Mother Warriors

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Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds
Mother Warriors.jpg
Author Jenny McCarthy
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Dutton Penguin
Publication date
September 2008
Media typeHardcover
Pages304
ISBN 978-0-525-95069-1
OCLC 223800488
618.92/8588200922 22
LC Class RJ506.A9 M4254 2008

Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds is the fifth book published by New York Times bestselling author, activist and television personality Jenny McCarthy. [1] Her previous book, Louder Than Words, reached #3 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has more than 200,000 hardcovers in print after five printings. Many of McCarthy's assertions within the book, such as that she cured her son's autism and the benefits of chelation are highly disputed within the medical and scientific community, as chelation therapy has been fatal in at least one instance. [2] The foreword was written by her son's pediatrician, Jay Gordon. [3]

Contents

Summary

The book shares the personal stories of several families fighting autism. These stories focus on alternative autism therapies that they try to heal their children, as well as McCarthy's own reminiscing about her autistic child and her outspoken and contentious activism. The book includes the daughter of the founder of Autism Speaks, who claims to have changed her son's diet and improved his autism despite conspiratorial resistance from the organization, which, the book claims, until recently, rejected research into biomedical treatments; a mother who is claimed "healed" her son of his autism while taking on breast cancer; a father whose son was officially undiagnosed after allegedly undergoing treatment for a laundry list of debilitating autism symptoms and regressions; and a sixty-year-old woman who made attempts to fight to save her son (now thirty) in the 1980s, the book exclaims that she paved the way for the parents of today. The book also features a list of controversial autism resources and a directory of DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctors who are sympathetic to the widely discredited hypothesis that autism is caused by mercury in vaccines. [4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Rimland</span> American psychologist (1928–2006)

Bernard Rimland was an American research psychologist, writer, lecturer, and influential person in the field of developmental disorders. Rimland's first book, Infantile Autism, sparked by the birth of a son who had autism, was instrumental in changing attitudes toward the disorder. Rimland founded and directed two advocacy groups: the Autism Society of America (ASA) and the Autism Research Institute. He promoted several since disproven theories about the causes and treatment of autism, including vaccine denial, facilitated communication, chelation therapy, and false claims of a link between secretin and autism. He also supported the ethically controversial practice of using aversives on autistic children.

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Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the scientifically disproven view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley. Today, Generation Rescue is known as a platform for Jenny McCarthy's autism related anti-vaccine advocacy.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autism therapies</span> Therapy aimed at autistic people

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny McCarthy</span> American actress and model (born 1972)

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Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities include a range of practices used in the treatment of dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome and other developmental and learning disabilities. Treatments include changes in diet, dietary supplements, biofeedback, chelation therapy, homeopathy, massage and yoga. These therapies generally rely on theories that have little scientific basis, lacking well-controlled, large, randomized trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy; small trials that have reported beneficial effects can be generally explained by the ordinary waxing and waning of the underlying conditions.

<i>Autisms False Prophets</i> 2008 book by Paul Offit

Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure is a 2008 book by Paul Offit, a vaccine expert and chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The book focuses on the controversy surrounding the now discredited link between vaccines and autism. The scientific consensus is that no convincing scientific evidence supports these claims, and a 2011 journal article described the vaccine-autism connection as "the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".

Cameron L. Stauth is an American author and journalist who is best known for his narrative nonfiction accounts of true stories, and for his medical books.

Jay N. Gordon is an American pediatrician, lecturer, and author. He is well-known within the anti-vaccine movement for his promotion of vaccine hesitancy. He does encourage vaccinating but at the discretion of the parent. He is also a long-time advocate of breastfeeding; he became a member of the International Health Advisory Council of the La Leche League in 2005.

James R. Laidler is an American anesthesiologist in Portland, Oregon, who is known both for his activism for, and later his opposition to, alternative autism therapies.

The Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) is a non-profit organization devoted to autism. It was founded in 1998 and is currently based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Members of its advisory board include Eric Fombonne and Stephen Barrett, Tristam Smith was one of its board members until his death in August 2018. A report by the Association for Behavior Analysis International mentioned ASAT's website as a useful resource for parents of children with autism, as does the website of the University of North Texas and that of the University of Michigan Health System.

Jane Maroney El-Dahr is a clinical professor of pediatrics and the head of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine, where she has worked since 1990. She is also the president of the Louisiana Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. She has expertise in allergy, immunology, and rheumatology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Fitzpatrick (physician)</span> British general practitioner

Michael Fitzpatrick is a libertarian, British general practitioner (GP) and author from London, United Kingdom. He was a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Fitzpatrick is known for writing several books and newspaper articles about controversies in autism, from his perspective as someone who is both a GP and the parent of a son with autism. His book Defeating Autism: A Dangerous Delusion (2008) describes his views on the rising popularity of "biomedical" treatments for autism, as well as the MMR vaccine controversy.

Rashid Ali Buttar was an American conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer and licensed osteopathic physician. He was known for his controversial use of chelation therapy for numerous conditions, including autism and cancer. He was twice reprimanded by the North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners for unprofessional conduct and cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for illegal marketing of unapproved and adulterated drugs. An analysis found that Buttar was one of the top twelve individual and organization accounts producing up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content on Twitter and Facebook.

References

  1. Excerpt: "Mother Warriors". ABC. Good Morning America. September 29, 2008. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  2. Brown, M. J.; Willis, T.; Omalu, B.; Leiker, R. (2006). "Deaths Resulting from Hypocalcemia After Administration of Edetate Disodium: 2003-2005" (Full free text). Pediatrics. 118 (2): e534-6. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0858. PMID   16882789. S2CID   28656831.
  3. Gorski, David (20 October 2008). "Dr. Jay Gordon: Pediatrician Warrior". ScienceBlogs . Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  4. Stephen Barrett, M.D. (2 June 2015). "A Critical Look at Defeat Autism Now! and the DAN! Protocol". Quackwatch . Retrieved 14 May 2017.