I am so bummed about this, not because I think Jenny McCarthy is a super fabulous person, but because her info about Autism up until this point has been abosultely right. In fact, I almost always say "Jenny McCarthy is kind of crazy, but her info about Autism is spot-on", when telling other people about Bio-med treatment. She has gotten and given a lot of attention to what parents like us and thousands of others have been doing long before she got on the Autism bandwagon. That attention has been good and bad, but mostly good.
Her "story" has become a reference point. I now can mention the words "biomedical treatment- like Jenny McCarthy" and people immediately have some clue of what I am talking about simply b/c of the press coverage. It has made our life easier b/c people no longer look at us like we have 3 heads when we talk about supplements, GFCF diet, and recovering our kids from Autism. So for that, I thank Jenny. What I don't like, and don't thank her for, is suddenly changing her position on her son's diagnosis and vaccinations. Jenny number 1, the one we have seen in public until this week, represents me and millions of other moms who are fighting the good fight. Jenny number 2 who showed up this week, well, I think she is flying solo. I read the article and wondered aloud Are we being punked? And then, Who finally paid her enough to change her mind?
Truth is, I don't know what happened. I do know that Jenny McCarthy owes it to all parents who have supported this former playboy model turned Autism advocate to explain herself in a real publication and a real interview, rather than giving some flip change of heart in a barely there online publication. Who knows? Perhaps she will use the new show she landed with Oprah after heart-tugging appearances on the O show, to tell her *new story*. I don't know. I know that I am angry.
This is like being in middle school on the kickball team of leftover kids that never gets picked. When they are down 20-1, suddenly the star football player decides to lead the team. Next thing you know these kids are in the game. They get a little more respect at school, and their day to day life with the outside world-is a little less painful, all because this football stud has put his stamp of approval on this bunch of people by sharing in their pain. Then suddenly, like a bad middle school drama, football boy changes his mind and decides it was all a joke, and he's ready to move on to other projects. It would have been better for all of them, if he had just left them alone to begin with. Truly this flip-flop has done more damage than any of the previous good done.
The rest of us parents in the fight against Autism will continue on today just as we did before Jenny McCarthy, but now I suspect we will find that we are treated as more of a joke than we were before she hit the Autism scene. Thanks, Jenny. Thanks A LOT!
5 comments:
Ok, that is just wrong. What is interesting is then if Evan did not have autism then what is Generation resuce and the Teach2 Talk school. Why would one put effort and money into something if they did not believe in it.
I am sorry to hear this. I read a little about it over at ageofautism.com but to say this is disappointing is an understatement. I hope will fully clarify her story and what exactly she intends to do since she is considered an autism spokesperson. Just makes me feel incredibly sad if this is true.
I am also wondering if the TIME article was meant to sabotage her. They may be trying to create confusion about her son's diagnosis in an effort to discredit her. Also, I think it is possible she may be considering becoming more lenient with vaccines in a bizzare effort to actually save more children from autism. I believe they said it was a "meet in the middle" approach. I can understand if she thought she could somehow get the overall number of vaccines lowered, a compromise. She realizes "big Pharma" is not backing down and more children get autism every day. Tough position to be in. What do you think?
I personally won't be giving my little people any more vaccines, they already made enough money off of me. We are busy with the business of recovery now.
I never jumped on the Jenny McCarthy bandwagon to begin with. Hopefully, people will take the autism community more serious if she is not the unofficial spokesperson.
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