First Published Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Education for all ‘Freddies’

By Chine Mbubaegbu
21/10/2008

First Published Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Should we want to cure autism?

Have your say Read comments

Two American grandparents are raising the global profile of the condition starting with a controversial debate in London tonight. Cassandra Jardine reports.

Autism might have kept a low profile in the United States, if it hadn’t affected Bob Wright’s grandson, Christian. The chief executive of NBC Universal – the American television and film company – is not the kind of alpha male to take a problem in the family lying down. He’s used to shaking trees, kicking ass, making things happen – and that is exactly what he has done in the five years following his grandson’s regression into autism.

Christian was doing just fine, he and his wife, Suzanne, tell me in between meetings at Downing Street and the House of Commons. “He was talking, he had met all his milestones and he was becoming potty trained. Then, shortly after his second birthday, he started to regress.” Soon they no longer had a grandchild whom they could imagine becoming a world-beater like Wright himself, but a crisis. “The doctor told us it was normal to regress when a new sibling arrives,” he says, evidently still furious. “We lost nine months.”

Once Christian was finally diagnosed, they were horrified to discover that they didn’t know what to do next. “I had nowhere to go for advice,” says Suzanne, “and Bob was running NBC so we thought we were well informed.” When they discovered that one child in 100 is autistic they were even more enraged. “If a cancer struck one in 100,” he continues, “that wouldn’t be allowed.”

Wright set about raising awareness. Boy has he done so. In the three and a half years since he started the charity, Autism Speaks (whose British sister charity is chaired by Dame Stephanie Shirley), he has not just spoken but yelled. The contacts he acquired during 20 years as vice-chairman of General Electric, one of the world’s biggest corporations and parent company of NBC, have been pressed into service. “We don’t just know people,” says his wife. “We don’t take ‘No’ for an answer.”

So far Wright has persuaded advertisers to give $150 million of free air time to a campaign with the slogan: “It’s more prevalent than you think.” American newspapers have provided blanket coverage; $110 million has gone into research; a Combating Autism Bill has been passed through Congress; both Barack Obama and John McCain have publicly pledged to do more. The US Academy of Pediatricians has come “on side”, too. “It is now mandatory to screen for autism, not once but twice at 18 months and 24 months,” says Wright. “Christian was having tantrums and losing speech. These warning signs should have been picked up.”

While Christian, seven, receives treatment for his gastro-intestinal and auto-immune problems, Wright – now 65 and retired – has taken his campaign global. On April 2 the UN held the first annual World Autism Awareness Day; only Aids and diabetes have a similarly high profile. Three weeks ago at a UN General Assembly meeting more than 100 of the leaders’ wives met to hear their battle cry, among them Sarah Brown and Cherie Blair. “We want the best minds in the world to focus on this,” says Wright. “And we want the UK to be a big player in the global movement.”

As part of that push, tonight Wright is delivering the first TreeHouse annual lecture, kick-starting a debate entitled: “Are we ambitious enough about autism?”

But anyone who imagines this will be a show of unity leading to a standing ovation for Wright could find their confidence misplaced. His abrasive, individualistic style is not universally popular. “Autism Speaks likes to work on its own,” says Polly Tommey who runs the British magazine Autism File. “Many charities and autism organisations won’t have anything to do with Autism Speaks for this reason.”

She is angry that Wright has not spoken publicly about whether vaccines could be implicated in the increase in cases of autism in recent years. Some say it is merely to do with better, earlier diagnosis. Today he isn’t ducking that issue. “There is no question but that autism is partly genetic and partly environmental, but we don’t know whether environmental factors account for 30, 50 or 60 per cent of cases,” he says. “Unlike cancers which can develop at any age, autism shows fully by the age of three so we ought to be able to zero in on some of the environmental factors in early childhood.

“Vaccines are one of the variables. The last vaccine Christian had before he regressed was MMR – that’s why my daughter concentrates on that. I don’t know whether his autism is linked: it was certainly coincidental, what we don’t know is if it was causal. Nor do we know whether the thimerosal (the mercury-based preservative used in vaccines) is a factor, although mercury is clearly poisonous. Governments want to run from that issue but they should become more aggressively involved. They have to follow children through to see if there are any effects. When we spend so much money on vaccines, we should be spending money tracking each year group.”

The other major source of concern is Wright’s focus on prevention and cure. This upsets Virginia Bovill, founder of TreeHouse, the charity hosting the lecture, who is currently studying for a DPhil on whether the quest to prevent and cure autism is morally justified. “Where would prevention lead – to ante-natal testing and abortion?” she asks. “The thought of a world without all the people I have met with autism is not a world I would want to live in. I would rather people said: ‘They are here, autism is here – how can we help these children fulfil their potential; how can we support their parents?”

Bovill and her ex-husband, writer Nick Hornby, have a 15-year-old son, Danny, who was born autistic. Currently 68 children (including Danny) are receiving intensive specialist teaching at TreeHouse in north London which is transforming them from reclusive, anxiety-racked small children into happy and potentially useful members of society. “I have been able to enjoy my son because we have means and I get breaks – he goes to Nick three nights a week. I want others to have the same. It need not work out more expensive as proper care from an early age improves the children’s prospects and enables parents to work.”

Danny cannot speak but Anya Ustaszewski, a 28-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome (a variety of autism which does not affect speech), can and will be making her views heard at today’s debate. She works as a disability access officer at the Royal Academy and dislikes Wright’s attitude to autism as a problem to be solved. “I can’t understand facial expressions and body language,” she says. “I find eye contact painful and in stressful situations, like public transport, I use repetitive behaviours to distract myself. But I think autism is a personality type, not a disorder. My ability to hyperfocus has helped me with my studies and my music: I can hear sounds that others can’t. If you take away my autism, you take away me.”

The evening could turn out to be heated, but Bovill believes that getting everyone together in one room to argue is better than “slugging it out on the internet”. On one point, at least, they should agree. The more autism is talked about, and the earlier it is diagnosed, the sooner autistic people and their families may be able to get help.

Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=LQYZ0OEF4IO1ZQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/health/2008/10/22/ftautism122.xml&site=13&page=0#form

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Highlights of the debate will be shown this week on www.treehouse.org.uk

First Published Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Gerwyn Morgan was found in apparent good health in London, say police

A teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome who went missing nearly a month ago has been found safe and well in London.

The search for Gerwyn Morgan, 15, of Merthyr Tydfil, had led South Wales Police to set up a voicemail service for people to pass on information.

There was particular concern because Gerwyn, who disappeared on 24 September, needs to take medication.

Police thanked media support during the search, which included reports of sightings at a Bristol railway station.

Police said their inquiries in to the teenager’s disappearance were continuing.

South Wales Police Chief Inspector Ian Bellshaw said: “We are very relieved that Gerwyn has been found this afternoon in the London area and appears to be in good health.

“I want to thank the public and the media for their help and co-operation in trying to find him over the last four weeks.

“We believe the media appeals in the south of England over the last few days have been instrumental in finding him.”

A poster campaign was launched in the Merthyr area as part of the search, and a youth worker said Gerwyn’s classmates at Pen Y Dre school had become concerned for him.

The last confirmed sighting of Gerwyn was the day after he went missing, when he was caught on CCTV in Merthyr town centre.

Asperger’s syndrome is a form of autism.

Source:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7682794.stm

Missing teenager Gerwyn is found safe

Oct 21 2008 WalesOnline

MISSING Valleys teenager Gerwyn Morgan has been found safe and well today.

Gerwyn, 15, who disappeared from his home in Merthyr Tydfil four weeks ago, has been located by police in the London area.

Merthyr Chief Inspector Ian Bellshaw, who has been involved in the search for Gerwyn, said: “We are very relieved that Gerwyn has been found this afternoon in the London area and appears to be in good health.

“I want to thank the public and the media for their help and co-operation in trying to find him over the last four weeks.

“We believe the media appeals in the south of England over the last few days have been instrumental in finding him.”

Gerwyn’s step-father Mike Curtis, 57, said: “It’s been four weeks so obviously we’re very happy and relieved he’s been found.

“With his disability, and the fact he’s not street wise at all, I did start to think the worst.

“We had confirmation from the police in England at about 2pm that he’s been found in Basildon, in Essex.

“They had a tip off this afternoon that he was going to meet someone, and they turned up and saw it was him.

“We don’t know if he’s going to be brought home today or if the police are going to keep him there for a de-brief and bring him home tomorrow.

“They probably will keep him there to find out what it is he’s been doing for the last month.”

Source:  http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2008/10/21/missing-teenager-gerwyn-is-found-safe-91466-22085366/

Missing teen Gerwyn Morgan found in Essex

Oct 23 2008 by Jackie Bow, Merthyr Express

THE relieved family of teenager Gerwyn Morgan, who has been found safe and well, are waiting to be reunited with him after a month of despair.

News was broken to mum Carole Curtis on Tuesday afternoon that a teenager had been found by police in Basildon, Essex.

“It was the longest two-and-a-half hours of my life waiting for them to confirm it was Gerwyn,” said Mrs Curtis, who faced the agonising wait at Merthyr Tydfil Police Station.

“When I see him I’m going to give him a big cwtch and I know I’ll break down crying.”

Gerwyn, who has Asperger’s Syndrome and needs to take daily medication, disappeared on September 24 from his family home in Merthyr Tydfil and sparked an extensive police and family search.

It is understood Gerwyn was found in Essex following a tip-off to police that he was meeting someone.

Mrs Curtis said yesterday: “I’m so relieved but despondent because I haven’t been able to speak to Gerwyn.

“I was told they were waiting for a police doctor to see if he was well enough to travel and social services would be involved. At the moment I’m still in limbo. I’m worst now than when he was missing. I’m at my wits’ end, I haven’t got a clue what’s happening.”

She said Gerwyn was back in Wales but didn’t know where.

“I know he is safe but I need to see him for myself to know in my own heart he is well,” she said.

“I just want my son home. I’ve been told social services have to be involved and other agencies. I’ve been waiting for other agencies to be involved and help for the past eight years.

“It has taken something like this to get anywhere. I’ve been told he’s with some foster family somewhere.”

Merthyr-based Chief Inspector Ian Bellshaw, who was involved in the search for Gerwyn, said: “We are very relieved that Gerwyn has been found in the London area and appears to be in good health.

“I want to thank the public and the media for their help and co-operation in trying to find him over the past four weeks.”

During that time members of his family searched the streets and put up missing posters. Police and his tutor at Penydre High School also made appeals through the media.

A sighting of Gerwyn at Bristol Temple Meads railway station, two days after he went missing and confirmed on CCTV footage, provided a breakthrough.

Mrs Curtis travelled to Bristol last Friday with police officers to make a TV appeal and this week, a month since Gerwyn went missing, police had planned a major leaflet drop in Merthyr, Cardiff and Bristol to enlist the help of milkmen, bus and taxi drivers.

Source:  http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2008/10/23/missing-teen-gerwyn-morgan-found-in-essex-91466-22094638/

First Published Saturday, 18 October 2008

First Published Friday, 17th October, 2008.

‘Do I Look Like a CEO?’

Bram Cohen has Asperger’s, which makes it hard to deal with everyday life. Even so, he started his own company, BitTorrent

By Susan Berfield

Video Interview at www.businessweek.com/go/tv/autism

Bram Cohen’s brain works differently from most people’s. He has Asperger’s syndrome, a condition that keeps him rooted in the world of objects and patterns, puzzles and computers, but leaves him floating, disoriented, in the everyday swirl of human interactions.

When Cohen was in his late twenties he sat on a wooden chair with a Dell (DELL) keyboard on his lap for the better part of nine months writing a software program. In 2001 he introduced BitTorrent, an ingenious, disruptive, and controversial piece of technology that is available for free and lets people easily exchange huge amounts of digital information,from software upgrades to videos. Pirated movies have always been the most popular files shared. They, along with more legitimate files, now generate about half of all traffic on the Internet.

BitTorrent brought Cohen fame and notoriety. It turned him into a folk hero and a Hollywood villain. Later, to reclaim the program for himself and possibly for some greater good, Cohen was obliged to become something else he had never considered: a boss. Four years ago, at age 29, he co-founded a company, BitTorrent, to build a business around his software. He got good money from venture capitalists but is still trying to find a convincing strategy.

For Cohen, this has been a fraught journey into the sometimes bewildering world of the office. The social conventions that ease everyday interactions can still elude him. He doesn’t like to shake hands or wear shoes or make small talk. He often plays with a Rubik’s Cube. Sometimes when he is outraged, or more often when he is fatigued, he bursts forth with unwelcome candor. He can be oblivious, lecturing on solar cells or economic theory or euphemisms until someone stops him.

Cohen’s predicament is not so unusual. Asperger’s, only formally recognized in the mid-1990s, is being diagnosed with increasing frequency. Many psychologists view it as a mild form of autism, though that definition is controversial; some advocates believe it is simply a different way of being. In the coming years more people like Cohen will arrive in the workplace, and their presence will have significant consequences, perhaps most obviously in the way we communicate.

Cohen’s childhood in Manhattan was one of isolation. He lived comfortably enough with his mother and father and younger brother, Ross, and they shared a vigorous intellectual life. But he had no friends. At 16, he could program in three languages. Yet he could not comprehend the social hierarchies of adolescence. “I was picked on a lot,” he says. “There was something obviously wrong with me. But it wasn’t acknowledged until I was much older that something had always been off-kilter. Were I to have to redo high school, I would just drop out immediately.” He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for one miserable year and then left.

“THIS IS STUPID”

Back in Manhattan, staying with his parents, he struggled in the working world as a computer programmer. “At first he would be enthusiastic, and then pretty soon he would tell the people who were running the startup they were doing things wrong,” says his father, Barry, a writer who had returned to school to study computer science. “If they didn’t listen to him—and they never did—he would say ‘this is stupid’ and he would quit.”

By 1997 the code rush was on, and Cohen went west. In San Francisco he felt at ease, and even a bit elated, surrounded by other computer geeks. Here his trouble deciphering human complexities, his seeming indifference to social imperatives, and all his quirks of character were mostly viewed as beside the point. The point was what he could accomplish. In this, Silicon Valley is not as distinct a place as it might seem. Psychologists have noticed clusters of people with Asperger’s wherever there is a concentration of high-tech companies.

It took Cohen a few years and several more startups before he discovered what he wanted to do: find an efficient way to share huge amounts of digital data.

Napster and other peer-to-peer programs already allowed people to pass smaller music files from one computer to another. But big files would clog the system. The elegance of Cohen’s solution is that as more people join a network, data move faster rather than slower. His software breaks files into pieces and scatters them on users’ hard drives. When someone requests a movie, the software gathers the pieces from the nearest computers on the network and assembles them only once they reach their destination. This allows a file to download much more quickly.

Cohen was surprised that BitTorrent ushered in the golden era of movie piracy. “I was some dude working on some project,” he says. “I couldn’t anticipate the piracy. But I was very careful from the beginning to distance myself from it. There’s only so much planning you can do for the effect on the Internet at large when you’re just trying to get people to use your software.”

LEARNING EMPATHY

Cohen mostly enjoyed his newfound status. And it was amid this success that he was able to put a name to his lingering complaint. One afternoon in the summer of 2003 he was eating at a Mexican restaurant in Berkeley with his girlfriend, Jenna, and her young daughter. They were talking about empathy, a notion that baffled Cohen. “Then a baby cried, and my daughter turned and made a sad face,” Jenna recalls. “He said, ‘You mean like that?’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s automatic.’ ” Not for Cohen, though, who told her that emotions seemed mysterious. Jenna, who had worked with autistic kids, suggested he might have Asperger’s.

Cohen never sought a formal diagnosis but turned his considerable attention to the matter. He learned how to detect and mimic human expressions, follow social cues, maintain eye contact, flirt. He began pretending to be normal. “Then I realized how out of it I had been my entire life,” he says. Jenna likens Bram to the android Data on Star Trek: “He’d add information to his social algorithm and practice until it became natural. He’s graduated to being an eccentric nerd.”

During the next year, Jenna and Bram had a son and were married. Cohen’s father began pestering him to create a company around his hugely popular software. “And I kind of felt like I should do something,” says Cohen, who was moving among various projects. A friend introduced him to Ashwin Navin, who had worked at Goldman Sachs (GS) and Yahoo! (YHOO), and along with Cohen’s brother, they formed BitTorrent. Then they set out to make peace with the movie studios and bring in investors. In May 2005 pirated versions of the much-anticipated third Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, were being swapped before the official release. Shortly after, Dean Garfield, the head of legal affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America, approached Cohen and Navin to see if they were serious about going legitimate. They began talking. In November of that year, BitTorrent and the MPAA announced a deal that was largely symbolic but did improve the company’s reputation in Hollywood: BitTorrent agreed to remove links that directed users to pirated movies. Cohen doesn’t like to travel, but he went down to Los Angeles for the day.

Cohen and Navin also were meeting with venture capitalists. David Chao, a co-founder of DCM, a $1.6 billion fund, had been using the software to share family videos and was intrigued by it. Cohen arrived at Chao’s office for an initial presentation, took off his shoes, and announced that he had Asperger’s. “It’s one of the first things he tells most people,” says Chao. “He wants to make sure there are no misunderstandings.” Cohen said he wanted to run the company, mostly because he didn’t trust anybody else to, but promised he’d one day bring in a more experienced leader. Navin would be president. Chao agreed to invest $8.75 million. At the first board meeting, Cohen worked on a Rubik’s Cube while he was talking, recalls Chao. “He wasn’t distracted, though.

His hand was solving it.” With someone else, Chao says, he might have said, “Please don’t play games while we’re having a board meeting,” but he didn’t.

As Cohen and Navin began hiring employees, issues emerged. Ross, who was in charge of the engineers, didn’t seem suited to the more structured environment being created. Bram fired him. “He just didn’t work out,” says Bram. The brothers haven’t spoken much since, and Ross didn’t return phone calls and e-mails.

Then there was Bram himself. He could be disruptive. He likes to talk and play with his puzzles. “We have to keep him contained so others can work,” says Navin. “New employees didn’t know they could tell him they had to get back to work.” And his overly blunt but rarely ill-intentioned comments didn’t always go over well. Ivy Hsu, the office manager, was the first person Cohen and Navin hired. One day Cohen said to her: “I don’t understand the point of being detail-oriented. Only the dumb people in this world focus on small details.” Hsu has since learned how to deal with him. “You have to communicate according to the rules he understands,” she says. “You can cut him off, you can walk away. There is no point in sugarcoating things, because if you do, he may miss the whole point. You just tell him: ‘Bram, you’re wrong. Bram, don’t say things like that.’ Usually you would never do that to your boss.”

By the end of 2006 it was clear that Cohen’s days as CEO were coming to an end. Some founders unprofitably delay this rite of passage. For Cohen, it couldn’t come soon enough: “Do I look like a CEO to you? Just saying.” BitTorrent was ready to sell a commercial version of the software to media, gaming, and tech companies and to launch a consumer site with licensed content. Navin and Cohen had also interested another investor, Ping Li, a partner at venture capital firm Accel, an early backer of Facebook. Li agreed to put in nearly $20 million to help BitTorrent expand. There would be accounts to supervise, strategies to devise, performance reviews to conduct, meetings to attend. Cohen was bored just thinking about it all.

Giving up the post of chief executive to become chief scientific officer wasn’t hard for Cohen, but the nine-month search for his replacement, led by the recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles (HSII), was full of frustration. After BitTorrent found a new chief executive, Cohen dissed the process and some of the other candidates in his blog: “Just because you were approached about being BitTorrent’s CEO doesn’t necessarily mean that I’d ever heard of you. If I had ever heard of you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I thought you had the necessary experience . . . . Even if I did think you had the necessary experience, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have gotten fuming mad at your name being suggested for any of a number of other reasons, including in some cases widely known lack of competence and morals.” Heidrick doesn’t talk about its clients and declined to comment about its work for BitTorrent.

The executive BitTorrent hired is Doug Walker, who had led graphics software company Alias Technology in Toronto. He is circumspect when it comes to Cohen but does say: “You’re always going to have an honest conversation with Bram. To me that’s fair, even if you may not always like it.”

So does Bram Cohen’s creation have a future? Some wonder if BitTorrent has missed its moment. Gaming companies are using the software to more swiftly and cheaply distribute their wares. Hollywood studios? Not so much. The company’s reputation for piracy may be part of the problem. But media companies also are finding ways to deliver entertainment themselves. All of which has left Cohen & Co. retrenching—in mid-August they laid off 20% of 60 employees—and struggling to find a way forward.

Still, Cohen’s original brainstorm has carried him far. And even if his company falters, or his attention is diverted to solving a different problem, his software will be used by millions of people around the world.

First Published Thursday, 16th October, 2008.

I Exist is the second phase of our think differently about autism campaign. It launched in Northern Ireland on 16 October.

The National Autistic Society Northern Ireland (NAS Northern Ireland) has produced a new report, I Exist: the message from adults with autism in Northern Ireland. You can read the report on our campaign website or download a copy below. It is the only survey of its kind ever conducted in Northern Ireland and reveals the huge gap between the level of need and the support available.

• *70% of adults in our survey did not have enough support to meet their needs
• *96% of adults in our survey feel that with more support they would be less isolated
• *34% had experienced severe mental health difficulties.

The right support at the right time can make a huge difference, but many adults with autism are ignored by local services and often reliant on ageing parents for support. 64% of adults with autism in our survey still live at home.

Autism is a lifelong condition yet our research reveals that 55% of the Northern Ireland public who have heard of autism believes it mostly affects children. It also reveals that 90% of people do not know how common autism is. Autism affects an estimated 1 in 100 people.

Autism also affects adults.

Most are isolated and ignored.

Think. Act. Transform lives.

Many adults with autism face a lack of recognition and understanding, a lack of suitable services and a lack of support, all of which have a devastating impact on adults and their families.

One parent of an adult with autism said:

“My son is socially and economically isolated – he gets no support from his local health service whatsoever. I am his principal carer and I get no support either. I care for him (along with my wife) as best I can. I am almost 59 and I still need a life of my own. We have three other children who need to be cared for and supported.”

Another major issue is that local health and social care trusts do not know how many adults with autism there are in their local area, making it extremely difficult to plan and deliver services to meet their needs.

NAS Northern Ireland coordinator Regina Cox said:

“I Exist is the message from adults with autism who want to be recognised and deserve to have their needs understood and fulfilled. This campaign aims to address the problems they face and the barriers which prevent them from getting the right support. We are calling on the Northern Ireland Assembly to think, act, and transform lives.”

Take action now!

It is only with your sustained support that this ambitious campaign will be a success. Email your Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and ask them to support our campaign.

Visit our campaign website www.think-differently.org.uk/campaign to find out more about I Exist.

For more information, or to request copies of campaign materials, telephone 020 7923 5799 or email thinkdifferently@nas.org.uk

* The term ‘autism’ in this article also includes Asperger syndrome.

Related resources

Relevant documents for downloading

• 16 Oct: NAS Northern Ireland launches major new report into the lack of services for adults (DOC)
• I Exist: the message from adults with autism in Northern Ireland (PDF)

First Published Wednesday, 15th October, 2008.

Leary Defends Autism Comments

Source:

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/leary%20defends%20autism%20comments_1083702

A spelling-challenged advocacy group representing parents of children with autism is calling on Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other booksellers to banish a new book by comic actor Denis Leary from their stores. The group, Autism United, says it will protest outside a benefit comedy show in Boston on Nov. 15 where Leary is set to appear.

In his book Why We Suck, Leary writes that most children diagnosed with autism are simply “stupid. Or lazy. Or both.” He also asserts, “There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can’t compete academically.”

Evelyn Ain, the president of Autism United, responded in a terribly copy-edited statement, saying, “If Dennis [sic] Leary feels by putting these shockley [sic] comments in book [sic] is going to create hype, were [sic] going to have autism families from coast to coast protesting his appearances, showing the joke is really on him.” (The statement also mistakenly refers to the book merely as We Suck.)

At last check, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are still selling the book.

Earlier this year, shock-radio host Michael Savage brought the wrath of autism advocates down on his head by voicing similar sentiments, including a belief that the condition could be cured by a parent prepared to say “Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.”

Source:  http://biz.yahoo.com/portfolio/081017/tag_www_portfolio_com_2008_10_15014.html?.v=1

First Published Tuesday, 14th October, 2008.

Depression and Anxiety Special Report

Managing Anxiety Without Drugs

Do you worry excessively? Johns Hopkins provides nine strategies to help you take control of your anxiety.

We live in anxious times, full of bad news. We worry about our families, our country, our basic health and safety. But while a little bit of worry can be a good thing — it can steer us away from taking unreasonable risks, for instance — free-floating anxiety can be paralyzing, unproductive, and self-defeating. If you think that you, or someone you love, has an anxiety disorder, then therapy or medication may be in order. But even if you’re receiving treatment, or if you’re bedeviled by garden-variety over-worrying that doesn’t warrant treatment, the following tips may help.

• Anxiety tip #1: Notice and name. The first step is to identify your patterns. What specific triggers are linked to your anxiety? Notice what sets your anxiety in motion, and give it a name. Once you bring it into the forefront of your consciousness, you can begin to make sense of it and then to address it.
• Anxiety tip #2: Develop a plan. Many of us run ourselves ragged by not addressing our worries. One classic example: We’re afraid of getting breast cancer, but we don’t schedule the mammogram — instead, we spin our mental wheels. Write your specific worry down, and then develop a plan to address it. Tackle one or two worries at a time. Once you’ve completed those, go on to the next on your mental list. This task-oriented process can give you a feeling of satisfaction; more importantly, it makes you feel less vulnerable, more in control of your life.
• Anxiety tip #3: Move. Exercise is one of the best self-treatments for anxiety available. It doesn’t matter whether you go for a walk, join a water aerobics class, dance, play tennis — what does matter is that you get regular exercise, at least every other day. In the interim, whenever one of those cycles of ruminative worry hits, even simple activity — minor housecleaning, a few minutes of gardening, some simple stretches, even just getting up and walking around for five minutes — can help jog you out of that negative feedback loop.
• Anxiety tip #4: Breathe. A number of breathing techniques can alleviate anxiety. For one thing, many people find that when they’re anxious, they breathe shallowly, from the upper chest — and when breathing is shallow and fast, the body responds with an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormones. In bad moments, they might even be holding their breath. Instead, take a few moments and simply notice your breathing patterns. After a few breathing cycles, take a deep breath. Let your belly be soft and relaxed, and breathe from your lower abdomen. Repeat — and use this technique any time you notice that you’re tense or worried.
• Anxiety tip #5: Nurture your spirit. Meditation and prayer trigger the relaxation response, helping calm the mind and body. Even the simplest of prayers or affirmations can help you let go of a worry and put everyday problems into perspective.
• Anxiety tip #6: Reframe your thoughts. Free form anxiety often is triggered or accompanied by a litany of negative internal “chatter.” The good news is, the brain is an adaptive organ, and it is possible to break out of the negative mode. However, it takes patience and persistence. The first step is to notice when the negative labels start bouncing around in your mind. Simply notice that your thinking is following a particular track, in a nonjudgmental manner. Next, learn how to talk to yourself in a constructive and rational manner. What would you say to a dear and beloved friend in this instance? Try saying the same thing to yourself. This process is a hallmark of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
• Anxiety tip #7: Watch the toxins. Many people use alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine as short-term solutions for their anxiety. The difficulty is that self-medicating with these substances only creates more problems in the long run. Break the cycle. Similarly, be careful with comfort food—this is one of those times that too much of a good thing can make you miserable.
• Anxiety tip #8: Don’t watch the news. Use discretion with television, newspapers, and other sources of news. Of course, it is important to know what’s going on in the world, but our current culture—“all news, all the time,” highlighting the latest disaster in endless replays—can easily trigger or feed anxiety.
• Anxiety tip #9: Don’t worry alone. In the absence of realistic feedback, we often can spin some fairly creative doomsday scenarios. If something is troubling you, get the reassurance and reality checks you need. Consult someone you trust—a friend, family member, or a religious advisor, for instance. Anxiety often diminishes when we share our worries, and practical solutions to problems may emerge in the course of the conversation.

Coping With Panic Attacks

Johns Hopkins shares four strategies for managing panic attacks so they frighten you less, are less intense, and occur less frequently.

It comes on suddenly, without warning. Your heart races and pounds in your chest, you sweat, you feel short of breath, dizzy, sick to your stomach, faint even. You fear you’re having a heart attack or maybe losing your mind. You have a distinct feeling of unreality and, perhaps, a desire to run away and hide. You fear you may do something crazy or uncontrollable. Being in the throes of these feelings and sensations is terrifying and profoundly uncomfortable. But within minutes, the symptoms are gone (one way to know you’re not having a heart attack).

You’ve just had a panic attack. And now you live with the fear of having another panic attack, the dread of which can be worse than the attack itself. You may also be blaming yourself for allowing your emotions to run away from you. But the truth is that once a panic attack begins, your body is being held hostage by a cascade of physiological events — starting with the release of stress hormones such as cortisol — that are difficult to reign in. This doesn’t mean all hope is lost.

Why do we panic? Ironically, panic attacks most often occur during non-threatening, normal activities. They can hit when you’re walking down the street, sitting at your desk at work, or visiting with friends. The catch is that for some reason the brain misinterprets the situation as threatening.

Although the setting of a panic attack is usually benign, panic attacks commonly occur during stressful periods of life, such as when someone is getting a divorce, grieving a death, or moving to a new town. Stress, it’s believed, may create a physiological imbalance or allow an underlying genetic predisposition to panic attacks to emerge.

Strategies for Coping With Panic Attacks
If you experience a panic attack, keep these facts and tips in mind, courtesy of Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., author of The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, and Denise F. Beckfield, Ph.D., author of Master Your Panic and Take Back Your Life! Twelve Treatment Sessions to Conquer Panic, Anxiety, and Agoraphobia, to help get you through the episode:

• Remember that a panic attack poses no physical danger. You won’t faint, have a heart attack, lose your balance, fall, suffocate, or go crazy. You will not lose control of your body.
• Recognize and accept your symptoms rather than fight them. Intellectualize the situation by telling yourself that you recognize the symptoms and know they are signs of a panic attack. Though disquieting, tell yourself that the attack will run its course and resolve within a few minutes.
• Learn the early signs of a panic attack. Sometimes you can stop a full-blown panic attack from developing by intervening at the first sign of an episode and focusing on something else besides your body and feelings.
• If a panic attack is under way, interrupt the cascade of panicky thoughts by repeating the words “Stop it!” aloud or silently to yourself. Then shift your focus to deep abdominal breathing to slow your respiration rate and relax your muscles so you can “flow through” the attack.

Seeking Professional Help
An occasional panic attack can usually be managed with the strategies discussed above. However, if you have four or more panic attacks in a month and/or your fear of another attack is disrupting your everyday life, it’s time to consult a mental health professional who specializes in panic and anxiety disorders. Both therapy and medication are effective in managing panic disorder and preventing future episodes.

Could It Be a Heart Attack?
The symptoms of a heart attack are quite similar to those of a panic attack. In both cases, the symptoms appear without warning and can include chest discomfort, dizziness or lightheadedness, shortness of breath, stomach upset, and sweating. But there are a few differences. In a heart attack, chest pain often spreads to the arms (particularly the left arm) or to the jaw, and the symptoms continue for longer than 10 minutes. If in doubt whether it’s a heart attack, it’s best to err on the side of caution: Dial 911 immediately for an ambulance.

Anxious Adolescents Respond Differently To Anxiety Triggers

Brain scans show heightened activity among anxious adolescents exposed to an anxiety-provoking situation when compared with normal controls, according to an U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study published in the November 2008 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

In the new study by Amanda Guyer, PhD., of NIMH and colleagues at Georgia State University, Catholic University, NIMH, and the University of Maryland, 14 adolescents with significant anxiety about social situations and 14 healthy adolescents were told that they were going to participate in Internet chat rooms. Each participant would chat with a peer whom the participant wanted to chat with and who wanted to chat with the participant.

To select those they wanted to chat with, participants looked at photographs of peers and sorted them into categories of less desirable or more desirable. Then the participants were photographed. They were told that the peers would receive their photographs and would find out how the participants rated their desirability. The peers would similarly rate how interested they were in chatting with the participants.

Two weeks later, the participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of their brain activity while looking at pictures of the peers they had rated. Participants were asked to describe how they thought the peers rated them in return.

When anxious adolescents were anticipating evaluation from peers whom they had rated as less desirable – an anxiety-provoking situation – their scans showed increased activation of the amygdala, a fear processing, almond-shaped hub deep in the brain. This increase was much greater than that noted in the scans of healthy adolescents anticipating evaluation from peers whom they had rated as less desirable.

The scans also revealed a perturbed engagement of the amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain thought to regulate emotion, in the anxious adolescents when compared with the healthy participants. Disturbances in the association between the amygdala and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is located behind the eyes and the forehead, are thought to influence anxiety.

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Guyer AE, Lau JYF, McClure-Tone EB, >et al. Amygdala and Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Function during Anticipated Peer Evaluation in Pediatric Social Anxiety. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008; 65(11):1303-1312.   [Abstract]

Anxiety Network Australia
http://www.anxietynetwork.com.au/

Anxiety Disorders Association of America
http://www.adaa.org/

Agoraphobia & Panic Disorder Recovery
http://www.paniccure.com/

The Anxiety Panic Internet Resource
http://www.algy.com/anxiety/index.php

Mayo Clinic: Panic Attacks & Panic Disorder
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/panic-attacks/DS00338

Mayo Clinic: GAD
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/generalized-anxiety-disorder/DS00502

“Agoraphobics Building Independent Lives
http://www.mhav.org/programs.html#ABIL

Canadian Network for Mood & Anxiety Treatment
http://www.canmat.org/

Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Association
http://www.socialphobia.org/

Information for People with Anxiety Disorders
http://msmonarchdancer.googlepages.com/

Social Anxiety Support Board
http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/

E-couch: Self Help
e-couch provides evidence-based information about emotional problems (including depression and anxiety disorders) and teaches strategies that may help you to prevent problems and understand yourself better.
http://ecouch.anu.edu.au/welcome

South African Depression & Anxiety Group
http://www.sadag.co.za/

Latest Research/Articles on Anxiety

“Emotional Memories Study Provides Insights Into Anxiety Disorders”

[Australia] “Mental Illness Rife, Anxiety Disorders Most Prevalent”:
http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/emotional_memories_study_provides_insights_into_anxiety_diso.htm

“Anxiety Disorders Linked To High Blood Pressure”:
http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/anxiety_disorders_linked_to_high_blood_pressure.htm

“Free Publication Provides Fresh Perspectives on Generalized Anxiety Disorder”:
http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/free_publication_provides_fresh_perspectives_on_generalized_.htm

First Published Tuesday, 14th October, 2008.

According to Karen Todner, the lawyer representing British hacker Gary McKinnon, the UK government won’t intervene to stop the extradition of the hacker to US and neither has it guaranteed his return to UK to serve the sentence.

Todner appealed the home secretary Jacqui Smith to arrange McKinnon’s trial in UK, where he would receive much better treatment, or at least assure his return to UK for serving his sentence; but, the lawyer complained that the home department didn’t even make the request to US.

Meanwhile, a group of 30 people, including Gary’s mum Janis Sharp, protested against the Home Office last Friday in support of Gary McKinnon.

Expressing her resentment, Janis told that she would chain herself and Gary to a railing before she let anyone take her son to the US for trial against the hacking charges.

Todner already presented the evidences of Gary suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of autism, which explains his obsession for UFOs that made him to hack several computers related to US military.

McKinnon will now try to appeal for a judicial review and has 14 days to do so.

Source:  http://www.itproportal.com/articles/2008/10/14/mckinnons-last-ditch-attempt-fails-judicial-review-only-recourse-left/

Herald News Services

A British computer programmer accused of hacking into almost 100 U.S. military computers, failed to halt his U.K. extradition to the U.S. on health grounds, his lawyer said Monday.

Gary McKinnon, accused of infiltrating NASA, Army and Navy computers in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had asked U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to halt the extradition because he suffers from Asperger Syndrome, an autistic disorder.

“We are now considering whether or not Mr. McKinnon has a further judicial remedy and we are urgently investigating this issue,” Karen Todner, of London-based Kaim Todner LLP Solicitors, said in an e-mailed statement Monday.

McKinnon, who claims he was searching for evidence of unidentified flying objects, has already lost appeals to the European Court of Human Rights and the U.K.’s House of Lords.

The U.K. Home Office declined to comment Monday.

Further reports

Includes INQ Podcast  “Hacker McKinnon’s mum squares up to the US”:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/13/hacker-mum-squares

“NASA hacker loses last-ditch appeal”:

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009519o-2000331828b,00.htm

First Published Saturday, 11th October, 2008.

On 7 October, we launched the Autism Bill (Draft) in Parliament, in partnership with Angela Browning MP and with wide support from the autism community. The Bill has been developed to challenge the exclusion from services that too many people with autism experience: we highlighted this exclusion in our I Exist campaign. The Bill builds on two ‘ten-minute rule Bills’ introduced by MPs Lee Scott and Angela Browning, as well as the Department of Health’s recent commitment to produce a national adult autism strategy.

What will the Autism Bill do?

The Autism Bill aims to strengthen information about the numbers of people with autism and their needs, in order to improve local planning and commissioning of services. It aims to improve inter-agency working to secure effective transition for disabled young people who are moving from child to adult services. Finally, it aims to ensure access to appropriate support and services for people with autism in adult life.

Why are the proposals in the Bill important?

Clauses on information
Very little is known about the prevalence of autism, particularly among adults. Recent research indicates that 1 in 100 children is on the autism spectrum, but very little is know about how many people live in each local authority area.

It is essential that local authorities put systems in place to record the number of people with autism in their area and ensure that they are included in local planning and commissioning strategies. 86% of local authorities say that if they had more information on autism prevalence in their area it would help with long-term planning.

Clauses on transition
The transition from school to adulthood can be a particularly difficult time for young people with autism. They tend to rely on structure, routine and rules and may find it difficult to adapt the rules they have learned in one context to new relationships or situations. Consequently, effective support and early planning is often vital for a successful transition from school life to adulthood. Transition planning requires a high degree of inter-agency co-operation, and this can be where difficulties arise.

Clauses on support for adults
Adults with autism are often unable to access the right support, and consequently become dependent on their families. 61% of adults with autism rely on their families for financial support; over 40% live at home with their parents.

There are structural barriers preventing adults with autism from accessing the support that they desperately need. Local authorities tend to provide services via specific teams, with the teams categorised into client groups. Consequently, people with autism will usually come into contact with the learning disability team and/or the mental health team. However, as autism is a developmental disability - not a learning disability or a mental health problem - many people with autism (particularly those with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism) find themselves ‘falling through the gap’ between services that refuse to take responsibility for them.

A lack of understanding of, and training in, autism means that the health and community care needs of a person with autism are not properly understood in an assessment: they are then unable to access the services they so desperately need. The right types of support are also lacking. The top three types of support that parents and carers believe that their son or daughter with autism would benefit from are social skills training (60%), social groups (56%) and befriending (49%). Yet, there is a clear shortage of these types of support.

It is vital that the draft Autism Bill has the support of as many people and organisations as possible. To pledge your support for the bill, or to request further information about it, please complete the form below.

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Autism Bill (Draft): pledge your support *Mandatory information

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Comments about the Autism Bill

If you would like to receive more information about the progress of the Bill and our other work, tick here.

Data Protection Act 1998 The National Autistic Society is registered under the Data Protection Act and all the information you supply through this form will be treated under the Act. The NAS will hold data on its own database and will not release it to any commercial organisation. The information supplied will be used for monitoring purposes only.

Related resources

Relevant documents for downloading

• Autism Bill (Draft) (PDF)
  Launched in Westmister on 7 October 2008.

Source:  http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=157&a=17660

Parliament Debates Autism and Education

MPs debated autism and education in Parliament on Wednesday 8th October. The debate, led by John Bercow MP and supported by MPs across the political spectrum, focused on the high rates of exclusions and bullying for children with autism, and the need for improved teacher training and support for families.

Watch the debate by following this link.

Source:  http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=253&a=17679