Woe Canada! More Canadian Shame as South Korean Family In Moncton Forced to Leave Canada Because of Son's Autism and Epilepsy

VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Canada's shameful and dishonorable conduct towards families and children with autism and other disabilities continues with the forced expulsion of a South Korean family because one of their son's suffers from autism and eplipsy.  The family operates a business in downtown Moncton New Brunswick and the oldest son has, as reported in the Times & Transcript, graduated with honors and has gone on to Dalhousie University where he studies science and hopes to become a dentist:

"They came to Canada to seek a better life for their children, but now they're being told to leave because their youngest son's illness costs too much. They came to Canada to seek a better life for their children, but now they're being told to leave because their youngest son's illness costs too much. The Maeng family from South Korea moved to Moncton in 2003 and within a few years set up a business, The Main Stop Oriental Market on West Main Street. They care for their youngest boy, Sung-Joo, 15, who has been diagnosed with autism and epilepsy, while their older son, Jung-Joo, 19, has worked his way through school, graduating with honours from Harrison Trimble High School last year before moving on to Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Tae-Shik Maeng and mother Hee-Eun Jang, received a letter informing them that their family would have to leave Canada by June 30. The family's application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to extend their temporary resident permit (worker and student) was denied due to the medical and education expenses of Sung-Joo"





Shame on us Canada. 

Kung Fu Panda 2, Trail Walking and Conor's Autism Progress

Conor Enjoyed Watching Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D  ... and so did Mom and Dad

In the early evening Conor and Dad got some fresh air and

 enjoyed the  view on a trail walk along the St. John River

Yesterday was a great outdoors day for Conor with long trail walks in the morning with Mom and early evening with Dad.  He was able to enjoy lots of fresh air and .... always a good thing ... was able to burn off lots of energy.  In the afternoon though Conor, Mom and Dad all headed to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D.  Conor watched the entire movie quietly with no sign of discomfort.  KFP2 was the latest in a series of theater trips which began about a year ago with Toy Story 3 and Shrek 4.   Conor's movie attendance has been a sign of progress in that he was unable for several years to sit in a movie theater without leaving very early overstimulated and overwhelmed.  He just had to see the Toy Story 3 and Shrek 4 movies though and he started going to the movies, and enjoying them,  again.  

School has made a  big difference as well.  Conor had been increasingly, but selectively, exposed to stimulating common environments by his excellent education assistant throughout his middle school years. In his first year of high school part of each day is now spent in a Resource Center and other common environments, the library, cafeteria and a district swimming pool,  where Conor interacts with other students and staff. He recently attended a school outing at the Kingswood bowling facility.  His educational assistant brought headphones but they were not needed and Conor bowled with the other students and had lots of fun. 

Conor is 15 and his progress in being able to function in environments with lots of noise and activity has been substantial.  Yesterday it included Jack Black and a cast of prominent actors providing voices for a movie which Conor enjoyed ... almost as much as I did. 

Dear USA: This Canadian Father With a Severely Autistic Son Says Thank You for Combating Autism

"in order to continue meeting the needs of people with autism, the Combating Autism Act

must be fully reauthorized. We still have a long way to go. Working collaboratively with

important partners, the Affordable Care Act and the Combating Autism Act will allow   

 us to research and develop and refine vital treatments

Kathleen Sebelius,  US Secretary of Health and Human Services, April 25, 2011

Autism is a severe and limiting medical disorder for which treatments and cures must be found through solid, focused research.  Autism is a disorder which should be combated so that those who suffer from it can live fuller, more independent, lives. Here in Canada we do not have a serious, focused national autism strategy or recognition of the need for a national effort to combat autism disorders.  We are lucky that our  neighbors in the US have had the good sense and determination  to try and address and combat autism disorders through research  efforts under the Combating Autism Act.

This Canadian  thinks of many things when I think of the USA.  Some of these things are negative. Most are positive, very positive. I think of our neighbors as confident, freedom loving people who constantly seek to better themselves. I think of Americans as people with strong commitments to family.  I think of Americans as people who are afraid of no challenge as amply demonstrated by the audacious and successful commitment by former President John F. Kennedy to put men on the moon by the end of the 1960's.  Autism is a serious disorder which impairs and restricts the lives of those who suffer from it.  The continued efforts in the US, under the provisions of the Combating Autism Act, have helped direct research toward understanding and finding treatments and cures for autism.  It is of great  importance for everyone affected by the serious challenges of autism, including Canadians, that those efforts, and the Combating Autism Act, continue.

This Canadian father with a severely autistic son says thank you to our American friends for the efforts made under the Combating Autism Act.  I  hope you decide to continue this important undertaking. It may not be as glamorous as putting men on the moon but, for many affected by autism and their families, it is of fundamental importance.

Autism Can End Lives: Wandering and Drowning

Those  who don't believe that autism can be a deadly disorder, who believe that wandering from home and drowning  is not a problem that should be associated with autism, will want to skip reports of yet another death by drowning of an autistic child that wandered from the safety of his home.  This time the drowning occurred in Cushing, Oklahoma. As reported on Oklahoma's Own,  NewsOn6.com the child's death has been ruled accidental after investigation by the Department of Human Services and the State Medical Examiner's Office:

"Death Of Autistic Boy In Cushing Ruled Accidental ... criminal charges will not be filed as a result of the death of 4-year-old Blake Murrell.  Murrell drowned in a pond within Memorial Park in Cushing on April 19. His body was found hours after he was reported missing from the family's home nearby.

The D.A.'s office says a thorough investigation was conducted by the Cushing Police Department, the Department of Human Services and the State Medical Examiner's Office. A statement released by Lee's office states "the evidence gathered does not justify the filing of criminal charges. The evidence indicates this was an unfortunate, tragic accident."

Low Functioning Autistic Persons Remain Invisible on CNN and in the DSM-5's New Autism Spectrum Disorder

Elizabeth Landau, a CNN Health writer/producer, mentions briefly the DSM-5's New Autism Spectrum Disorder, in a report on the organizational changes in the DSM-5 in Psychiatry 'bible' structure overhauled. Ms. Landau's discussion of changes in the DSM autism classification focuses exclusively on the impact the formal inclusion of Asperger's syndrome in Autistic Disorder will have on persons with Asperger's and parents of children with Asperger's.  No mention is made of the impact on that the changed definition of autistic disorder will have on the invisible autistics, those with actual autistic disorder, often low functioning, with intellectual disabilities, who are likely to live their adult lives in some level of residential or institutional care:

"This organizational framework is trying to emphasize that we don’t have strict divisions between disorders," Regier said.



For instance, Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, instead of being its own diagnosis, would now fall under the broader “austism spectrum disorders.” This move has some parents unhappy because "autism" sounds scarier than Asperger's, which has taken on its own identity in that community, and because children with Asperger's have specific educational needs that are different from kids with more severe autism.



But the association has heard from other parents frustrated that their children with Asperger's are denied special education benefits reserved for autism, Regier said. And biologically speaking, Asperger's is a form of autism, doctors say.

CNN, of course, is not unique in excluding mention of those with autistic disorder, particularly those severely affected by autism disorders, while discussing changes to the DSM autism diagnostic category.The process started in 1994 with the DSM-IV. The DSM-IV revision included a de facto inclusion of Asperger's with Autism in the Pervasive Developmental Diosrders.  The new revision completes that process and waters down further the requirements for a diagnosis of autism. 

As previously noted by CDC autism expert Dr.  Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp the DSM-IV definition change, amongst other accomplishments, lowered the rate of persons with autism AND intellectual disabilities ... by expanding the definition of autism to include persons who were by diagnostic definition not intellectually disabled.  Autism's "vast majority" to quote Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp became a large minority.  With the new changes more persons without intellectual disability will be diagnosed as autistic under the watered down definition.  The APA will have taken another large step toward lowering the rates of persons with autism and intellectual disability, not by helping to improve the condition of those persons but by redefining them to a  smaller corner once again. 

It will be easier for APA members, and other health professionals,  to ignore low functioning autistic persons as they become a smaller and smaller percentage of the DSM's New Autism Spectrum Diosorder.  It will  also be  easier for Autism Speaks to continue its feel good "autism" fund raising by promoting  the careers of very high functioning persons with Aspergers, like John Elder Robison and Alex Plank, as the faces of autism when their diagnoses are officially changed from Aspergers to Autism Spectrum Disorder. And it will be easier for Autism Speaks to retain its status as Autism Without Intellectual Disability Speaks.

Meanwhile the vast majority of those currently diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, those who also have intellectual disabilities, those with low functioning autism disorders, will become even more invisible to the public eye. 

Autism and the Stigma of Intellectual Disability: Some CDC Facts

CDC:  Intelligence quotient (IQ) of children aged 8 years with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for whom psychometric test data were available,* by site and sex (IQ) score-Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2006

Last week some "autism" blog sites on the internet launched more personal attacks against me for daring to again correct the myth that ALL, or MOST, autistic persons are characterized by high intelligence.  I am not going to respond to the silly comments directly.  I will refer anyone who is interested in the subject and who  wishes to look at autism disorders realistically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site which states that:



"A report published by CDC in 2009, shows that 30-51% (41% on average) of the children who had an ASD also had an Intellectual Disability (intelligence quotient <=70)."

The above information from the CDC is referring to ALL persons with ANY Autism Spectrum Disorder including those with Asperger's Disorder.  By definition Asperger's excludes diagnosis where the person has cognitive impairment.  For classic Autistic Disorder the average number of persons with an Intlellectual Disability or Cognitive  Impairment would obviously be much higher than the 41 % average for all persons with ANY Autism Spectrum Disorder.  

Perpetuating the myth that persons with autism disorders tend to be of high intelligence does not help the vast majority of those with classic Autistic Disorder who have Intellectual Disabilities.  It reflects a desire to disassociate autism from intellectual disability. Autism is seen as good or at least acceptable.  Intellectual Disability is seen as bad.

Perpetuating the myth of autism and high intelligence  stigmatizes those with autism and intellectual disability.