen to your doc who tells you they can do abso nothing to help you? .. alright then, I prefer to go ahead and try these different measures.
I just don’t get it. That seems to be the difference between you and me. But, while I respect your decisions, you don’t seem to respect mine. Instead you judge me for trying to help my son (and succeeding!)
So, there’s your proof and that’s the end of it. We all do what we see fit, .. the difference is you also see fit to judge other parents and criticize they’re back-breaking, tireless and herculean attempts at helping and yes, HEALING, their children.
Thanks a bunch for that!! Not like I got anything else on my plate!
And good luck with the “no therapy” or only pill or “behavioral therapy” approach. As it HAS been proved, THAT doesn’t work.
There is probably no point in responding, but personally, my reasons for speaking against her lie with adults autistics. Ones who have been through biomed- which if you read my posts, I have NO issue with certain biomed (we even did GFCF for awhile, did a lot of DAN testing) such as diets, supplements or other relatively harmful things. My issue is bleach, worms, chelation and other HARMFUL with nasty side effects treatments. I speak out against strict ABA which destroys self-worth. Autistics who are now adults speak out AGAINST such treatments because they have a voice now. They speak of how it felt to get some of these treatments. Some of them are nothing short of abuse. And think what you wish, my son does not need to be HEALED. He is a perfectly fine whole person. I would not wish his autism away any more than he would. I will fight to help him make his way in this world, give him the support he needs. But to change something that permeates him? Nope, no more than I would change the color of his skin.
Google “Don’t Mourn For Us”. Listen to autistics themselves like Paula Durbin Westly, Landon Bryce, Jim Sinclair.
And for respecting my decisions- respect the fact I don’t want to cure my son. Respect the fact he doesn’t want to be cured, don’t claim that I’m a failure as a parent because I’m not submitting him to whatever “treatment” comes along. Respect that this doesn’t make me a victim. And more than anything respect my son don’t call him soulless, don’t make it seem like his life is some great tragedy wrought upon me and our family. Don’t make him feel like the very thing he identifies with is something that must be healed or cured by whatever means necessary.
My son was totally nt until he got the mmr vaccine…he has had his first round on all vaccines but after mmr I watched him fall of a cliff so to speak. He lost speech, developmental skills, social skills, everything. He became autistic then. There was never a bigger supporter of vaccines than myself because my daughter died of whooping cough at 1month old. Then I watch my son develop autism after the mmr. I can’t win. Anyway we do a blend of conservative biomed and proven therapies and I really believe that in our case we have needed both to see the level of improvement we have seen. I know my son will never be cured, but I felt in my heart that if I could get his body as healthy as possible then his mind would have the best chance of being healthy an healing itself. Some of the extreme stuff is scary. I would never chelate my child. But that is just me and I would never try and tell anyone what they should do for their child because I don’t know. What worked of my son might not work for any other kid in the world…as far as vaccines…we decidedl enough is enough and we will get no more. I do that at let my son as home protection from get the complete first round but after what I saw the mmr vaccine do to my child no more. However I’m not against vaccines for other kids who can tolerate them and I hope that people will continue to vaccinate their kids because it does stop the spread of disease. I did truly give it a shot with my son to vaccinate but even though big Pharma will never allow studies that prove causation between vaccines and autism to surface because of the liability issues, we personally have opted out. However I would never judge the treatment approach of another parent of a child with autism because as the old saying goes, if you’ve met one child with autism, you’ve met one child with autism so treatment is not one size fits all…and oh by the way, even though I may have done some of the same treatments as McCarthy she is a ridiculous attention whore who loves the attention she gets from her sons autism as much as the parents she claims are victims. She has exploited her sons autism to further her pathetic career. Dd you seen her on new years rockin eve…GAG!!!!
Dang I should have proof read that…I promise I’m really not dumb…autocorrect sucks
I meant to say I’m glad my son has some protection with the first round of vaccines.
KC thank you! I completely understand your point, I really really do. As I said above, I have no issue with SOME biomed. If your kid has gltuen issues by all means get rid of it. I have a son with suspected celiac I’m not going to skip the diet because it is biomed. But other things are downright scary which is where my issue lies.
We almost lost my son to rotavirus (cause we opted out of that vaccine- I felt it needed further study for a side effect) and it is the single most scary thing I’ve ever gone through as a parent, so I really cannot imagine what you have gone through. I’m very sorry.
Well said KC. Couldn’t have said it better.
Maybe, just maybe Jenny McCarthy’s child is not on the autism spectrum at all. I never thought he was…just my opinion of course, but the characteristics she discussed don’t match up with a true autism diagnosis.
My neighbors on both sides and even the ones behind us actually have been giving us several home-cooked meals a year ever since we moved in 6 years ago. All this time I thought it was because they liked us, but maybe they just pity us?
You have no idea of what you are talking about! Jenny was spot on! You are what i call a lazy mom with a kid with autism. You don’t want to go out of your way to find and read the studies. You lack the gumption to go against society and stand up for your child.
shelly, are you being serious here? Have you not read ANY of the comments? Have you not seen any of the research posted above?
Feel free to follow your porn star prophet into the dark. But don’t tell me I don’t have the gumption to stand up for my child because you are dead wrong.
And i sat laughing reading the comments by the moms who hate jenny…oh i never got sympathy…it was so hard..blah blah..you are all whining …just as jenny said.
sar·casm
/ˈsärˌkazəm/
Noun
The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
Synonyms
irony
There needs to be a ready font available to all that is simply titled “sarcasm”. I’m amazed that there are SO many people who do not grasp the concept. If there were a font they wouldn’t have to wrack their brains trying to understand.
I think it’s astonishing that Ms. McCarthy is literally accusing mother’s of autistic children of experiencing some sort of Munchhausen syndrome. That is absolutely preposterous. However on that same not, not all mothers see autism as a detriment. I myself am diagnosed with Asperger’s and my son is diagnosed PDD-NOS. It the most simple of terms…there are some of us who really like who we are and feel completely insulted by those who want to abolish or erase autism. I don’t know what life is like for a non-autistic. I imagine it can be as happy and fulfilling as life is living on the spectrum. I cannot judge. I just know that my family is a happy family and that we love and respect life as it is presented to us. I see no need to change anything about my life, not even the fact that there are many out there who do not accept me or my son as viable members of society. It is their loss…not ours.
I do think thee is a vaccine link, ALONG with many other environmental and genetic factors. HOWEVER- I DO NOT believe in the “warrior movement” in that it is possible to “recover” the child. Been there, done that. I took my child to see a DAN doctors, did supplements, did the diet, B12 shots but stopped because there is no way I was going to chelate, etc. What a waste of money. Biggest improvement by far was with ABA. You know-EVIDENCE BASED treatment.
Most children on the spectrum improve, even the ones who are low functioning. Of course, providing them with intensive interventions at a young age is the best way to have a favorable outcome. I resent these warrior types who muddy the waters and make a bad name for the rest of us who see a connection with vaccines but don’t buy into their snake oil crap. Moms new to a diagnosis are vulnerable. It’s almost like a cult; they almost recruit these moms into their group. They tell them all they need to do is biomed and to forget therapies. They claim SCIENCE but that “science” is all theories and rarely if ever peer reviewed and published in a reputable journal. Someone wrote how they BULLY other moms and I agree. Have you heard of Autism One?? It’s an annual conference held in Chicago each May. Quackfest. Breakout sessions on bleach enemas, medical marijuana for your CHILD, shots not FDA approved and intended for cancer patients, studies that include subjecting your child to unneeded spinal taps, a year long antibiotic protocol for suspected Lymes (no doctor in the world would rx an antibiotic that long!!), cranial sacral, IVIG infusions to “treat” things that only these MAPS or autism doctors recognize. It’s al a semantics game. It looks very believable and credible when a mom shows you labs that day her child has high mercury in their blood. What they DON’T tell you is that the lab was a urine test sent to FRANCE that is actually looking at prophyrine levels and based on a HYPOTHESIS by this lab that elevated levels equate to heavy metals in the system. You don’t test for merl exposure that way. The only way to do it proprly is a blood test at the time of exposure. Doctors Data, etc are all labs that they use and no other credible medical practice in the mainstream uses them. They doctor shop so to speak to see this small group of MDs in our country to make diagnosis and get medical treatment no one else would ever do. I think there is a lot of munchausens going on myself.
One caveat: I do think it’s important to pursue “real” medical testing to rule out possible medical issues like allergies, genetics, metabolic issues, or GI problems to name a few. The GFCF diet can be helpful to many kids who have sensitivities or allergies. We were GFCF for 4 years.
It felt GOOD to get this out!!!!! I apologize for my errors as I am typing on a phone.
One last thing. ACCEPTANCE is a dirty word in their vocabulary. If you actually say you accept your child and love them as they are (NOT meaning you stop advocating and providing supports) you are “in denial” or giving up on your kid. Can you imagine being a child brought up in a home where you are made to feel broken? And on the contrary: I typically find it’s the Warrior Moms who seek the attention. They are loud and obnoxious. It’s about THEM and how great THEY are and how THEY helped their kid (note when talking about improvements they will NEVER mention anything else they are doing like say, a 20 hour a week ABA program or great teachers. Oh no. It’s the fact that THEY gave their child folate supplements or HBOT). It’s very narcissistic and egocentric. THEY want the attention, not the other way around!
PS. I am not lazy Shelly. I read it all. What I find ironic is that this crowd demands that you have the guts to make a stand, etc. Who says I haven’t? I work daily to educate, advocate, and help bring changes in my community locally. The Warriors say they are the “Thinking Moms” (yeah. I know all about that too!), so I guess if you don’t do the “group think” and believe what everyone else believes in the biomed realm, you aren’t a “Thinker”. That you don’t take a stand. You are-what did you say Shelly? LAZY? Well I find it apathetic to follow this group of lemmings. I think for myself. I RESEARCH myself. I make my own conclusions. If you ask me, you have it the other way around. Sheeple.
Don’t be jealous because she isn’t stuck in overcrowded schools. I didn’t like our schools so I homeschool. Bash her all you want – as long as you are willing to admit you are jealous
@Misty
My child attends a charter school for autism, yeah that’s right it means I don’t have to pay for it, and my daughter is in a class of 11 with 1 teacher and 2 aides. We adore her school and her teachers, heck the whole damn staff! They are companionate and treat my child as any other, going above and beyond what’s asked of them.
I am in no way jealous of one Ms. Jenny McCarthy, if anything I pity her a bit. She says that I am a “victim” and seek out attention, I find that to be the pot calling the kettle black.
I accept my child the way she is. I can’t do gluten free and dairy free because of her self restricting diet, am I supposed to starve my child and force her to have an a extreme meltdown? Oh and I’m a licensed Dietetic Technician, so I know all about the issues involved with celiac disease and other assorted dietary issues. My child is heathy and that is all that matters, she gets a balanced diet even within the limitations she places on herself.
As for her improvement, I’ve seen it from month one of her receiving visits from a ITDS within our Early Steps program and then again when she started OT. After she was aged out at age three of the program she started attending her charter school for the past three months where she receives ST and discreet ABA, and the difference is 100%. She’s now looking at us when she leaves the car, leading us to the things she wants, and attempting to vocalize her desires. Her ST has gotten her to eat very small pieces of chicken mixed with applesauce (something I would swear would never happen 3months ago), and she is now feeding herself with success. And great shock, we didn’t need to resort to anything considered dangerous or hazardous to her health to have that happen.
So while others swear by biomedical practices that are considered unsafe I’ll stick with what’s working for my child. I won’t judge you for it as you should not judge me for not believing in it, or saying I’m jealous. I am far from it as my child continues to amaze me everyday with her progress and my love for her expands ever more by her dogged determination to increase her skills as any preschooler does.
And hey the ones detailing changing diets, etc probably DO work, because if you have a child with a allergy issue OF COURSE they are going to improve and it will be because overall they are feeling better from having that allergy removed.
I fully endorse what is said here. Very well articulated. Thank you, Nadine, for your thoughtful response. We’re the same with Casey. We tried GF/CF and he lost too much weight in the first week. It made his meltdowns worse and he was miserable.
I don’t need to cure my child of something that is neurologically based. To me, it’s akin to ‘curing’ someone of being gay. I will do whatever I can to help him become his best, but mostly, I just want him to be happy. And he is.
Lexi, thank you for your post, I found it through FB. I’m so glad to see other like minded mamas out there. It gets to me when people try to tell me my daughters autism is vaccine based, especially considering I was seeing signs before she got her MMR even if I haven’t realized it at the time. I definitely believe in the genetic connection as we think my DH may be undiagnosied Aspergers.
I get people’s desperation to try anything and everything to make their child’s life easier, although how easy are you making it with the amount of stuff your having your child do is beyond me, but whatever. Just don’t make me feel that I am somehow “lesser” because I don’t prescribe to that thinking.
I’ll be following your blog from now on =)
So wrong…..PLEASE, if you have never attended an AO/GR conference don’t judge until you do…they have given me the knowledge and insight to help my daughter. WHO CARES about Playboy? This lady created HUGE awareness…we should be celebrating her efforts…
This four-part series on Jenny McCarthy’s “credentials” was posted on the Midnight In Chicago blog site in 2010. Your followers and fans may find it very enlightening and interesting.
LINK: http://midnightinchicago.wordpress.com/article-series/jenny-mccarthy/
OOOOOH! I just started to read it and LOVE IT! Nicely done! Thank you for sharing!
I’m going to share this on my Facebook page, if you don’t mind.
I have a son with severe autism. Conventional medical practicioners pumped him so full of drugs, his behaviour went out of control and we had to have him detoxed for a month at a hospital downtown. Since then I have been following the biomedical protocol Jenny McCarthy outlined in the book she cowrote with her son’s doctor. It has made a WORLD of difference for my son and my whole family. I am eternally grateful that the book is out there with guidlines for someone like me to follow. The whole “vaccine myth'”as you call it, is in itself a myth. It isn’t insane to believe that pumping substances like aluminum into a developing child’s body could have detrimental results. In fact, it’s insane to think that children WOULDN’T be reacting to that stuff.
I know Jenny is making money off of all this; I’m not a mindless fool. I also realize that her income means that she has greater access to services and treatment for her boy. That is unfair, but I’m not holding it against her. I also am not holding a grudge against her because she has stripped for money or is prettier than me. I’m not that shallow or jealous a person. Jenny is a celebrity and a performer and that colours much of what she says and does ( so what?). I suspect that a lot of people use the whole anti- McCarthy thing as an EXCUSE not to try to do more for their autistic child. Following biomedical protocol means going against the norm. It requires dedication and sacrifice. It means going above and beyond what the average parent would ever consider doing for their child. It means putting your child’s needs above your own. It means that you have TO EDUCATE yourself and think outside of the box. And you know what? It works. The only relief or progress my son has had in all the years of trying has been a direct result of biomedical protocol. I hope that, someday in the future, it will not be so difficult for parents who choose this path. In the meantime, negative commentaries like your little rant agaist McCarthy are part of the problem. So she makes parents feel guilty for not trying harder to help their autistic children? Good for her.
Wow Erica did you not read the above comments or what. If you had you would see most HAVE done their research and some have even tried a few of the practices that are recommend and they still disagree with them.
Good for you that’s worked with your child, but this is where I had issue with you:
“Following biomedical protocol means going against the norm. It requires dedication and sacrifice. It means going above and beyond what the average parent would ever consider doing for their child. It means putting your child’s needs above your own. It means that you have TO EDUCATE yourself and think outside of the box. And you know what? It works. The only relief or progress my son has had in all the years of trying has been a direct result of biomedical protocol. I hope that, someday in the future, it will not be so difficult for parents who choose this path. In the meantime, negative commentaries like your little rant agaist McCarthy are part of the problem. So she makes parents feel guilty for not trying harder to help their autistic children? Good for her. ”
Now let me get this straight, all of us moms who don’t do the things that worked for YOU, are not dedicated and have not sacrificed for our children?! We’ve not gone above and beyond because we fight for our child’s right to therapy, and with schools that are not educated on the therapies and strategies that help our children, we fight at our IEP meetings, and educated those that have no idea what autism does to our families, we are constantly fighting against a world that does not understand just how truly special our children are and how precious? We’ve not educated ourselves ( see all the above comments to have the disproven right now)?
Really?! Well then, seeing as you just stated all that why does it not surprise me that you would defend her right to call us “victims “, when truthfully you don’t know any of us and you don’t know our daily lives just as she doesn’t and just as I don’t know yours.
Had you stated the things you tried and said how they helped your child like KC above in the comments did, then I might have respected you and your opinion, but seeing as you did a ” Jenny” on us all I can only group you in with the rest of those that choose to judge us just because we don’t prescribe to YOUR notion of what works and doesn’t. I do wish you the best of luck with your child, but don’t think that you changed my mind or educated me with your post.
Well, I found this article to be the bully and not the other way around. JM does have a platform that she uses to share her journey and to educate. She does not need certification or degrees to understand the body and brain- anyone can read and retain and relate to information. I understand how the chemicals and metals in vaccinations effect brain chemistry and how that “glitch” can manifest as autistic symptoms or behavioral issues in the body. Everyone can, it just takes time and the desire to understand. Mocking someones research and personal results because it doesn’t come with a degree is stupidity.
As far as bashing her for posing for playboy, that’s just ridic. Smart women have been using their “assets” to excel in this sex sells all world for a long time. It would be more accurate to call her a savvy business women.
If you don’t like what she has to say, don’t listen to her. But she is sharing good, valuable information that has the potential to help a lot of children and parents. It may not be for everyone, and that’s understandable. But don’t shoot the messenger. This blogger’s heart was in the right place, but her attack ends up leaving her look dumb and bitter. 😦
Oh my gosh. I have tears from laughing so hard. TEARS.
Nadine… Amen! You said exactly what I wanted to say. Erica, to say that those of us who do not subscribe to biomedical treatments don’t sacrifice for our children is ridiculous. Come to my house and see how much I sacrifice for my daughter. Come see how we have turned our lives upside down to make the therapy she needs happen. Until you have seen the sacrifices I make for my children with your own eyes, keep your judgments to yourself.
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It frustrates me on how she handles all of this. Also it came out not long ago, maybe a year or possibly less that her son is not autistic. He actually has a rare neurological disease that is very hard to catch and has very similar symptoms to autism. This would be why she was able to ‘cure’ him. She didn’t really, they found a treatment that helped the issues he was having from the disease that he had.
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I think it is interesting that Jenny’s son is thought by some in the medical community to not have ever had autism at all, but Landau-Kleffner syndrome, which seems like autism but is actually something else. If this is the case, he would have gotten better around the age that he did naturally and not from all of the quack medicine she put him through.
I’m a supervisor at a well reputed ABA agency. Mention Jenny McCarthy at a supervisor meeting and see how many scowls you get. She’s misinformed and irresponsible. I’ve had so many conversations with parents who are even more worried after hearing her rhetoric… And she ruined The View.
Thank You. I think Ms. Mcarthy is a total quack! If I wanted or loved attention I’d cut off my arm. That would probably be a little easier to deal with than witnessing the challenges my child faces every day. I always want to scream at her “Hey Jenny! Maybe those toxic tits (implants she had when pregnant)caused your son’s autism.” If any autism mom “likes” her child’s autism because it gets her attention – Jenny’s worse -she “likes” her son’s autism because it is making her extremely rich, with her never ending books, her line of supplements to “cure” autism, and being a spokesperson for those oxygen chambers. She truly preys on the desperation we all feel, at times, as autism parents. Sorry, but I really dislike that woman!
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