Glad to see autism makes the cut here. I started my own foundation 'Treasured Souls' in an effort to raise funds for the autism clinic here in Montreal. It's been quai-successful but I'm afraid starting something from scratch is so hard when time is limited. It seems our good intentions can't keep up with the reality of life. Hopefully we'll get it together and join forces with org. and groups one day. For now, awareness is good.

As the father of an autistic child, I'd like to say thanks, Casey, for publicizing this worthy cause.

It's a great cause and I'm happy to give it the publicity it deserves! Thank you for giving it a look!

My submission...

Check out the latest research on paternal age and autism risk. The researchers at UCLA found a dramatic increase in autism offspring of fathers over 30.

Mol Psychiatry. 2007 May;12(5):419-421. Paternal age and autism are associated in a family-based sample. Cantor RM, Yoon JL, Furr J, Lajonchere CM.
[1] 1Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA [2] 2Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA [3] 3AGRE Consortium, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

The paternal age distribution of the AGRE fathers, whose first child is autistic differs significantly from that of the 'control' sample (P=0.005). A 2 goodness-of-fit test with 2 degrees of freedom was conducted using percents in the 'control' group age categories to calculate the expected values in the AGRE sample. The shift toward higher paternal ages in those with an affected first-born is seen most dramatically in the group of AGRE fathers who are 30-39 years inclusive, which is 54.7% of the distribution compared with the 41.9 % that is expected. We interpret this shifted age distribution to provide support for the recently reported finding by Reichenberg and co-workers that autism risk is associated with advancing paternal age.

There's information floating around the autism-aware blogosphere that Autism Speaks has an unerlying eugenics agenda: Find the genetic markers and then recommend fetal testing and abortion. This bothers me. Please consider, if this is true, offering support to alternative autism support organizations, such as DAN, or TACA. Thank you.

There are a great many worthy causes and autism is of course only one of them.
Best wishes

It's beyond ironic that Fighting Five's message is "what kind of world do you want" because if Autism Speaks had their way, autistics would be dead. Does FF feel the same way? Autism Speaks is a joke, considered kooks in the medical community. As an autistic person, I am beyond offended. How does my existence threaten them? I contribute meaningfully to the world; unlike AS, I contribute more than an echo chamber. I boycott any business contributing to their cause. There are much better autism groups to support than Autism Speaks.

[And don't get me started on DAN or TACA, they're not any better. Any "cure-bie" related group is an object of derision among medical experts, objective parents and adult autistics alike. The mission of DAN and TACA are no different than AS but the former two don't like AS because they're competing for the same charity dollars. You know, market competition?]

And btw, there's not a single autistic person on their board nor in any advisory capacity. They refuse to include autistic people so how dare they suggest they "speak" for us? I state emphatically that they do NOT. Arrogance is de rigeur at AS. I'm perfectly articulate, I'd rather they ceased claiming they speak for us, particularly when they won't listen to us in the first place.

we need to stop vaccinating our babies most kids are fine until the vaccinations. a hidden truith is that the Amish that dont get vaccinated dont get autism....hmmmmm