Zuckerberg, Autism, and Vaccines

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.

At GH, Maria Carter writes of Mark Zuckerberg:

The Facebook CEO added a photo of himself and 6-week-old daughter Max on Friday, with the caption: "Doctor's visit — time for vaccines!"

Though it's not an official (or even very blatant) endorsement, Zuckerberg's message appears to encourage parents to have their children vaccinated. Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician, live in Northern California, where, as TIME reports, cases of measles, whooping cough, and other preventable diseases are spiking as "anti-vaxxer" sentiment grows. In June, the state passed a law requiring all children to get vaccinated before starting school.

...
Responses to Zuckerberg's post have been mostly positive, with the top "liked" comment coming from "someone with autism" thanking the tech billionaire for "doing what's right and also for showing everyone else that it's the right thing to do as well."

 

Tom Boggioni writes at Raw Story:

Whether Zuckerberg’s post was meant as a taunt or a simple reminder to get children vaccinated, the negative response was to be expected — or as Laura-Kathleen Redman commented, ” *patiently waits for anti-vaxxers to show up*”

And show up, they did.

“We all care about our kids. Growing up, my mom’s best friend had a perfectly healthy daughter. She received MMR and had a grand mal seizure and suffered brain damage. Her dr diagnosed her with vaccine injury. She was left unable to talk or walk for the rest of her life. So that was MY first personal experience with vaccines,” Amy Smith wrote. “Bottom line…A pharmaceutical that carries at least a risk of harm to some, should never be mandated. Because, in the end, no one seems to care about the ‘sacrifices’ made for the ‘common good.'”

 Christopher Brennan writes at The New York Daily News:

One poster said that the tech entrepreneur with a net worth of more than $40 billion was profiting from sharing the cute picture of his daughter.

I bet he just lined his pockets from big pharma to publicly post this for millions to see pushing vaccines that ‘wow, the famous Mark Zuckerburg vaccinated his baby so you should to!’ and I don't believe it, just because he made a public statement doesn't make it real,” she said.

Anti-vaxxers stubbornly maintain that ingredients in vaccines may put children at risk of developing autism, despite the Centers for Disease Control and other health officials denying any such link.

Vaccination rates at some daycares in the technology mecca of Silicon Valley are particularly low, according to Wired, threatening children’s herd immunity to fight diseases such as the measles.

“As someone with autism, with a son with autism, as someone who is constantly watching good people put their own children at serious risk because of old, fraudulent fears of vaccines and autism... thank you for being sensible,” one grateful parent shared under Zuckerberg’s post.

More Reax to Clinton's Autism Plan

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.  As I explain in the book, Hillary Clinton has a long history with the issue, and has issued an autism policy statement for the 2016 campaign.  A previous post noted some reactions to the plan, and here is an update.

Dylan Matthews at Vox:

It's helpful to contrast Clinton's agenda with that of the Combating Autism Act, which George W. Bush signed into law in 2006. The first problem with the act was its name, which implied that the goal of public policy should be to stamp out autism, rather than helping autists.

This is troublesome both because it does nothing for autistic people alive today, and because many on the autism spectrum (myself included) don't view autism as wholly negative and argue that society could benefit from acknowledging and  celebrating neurodiversity. We don't want autism to be "combated"; we want autistic people to be supported. That means government policy that provides services that enable people on every point in the autism spectrum to learn, work, and find acceptance in their communities.

But the law was also troubling because of how some $945 million in federal spending authorized by the act was allocated. A 2013 report from the Government Accountability Office found that of 1,206 autism research projects funded by the federal government from 2008 to 2012 (after the Combating Autism Act was passed), a little under half focused on either the biology behind autism or on the condition's causes. By contrast, only 21 percent researched treatment and interventions.

[See chapter 3 of The Politics of Autism for an extensive discussion of the politics of autism science.]

Autism Speaks:

Autism Speaks urges all the presidential candidates to come forward with a plan to address the needs of people living with autism. We have provided a blueprint that Autism Speaks believes is essential to good public policy. A national plan should be built around enhanced state and federal advocacy, groundbreaking advances in science and research, and a full discussion of the barriers to, and opportunities for, addressing the housing, transition and employment needs of those with autism.

AT NPR, Kelly McEvers interviewed Ron Fournier:

MCEVERS: So her plan calls, among other things, for, you know, more access to insurance compliance with Medicaid, more outreach on autism, a national campaign, help for people with autism to transition from school into adult life. I mean, how likely do you think it is that this could actually happen?
FOURNIER: Probably not very likely because one, all of that is very expensive. Two, you would have to get a polarized Washington, D.C., working together to get it done. And three, you know, it's fair to have doubts about her ability to be able to bring a fractured Washington together. So my guess is it's not very likely, but even then, just the fact that she's put it on the national agenda is a big first step. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope she can get it done.
MCEVERS: That's Ron Fournier. He has an upcoming book about raising his son. It's called "Love That Boy." Thanks so much.
FOURNIER: Thank you very much.

Autism, Disability, and Gun Control

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

There is no evidence linking autism to planned violence, but in recent years, mass shootings by young men have led commentators in the mainstream media and on the Internet to suggest such a connection. After the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, for instance, news reports said that the shooter was on the spectrum. The speculation made little sense to anyone who understood autism. Whereas autistic people have language delays and deficits, the killer had learned English as a second language — and learned it well enough to major in the subject in college. Later on, it turned out that he had an entirely different problem, a social anxiety disorder. Adam Lanza, who committed the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, may have had an Asperger’s diagnosis, but his father emphasized that his behavior stemmed from the psychiatric illnesses that he also had. Nevertheless, the media speculated about Lanza’s place on the spectrum, which worried autism parents. One mother of an autistic child wrote: “This is the first time I'm truly afraid for him. Afraid of what may happen to my son with autism at the hands of a stranger; a stranger who has chosen to buy into the media-fueled misinformation that individuals diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder are dangerous and capable of horrendous acts of terror and violence.”

From the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network:

In light of the recent announcement that the Obama Administration intends to utilize the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Representative Payee database to feed the names of people with psychiatric disabilities requesting assistance in managing their financial affairs into the National Instant Criminal Background Check system to prevent firearms purchases, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network has grave concerns as to the precedent this sets regarding the rights of people with disabilities.

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings in San Bernardino, Newton and elsewhere, many have sought to scapegoat people with psychiatric disabilities for mass shootings, contrary to a wealth of evidence in the scientific literature demonstrating no link between mental health and violence. People with psychiatric disabilities are already far more likely to be the victims of violence than people without disabilities, and deserve better than to be stigmatized by inaccurate and harmful rhetoric.

The representative payee system is designed for the sole purpose of allowing individuals to select a trusted person to assist them in managing their finances. The precedent of deeming an individual incompetent to assert any other right as a result of representative payee status is deeply concerning and might lead to further restrictions on key rights, such as voting or parenting, in the future. The proposed measure might also make it less likely that those who require financial assistance will be willing to utilize the SSA’s representative payee system.

Such a proposal tells Autistic Americans, seniors with dementia, youth with Down Syndrome leaving school and people with countless other psychiatric and neurological disabilities of all kinds that struggling to manage their finances means they are to be deemed incompetent in other areas of life as well. This is unacceptable.

We urge the Obama Administration and the Social Security Administration to reconsider this course of action and remove this measure from further consideration.

From the American Association of People with Disabilities:

The recent proposal announced by the Obama Administration to reduce gun violence contains certain provisions falsely assuming that people with psychiatric disabilities have a propensity for violence. As cited in AAPD’s publication Grounded in Faith, the MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence – the most rigorous scientific study conducted to date by the country’s leading experts in mental health and violence – found that a person with a psychiatric disability is no more likely to be violent than a person without one. In fact, people with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be the victims of violence than people without disabilities. The disability community deserves better than to be stigmatized by inaccurate and harmful rhetoric.

Specifically, AAPD opposes the Obama Administration’s plan to utilize the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Representative Payee database as a way to identify ‘dangerous’ individuals who should be prevented from purchasing firearms.

...
“AAPD supports the President in taking commonsense steps to make our communities safer, but utilizing the representative payee database as a way to identify people who are likely to commit gun violence is a useless and harmful proposal” said Michael Murray, AAPD’s Chief Operating Officer. “It unfairly stigmatizes millions of Americans with disabilities who make tremendous contributions to our society and pose no threat of violence. The likely effect of such efforts will be to discourage many from acknowledging and seeking support for a psychiatric disability, while having absolutely no impact on gun violence. The proposed measure might also make it less likely that those who need financial assistance will be willing to utilize the SSA’s representative payee system. This is unacceptable.”

Reactions to Hillary Clinton's Autism Statement

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.  As I explain in the book, Hillary Clinton has a long history with the issue, and has issued an autism policy statement for the 2016 campaign.

Emily Willingham at Forbes:

Clinton’s new plan doesn’t characterize autism with words like “cure,” “epidemic,” “disease,” “crisis” or “suffer.” She even uses “disorder” only once, in giving the official name of the condition, and never mentions “cause.” The first section covers screening and awareness but emphasizes capturing underserved, underdiagnosed populations such as African American and Latino children and even mentions a need to better capture women and girls who are autistic. I’ve never seen a candidate do that before, and it shows that someone on Clinton’s staff did some serious homework on this one.

Eric Garcia at Roll Call:

On Tuesday, the former secretary of State’s campaign rolled out a plan to support those on the autism spectrum, and held a conference call with Dr. Fred Volkmar, director of the Yale University Child Study Center; Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.; and Ari Ne’eman, president and co-founder of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.

... 

Karen Fessel, founder and executive director of the Autism Health Insurance Project, who has a son on the spectrum, was optimistic about the proposal, despite some gaps. “I hope she can do half of it,” she said. “A lot of it’s already on the books. The programs are underfunded or there’s no enforcement, so there’s no penalty for following the law.”

Ne’eman said on the conference call that while as a non-profit his organization does not make endorsements, he was happy Clinton approached his team and consulted with people on the spectrum.

“The fact it was requested and the fact many of these priorities come directly from the community is extremely significant,” Ne’eman said.

Sara Luterman at The Guardian:

Donald Trump’s offhand and ill-informed comments about the supposed link between childhood vaccination and autism are even more obscene in the light of how well Clinton, or at least Clinton’s advisers, understand the issues. She is even far surpassing Bernie Sanders in this area – he hasn’t said a word about an autism platform. If he releases his own autism plan, I will reconsider my position.

Shannon Des Roches Rosa at Thinking Person's Guide to Autism:

Hilary Clinton's campaign published an autism plan yesterday. It's like nothing I've ever seen in an autism-centric policy statement, in a good way. It's not perfect, because this is politics, and politics are more about compromise and incremental gains than revolutionary change. But throughout the statement, autistic people are treated as human beings with legitimate and sorely unmet needs, and not the usual (infuriating-to-read) millstones, pity magnets, or financial black holes that are tearing the fabric of families, not to mention our nation's budget, apart. Human beings who deserve to be prioritized. That's welcome progress, and I would like to see such outlooks become our country's policy reality.

Ron Fournier at National Journal:

Clin­ton did not say how she would pay for her plan. Nor is it clear, giv­en the po­lar­iz­ing nature of her can­did­acy, wheth­er the former sec­ret­ary of State could rally Con­gress be­hind such an am­bi­tious agenda.

But let’s give her cred­it: The Demo­crat­ic front-run­ner has done the aut­ist­ic com­munity a world of good by be­ing the first pres­id­en­tial can­did­ate to el­ev­ate the is­sue. Oth­ers should soon fol­low.

Autism in Israel

In The Politics of Autism, I note that we need more study of how autistic people fare in other countries.

David Shamah and Ben Sales report at The Times of Israel (h/t MM):

Israel’s first college aimed specifically at students with autism, Asperger’s syndrome and complex learning disabilities is set to open in March 2016.

According to the NRG news website, the BE Academic College will be a collaboration between Beit Ekstein, an organization that provides services to people with a variety of learning and developmental disabilities, and the Open University, a distance-learning institution with branches throughout the country.

“Out of close familiarity with the world of graduates with learning disabilities comes the establishment of the BE Academic College, whose goal it will be to make academic learning possible by building a supportive and adapted curriculum,” Beit Ekstein said in a statement announcing the institution’s upcoming opening.

The new institution will be housed at Beit Ekstein’s campus in Givatayim, a suburb of Tel Aviv. It will offer three interdisciplinary tracks meant to prepare its target population for the workforce. The programs announced by the academy are psychology and education, economics and computer science, and psychology and communications.

Shira Rubin writes at The Atlantic:

E. (he requested his full name be withheld to comply with army protocol) is a corporal in the Israel Defense Force’s “Visual Intelligence Division,” otherwise known as Unit 9900, which counts dozens of Israelis on the autism spectrum among its members.

The relationship is a mutually beneficial one. For these young people, the unit is an opportunity to participate in a part of Israeli life that might otherwise be closed to them. And for the military, it’s an opportunity to harness the unique skill sets that often come with autism: extraordinary capacities for visual thinking and attention to detail, both of which lend themselves well to the highly specialized task of aerial analysis.

Rubin discusses Ro’im Rachok (Hebrew for “seeing into the future”), a program that helps students with autism prepare forthe IDF.

E., who connects strongly with the army’s structured atmosphere, says he plans to apply to stay on permanently. But regardless of how long they stay, many of Ro’im Rachok’s graduates depend on the connections and skills they build in the army to help them achieve independence once they leave it. Especially in the intelligence fields, military service is often a pathway to jobs in Israel’s booming tech sector. This is particularly advantageous for young people with autism as they approach the so-called “bloody 21,” the age at which almost all government-funded programs for autistic Israelis, like subsidized transportation and assisted-living services, are cut off.

"Bloody 21" in Israel corresponds to "the cliff" in the United States."

Autism Books

In addition to The Politics of Autism, there are other new books dealing with autism.

Steve Silberman's Neurotribes:

Going back to the earliest days of autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle, while mapping out a path for our society toward a more humane world in which people with learning differences and those who love them have access to the resources they need to live happier, healthier, more secure, and more meaningful lives.

And most recently, In a Different Key, by John Donvan and Caren Zucker:

Nearly seventy-five years ago, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi became the first child diagnosed with autism. Beginning with his family’s odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autism—by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different.

At The Smithsonian, Donvan and Zucker write of Samuel Gridley Howe:

As far as we can determine, we are the first to suggest the diagnosis for Howe’s numerous cases, who appear to constitute the earliest known collection of systematically observed people with probable autism in the United States. We came across them during the fourth year of research for our new book, In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, by which time our “radar” for autistic tendencies was fairly well-advanced. Granted, retrospective diagnosis of any sort of psychological state or developmental disability can never be anything but speculation. But Howe’s “Report Made to the Legislature of Massachusetts upon Idiocy,” which he presented in February of 1848, includes signals of classic autistic behavior so breathtakingly recognizable to anyone familiar with the condition’s manifestations that they cannot be ignored. Plus, his quantitative approach vouches for his credibility as an observer, despite the fact that he believed in phrenology, which purported to study the mind by mapping the cranium, long since relegated to the list of pseudosciences. Howe’s final report contained 45 pages of tabulated data, drawn from a sample of 574 people who were thoroughly examined by him or his colleagues in nearly 63 towns. The tables cover a wide range of measurements as well as intellectual and verbal capacities. Howe, extrapolating, estimated that Massachusetts had 1,200 “idiots.”

Hillary Clinton and Autism

Hillary Clinton has made a policy statement on autism.  Here is the summary:

Today, Hillary Clinton is announcing a wide-ranging autism initiative—including screening, diagnosis, treatment, services, safety and legal protections for individuals on the autism spectrum across the lifespan, steps to ensure they are treated with dignity, partnerships to help them secure employment, support for families and caregivers, and a commitment to increase research funding to deepen our understanding of autism. More than 3.5 million Americans are believed to have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). According to a CDC estimate, one in every 68 children in the United States was identified as having ASD in 2010. And the costs of treatment and services are beyond the abilities of most families. Improving support for children and adults on the autism spectrum and their families can vastly improve their lives and open the door to more sustainable costs for Medicaid and other public programs as services are delivered using integrated, community-based approaches. And these proposals will not only help people with autism and their families but also will benefit others with developmental disabilities.

Hillary Clinton believes that our country must make supporting individuals and families with autism a priority—for the millions of people living with autism and their loved ones, and millions more who will be diagnosed in the future. As president, Clinton will:

• Conduct a nationwide early screening outreach campaign to ensure that all children, and in particular children from underserved backgrounds, can get screened for autism.
• Push states to require health insurance coverage for autism services in private insurance plans as well as marketplace plans offered in the state so that people with autism are not turned away.
• Launch the Autism Works Initiative to extend new resources and establish public-private partnerships that will connect people with autism with employment opportunities.
• Authorize the first-ever adult autism prevalence study in the U.S. so that we improve our understanding of how to identify, serve, and support adults on the autism spectrum.

See reports by Ken Thomas at AP, Sam Frizell in Time  and Sarah Karlin in Politico.

Clinton's statement notes that most states have already adopted insurance mandates.   As I point out in The Politics of Autism, however, the mandates have various limitations.  Moreover:

Sixty-one percent of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance are in a self-funded plan, in which the employer takes direct financial responsibility for enrollees’ medical claims.[i] Employers that self-fund typically contract with an insurance company to run the plan. Workers then get cards that bear the name of the insurance company and often look just like those from a traditional plan, so many do not even know that they are in a self-funded plan.[ii] Most of the time, the distinction makes little difference -- unless the employees are seeking coverage for a family member with autism. The catch is that the state mandates do not apply to self-funded plans. A federal law (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA) exempts self-funded plans from most state insurance laws, including mandated benefits. When South Carolina passed its mandate, the Unumb family was in a self-funded plan, so Ryan could not benefit from Ryan’s Law. As lawyers, the Unumbs knew about this exception all along, but for many autism families in states with insurance mandates, it comes as an unpleasant surprise. [emphasis added]

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[i] Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “2014 Employer Health Benefits Survey,” September 10, 2014. Online: http://kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2014-section-ten-plan-funding.
[ii] Lorri Shealy Unumb, letter to families, Autism Speaks, February 2014. Online: http://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/docs/gr/erisa_tool_kit_10232014.pdf.

Burdens on Special-Ed Teachers

In The Politics of Autism, I write about special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act:

At NPR, Lee Hale provides some background on special-ed teacher shortages:

Even if you're up for the low pay and noisy classrooms, special education adds another challenge: crushing paperwork.

This is something I understand firsthand. You see, I was a special education teacher and I just couldn't hack it. Though I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it, I lasted only a year in the classroom.

I chose special education for what felt like the right reason. I wanted to help the students who struggle to learn. But I soon realized that was only a part of the job.

The paperwork, the meetings, the accountability. Eventually it got to me. I couldn't do it all and I got tired of showing up to a job I knew I couldn't do. It's that simple.
...
In 2011, Donald Deshler, a professor of special education at the University of Kansas, set out to examine just how many hours all that paperwork consumes. He and a doctoral student wanted to find out what the typical special education teacher's workload looked like.

They decided to observe a few teachers during their workday. "We followed them everywhere, except the bathroom," Deshler says.

They then broke down the teacher's typical workday into four main categories with the percentage of time spent on each:

• Management, IEP paperwork and administrative responsibilities: 33 percent
• Collaboration, co-teaching, assisting other teachers and meetings: 27 percent
• Instruction, teaching students in their classroom: 27 percent
• Diagnostic, testing and data tracking: 13 percent

Pan Recall Fizzles

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.

Jeremy B. White reports at The Sacramento Bee:

Opponents of California’s new mandatory vaccine law have suffered another defeat, failing to force a recall election of the senator who championed the law.

In carrying a law requiring vaccines for all school children, Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, drew the animus of parents who believe vaccines are unsafe and the law an assault on parental rights. Pan’s office received death threats during the debate.

After Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 277, opponents turned to an attempt to recall Pan. Needing to gather 35,926 signatures by Dec. 31, they submitted none in Sacramento County or in Yolo County, which contain Pan’s 6th Senate district.

“Not a single signature,” said Yolo County assistant clerk-recorder Susan Patenaude-Vigil.

In a statement, Pan called the defeat a “ victory of science over the politics of fear and intimidation” and castigated “anti-vaccination zealots” who “used fear, intimidation and discredited information to try to defeat our bill.”

Last year, a referendum to overturn the law also failed to get enough signatures

IEP Hell

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss Individualized Education Programs (IEPs): 

Tracy Thompson writes at The Atlantic:

Teachers get a copy of the IEP at the start of the school year, but these can be lengthy documents; my daughter’s at times ran 30 pages (although much of this consisted of form questions). By middle school, when one teacher can have more than 100 students a day, he or she could have 15 or 20 IEPs to read. It’s not easy. IEPs are like legal documents in that you have to extract relevant bits of information from here and there, and put them together. Every parent of a special-education child with whom I’ve interacted (and I belong to a listserve that includes parents like me from states up and down the East Coast) has learned the hard way that you can’t depend on IEPs to convey anything. If you want a teacher to know, say, that your autistic child will go ballistic if he sees some rule inconsistently enforced, or that your child’s ADHD medication starts to wear off by 2 p.m., you have to get that information to the teacher yourself. And due to privacy issues, people like lunchroom or recess monitors may not have access to your child’s IEP—even though problems in social skills are frequently part of the learning-disabilities package, and a lot of social interaction takes place at recess and in the lunchroom.

An Incident in Kodiak

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between police and autistic people.  Police officers need training to respond appropriately.  When they do not, things get out of hand.

In Anchorage, Samantha Angaiak reports at KTUU-TV:

Police reports, video and audio recordings obtained today through a public records request reveal new information about a controversial Sept. 16 encounter between Kodiak police and a man with autism.

The case led some community members here to accuse police of excessive use of force when they used "OC spray" -- or pepper spray -- to subdue and handcuff 28-year-old Nick Pletnikoff during a struggle. In newly released footage from police body cameras, Pletnikoff can be heard yelling "I want to go home!" as officers attempt to restrain him.

His mother said she was appalled by the footage.

...
No charges were filed against Pletnikoff once officers learned of his autism, police wrote.

Judy Pletnikoff tells Channel 2 her son was in the area attempting to check the mail before the encounter. She said he does not attempt break into cars, as police wrote, but simply looks at them.

In a statement describing the release of the records, the city of Kodiak writes: "The videos of the struggle between the officers and the (28-year-old0 may be uncomfortable to watch. However, we hope the viewers will understand there is more to the story than the media’s version that this young man was assaulted on his way to check the mail." 

 

Liz Raines reports at KTVA-TV:

The officers involved claimed they didn’t know 29-year-old Nicholas Pletnikoff is mentally disabled — though one of the officers later told the others he knew Pletnikoff had “special needs” before he was pepper sprayed.

A spokeswoman for the Anchorage Police Department, Renee Oistad, didn’t want to comment on how the Kodiak Police Department responded to the situation, but did describe APD’s general policies when detaining someone — which were very different from the behavior of Kodiak police.
...

In Anchorage, Oistad said police have a dialogue-first policy.

“It doesn’t matter who we take into custody, we always tell them what we’re doing and why — always,” Oistad said.
...

Oistad said learning to recognize someone with different mental abilities is one of the first skills officers are taught. Beyond that training, APD has a specialized group of officers known as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT).

“These folks are also trained to recognize people that process information differently and are called out to scenes as opposed to having to go hands-on,” Oistad said.

Vaccine Refusal in California

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.

At CNN, John Bonifield reports that Califorinia kindergarteners most likely to have a personal-belief vaccine exemption are wealthy and white, according to a recent study.

The study, which was published in the American Journal of Public Heath, looked at more than 6,200 California schools and found vaccine exemptions were twice as common among kindergartners attending private institutions.

"If you live in a rich, white community where lots of people don't vaccinate their kids, that could be dangerous," said Tony Yang, a health policy professor at George Mason University and author of the study.

According to a 2011 study in Public Health Reports, when parents refuse vaccines it's usually due to concerns about children receiving too many shots or developing side effects, including autism. This despite an exhaustive review last year of 20,000 scientific titles and 67 papers that concluded childhood vaccines are safe, and a complete retraction of the study that spawned the fear that vaccines cause autism.

Yang's study didn't investigate why wealthier, white families in the state are more likely to reject vaccines. One reason may be that some parents are trying to protect their children's immunity from diseases by insisting on specialized diets and natural living practices instead of vaccines, according to a different study.

 In Palm Springs, CA, Kristen Hwang reports at The Desert Sun:

At the start of the new year, California's new mandatory vaccine law will begin phasing out personal and religious belief exemptions for students at both public and private schools.

About 60 students in the valley's three public school districts will need to start updating their vaccinations before entering kindergarten or seventh grade - the two "checkpoint" years when vaccination compliance is recorded - and about 330 will need to provide proof of immunization over the next six years. Students in seventh through 12th grade who already have personal or religious belief exemptions on file will be allowed to keep those waivers. But if a student transfers school districts the district does not have to honor their waivers.

Earlier this year Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law abolishing personal and religious belief exemption waivers for children who receive their education in "classroom-based instruction." The legislation came several months after California experienced a measles outbreak linked to an infected person at Disneyland. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 113 people across several states contracted the measles in connection with this outbreak, most of whom were not vaccinated.

The mandate does not involve the flu vaccine.  At The Los Angeles Times, Mariaelena Gonzalez, Jennifer Mendiola and Van Do-Reynoso write that 24% of second-generation Latinos and 15% of third-generation Latinos in California got a flu vaccination in 2014, compared with 61% of first-generation Latinos.

There is one simple explanation for why vaccination rates among second- and third-generation Latinos differ so significantly from those of their newcomer parents and grandparents. Mexico heavily promotes vaccination in general, and it has the highest rate of flu vaccination among people older than 65 in nations that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In the U.S., however, many people aren't persuaded by public health campaigns for flu shots; they are suspicious of vaccinations, wrongly believing that shots cause health problems rather than prevent them.

Early Intervention and Lifelong Support

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic peopleand their families.

At Al Jazeera America, Dr. Sarah C. Bauer writes:

Children with autism benefit from explicit instruction on communication and social skills. It is easier to do this early, even before the age of 2, preferably as soon as families are concerned.

With early detection and intervention, I have seen many children’s communication, learning, social skills and behavior improve to the point that they can function well in a general education classroom. But the older children get, the harder these skills are to teach. Maladaptive behaviors can develop. The lack of early intervention can result in increasing communication problems, behavior problems and family stress, and older children cannot typically be as easily redirected and physically removed from volatile situations as young children.

In addition, we need to encourage and incentivize individuals to pursue vocations that support the millions of individuals with autism and their families. It is important to remember that individuals with autism benefit from services throughout their lives, not just when they are young. They rely on developmental pediatricians, child psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, special education teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, community partners and behavior therapists, among others.

We know that early intervention can change the developmental trajectories for many children with autism. Now we need to be able to provide it to everyone who needs it.

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

Once parents get past all the red tape, they often find that providers are scarce. Rural states may be especially short on behavior analysts, who tend to prefer to work in large metropolitan areas that have greater educational and technological resources. If psychiatric help is necessary, it may be hard to get. There is a shortage of child psychiatrists, and insurers are of little help in finding them. When The New Haven Register called several doctors’ offices listed on Aetna’s website as “Psychiatry, child and adolescent,” they found none who actually treated pre-teen children. One doctor said of the rosters of providers issued by insurance companies, “Their lists are never correct.” More generally, psychiatrists are less likely than other physicians to accept insurance. A national survey found that barely half said they accepted private insurance and only 43 percent accepted Medicaid.