Left Brain Right Brain
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Left Brain/Right Brain first came into existence in 2003. Over the years it has changed its basic form a few times but its core content and interest has always been autism and the news, science - and bad science associated with it.
Left Brain Right Brain
5d ago
I recently wrote about how Robert Kennedy Jr. is gutless (I’m an autism parent. No way I will vote for Robert Kennedy Jr.. He’s gutless). Over the past few decades, Mr. Kennedy has spoken at many events where fake, even abusive, therapies are promoted to autism parents for use on their disabled children. As a keynote speaker, Mr. Kennedy could have either refused to attend or used his platform to distance himself from these charlatans. To my knowledge, he never has.
So I was a little surprised to read that Mr. Kennedy had pulled out of recent convention (Not Even RFK Jr. Wanted to Come t ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
1w ago
It’s four years since Santa Clara County (SCC) ordered shelter-in-place to limit the spread of COVD-19. This was the first such order in the country when they did this on March 16, 2020. It is a decision which gets much criticism today from some quarters. Is that criticism deserved?
Let’s start with a simple metric to see how well SCC did in general: the death rate. Deaths due to COVID divided by total population.
For SCC, the rate is 0.16%. [1]
That’s 3081 people who died of COVID since we started counting.
Let’s compare that to other locations (data as of March 2, 2024) and ask, is the SCC n ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3w ago
As an example, I will discuss one particularly egregious “therapy” that was used on autistic children, the so-called “Lupron protocol”. Mr. Kennedy was in a perfect spot to stop or limit this therapy, but he never did. It would have taken courage, and, in my opinion, Mr. Kennedy is gutless.
Robert Kennedy (RFK Jr.) is running for president. He failed to gain the Democratic Party nomination and is now running as a third-party candidate. Since the beginning of his campaign, he’s faced criticism for being anti vaccine and anti-science. As someone who has watched Mr. Kennedy for nearly two decad ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
10M ago
There’s the ghost of a girl I’ll never be
Before I go, let go of the ghost
Just let her disappear
And then maybe you’ll see me
While I’m still here
I’m still here
The musical Kimberly Akimbo has been nominated for multiple Tony Awards. The show is about a 15 year old girl who has a rapid aging disease (it’s a fictitious condition.) She’s not autistic, but a message in one of her songs reminded me of what I’ve heard a lot of autistics say they feel.
Kimberly asks her parents to acknowledge that she wasn’t the daughter they wanted. That their house is haunted by the ghost of the girl that the ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
I happened to run across this study from last year: Maternal Influenza A(H1N1) Immunization During Pregnancy and Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring : A Cohort Study and thought it worth highlighting. The anti-vaccine movement has been good at moving goalposts and one of their lines in recent years has been that vaccines are dangerous for pregnant women. One line of “logic” holds that as mercury was phased out of vaccines, the influenza vaccine was given to pregnant women. Thus, we are told by anti-vaccine activists, explains why there was never their predicted drop in autism rates ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
I happened to run across this study from last year: Maternal Influenza A(H1N1) Immunization During Pregnancy and Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring : A Cohort Study and thought it worth highlighting. The anti-vaccine movement has been good at moving goalposts and one of their lines in recent years has been that vaccines are dangerous for pregnant women. One line of “logic” holds that as mercury was phased out of vaccines, the influenza vaccine was given to pregnant women. Thus, we are told by anti-vaccine activists, explains why there was never their predicted drop in autism rates ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
I am very fortunate that my state classified parents of high risk disabled kids (young adults, in my case) as “health care workers” and granted us access to the COVID-19 vaccine. 4 weeks ago I got dose one, and today I got dose 2.
As a short PSA–nurses like food and nothing stops you from showing them some gratitude. Here I am with the nurse who administered my shot, handing off a bag of chocolate.
“High risk” isn’t just a phrase. It’s a reality. My kid has a higher chance of complications or death than others. So I do this to protect them. And hospitals don’t have the capacity to handle a h ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
California is opening access to COVID vaccines to more people. As part of this they have issued “Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Guidelines” which includes guidance on vaccines for people with developmental disabilities. Access will start March 15. Individuals must be 16 years or older, and meet these requirements:
1) The individual is likely to develop severe life-threatening illness or death from COVID-19 infection
2) Acquiring COVID-19 will limit the individual’s ability to receive ongoing care or services vital to their well-being and survival
3) Providing adequate and timely COVID car ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
I am very fortunate that my state classified parents of high risk disabled kids (young adults, in my case) as “health care workers” and granted us access to the COVID-19 vaccine. 4 weeks ago I got dose one, and today I got dose 2.
As a short PSA–nurses like food and nothing stops you from showing them some gratitude. Here I am with the nurse who administered my shot, handing off a bag of chocolate.
“High risk” isn’t just a phrase. It’s a reality. My kid has a higher chance of complications or death than others. So I do this to protect them. And hospitals don’t have the capacity to handle a h ..read more
Left Brain Right Brain
3y ago
California is opening access to COVID vaccines to more people. As part of this they have issued “Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Guidelines” which includes guidance on vaccines for people with developmental disabilities. Access will start March 15. Individuals must be 16 years or older, and meet these requirements:
1) The individual is likely to develop severe life-threatening illness or death from COVID-19 infection
2) Acquiring COVID-19 will limit the individual’s ability to receive ongoing care or services vital to their well-being and survival
3) Providing adequate and timely COVID car ..read more