#source: life in an autism world (Facebook)

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Life in an Autism World

[andiphillipsdotcom]

I had an interesting experience this morning.

I signed up for an “Autism in Adults” study on a whim via Facebook, because I think to myself, “Hey, I’m an adult with autism.” I know, most people will make impulse purchases, but no, I sign up for a scientific study, go figure.

Anyway, I get the screening call today, and it seems to be going fine. But then the person on the other end says something about medication being involved, and I am like, “Hold up, what?”

See, I signed up for this study assuming it would be more on the research side of things. Since there are not a ton of studies on adults with autism (most studies focus on kids). I did not go into it thinking there would be medication involved.

So I ask them what symptoms is this medication supposed to treat?

For the record, I do not like describing conditions of autism as “symptoms,” because not all conditions of autism are medical or debilitating. However, in this context, we are talking about medication, so surely this would be focusing on more debilitating conditions of autism right?

This person just responds with “autism.”

…

*deep sigh*

So, I have to ask more specifically for a list of “symptoms, because obviously there is a lot that goes into autism (and not all of those conditions are even debilitating.) And, guess what, this person does not have a list.

Needless to say, I decline going any further.

(For the record this person was pleasant and professional. I really should have done my due diligence, and researched this study first.)

That was a very interesting experience, because it forced me to confront my feelings about Autism as a condition and as a disability.

For me personally, I do not feel as though my autism severely hinders me. Sure there are some things that are harder for me, socializing, managing my energy levels, sensory overload, sure. But first, these are things I can handle, and second I feel like this is all balanced out by the benefits of my autism, such as my analytical skills, and my sense of empathy.

However, I do still recognize there are conditions of autism that can be debilitating, and even severely so. For folx that are non-verbal, for example, it is truly difficult to navigate in a world that requires you to be verbal, without some kind of support.

I think my issue with the conversation I just had is that “autism” in its entirety was considered the “symptom” in question. Like autism is nothing but a debilitation, a disease that needs to be cured. And really, I beg to differ. For me at least, while my autism makes my life harder in some ways, it is also a part of who I am. The idea of “curing” my autism, quite frankly, is about as appealing to me as getting a lobotomy.

And honestly most of the things that make my life hard have less to do with my autism, and more to do with the world itself. As a very small for instance, some meetings in activist spaces can go on for hours, and this is honestly exhausting for me, as it leads to sensory overload. Not just because I am forced to pay attention for hours, but because of the spaces I have had to inhabit pre-covid. They were loud, and there were so many people. And then there was the emotional sensory overload. It was a lot.

But you know what solved a lot of that for me? Zoom! Zoom is honestly so much better for me than in person meetings ever were. I am in my own space, I can monitor the volume on my computer, and when I start to get tired from socializing, I can briefly excuse myself by turning off my camera and mic. Plus the no eye contact thing is a plus!

(Unfortunately sensory overload is still an issue with Zoom, because of the length of some meetings. I would really appreciate a break in some of these meetings, especially ones that can go on for 2+ hours, but that is a discussion for another day.)

Now, I am not saying *all* of these spaces did not make accommodations. In fact, some spaces have made such accommodations even before pre-covid. The point that I am getting at is this is just one example of how our society may not make accommodations for people with disabilities, or people who are neurodiverse.

And much more to this topic at hand, this - at least in my experience - tends to be the source of my issues. Not my autism itself, but the fact that the world is built for neurotypical people.

So maybe we should spend a little less time trying to “cure” people with autism, and a little more time making the world a better place for people with autism. And while we’re at it, making the world a better place for neurodiverse people and people with disabilities in general.

(Originally blogged on my website andiphillips.com)

[my-autistic-things]

I wanted to share what I wrote for one of my class assignment. The weekly discussion post assignment is to pick a “chapter” (any source; book chapter, journal article, news article, TED talk, movie, TV show, literally anything) that relates to Cyberpsychology. I’m copy and pasting my posting below because there has been so much discussion in my class about how bad social media is that even I had forgotten how essential it is to some people with disabilities. I don’t want anyone to respond with how bad social media can be on this post; I’ve had *literally* 7 weeks of discussing how bad it is in my class, how it warps your perception of reality and your identity(ies), is highly addicting, and makes us isolated and more depressed. That’s all true. Pretty sure we all know it at this point, even if you never heard of cyberpsychology before. But some of the reasons why social media is so bad is also the reason why it is so amazingly good for people with disabilities. Below is a summary of the source I picked for this week (Stuart Duncan’s TED talk about Autworld) and my reaction. I can’t seem to put a “keep reading” thing on, so sorry to people who don’t want to read it and have to scroll a long bit!

Quick edit: I feel absolute horrible, my brain read Stuart Duncan’s name as Steve (Honestly, it’s about Minecraft, I think reading his name as Steve is fairly understandable lol) -- I hope Tumblr saves this fix! Sorry, Stuart

How I use Minecraft to help kids with autism (link embedded) Word Count: 719 words

In Stuart Duncan’s TED talk, he tells us about how he created “Autcraft,” a Minecraft server for people with autism. Duncan himself is autistic, and he noticed that other people in the autism community (particularly young kids) were being severely bullied online. This is a very common occurrence, in real life and online, because people with autism behave differently than other kids without autism and are often mocked and criticized for their different behaviors. Some kids as young as six years old were being told to kill themselves on public Minecraft servers. Duncan created Autcraft as a private server and posted on his Facebook account that kids (and adults) with autism can email him and he will allow them in. Autcraft is an inclusive, compassionate, and positive world where kindness and helping behaviors are rewarded. While in other servers points and awards are given to people in competitions, in Autcraft, good behaviors are tracked and rewarded. This has led to real-world effects because the good behaviors modeled and observed by other players translate to autistic kids performing these behaviors in real life. Younger children learn spelling through watching how other people spell words correctly on their signs, and Duncan has reports from parents saying their nonverbal children have started verbally communicating (although mainly about Minecraft). Duncan emphasizes that the main reason why this world has become so successful and such an impactful positive environment for autistic people is because it is accommodating and safe. He tells a story about how one boy who he later found out was going blind would spam the chat with dash marks. The other players were getting upset with this and wanted him to be muted, but instead of punishing the behavior, Duncan and the admins figured out he was doing that so the chat would be visually separated so he could read it better. The admins created a code that all players can use to automatically separate each chat with dashes (or asterisks, whatever they choose), as well as highlights your username so you can identify when you are being talked about/to easier. The last point Duncan made was about being a person that autistic kids can feel safe around. By listening, being non-judgmental, and allowing autistic people to be themselves without imposing prejudice, suicidal autistic kids feel safe enough to come to Duncan and the other admins. He challenges everyone else to be that safe person kids (autistic or not) can come to. I haven’t heard of Autworld before. Apparently, it has been in the news, magazines, and other media and has been dubbed as “the best place on the internet.” After reading so many articles for this class about how the internet is a dangerous place and social media is addicting and we should decrease our usage of it, I wanted to find a positive source about social media/virtual worlds for this week’s chapter review. Online communities can mean so incredibly much for people with disabilities and marginalized groups. For me, social media and the internet is my primary way of socializing; I don’t enjoy in-person interactions and it isn’t because I’m a Gen Z addicted to the internet, though I am also a Gen Z addicted to the internet (but these are separate issues here). Many [neurotypical] people don’t understand and can never conceptualize how stressful, panic-inducing, and even painful live human interaction can be. To tie this TED talk and this topic to Turkle’s TED talk (Task #1 of this week): People are extremely judgmental and social media allows you to create an edited identity where people are willing to talk to you before automatically judging you as someone they don’t want to interact with. It does allow you to craft ideal messages, leaving out the quirks, pauses, and mistakes of real-life communication. But when those quirks are too quirky, the pauses are too long, and the mistakes are stutters, lisps, disability accents, grammatical mistakes that makes your speech virtually intelligible to anyone but close friends and family, texting and virtual worlds become a sanctuary. They become a place where you can connect with people who share the same difficulties and will allow you to be yourself. Or at least more of yourself can be expressed through your avatar than could ever be socially acceptable in person.

[elizawright]

Other Experiences

Interviews with other women with Aspergers

Source: Aspergers Uk Facebook Community

I noticed while being on the group most of the participants were men backing up the statistics that majority of the Aspergers community are male. This backs up my own theory that women find it harder to get diagnosed as majority of what doctors associate as “Aspergers Characteristics” come from male representatives. A good point from somewhen else in the group suggested that it also comes from the fact women are better at masking.

First Interview

Below is an interview I conducted with a lovely lady called Lauren, it was a very interesting read and supported what I already believed to be true through my own experiences. Women with autism are rarely represented in the media and struggle to get diagnosis or support from others as they show different characteristics to the majority of the Aspergers community:

Q. When were you diagnosed with Aspergers?

A. Feb 2009 age 13 nearly 14

Q. Did you find it difficult to get the diagnosis?

(Quite often women with Aspergers are refused diagnosis as they don’t show what doctors perceive as “characteristics”)

A. it was difficult and took about 8 appointments to get a diagnosis as lot of signs/traits were interlinked with other conditions I already had diagnosed

Q. Name 3 things positive about your Aspergers

(Eg, it makes me more creative)

A. I'm strict with time (not been late once), very well organised and creative

Q. Do you feel there is enough positive female autism Representation in the media? If no, how do you think we can improve? If yes, please provide an example?

A. No I was diagnosed with mental health before I had my diagnosis and a lot of people say to women because you can do eye contact or you have empathy/show emotions that they are not autistic when they are. People need to remember women are naturally brought up to be more mature/grown up then men so we learn things sooner than men would.

Q. List 3 things you struggle with? What could nurotypical people do to help change this?

A. Going out to busy/crowded places, meeting new people/socialising with new people and changes especially to routine. Neurotypical people should be taught about autism in school so less bullying happens and more support can happen even simple things like structured routine or explaining something in a different way or putting it into a real life prospect.

Q. Is there anything else you would like to add?

A.People need to realise that autism is a invisible disability and there isn't a certain look like down syndrome. People also need to remember that autism is different in every person so just because one person with autism is aggressive it doesn't mean everyone is going to be aggressive. Finally to remember autism comes in different levels and severities so one person with autism could live independently with a little bit of support while another person with the same diagnosis might need 24 hour care and support

Second Interview

Another lovely lady called Sophie bravely answered two of the questions for me:

Q. Is there anything else you would like to add?

A. I feel autism is based more around men. The way this could be improved is if people were more aware that autism can affect both males and females

Q. Did you find it difficult to get the diagnosis?

A. I didnt actually get diagnosed until I was 19 but I went to John Parkes when I was younger as ny mum thought I was different but they only said I am left handed but use ny right hand so it was left at that until I was 19 and my mum started working in a school and realised that I did a lot of the things that an autistic child at the school did

Third Interview

Lastly was a very helpful interview by a lovely lady called Ebony. I felt the most connection with Ebonys answers, pretty much everything she said I could relate to, specifically the struggle our mothers had to get a diagnosis, the miss belief in diagnosis of you don’t fit the stereotypes and the frustration with the lack of positive female representation.

Q. When were you diagnosed with Aspergers?

A. I was diagnosed at 8/9 years old

Q. Did you find it difficult to get the diagnosis?

(Quite often women with Aspergers are refused diagnosis as they don’t show what doctors perceive as “characteristics”)

A. My mother found it difficult to get me an assessment to get diagnosed because I have a genetic condition which they wanted to overshadow autism under. Even though they’re totally unrelated. She fought in court for two years before I was granted a full assessment

Name 3 things positive about your Aspergers

(Eg, it makes me more creative)

3. Aspergers makes me more observant. Aspergers allows me to focus specifically on and learn things really easily with things which I am really interested in, in detail, which is really useful for my degree. And Aspergers makes it easy for me to process visual information

Q. Do you feel there is enough positive female autism Representation in the media? If no, how do you think we can improve? If yes, please provide an example?

A. Absolutely not. Autism seems to be very much represented by men with the very typical characteristics (Big bang theory and atypical prime examples). I think there needs to be more female influencers who are on the spectrum speaking about it and also in movies, using autistic female characters as the main character instead of male

Q. List 3 things you struggle with? What could nurotypical people do to help change this?

A. Change. I guess just not changing things would be helpful but I think that’s just the way of the world.

People thinking I’m not on the spectrum because I’m not good at maths or science and I don’t have a breakdown every two minutes. Not assuming the stereotypes are true in everyone. My very black and white way of thinking. Sometimes this gets in the way of being able to think perceptively, as hard as I try, it can be very hard to understand why something is the way it is.

Interview 4

Interview with a lady who would like to stay anonymous. She has a very interesting story and in the past has done lots of work studying Aspergers in women.

Q. When were you diagnosed with Aspergers?

A. 2007

Q. Did you find it difficult to get the diagnosis?

(Quite often women with Aspergers are refused diagnosis as they don’t show what doctors perceive as “characteristics”)

A. I had anxiety n depression off n on for years. Worked as a advocate an had an abusive partner and it became worse. I went to a gp after reading about the condition and was dismissed by the gp. I took anti depressants n they made me feel so bad. Weight gain, hailing beginning to fall out n head felt like a racing feeling. Went back n was referred for cbt n refused to take meds as suicidal thoughts listed as side affect, which was happening. Went for cbt the lady had an autistic son. She picked up on traits n did n assessment n referred me to psychologist. I think I was quite lucky in my journey, in terms of a diagnosis. My mum said she always knew but she was always on meds. I’m not a fan on medication - personally

Q. Name 3 things positive about your Aspergers

(Eg, it makes me more creative)

A.1. I stopped hating or comparing myself to neuro typical people and what they do so easily.

2. It was ok to be different and I wasn’t stupid

3. I started to see myself and my traits and enjoy being me. If that makes sense

Q. Do you feel there is enough positive female autism Representation in the media? If no, how do you think we can improve? If yes, please provide an example?

A. I think when people are shown autism they are often shown the extreme. I watched a programme on the bbc about people with asperges and I couldn’t c myself in any of them. People always think of Chris Packham but we too are all v different as are NTs. The only other female I know of is Susan Boyle who was exploited in some way. But I believe she’s had support now and on the up bless her

Q. List 3 things you struggle with? What could nurotypical people do to help change this?

A. Too many people

Eating around strangers

Bright lights

In terms of how Nts could help is tough. I’m used to not having help so can be hard saying I’ve got a disability n then dealing with people’s preconceptions or struggling without help. Mentor ship in terms of study n maybe work place could be good.

Interview 5

This interview is another who would like to be kept anonymous, their family is very judgmental of their diagnosis therefor they don’t openly disclose their name.

Q.When were you diagnosed with Aspergers?

A. I was diagnosed in 2013, aged 36

Q. Did you find it difficult to get the diagnosis?

(Quite often women with Aspergers are refused diagnosis as they don’t show what doctors perceive as “characteristics”)

A. I was fortunate in that the clinical psychologist who diagnosed me was a specialist in the female autustic phenotype, which made the diagnostic process easier.

Q. Name 3 things positive about your Aspergers

A. Three positive things about Asperger's:

I stand in solidarity with my autistic kids, and understand them better

The way I think makes me good at writing essays

I think autistic people find greater joy in small things than neurotypicals.

Q. Do you feel there is enough positive female autism Representation in the media? If no, how do you think we can improve? If yes, please provide an example?

A. Autism in the media is usually male, which influences women's ability to get diagnosed and get help. There is a small but persistent push my autustic women to make autistic women and girls more visible, and we need to keep building on that

Q. List 3 things you struggle with? What could nurotypical people do to help change this?

A. I struggle with practical things, like maintaining a routine, using public transport, and following directions. Neurotypicals can help by recognising female autism, and simply being kind

[autismisaokay]

Say Goodbye To High And Low Functioning Labels

This article I wrote has some voices from a facebook group I’m in called the Autistic Alliance. I thank them for bravely putting their perspectives forward and letting me use them in this article.

When I was growing up I had a group of people I hung with closely and thought to be my friends. I remember sitting with one of these girls in a large classroom in high school that felt too cramped somehow. The furniture felt like they were encroaching tigers ready to go wild and pounce. The seats were too hard and the plastic felt scratchy. Most of all, people felt piled up on me even though there was plenty of space for everyone. I was anxious even if I had my friend by my side then again my friend made me feel anxious too for just having to talk to her. How it was brought up I can’t remember but I began to tell her about being autistic.

“No.” She stated so firmly I felt as if I was quickly breaking at a stop sign.

“What?” I sadly asked in confusion.

“You don’t have autism. You don’t do the things autistic people do you have friends, you can talk to me, you don’t have it.”

We’d actually had this conversation before and I had it with my other friends too. Many were sure I didn’t have it because I didn’t act like other autistic people. Or If I did have it I was way too high to really be considered autistic. I’d like to say that things like this still don’t happen as an adult and chalk it up to childhood ignorance but many people still feel this way. People who use the term high functioning or are considered under that label aren’t really autistic to so many individuals. It affects the way we are treated massively. We’re just thought of as a little “weird” or “quirky” instead of understanding that those weird or quirky things are our autistic traits. We don’t get the help we need and some people even within the community think we are trying to take away from autistics who are seen as needing more.

The truth is we don’t get much help at all if any but we do get a lot taken away from us. Many programs or services out there don’t accommodate to our needs. We get denied for health care benefits or any other monetary help by state assistance in multiple states. Educationally we get less help or teachers and other staff will try to talk us out of accommodations and say it’s not possible. It could be as simple as asking to doodle to in a notebook to help keep concentration up or stim and be told that we don’t need that. It’s a system of gatekeeping that we need to break.

People get caught up on the terms too much in general sense instead of the broad spectrum that is autism. Two metaphors have come out recently that better works for how autism works. Which is that autism is like either a circle spectrum with multiple dots indicating where we are at instead of a linear spectrum. Or a ice cream bar with many different flavors and toppings. There’s no real one way to be autistic and as the saying goes, “Once you’ve met one autistic that’s just it you’ve met one autistic.”

I’ve talked to other people who have been inflicted with the negative terms of “High functioning” and here is what they have to say.

“I have major issues with driving and leaving the house by myself. It is a huge source of anxiety because of the uncertainty that I could have to deal with a very overwhelming situation and not have anyone to help me navigate it. My in-laws continuously think this is something I should get over and dismiss how hard it is for me because I'm "high functioning." I hate that phrase.” States Rowan.

Kayla writes to me; “I’m so “high functioning” that my family doesn’t want to believe I have autism and it leaves me internalizing all of the things that make me autistic and they slowly break me from the inside and when I do break they’re like “where has this come from why are you acting like this” “

Which brings up the subject of masking people who are seen to do better socially as an autistic person tend to be masking majority of the time. It’s the internalizing of their autistic attributes and trying to become more socially acceptable. There is nothing wrong with adapting to your surroundings. I also can’t lie and say that there aren’t some things that autistic people do need to change because they are harmful to themselves or others. However, those things usually get rerouted into a positive outlet. There is a breaking point, and many autistic people are expected to continue way past that point to keep “good standing” without getting that positive reroute. That falls more times than one on people who are considered, “higher functioning.”

The masking, denial, and gatekeeping of certain autistic people leads to self-destructive behaviors and other mental illnesses. Such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, suicide, and a variety of other issues. They can be life long conditions depending on the severity of the situation.

There needs to be a broader spectrum of education of how autism works and why it’s not so black and white as to “high and low”. It should be taught to teachers, physicians, workplaces, and all around the world. Each autistic person has a different set of needs and although there might be a certain set of people who seem to work the same. It’s actually not and they work completely differently. It can seem like a lot of work trying to find the details in a situation but overall improves lives drastically.

[arcticdementor]

In the David Fincher produced, 2017 Netflix series, Mindhunter, two FBI special agents travel the country interviewing serial killers in the 1970’s. The series, based on the non-fiction book “Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit” by John Douglas, chronicles the beginnings of advanced criminal profiling techniques developed by the FBI in response to a number of high profile, and gruesome crimes carried out during the era, beginning with the Manson Family murders of 1968. Throughout the show the fictional special agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench meet with frequent resistance from other law enforcement personnel as they attempt to unravel the minds of the serial killers they meet. Everyone from their bosses in the agency to the local police officers they encounter along the way express extreme discomfort at the thought of empathizing or attempting to understand the killers Ford and Tench interrogate. These men are just evil. There’s nothing more to it. Nothing can be learned from them. No insight can be gained. They’re simply, purely evil, and attempting to say anything more on the subject is an affront to the victims, their families, and to human decency and capital-J Justice in general.

Fictionalized though the series may be, in our own time, in the era of mass shootings, one doesn’t have to go far to find similar responses to this uniquely contemporary category of violent crime. Media coverage of the killers oozes sensationalized language that depicts them as dark, evil, twisted, vile, abhorrent, insane. The public, in internet comment forms across social media, offer up their thoughts and prayers, and inevitably, the discussion devolves into a debate on the second amendment and the merits of gun control as politicians and journalists quickly move to steer the national conversation to more politically fruitful areas in order to amass momentum in passing various pieces of long desired legislation targeting gun owners or the NRA. The killers themselves, their personalities, their motivations, their worldviews, the experiences that shape them, every time quickly slip through the cracks of the conversation and are forgotten long before their respective cases are ever brought to trial.

…

Over the course of hundreds of hours beginning in 1959, Ted Kaczynski, the future unabomber, participated in an intense psychological experiment conduced at Harvard by Dr. Henry A Murray. During World War II, Murray had worked for the Office of Strategic Services in developing personality assessment techniques designed to test potential recruits on how well they would endure interrogation and torture by the enemy. At Harvard, Murray went on to further develop his method, transforming it from a diagnostic assessment of mental anti-fragility, into the basis of a radical personality modifying procedure he hoped could be used to forcibly evolve human consciousness in order to prevent the nuclear annihilation he feared was inevitable in light of mankind’s petty national prejudices and self-interest during the period of the Cold War. Kaczynski was among his unwitting test subjects, and though his personal, radical Luddite beliefs would ultimately diverge from the kind of technocratic globalism Murray intended to inculcate in Kaczynski, in a strange way, Murray was also more successful than he could have possibly anticipated.

…

No case provides better evidence of this possibility than that of Adam Lanza, the 2012 Sandy Hook shooter. After years of denied requests, more than 1,000 pages of evidence relating to the Lanza case were finally released to the Hartford Courant in December of 2018. Lanza, who killed himself following the attack, left behind no manifesto. He had even taken the precaution of smashing his devices’ hard drives prior to the shooting. In the end hundreds of pages worth of Lanza’s writings were ultimately recovered by the police, and it’s only from these scattered fragments that his beliefs and opinions emerge. Like Holmes in the weeks and months leading to the Aurora massacre, Lanza was no stranger to psychiatric evaluation. Throughout Lanza’s entire life, from the age of 3, when he was first diagnosed with speech and developmental problems, he knew little else but the offices of therapists and counselors and psychiatrists. A rotating cast of mental health professionals drifted in and out of his life. They all recognized the so-called ‘warning signs’ all too well, but even with a lifetime’s worth of treatment, they completely and utterly failed to prevent his transformation into mass murderer.

…

Lanza goes even further, and characterizes the years of psychiatric treatment he received since childhood explicitly as abusive: “I was molested at least a dozen times by a few different adults when I was a child. It wasn’t my decision at all: I was coerced into it… What do each of the adults have in common? They were doctors, and each of them were sanctioned by my parents to do it. This happens to virtually every child without their input into the matter: Their parents sanction it.”

…

The United States spends more per capita on primary and secondary education than almost any other country. As of 2014 the U.S. is in the top 5, below only Switzerland, Norway and Austria. Despite this however, year after year, a majority of Americans report dissatisfaction with the quality of K-12 education in their country. Alternative education remains a persistent source of controversy within the public consciousness. Private schools, charter schools, school vouchers, homeschooling, all are topics that filter in and out of the national political conversation. Democrats, on the whole, maintain an unyielding support for the compulsory nature of public education in America, while practices like Homeschooling are largely written off as the exclusive province of religious fundamentalists and political separatists. The same goes for the diverting of public resources to charter schools by means of a tax exemption or credit. The argument that has formed over time to circumvent these controversial alternatives boils down to a single word: Socialization.

Public schools not only educate students in facts and skills, the argument goes, but also serve to socialize children by serving as a microcosm of the pluralistic, diverse society in which these students will one day have to live and contribute to. A private, all male school, for instance, will fail to prepare its students for the modern workplace, where they’ll have to cooperate and even take orders from female colleagues or superiors. Likewise, desegregation busing is required to ensure students experience a sufficiently diverse environment. When it comes to a wide variety of controversies in public education, the socialization argument continues to form the backbone of liberal resistance to conservative attacks on the public schooling monopoly.At the same time, as liberals defend the practice and theory of socialization, the scourge of bullying has, on-again off again, served as a cause célèbre among many of the same people. Since 2010, October has become National Bullying Prevention Month, a campaign by the non-profit PACER organization in coordination with companies like CNN and Facebook, among others. Television shows and documentaries have tackled the subject, and celebrities like Ellen regularly champion anti-bullying causes. But what is bullying but the core of Socialization? In a sense the two can almost be considered synonymous. Bullying is, after all, the school of hard knocks which children undergo to learn the complex, unspoken rules of social game playing. Socialization is about instilling conformity, and bullying remains the core experience for many children in learning about all the ways the deviate from the norm. When children are unresponsive to bullying, that’s when things are kicked up to the teachers and administrators and school counselors, and that same unpliability and unresponsiveness is re-conceptualized by well-meaning adults as developmental disorders.

In 1975 Autism was diagnosed in children at a rate of 1 in every 5,000. Today that number has soared to nearly 1 in 100. This has ignited a public controversy over the source or cause of what by every definition deserves to be called an public health epidemic. 75% of children diagnosed with Autism today are boys. There’s no need to go searching for a cause. Vaccines aren’t behind the explosion in Autism rates. Teachers and school psychologists are. School psychology today is a booming industry, one which the US Department of Labor identifies as having some of the best employment opportunities across the entire field of psychology. 75% of school psychologists are women, with an average age of 46. It is this same group of people most empowered to conduct psychological monitoring of children across the country, and over the last 30 years, they have come to classify a larger and larger percentage of young boys as having developmental issues, to the point where it’s not clear whether there is anything wrong with these children at all, or if school psychologists have simply written off a wider and wider range of behaviors which they find problematic or incomprehensible as constituting autism.

…

In 2013, a Texas teenager named Justin Carter was locked up for threatening a school shooting. Whether or not the threat was legitimate is another matter entirely. In a bout of online shit talking over League of Legends Carter wrote “Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts…” in response to a quip by a fellow gamer calling him crazy. He quickly rejoined: “lol jk,” likely realizing the fact he could get himself in trouble saying such things. Whether or not it was a good idea for him to make such a comment is immaterial, what matters is the violent, disproportionate response that followed. A Canadian woman, thousands of miles away, reported Carter. He was arrested and locked in jail. Bond was set at half a million dollars, which his family couldn’t afford to pay. He languished in jail, was assaulted by fellow inmates, and then locked up in solitary confinement for his own safety. After 4 months in jail an anonymous donor paid to have Carter released on behalf of his family. The state dragged out the matter for years, delaying the trial as long as possible on tenuous grounds. In the interim Carter was banned from using a computer. It wasn’t until spring of 2018 that a plea agreement was finally reached and Carter was let off with time served.

This is the paranoid system which today we entrust with rescuing at-risk young boys. This is what stands between us and more school shootings. Never mind the fact that as this system has grown, it has only led to a rise in mass shootings. Maybe the real cause of such cases is not guns, or a failure to identify and treat students, maybe the cause is these same students, following a protracted process of isolation and attempted psychological modification, learning to play the part the system has assigned to them, that of the security threat. When schools spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on active shooter drills and security systems, isn’t it just wasted money until someone comes along and gives them an excuse to use it? The complicated apparatus of psychological surveillance and socialization that prevails among schools today is, like the TSA checkpoint at the airport, nothing more than an elaborate piece of (psychological) security theater, and theaters require drama, and more importantly, villains. People like Adam Lanza and James Holmes are certainly killers of the very worst kind, guilty of evil, but on a larger scale, their evil is a only a reflection of our own, of the perverse societal mechanisms we’ve developed to give ourselves piece of mind, regardless of the children that must be fed to the machinery for it to function.

[theonion]

“It’s great to know that when I see a story about Malia Obama getting arrested for drug possession, Facebook will, one way or another, make sure that is indeed what happens,” said 33-year-old Greenville, NC resident Keith Wade. “I hate it when I get told things like, ‘Delta Airlines is offering free tickets if you take a short survey,’ and then find out later it’s not true. That’s the worst.”“I shouldn’t be forced to think that much about stuff I read on the internet,” he added.MENLO PARK, CA—Responding to widespread criticism over the hoaxes and political disinformation featured on its platform, Facebook announced at a press conference Friday a new initiative to combat fake news by making the inaccurate stories on the social media site actually happen.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who told reporters it was vitally important that Facebook address the false information it distributes and regain the trust of users by bringing every single untrue story to life, said the company has already hired 100,000 new employees to carry out widespread government conspiracies and other erroneously reported activities until all purported news on the site was accurate.

“We take this problem very seriously, and I want our users to be confident that the stories they see on Facebook are either true already or will be very soon,” said Zuckerberg, who explained that the company has budgeted $45 billion toward ensuring that anytime news on the site was determined to be fake, vast resources would be available to make that news real. “For example, if you read about high-level Democrats running a child sex ring out of the basement of a D.C.-area pizzeria, we will go to that restaurant, dig a basement if there isn’t one already, and get that human-trafficking operation up and running. That’s how dedicated we are to factual accuracy at Facebook.”

“In fact, we recently stopped a major fake story when we forced thousands of Muslim families to establish sharia law in Dallas and then blackmailed the entire police department until they agreed to treat a local neighborhood as a no-go zone,” Zuckerberg added.

In addition to employing a new, state-of-the-art algorithm to help sort out stories that are currently true from those that need to become true, officials said the company would introduce a new feature that allows users to flag articles that are not yet real. According to sources, stories would then be sent to Facebook’s fact-checking partners, including InfoWars, YourNewsWire.com, and the Daily Stormer, for further review.

The social media company has also completed construction on a 3-million-square-foot command center in Silicon Valley, from which it will deploy tens of thousands of employees to points across the globe in order to carry out in real life the events depicted in fake stories, whether that means setting up Obamacare death panels, hiring immigrants to go out and commit crimes in disproportionately high numbers, convincing Melania Trump to employ a body double, or working around the clock to develop a vaccine that will finally cause autism in children.

“If an article on Facebook states that President Trump’s agenda is being undermined due to a deep-state conspiracy headed by Ellen DeGeneres, it is our public responsibility to infiltrate the federal government with thousands of highly trained agents, recruit Ms. DeGeneres as an asset, and make that a reality,” said Zuckerberg, who also outlined a plan to purchase a massive fleet of jets that will spray trails of chemicals across the sky in order to psychologically manipulate the world’s populace. “As a precautionary measure, we’ve already begun sending paychecks to anyone who protests at an event where Trump is speaking, just in case another story on Facebook accuses them of having been paid for their efforts.”

“Similarly, in response to fabricated accounts on Facebook of how the government is attempting to destroy Second Amendment rights, we staged a ‘school shooting’ in which no one actually died and child actors were used to portray the supposedly dead victims,” Zuckerberg continued.

Executives at Facebook confirmed their efforts go beyond fighting politically motivated stories, saying that after an article about a sleeping morgue employee being mistaken for a dead body and cremated was flagged as false, they saw to it the individual in question was burned alive. In response to a story spread on the site about a banana in an Oklahoma Walmart testing positive for HIV, Facebook hired a team of scientists to genetically engineer fruit capable of contracting the disease and had it placed in the store’s produce department.

Because fake celebrity death stories are among the most widespread of hoaxes perpetuated on Facebook, the company has reportedly corrected those mistakes by ordering its in-house team of assassins to kill Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Robert Redford, Carlos Santana, Paul McCartney, Jackie Chan, Mark McGrath, and others.

Early feedback from Facebook users on the plan to make fake news real has been largely positive.

“It’s great to know that when I see a story about Malia Obama getting arrested for drug possession, Facebook will, one way or another, make sure that is indeed what happens,” said 33-year-old Greenville, NC resident Keith Wade. “I hate it when I get told things like, ‘Delta Airlines is offering free tickets if you take a short survey,’ and then find out later it’s not true. That’s the worst.”

“I shouldn’t be forced to think that much about stuff I read on the internet,” he added.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

I’m almost the last one to understand a joke…

Life in an Autism World

[nirah10]

Some Personal Stuff

Here's something that doesn't really connect to anything but me and may not be interesting but I just want to get it off my chest because it's been bugging me.

As some of you know, I was recently diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. This had been a very big thing for me as it has finally answered some life-long questions and helped me better understand myself. My mum has been wonderfully supportive and my friends have been great in learning more about autism so that they can know me better and have actually asked about what kind of things bother me so that they could be more careful (which I never asked of them, but they're just awesome and care enough to put some effort in to helping me be comfortable ^_^). Really, almost the entire experience has been positive. I would actually say that one of the only issues I've had has been the way some of my siblings have reacted.

I have good relationships with all of my siblings and I think they're pretty cool people in general, but some of them have some really weird hang-ups from the way we were raised that they never really got past. We were raised with the very unfortunate (and vocal!) belief that mental health problems didn't really exist. We were told that things like despression didn't really exist and that people just needed to suck it up and get over it. We were told that people who practiced self-harm were just drama queens looking for attention (heaven forbid you ever want attention!). We were told that people who killed themselves were the most cowardly and selfish people in the world. I think you get the idea.

Thankfully, my mother has grown so much as a person and realized that not only are those ideas just plain wrong but they are also very harmful. She is now one of my strongest pillars of support and one of the very few people I feel truly comfortable speaking openly with about my mental health struggles. My siblings have all improved greatly, but some of them are still a little stuck on some of those old ideas. If you asked them, they would tell you without a doubt that depression is 100% real but, if you tell them that you or someone else has depression, there's a good chance that they'll become skeptical and start asking questions as if they're trying to prove you wrong. They might make comments about people self-diagnosing themselves or exaggerating or even just outright lying for the sake of attention. Quite often, they'll say things like "everyone feels like that sometimes" and completely play down someone's experience until they can dismiss it entirely.

Even before I got diagnosed, some of my siblings seemed to bristle at the mention of the possibility. When I said I was looking to be assessed, they all asked "Why?" Some of them were satisfied when I said "Because I think I might be autistic" and carried on the conversation normally or asked follow-up questions out of interest. However, some of them carried on the conversation with what felt like a determination to prove that my suspicions were invalid. They would ask lots of questions about my experiences but it quickly became clear that it wasn't in order to understand, because almost every answer was followed up with a "but" statement. "But everyone feels like that sometimes." "But lots of people would find that stressful." "But maybe you're looking too much into that." I even heard once "Do YOU think you're autistic or did Mum tell you that?" as some of my siblings seem to think my mother's change in attitude is also some weird kind of bid for attention. I was also asked by two different siblings, "Why do you WANT something to be wrong with you?"

My most common way of finishing those conversations, after hearing some version of why it's probably nothing and I'm probably not autistic (ie, "it's so easy to read about something online and think you have it"), was to bluntly say "I know. That's why I want to see a professional and get a proper assessment."

Anyway, I got assessed and diagnosed. I thought that might be enough to satisfy my skeptical siblings. Turns out, not really. While they won't say that they don't think I have autism anymore, they are still very quick to dismiss it. I had one sibling suggest that, because I'm on the mild end of the spectrum, "it doesn't really affect [me]". It wasn't a question but a statement. I have had several more shows of feigned interest for the sake of trying to minimalize or dismiss and it has been quite disheartening at times. With some of my family, I feel reluctant to ever say anything relating to mental health and especially autism because I'm tired of hearing thinly veiled denials that I'm actually autistic. Getting assessed/diagnosed was supposed to be about understanding and helping myself and not about whether or not my family was comfortable.

Not long ago, my Mum shared a video on Facebook that was meant to raise awareness on autism. It started with the speaker telling you to imagine trying to watch a TV show and listen to five radios on different stations all going full volume at the same time, and then explained that that's how life can feel to an autistic person all the time. The video carried on for some time after that and covered other experiences. I messaged my mother privately to discuss some of the things discussed in the video and I told her that I hadn't wanted to leave a comment because I didn't want other family members to see it and start leaving dismissive comments. After talking to her for some time, I decided that I would leave a very simple comment on what I felt was the easiest thing to understand, simply saying "The example of the TV and five radios is spot on." I kid you not, it took maybe two minutes for one of my siblings to respond with something along the lines of "Yeah, I get really stressed out when there's lots of noise too."

Part of me wanted to let it go and leave it be but, after talking to my Mum and seeing how much she had changed and how much work she put into beng supportive, I felt upset and got stubborn. I responded that anyone gets stressed out in loud environments, but that that was not the same thing. For an autistic person, sounds can be so distracting that it can become hard to function and lead to panic attacks, even if it's not loud. The answer was (paraphrasing) "I get that. If I'm driving and the radio is on and the kids are being noisy or screaming in the back, I can forget where I'm going. I have to turn the radio off sometimes so that I can focus." Okay, no. Just no. That's not the same thing at all. I quickly answered with a detailed explanation of why it's not the same thing, also emphasizing that there's a big difference between getting stressed by actual loud noises and having your brain completely shut down over sounds that might not even be loud. They quickly backpedaled and said that they knew it wasn't the same and that they were just saying it was relatable, a family member who had joined in said that they hadn't even watched the video and was only responding to the other's comments about finding noise stressful. That was followed up by another comment saying that maybe they hadn't communicated properly and they hadn't meant anything by it, which I felt much better about. I still didn't buy the idea that the inital comments had no intention of being dismissive, but I could believe that they realized partway through the conversation that they were being upsetting and wanted to fix it. Still, the conversation has stuck in my head as a very disheartening experience.

Sensory overload is one of my biggest difficulties with autism. I am very easily upset by sound and it doesn't take much for me to shut down. Volume is rarely a factor but, rather, the number of sources, whether I can distinguish one sound from another, and whether I can locate the source. I used to have panic attacks in school during tests because being able to hear twenty-some pencils scratching but not being able to distinguish between pencils sent me into a complete panic. Those pencils may as well have been cannons in my ears. They were the loudest things in the world.

Tonight, I sat down at the nursing station at work and immediately noticed a sound that I'm not accustomed to hearing there. It was quiet enough that I couldn't tell exactly what it was and, worse, I couldn't tell WHERE it was. I became so distracted by the sound that I completely, physically froze. I don't know exactly how long I sat there but, at the end of this little experience, my tea had gone from freshly made to just a hair above lukewarm. The entire time I sat there, half my brain was desperately trying to locate the sound and identify it and the other half of my brain was desperately begging the first half to ignore it and just let it go. My heart rate went up to what I would expect it to be if I had just run a short distance. A sense of panic gripped me, the same kind of feeling I had the first (and only) time a cop pulled me over. I literally could not think about anything else.

After several minutes, I finally managed to calm myself because, without having to move from my frozen position, I was able to both identify and locate the source of the sound. What was it?

Do you see it?

A watch. It was the sound of a watch ticking in a basket of found items sitting several feet away. That was all it took to put me into a state of shutdown and had me edging towards a state of panic. A watch that somebody found and left behind, leaving a barely audible but unexpected source of sound in an environment I am familiar with took me from independent and capable to frozen, vulnerable, and moments away from hyperventilating and bursting into tears.

But autism doesn't really affect me. But I barely register on the spectrum, so I don't really count. But everyone gets overwhelmed by noise sometimes. But everyone has trouble focusing in stressful situations.

Someone being on the mild end of the autism spectrum does not mean that they don't suffer or that they don't really have it. It means that they present well. It means that they're better able to control their outward reactions and/or better able to learn what's expected of them. Saying someone's autism is "mild" is a reflection of how much other people are affected by their autism rather than by how much the individual is affected. On the outside, I would have simply looked like I was deep in thought and anyone who walked past probably wouldn't have looked twice. On the inside, I was freaking the hell out. It definitely affected me, even if there were no observable manifestations in the outside world. I have avoided furthering my education or looking for a better job because of experiences like this. I have missed work, which later meant I struggled to pay my bills. I have lost friendships. I have passed up opportunities. I have never left the town I grew up in, even though every single member of my family has moved away. I will likely never have biological children because I don't think I can handle pregnancy. I don't know if I will have children period because the process of adoption might be too overwhelming for me. I am terrified of having children and failing them as a parent because my autism might cripple my communication with them or cause me to be too impatient or inflexible. I am not likely to achieve many of my aspirations because little moments like ticking watches in unexpected places happen all the time, even if nobody except me knows it.

I have "mild" autism and it affects me.

[loud-snoring-os]

There is HOPE! While researching everything I could, I happened to come across the Healing Without Hurting Facebook page. My son, who is 7, was dx with ADHD, ASD, and ODD. We have been on this journey to figure out what was going on with him since he was 4. As he got older, the behavior became worse, the sensory issues became worse (even with OT), we were in behavior therapy, and we finally turned to the gut-wrenching decision to begin medication. That was one of the most difficult days of my life as his Mama. We have seen a slight difference in him since beginning meds, but for our family, this was not the answer. After reading through Jenn's fb page, seeing all of her posts, I finally decided to dig deeper and request additional testing for our son. No easy task...finding a dr who will do this. But I did and so that journey began. As results began coming in, I decided it was time to really move forward with this. I bought Healing Without Hurting...I couldn't put it down! Seriously! The information in this book is worth every penny and more! I have requested even more testing be done because I am convinced that with the correct supplements and proper diet change, my son will be a different child....and med free! One of the results that came back from his tests is that his is sensitive to peanuts and wheat....mind you, we had his allergist test him (scratches on his back) and the result was NEGATIVE for any food allergies! Yet there it was...when the correct tests are done, you will find that there actually are food sensitivities! We also found out he has Celiac Disease! WOAH! Totally not expecting that! BUT...(and hear is the part that is so exciting) - we had a med check up with his psychiatrist yesterday. She said she wanted to add an additional medication to his "cocktail" - I told her about the Celiac....she was shocked - her exact words "Well, that changes everything. We won't be adding a stimulant, just change his diet and I'll see you in 3 months...if we see an improvement (and I think we will) then we will begin to ween him off of his current meds." DID YOU HEAR THAT?!?! My son - ADHD, ASD, and ODD...may be getting weened off his meds in 3 months!!!!! PLEASE GET THIS BOOK!! PLEASE FIND A DR WHO WILL LISTEN TO YOU! I cannot thank Jenn enough for her information on her fb page and this book that she has put so much time and effort into! It has been life changing! Our family has hope again! Our boy WILL be well again! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! Go to Amazon

A Handbook for Living Safely in a Toxic World Have you ever been treated by a doctor like your child is just a number? Have you been told "that's just the way it is?" and know that you and your child deserve better treatment? This book will treat you the way you know you should be treated. Life is a series of decisions and outcomes - as every parent knows. Parents of kids with autism are keenly aware of this, because decision-making is one of the toughest challenges. Decisions are best made by well-informed adults, and Jennifer Guistra-Kozek's profoundly informative book, "Healing Without Hurting" can turn you into an expert parent. Half of good decision-making is knowing what the options are, and Guistra-Kozek has laid out the options for most of the decisions a parent of an autistic child must make with respect to addressing the symptoms of autism. We do not yet have clinical trials of the myriad possible combinations of "treatments" for autism, but Guistra-Kozek provides the next best thing: detailed, expert review of what the natural options are. Since the number of toxins that likely contribute to autism risk are large and diverse, one would think that a book with the title "Healing Without Hurting" would be restricted to general guidelines and advice. This book is so rich with science-backed insight, it will give you a master's degree level understanding of the WHYs of the strategies, based on facts. It is so comprehesive in scope and so practical that it seems like a handbook for living in a toxic world. Pediatricians should hand parents of newly diagnosed with autism this book, until the medical community gets to business of working out how to prevent autism either cleaner vaccines, biomarkers to keep those at risk out of harm's way, or treatment that mitigate the uptake of toxins into the brain. I cannot emphasize how much all parents of kids with autism will love this book! Request one for your local library, and buy one for your pediatrician! Go to Amazon

It was beautifully written and very informative I've read countless books on ADHD and SPD, and this was the first that I could not put down!! It was beautifully written and very informative. This story of hope helped me start a list of all the tests and options to help our son. I work in educational advocacy and have been recommending this book like crazy. Excellent resource, get out your highlighters!! Go to Amazon

this is one of the finest books I have read among an estimated 150 books ... As a pediatrician newly board certified in Integrative Pediatrics after 31 years in traditional pediatric practice and 11 years in academic medicine, this is one of the finest books I have read among an estimated 150 books I have read since discovering Functional Medicine just 5 years or so ago. The author kindly gave me a copy of the book at a recent meeting, and I just got around to reading it. I can hardly put it down. As a co-author myself of a book on ADD (The Diseasing of America's Children), I am in awe at the quality of the material and the writing in this book. The author combines telling a "story" while at the same time offering a remarkably broad, concise look at the foundational precepts now known to contribute to the epidemics of ASD, ADD/ADHD, and related clinical syndromes. Furthermore, references to high quality sources and links to valuable online resources are provided the reader. This is my belated "thank you" to Jennifer Kozek for giving me this book at Autism One in Chicago in May. Parents of children affected by chronic "mental health", behavioral, and unexplained medical problems will find this to be an extraordinarily valuable work.. Go to Amazon

This book will change your life! Great Resource for Alternative Treatment Options Treating ADHD Naturally is Possible! This book changed both my son's and daughter's life! Highly recommended reading for any parent with ASD or ADHD/ADD child. Healing your child- that's how we started our jurney! Wonderful How-To Manual A resource to refer back to again and again. I highly recommend buying it Everything you need to know to help your child with ADHD and autism naturally! Amazing book I have already recommended it to 5 friends ...

[purplesurveys]

1028

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - What was the last thing you watched on TV? The last TV show I watched was Friends, but the last thing I saw on TV was the evening news, as is always our companion when having dinner.

2 - Do you have the heating or air conditioning on at the moment? I have the fan on, like always. I just turn on the aircon in the evening because I want to be comfortable after a long day and when trying to fall asleep.

3 - When was the last time you did something to help someone else? Andi was having a dilemma about an already-secure job offer for a position they don’t 100% like vs. a job they know they would enjoy a lot more but isn’t guaranteed at all. I helped weigh out the pros and cons with them, but I didn’t necessarily stick to a position as I didn’t want to dictate a choice for them.

4 - If you have a job, have you been busier or quieter since the whole COVID thing hit? I was a student, then was unemployed, then got hired throughout this COVID fiasco so far. For the first two, life had been quiet for me and I really hated feeling like having no contribution at home. My plate is definitely a lot fuller now and I’m glad I have things to do and earn for myself while doing so.

5 - Do you spend more time on your own or with others? Are you happy with that? On my own. I think it’s best for me at the moment.

6 - Do you know anyone who has been diagnosed with autism? Yes.

7 - Have you had your wisdom teeth removed? What about your tonsils or your appendix? None of these. I’ve had a tooth removed, but it wasn’t a wisdom tooth.

8 - Are you scared of needles? Very. I hate most sharp things, and I am an embarrassment whenever I’m at the hospital and need to be pricked with something.

9 - Do you dress more for comfort, fashion or practicality? I try to strike a balance between comfort and fashion, but sometimes I’ll prioritize comfort and sometimes I’ll prioritize fashion. But practicality is definitely barely in my criteria when picking outfits.

10 - When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? I think it may have been February. I only smoke with other people and I’ve never bought my own pack.

11 - Would you rather drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate or water? In the grand scheme of things, water. But right now, a hot chocolate sounds heavenly.

12 - Do you have a lot of ornaments around your house? Yes. We also have our Christmas tree already up, so that has also boosted the amount of ornaments we have.

13 - Do you own more books or DVD’s? Books. While I have a number of DVDs, I never really an avid collector of them. My dad introduced me to torrent websites at a young age so that’s how I’ve been getting movies for the longest time.

14 - How often would you say you took surveys? Throughout the quarantine I had taken surveys daily. But with me now having work and usually being too exhausted by the end of the day, I think I’ll be back to taking surveys only on weekends now like how it was when I was in school. 

15 - Have you ever worn a uniform to school or work? Yes, I had to wear a uniform in my old school.

16 - Who was the first person you had a sleepover with? Are you still in touch with that person today? It would have to be either Angela or Gabie. Yes, I still talk to both.

17 - When you were growing up, did you have any friends who were almost like family to you? Katreen’s and Angela’s families were second families to me. For a time back in grade school, Katreen’s mom actually used to pick me up alongside Katreen every Friday and then I would stay at their place until around 9 PM, when my mom would get back from work and pick me up. They did such a wonderful job making me feel like family, and I hope they’re all doing well today.

18 - Could you cook an entire Christmas or Thanksgiving Dinner entirely on your own with no help from other people or recipe books? Yes but it would not be edible.

19 - Do you cook from scratch or do you rely more on ready meals or frozen food? I rely on people in my family who can actualy cook, ha.

20 - What’s your favourite type of fast food? Is it something you eat often? KFC would have to be my favorite. Those 11 herbs and spices don’t fuck around, man. It’s not the cheapest of fast food options, so I don’t get to have it a lot and it’s usually tradition for me to get KFC only when I feel like I deserve a reward for an accomplishment or after a grueling week.

21 - If you’ve been under a lockdown or stay-at-home order, what did you find the most difficult about it? Not having been able to see my friends, go out as a group, and stay out late. Also, not getting a normal college graduation and being unable to spend my last semester as a college student just being a dumb college student doing dumb college student things.

22 - Do you still buy or read any magazines? I’ll sometimes read the online versions of magazines especially if one of them comes out with a compelling article, but I don’t follow any of them religiously.

23 - As a teenager, what did you spend most of your pocket money or allowance on? I went out with friends on the weekends, so my savings mostly went to food and Uber (back when we still had Uber, and back when none of us could drive yet).

24 - Do you have much of a sweet tooth? I have my moods for sure, but I love savory a lot more.

25 - Are there any common “popular” foods that you don’t particularly like yourself? Have people ever told you you’re odd/strange for disliking that particular food? Fruits. I get judged for it all the time, but I honestly live for the reactions hahaha. To this day it’s still my go-to fact to say whenever I have to share something about myself. There’s also sinigang, but that is such a universally-loved food and is such a huge source of pride for Filipinos that I just keep it to myself because people get genuinely annoyed/offended when they hear that I don’t like sinigang LOL

26 - Likewise, are there are any commonly hated foods that you love? BALUT

27 - Would you rather eat pizza or pasta? Pizza. Easy.

28 - Do you own a lot of store loyalty cards? I just have the one for my gas station, so no.

29 - When was the last time you read a newspaper? I had to view a newspaper article for work yesterday, but I have not read a full newspaper in years.

30 - What kind of noises can you hear around you right now? There’s the fan in my room and construction outside our house.

--

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - Do you have a car? How long have you had it and how much did it cost? Yeah but it’s technically not mine; my parents made the purchase and they gave it to me as a high school graduation present. They’re also the ones who take care of and pay for its maintenance, like taking it to oil changes; so literally my only contribution has been to drive it HAHAHA. I’ve been driving it since 2016 and I’m pretty sure it cost them less than a million bucks. It was probably around P800,000–900,000.

2 - Who was the last person to send you a message on Facebook? Andi was checking up on how I’ve been. I appreciated that.

3 - What did you have for breakfast this morning? I haven’t had it yet but I will probably skip it. I might make myself coffee, though.

4 - Do you have any scented candles lit at the moment? I never have any scented candles.

5 - When was the last time you left your house? When will be the next time you go out? Yesterday afternoon. There was nothing left to do for work and my superiors hadn’t been asking me to do any tasks anymore, so I went out to get myself Starbucks before my shift was actually over, haha oops. I might be going out next Tuesday to pick up my new card from the bank.

6 - Does anyone in real life follow your survey blog? If so, does it make you think twice about some of your answers? If not, are you ever paranoid that someone will find your blog and read your answers? No. My sister has been wanting to make a survey blog but she just never got around to making it because she thinks she’ll end up being inactive; but that’s about it on the irl people front. If she ever makes one, I’d prefer we didn’t follow one another as doing so would make things awkward.

7 - When was the last time someone stopped talking to you? Have you made up with that person since? Gabie doesn’t speak with me regularly anymore. We’re not on bad terms so there’s nothing to make up, but she has told me it’s out of shame that she doesn’t initiate conversations with me these days. 

8 - Who was the last person you argued or bickered with? I haven’t had an argument with anyone in a while.

9 - Do you have anything planned for the rest of the day? If you’re about to go to bed, what are your plans for tomorrow? Catch up on surveys as I haven’t done them all week, anddddd figure out what to do with my embroidery kit as I’ve run out of the provided thread :(

10 - Did you have any e-mails in your inbox the last time you checked? It’s the weekend so no, I haven’t received anything new.

11 - What time did you wake up this morning? Did you have to set an alarm or did you wake up naturally? It was 7:08 AM when I had checked. I just woke up naturally.

12 - When was the last time it snowed where you live? Probably when it was still a part of Pangaea or something. We don’t get snow on this side of the world and the nearest place that does is probably like South Korea, which is not near us at all.

13 - Does it bother you if you’re wearing odd socks? Like, mismatched ones? No, I find it cute actually.

14 - Is there anything small that bothers you way more than it should? Right now. I had sent out an event invite to certain media last Thursday for work, and one of them replied only by 6 PM last night. I only saw it by 9:30 and replied, then she got back with a question by around 9:50 PM, and at that point I decided against replying because it was already nearing 10 PM and I didn’t want to be rude. I want to reply today but it’s the weekend and I don’t wanna be the jerk that brings up work on the weekend, but I also don’t want to leave her hanging because I had technically cut our conversation short. 

OK I spent the next 30 minutes thinking about it and I ended up replying hahaha. It just didn’t sit well with me to blow her off for the weekend when her last message was a question for me. So I answered her for her clarification, but I just made sure to let her know there’s no pressure for her to get back to me this weekend.

15 - Would you rather read a book, watch a film or play a video game? Watch someone play a video game, tbh.

16 - Why did you last attend a doctors’ appointment? Because my fever wasn’t going away and I wanted to get rid of it so bad.

17 - Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? The person from Pizza Hut who took my order, I think? lol

18 - How many different colours have you dyed your hair over the years? is your hair your natural colour at the moment? I’ve never had it dyed, so it has always been black.

19 - Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks? I have moods for both, but as a whole I think I’d go for savory.

20 - When was the last time you got up to use the bathroom? A couple of hours ago.

21 - Do you spend more money on shoes or clothes? I spend more often on clothes but they aren’t always necessarily expensive. I don’t buy shoes often, but when I do they’re usually quite expensive, so. I’m not sure how to answer this question, but it goes two ways for me.

22 - Are you glad that Biden won the 2020 elections? I’m glad he won but at the end of the day he’s still just the lesser evil. I won’t really know anything until I see him and his moves in office, so I’ll have to wait until then.

23 - What kind of things do you do to try and save the planet? I segregate, turn off the faucet when it isn’t being used, never turn on my bedroom light, and before Covid I’d pick up trash I’d see at the mall.

24 - Are you, or have you ever been, vegetarian or vegan? I haven’t been either but I do opt for vegan options when I see one on the menu.

25 - What was the last thing you threw in the bin/garbage? A cotton bud.

26 - How many times a week do you exercise? Do you think that’s enough or should you really be doing more? I never do. I know I should probably do so, but eh.

27 - When was the last time you had to cancel or re-arrange plans you'd made? What was the reason behind it? LOL well...I’m currently having to rearrange and revise and adjust my entire life plans because of this stupid breakup.

28 - Have you ever had to wear braces? Yes. But I’ll have to avail them again because I did a terrible job keeping my retainers on.

29 - What cut of jeans do you prefer? Mom jeans that are a little more loose than skinny jeans, but aren’t too baggy.

30 - If you’re planning to spend the day at home, do you get properly dressed or just wear pyjamas? I wear my usual getup of a t-shirt/tank top and shorts.

--

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - What’s the biggest argument you’ve ever had with a family member? Did things ever go back to how they were beforehand? It was an argument with the entire family, sans my sister who stayed silently watching during the whole thing as she hates conflict. We had just flown back to Manila from a vacation and we were all just tired and impatient and hungry, my mom found a way to shift the blame on me as per usual, some words were exchanged, and my brother ended up slapping me and it was on hell on earth from there. Things weren’t ok for a whole week, but slowly life went back to normal without us ever acknowledging it because we’re dysfunctional as fuck. The one thing that never ended up changing is my dynamic with my brother, with whom I stopped speaking permanently after what he did.

2 - Have you ever experienced some kind of natural disaster? A lot; my country is a big hot spot for typhoons, so we don’t really have a choice but to go through several of them every year. Sometimes it’ll get bad enough for us to make it to international news because our government doesn’t really do anything to help out victims.

3 - If you have pets, do you feed them human food or do they just get regular pet food? If they do get human food, what’s their favourite thing to have? They both get human food. I’m not sure what Cooper’s favorite is as Nina primarily feeds him; but Kimi is most obsessed with chicken.

4 - Have you ever been in a physical fight? Who won? Just play wrestling matches with my cousin when we were kids. He always won as he was older and a lot bigger than me.

5 - What were you lighting the last time you used a lighter or matches? I don’t light stuff up on my own because I’m scared of fire, but the last time we used matches was for lighting up our emergency candles because of the power outage from last week.

6 - What’s the weather currently doing where you are? It is annoyingly humid. I had to open my windows and roll up my window blinds today, which I hate having to do because it makes neighbors able to see my room and what I’m doing here -_____- I feel like I’m giving away my privacy every time I have to have the blinds up just to have colder air in.

7 - The last time you got up from your seat, what did you go and do? Before doing this I came from bed. When I felt like doing a survey I just got up and headed to my work desk.

8 - Name five things you’ve done so far today: Received a package for something I bought online, made myself a sandwich, ate cheese-flavored corn chips, watch a half-season of Friends, and bought another embroidery kit online (I’ve been calling it ‘cross-stitch’ this whole time but apparently that is wrong, whoops). Not a very productive Saturday, but it’s honestly ok considering I’m left exhausted from the past week.

9 - What’s the mode of transport that you take or use the most? I drive myself.

10 - When was the last time you got caught in a rain or snow storm? Were you dressed for it or did you end up getting soaked? Start of the month. I was driving to take Cooper to the vet when it suddenly started raining super hard, but it was only upon arriving at the clinic that I realized there wasn’t any umbrella in the car. Had to make a quick dash from the car to the nearest shade, all the while keeping Cooper under my jacket so that he stayed dry. I was soaked as shit but he was kept dry, which was all that mattered.

11 - Did your favourite Disney film come out before or after you were born? I have two favorites: Toy Story came out three years before I was born, but Tangled came 12 years after my birth.

12 - Are you a fan of musicals? No, I never saw the appeal.

13 - What the last thing you spent money on apart from necessities? My favorite coffee from Starbucks. It’s a win-win situation for me at the moment: my mom is asking for a Starbucks planner for Christmas, which means all I need to do for her gift is to keep ordering coffees from there until I’ve collected enough stickers to be entitled to a planner, heheh.

14 - Are there any sequels to things that you prefer to the original? Ooh, I’m not the biggest fan of movies that come in multiple parts so I don’t know if I have any picks. I can name covers that I like than the original songs, though.

15 - How often do you lose the remote control? I haven’t really sat down in front of a TV to watch shows since high school, so I haven’t temporarily lost a remote control since then.

16 - When was the last time you had problems with your internet connection? Last Thursday and Friday but only because the power went out.

17 - What games do you play on your phone, if any at all? I play 1010 the most, but I’ve got tons of other games that are just sitting in my menu just in case I’m suddenly in the mood to play them.

18 - Aside from family, who was the last person you spent time with? How do you know that person? I dunno, I guess the people in my work meeting video call yesterday afternoon? It was my first meeting with that particular team as the newbie at work, so I don’t actually know all of them that well yet.

19 - Are you currently warm, cold or just right? I am hot and irritated by it.

20 - Do you prefer showers or baths? When was the last time you had either? Showers; my last one was yesterday. My last bath was...no clue. Two years ago, maybe?

21 - Do you spend a lot of money on your appearance? I used to spend a lot on clothes, yeah, at least before Covid. But right now there really has been no point in upgrading my wardrobe, so I haven’t been buying any new pieces.

22 - When was the last time you spent more than £100 on something? Was it a necessity like a bill, or a treat for yourself? I have never spent ₱6,408 in one sitting, whether it be for myself, for a necessity, or for someone else. That’s crazy and will probably take a couple more years before I see myself making transactions that huge.

23 - Would you rather swim in the sea, a lake or a pool? Seeeeeeeea. I always feel at peace in the sea, and ugh I miss it so much.

24 - Have you ever had a zoo keeper experience or anything where you’ve been able to go behind the scenes and look after/feed the animals? I wouldn’t call it a zookeeper experience, but we went to some sort of animal park in Bali that let me carry and interact with all sorts of animals.

25 - Would you ever want the responsibility of being a politician or a similar position of power? Probably not. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it.

26 - How many times a week do you go to the grocery store? My parents go at least once a week to buy groceries.

27 - When was the last time you got a takeaway coffee or drink? Last night. Being able to earn money and spend it on myself and never have to ask from my parents anymore has been one of the highlights of my year so far, aaaahhhhh

28 - Do you quote films or TV shows as you’re watching them? If I love the film and memorize a chunk of the dialogue, yes. The movie I quote the most as I watch it is most definitely Titanic.

29 - What’s something your parents do that really annoys you? My dad doesn’t really do anything that annoys me. My mom doesn’t knock.

30 - If you had to quarantine for two weeks tomorrow due to testing positive to COVID, would you be able to survive on the things you had in your house? Yes. I’ll be locked in my room but my dad will probably be bringing me food, just the way he did when I got sick last May and had to isolate myself.

[psychology-smedia]

The Only One In The Room

What Connects Us

The rise of social media has launched society into a place where people are more connected than they ever have been before. At the touch of a button or two, people from around the world can communicate and explore in ways never before possible. As discussed in last weeks post, people are drawn to one another through the interests they have in common (#week 3). This concept is known as homophily--the tendency to be attracted to things or people which are similar to oneself. According to Bushman (2020), when people communicate with another person, both parties usually begin to discuss their emotions and feelings about certain topics. This sharing of emotions then deepens the connection between those two people.

Many social media platforms have created their sites to promote these homophily connections. For example, Facebook was created to connect friends and family members and the content is focused around the individuals feelings and day to day life. Instagram is more visually focused in the sense that users are encouraged to follow and ‘like’ content which is visually pleasing to them (i.e. nature, travel, animals, etc.).

These platforms shape themselves around the individuals interests, and in a more broad sense, to the interests that people seem to have common.

The Isolation Factor

Though in one sense social media platforms were created to produce content people enjoy, in a more sinister way, the algorithms which control the content people see are also just as responsible for the content people do not see.

As soon as the platforms people use recognize the interests and beliefs a user has, the platform then shelters that user from any other content and any opposing beliefs, therefore isolating the user even further from different perspectives. This isolation can then result in various cognitive biases such as egocentric thinking and polarized groups of people who reaffirm their own beliefs by surrounding themselves with others who believe the same thing as them (Bessi et al., 2016).

It may sound contradictory that social media platforms, which were meant to connect us with other people, are actually the very thing isolating each individual in their own worlds, but it is the reality of how the algorithms of these sites work. Each user has a very individualistic experience when it comes to their preferred platforms, but the information they are being fed is made to make them think that everyone feels the way that they do, and those who don’t, then must feel the exact opposite (Be Inspired, 2018). 

If we put this information into the context of far right polarization we see the emergence of various white supremacist groups who were able to quickly mobilize and share their hate speech by the use of social media. If one does not fall into this group of people, then their content will make no mention of white supremacy, however, if a persons beliefs lead them down that path, they will find plenty of information and people that reaffirm their own racist and dangerous beliefs.

According to an article in the Pacific Standard, hate groups such as neo-nazis and white supremacists use social media as a tool to spread their propaganda (Diep, 2017). These groups even got as far as having their own neo-nazi news site which was used to spread information on the Charlottesville protest which killed one person and injured 19 (Diep, 2017).

The Steps To Change

Social Media has taken on a form of its own and it is almost 100 percent certain that it will never go away, but we as individuals can take concrete steps to regaining control over social media and pushing back against the control it has over us. The first important thing to remember is that social media is not neutral (Be Inspired, 2018). According to Tristan Harris, a former ethicist for Google, technology can and will control the things we think, the things we do, and the beliefs we hold, regardless of how individualistic we believe ourselves to be (Be Inspired, 2018). One thing we can do to assess whether or not this is true is to question how much of our time we spend on social media. What are we looking at? Why do we care? Of course the initial instinct to check social media is in our minds, but how is this any different than the instinct for a smoker to have a cigarette? 

Social media can cause people to become addicted to their own biases by isolating users and feeding them the exact information they want to hear, regardless of how dangerous that information may be. For this reason, it is important that users question their own beliefs and the sources of the information they receive on a daily basis. Most information is shared with an agenda in the sense that the person spreading the information has a point they want to get across, but the key is to question who will benefit from the message being sent? 

For example, a doctor may write a journal on vaccines and how they are safe and do not cause autism. This is the doctors belief but it is also backed by research and facts. His agenda, therefore, is to vaccinate more people to keep them safe. This information would be spread with the intent to keep people healthy and safe, making it beneficial information to spread. 

We should always question the information we receive to make sure that the person giving it to us is accredited and that the information is to the benefit of all of society and not specific groups of polarized people who support hatred.

References

Be Inspired. (2018, June 28). Before You Scroll Down, WATCH THIS! One of The Most Eye Opening Videos. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IW3y3x6o_g

Bessi, A., Zollo, F., Michela, D. V., Puliga, M., Scala, A., Caldarelli, G., . . . Quattrociocchi, W. (2016). Users polarization on facebook and youtube. PLoS One, 11(8) doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0159641

Diep, F. (2017, August 15). How Social Media Helped Organize and Radicalize America's White Supremacists. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-social-media-helped-organize-and-radicalize-americas-newest-white-supremacists

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

I love cats.

Life in an Autism World

Autism

[johnvhbrown]

Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear Full Review Read Now

Artificial Intelligence has entered our live at high speed.

Amazon Echo, Amazon Alexa, Anki Cosmo robot and Hello Barbie are some of the well-known precursors of this new technology

Therefore being able to hug and interact with a huge Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear is practically a reality today.

Gone are those days that our imagination was the seat and motor of our playtime.

Nowadays we can all play with Ai (artificial intelligence) toys of all sorts for youngsters as well as adults.

Unconsciously we had been interacting with Ai through the use of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix without even realizing it.

It is no wonder that Ai powered children’s toys are attaining new heights of popularity.

Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Teddy Bear

This new generation of Ai robot toy with personality is winning many dreamers hearts.

Who does not like bears, I mean toys in the form of bears?

They look so cute and adorable.

And if they are plush looking the more attractive they are.

What is a Smart or Ai Toy?

A smart or Ai toy is artificially intelligent, meaning it can learn, adjust, react to external stimulation, and behave according to Pre-Programmed Patterns.

The level of intelligence of these toys varies widely.

Some of them are able to use voice recognition, touching Sensors and Smartphone Apps to cooperate with the users.

Now they are also able to recognize the face of their users.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkV0hPzuJMo

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Teddy Bear Video

Here we would like to quote a few more definitions from Techradar.com and Wikipedia:

A smart toy is a toy that has a degree of artificial intelligence, meaning it can learn, adjust the way it interacts with the user, react to external stimuli and behave according to pre-programmed patterns.

-techradar

A smart toy is a toy which effectively has its own intelligence by virtue of on-board electronics. These enable it to learn, behave according to pattern, and alter its actions depending upon environmental stimuli. Typically, it can adjust to the abilities of the player.

-Wikipedia

What is the Benefit of Owing an Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear?

Big Cute Plush Teddy Bear

The cool and lovable aspect it irradiates, the soft and fluffy touch and now the illusion of cuddling a bear.

Since the toy needs to be coded and program for use, it teaches them to start learning coding and social interaction.

Another great advantage is children with Autism will not find it challenging to relate with a toy.

Since this type of toy is a robot, they tend to awake the curiosity of the child instead; making it easier for them cooperate with it.

Today’s Ai teddy bears are so advanced and the first to hit the market was “AI” in an attempt to create something mimicking the star of Steven Spielberg 2001 Movie.

This bear was called A.I. Artificial Intelligence Super Toy Teddy Talks and says Phrases from the Movie.

It did not have so much success and yet did sell.

Most people who bought this toy was for collection purposes purely and they still think it was worth it.

Actual Top Plush Teddy Bear Toys

GUND Peek-A-Boo Teddy Bear Animated Stuffed Animal

They had been ever since, many more to appear on the market which appear below.

Those are:

-MorisMos 47 inch Big Cute Plush Teddy Bear

-GUND Peek-A-Boo Teddy Bear Animated Stuffed Animal Plush

The evolution of Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear is still in the making.

At the speed that technology flies, it won’t be long when we have teddy bears and many others types of robot toys filling our live acting with reality.

They had been new that Google is creating an Ai teddy bear that recognize one’s face.

This was reported by gizmodo.com in its article of May 2015.

You can read it here if you wish: source

If you had enjoyed our article, please share it on Facebook an other social platforms with friends and family.

You can also comment below if you wish.

We appreciate your visit.

Now Read About the Marvelous World of Real Life Robots

See More Here: Artificial Intelligence Teddy Bear Full Review Read Now

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/sentencing-their-dog-to-death-how-the-anti-vax-movement-spread-to-pets-society/

'Sentencing their dog to death': how the anti-vax movement spread to pets | Society

Sam Kovac can’t say for sure what prompted it, but in the past few weeks the Sydney veterinarian has been faced with the same alarming, beguiling question over and over: “Will this vaccination give my dog autism?”

“It’s actually ridiculous. I mean you hear chatter over the years, but just in these last few weeks it’s really, really ramped up,” he tells Guardian Australia.

“Most of the time people are OK, they’re not staunchly against it once you tell them the science and the statistics [but] we have had people walk out in hysteria, saying that there is absolutely no way their dog is getting [vaccinated] because they believe it causes auto-immune diseases or, specifically, autism.”

Kovac is so perturbed by the trend that he felt moved to speak out about it in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph this week, saying he didn’t believe anti-vaxxers deserved to have animals as pets if they were willing to put them at risk of diseases such as canine parvovirus.

“They are sentencing their dog to death from one of the most shocking, horrible viruses you can imagine,” he says.

“If a disease as contagious, as horrific and with a high mortality rate as parvovirus existed for humans, this conversation would be so different.”

Vaccinations do not cause autism in dogs or humans. But there is an important distinction: there is no such thing as autism in dogs.

“Well, there are certainly no recorded cases of animals with the condition that I know of,” Kovac says. “And there is no diagnostic test to check for it in dogs or cats anyway.”

The amplification of the anti-vaccination movement in online communities and its association with the rise of populism and anti-establishment politics has been well documented.

This year the World Health Organisation included “vaccine hesitancy” among its 10 biggest threats to global health, pointing to a 30% increase in the number of cases of measles worldwide and a “resurgence” of the disease in countries that were close to eliminating it.

In March, the head of Britain’s National Health Service, Simon Stevens, blamed “fake news” by “vaccination deniers” on social media for a tripling in measles cases in the UK in 2018. In December a Guardian investigation pointed to the way populist rightwing politicians in Europe and the US were capitalising on the mistrust of vaccine science.

In 2015 Donald Trump wrongly linked vaccination schedules to autism in a debate during the Republican primaries, while in Australia One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was forced to apologise in 2017 after she asserted that the government’s vaccination policies amounted to blackmail.

But are our four-legged friends really the latest front in the anti-vaccination movement’s war?

Naomi Smith, a sociologist from the Federation University in Victoria, has published research mapping out the anti-vaccination movement’s presence on social media by trawling through hundreds of thousands of posts and comments on popular anti-vaccination Facebook pages.

A dog in India receives a vaccination. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

The anti-vaccination movement was not born with social media, but Smith’s research highlights the role social media plays in fostering and amplifying its conspiracy theories.

Did they talk about dogs, though?

“Well, no, they didn’t, but what was really interesting is that after we published I got emails from vets saying we have seen this in our space too,” she tells Guardian Australia.

“So it didn’t come up in our data but it’s definitely something I’ve heard about since, because people have approached me about it.”

Most concerning was an email from an equine veterinarian in Queensland, who told Smith he continually faced reluctance from anti-vaxxers opposed to the Hendra virus vaccine.

The Hendra vaccine is not without critics – last year horse owners from New South Wales and Queensland launched a class action against the pharmaceutical company responsible for developing it, claiming it did not provide adequate warnings about potential side effects. But Paula Parker, the president of the Australian Veterinary Association, believes much of the opposition to the virus is based on “bad-faith” arguments.

“There are unfortunately some people making bad-faith arguments about Hendra, and some who get into internet rabbit holes and come out misinformed, it’s heartbreaking to us because it’s an amazing vaccine for a disease which is life-threatening to horses and humans,” Parker says.

She too is aware of a broader reluctance among a small number of pet owners to vaccinate, and sees a link with the flourishing market for “holistic” animal care, which she says “anecdotally seem to breed some reluctance to vaccinations or other conventional treatments”.

A horse on a property in Queensland is given the Hendra virus vaccination. The fatal disease is also a threat to humans. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

“There are some complementary therapies like acupuncture which are helpful adjuncts to conventional medicine, [but] the difficult part with homeopathy is there is no regulation in that space,” she says.

“Most of them don’t cause harm, they’re just not effective, but the biggest worry is that pet owners seek out that kind of care and delay a diagnosis and required treatment.”

For Smith, too, there is a clear link between the so-called wellness industry and the spread of anti-vaccination messaging.

“What’s super interesting about the wellness movement, or industry, is that anyone can talk about it, you don’t have to have any kind of credentials, and it seems to be that those conversations naturally lead to a suspicion of established bio-medical practices,” she says.

Smith points to the example of Taylor Winterstein, wife of the Penrith Panthers NRL player Frank Winterstein, who claims vaccines cause allergies and believes parents are being “bullied” by GPs who “pressure” them to give their children vaccinations.

The Daily Telegraph reported last month that Winterstein was charging $200 for “informative” workshops, teaching other parents about her views.

Winterstein told the paper she had “never once said not to vaccinate”, but added: “Vaccines are not safe and effective for everyone, a ‘one size fits all’ schedule does not fit all bio-individual children and where there is risk there must always be choice.”

Smith is critical of that approach: “You’ve got footballers’ wives holding anti-vaccination seminars and their credentials are essentially being very good looking, which somehow means they’re speaking to some deeper truth that they understand what it is to be healthy,” she says.

“We’re very food- and diet-obsessed in this culture and people are constantly looking for advice about how to be healthy, which is fine, but that’s not all that these people are selling.”

That the anti-vaccination movement would turn its attention to animals is unsurprising to Smith.

“This attitude towards, I say this in quotation marks, ‘bodily and dietary purity’, is being translated by people into their pets because we view pets as part of the family now,” she says.

“So if you’re taking on the attitude that you’re going to keep your family, again, quote-unquote, ‘safe’, why wouldn’t you extend it to your dog too?”

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