AAP
No, not AAPR but APP which stands for the “American Academy of Pediatrics.”
As you may know, I am a member of the “Autism Hub,” that’s the pink logo on the sidebar.
Today members of the Hub are blogging about Autism, no big surprise there, but more especially about finding spokespersons. I’m not of a particularly scientific frame of mind and I don’t know what causes autism. I do know that you don’t have to look much further than the gene pool around this neck of the woods.
Here is the letter from AAP:-
Subject: parent spokespersons
Hello,
As part of our ongoing response to media stories regarding autism and
vaccines, the AAP communications department is compiling a list of
parents who support the AAP and are available for interviews. We are
looking for two types of parents who could serve as spokespersons:
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who support
immunization and who do not believe there is any link between their
child’s vaccines and his or her autism.
Parents of children who suffered a vaccine-preventable illness. This
could be a parent who declined immunization, whose child became ill
before a vaccine was available, or whose child was ineligible for
immunization.
We are asking for your help identifying parents who would be good
spokespersons. They do not need to be expert public speakers. They
just need to be open with their story and interested in speaking out
on the issue. We will contact candidates in advance to conduct
pre-interviews, to offer guidance on talking to reporters and to
obtain a signed waiver giving us permission to release their name.
If a parent were placed on our list, we would offer their name and
contact information to select media. We hope to build a list of
parents from a wide range of geographical areas.
As the Jenny McCarthy and “Eli Stone” stories illustrate, this issue
is likely to recur in the national and local media. The AAP is
committed to doing all we can to counter such erroneous reports with
factual information supported by scientific evidence and AAP
recommendations.
The anti-vaccine groups often have emotional family stories on their
side. The ability to offer a reporter an interview with a similarly
compelling parent who is sympathetic to the AAP’s goals is a powerful
tool for our media relations program.
Please contact me if you have any questions or to suggest a parent to interview.
Thank you,
Susan Stevens Martin
Director, Division of Media Relations
American Academy of Pediatrics
847.434.7131
Or to email
ssmartin@aap.org (Susan Stevens Martin) direct.
You can contact them yourself here:- SPOKESPERSONS@LISTSERV.AAP.ORG
Or email me directly at m.mcewen-asker@att.net
If you could spread the word we’d be very much obliged.
[Preferably to some nice young photogenic persons who don't have funny accents]
Piccies artistically created by a smallish autistic person.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Being British i am leaving this one in your more than capable hands, i am right behind you all and fully support this.
We have our share of gene pools over here too!
February 18th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Very good.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Wow, I’m out on all counts.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:49 am
the smallish autistic person takes good piccies!
February 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
So impressed with the pictures. What a beautiful blue sky too…
Thank you for posting this info.
High five to you .. and your talented photographer..
Judith
February 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Thank you for this. I worry so much about all the kids not getting vaccinated and the societal health risks.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Love the picture…
February 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Thanks a lot for this! I am very happy to see that the AAP is working to get the word out. I called them the moment I saw this request.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Now I’m confused; I thought that there was a groundswell against thymerosol in vaccines, not the vaccines themselves? For those of us without autistic relatives, celebrities on TV who speak about this are often the only “voice” we hear. Please sort me out; I want to know what the true truth is!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
[...] Marla Baltes blog on One Dads Opinion on Telstra on RunMan on Mom Not Otherwise Specified on Whiterer on Autism on Club166 on Autism News Beat on Respectful [...]
February 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
you are gorgeous! Love the pictures! wishing you well!
February 18th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
tut-tut,
it is a pretty complicated story, I admit. One that has been “media managed” by a loud minority for too long. Hence the idea that there is a “groundswell” against thimerosal.
That said, there was an increase in the number of people identified with autism. Those numbers seemed to follow the increases in the amount of mercury in the vaccines given to kids. Add to this some really bad science trying to link the two, and you have a good story. Except that the real science has been pouring in, and it doesn’t point to mercury.
So, as people get the idea–the mercury ship has sailed–they move on to the vaccines themselves. This led to, amongst other things, a complete makeover of the Generation Rescue message (recently discussed at OneDadsOpinion http://onedadsopinion.blogspot.com/2008/02/generation-rescue-timeline.html).
So, now we have both groups–those with the idea that mercury in vaccines causes autism and the vaccines themselves cause autism. Neither has real science, or even good pseudo-science, so they work more on getting the “message” out through media.
The AAP has seen that this is happening and is working to get a real, science-based message out to clarify the situation.
I hope that helps.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
tut-tut:
I know that for all things neurological, I’d rather go with Jenny McCarthy’s advice than have a listen at what any doctor says. Right?
February 18th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I am married to a chemist that gets all huffy when “they” attempt to link vaccines/mercury to autism … It is refreshing to hear another side.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Great shot! Hope someone is found.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Hi Maddy,
I hope you can find and nominate those two spokespersons. Maybe a parent of one of those autistic children you are handling. I pray and commiserate with those autistic children. I hope they can still live long normal lives. Thanks for your post. God bless you and your family always.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I’ve said on a few other blogs it’s great to know the AAP doing this.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Thanks for the explanation; I had no idea that the vaccines themselves were considered culprits. I know 15 or so years ago when L was a tiny thing, there was a very small minority of parents who did not want vaccinations (not me, ATYDs; I don’t listen to airheaded starlets!! just sayin’, is all) because of the very small number of children who had adverse reactions.
That said, I hope you do get some parents to talk about this in the media, not just celebrity types on Oprah . . .