Mid-morning mash: Vaccine court, Jesus and autism, movie theaters

August 19th, 2008, 8:30 am · 1 Comment · posted by Sam Miller, The Orange County Register

• CBS News obtains details of what it says may be the earliest instance of the federal vaccine court finding “that the autistic behavior, brain injury and mental retardation” of an autistic boy “were all part of the vaccine injury”:

Now, CBS News has obtained details of a third case of vaccine injury in a child born in 1974. It may be one of the first cases in which the government compensated a child who became mentally retarded and developed autistic behavior after a vaccine injury. In this case, unlike the two others we’ve looked at, the child did not have a known pre-existing condition. What does this tell us that’s relevant to the current debate over vaccines and autism/ADD? Medical experts are likely to differ on that front.

Hat tip to Age of Autism, which has some comment on the report and the 1991 ruling.

• The CBS piece drew a quick bloggy rebuttal. Left Brain Right Brain — who points out that a neurodiversity blog actually wrote about that case 5 months ago — says “comparing autism in 1974 with autism in 2008 is not comparing apples to oranges,” and that the court did not actually find that the plaintiff had autism or autistic behaviors.

• An adult with Asperger’s says churches can be overwhelming for people with spectrum disorders. How does your church minister to children with autism? One pastor blogs:

When Jesus said that how we treat the ‘least of these’ in society was akin to how we treat God he was talking about 13-year old Adam Race, the autistic boy kicked out of a Minneapolis church because of disruptive behavior.

• Horses!

• And 11 AMC movie theaters on Saturday will screen movies in “a safe and accepting environment” for families affected by autism. That means the lights will be brought up, the sound will be turned down, and the “Silence is Golden” rule will be suspended, allowing audience members to walk, dance, shout, or sing. The nearest participating theater is San Diego’s AMC Mission Valley 20, 1640 Camino Del Rio North.

The first screening is the animated “Star Wars: Clone Wars,” screening at 10 a.m. Saturday. The plan is to make it a monthly event.

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