blog-thing : Congratulations to Dr Offit

Congratulations to Dr Offit

Liz Ditz at I speak of Dreams has just blogged the news that Paul Offit has been recognized with an award from the American Association of Pediatrics.

Congratulations to Paul Offit, M.D.

Paul Offit was one of the co-inventors of the rotavirus vaccine, Rotateq. He has written a number of books relating to vaccine issues, most recently Autism’s False Prophets. He has recently been interviewed in Wired: An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All. Offit is the dominant voice repeating the messages that vaccines are safe and effective. For his efforts:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) will present Paul Offit, MD, FAAP, with the President’s Certificate for Outstanding Service at the National Conference and Exhibition of the AAP. The award recognizes an individual’s outstanding service and long-term, personal dedication to the mission of the AAP and to the health, safety and well-being of children. Dr. Offit is a pediatrician, chief of infectious diseases and the director of the vaccine education center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The AAP is honoring Dr. Offit in recognition of his ongoing commitment to promote immunization.

Congratulations, sir, for a well-deserved award.

I join Liz in offering my congratulations. If you want to send him a message of congratulations his contact details at the Childrens’ Hospital of Philadelphia are available on Paul Offit’s official website.

October 24th, 2009 Posted by Mike | Paul Offit, vaccines | 5 comments

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5 Responses to “Congratulations to Dr Offit”

Comment by titmouse | October 24th, 2009

Thank you for your eloquent letter that you shared at Orac’s site regarding the Autism quackfest in Toronto this month.

Doctors can’t spot the bs in this sciency “biomedical” nonsense. I don’t see how we can expect parents of autistic kids to see it.

The money rolling into the unregulated supplement industry now funds fake research at reputable medical schools making it even more impossible to sort what’s true and what’s hype. Somehow we have to stop the cycle before academic centers become dependent upon pseudoscience funding.
Pingback by blog-thing : Congratulations to Dr Offit | My Autism Site | All About Autism | October 24th, 2009

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Comment by isles | October 30th, 2009

In a time when true heroes are few and far between, we are fortunate to have one fighting ignorance on this issue. An award well deserved!
Comment by lifeasthemotherof4 | October 31st, 2009

I read your comments on an article and followed you here to your blog. I believe I now have a better understanding of where you come from now. I was interested in your description of ACTION FOR AUTISM especially the quote “Action for autism is a reaction against names like Action Against Autism and Defeat Autism Now! Names like these suggest to autistic people that we are against them as people. You may not mean that. But if you care about autism you ought to care about the feelings of autistic people and not use language that makes them angry or upset. If you disregard the feelings of autistic people do not be surprised if you are disregarded.”

I doubt anyone, especially the parent of a child with autism, would ever intentionally try to hurt their feelings. My child has made significant gains from following DAN protocols. Autism is not who my son is. It actually gets in his way. That is my viewpoint.
Comment by Mike | October 31st, 2009

Lifeasthemotherof4

Intentional or not, it happens. It is not so much a problem with individuals as with organizations that make pronouncements about autism that autistic adults find insulting or demeaning. When they object their feelings are ignored and they are told either that they do not understand or that they should get over it. My son was told something similar by his teachers when he complained about bullying.

It seems that being told you are wrong by an autistic adult and being able to say sorry is too much for some people. The recent video from Autism Speaks is an example of what I mean.

On the other hand we should be able to disagree in a respectful way. In my recent post, Blurring the Boundaries I have tried to respond to critics by challenging their ideas without resorting to personal attacks.

Having read your blog I think we are probably going to have to agree to disagree about vaccines and DAN. Thanks for visiting anyway.

My Background

I am Mike Stanton. I live and work in the UK where I teach children with severe learning difficulties, many of whom are autistic. My adult son is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. I am a member of the National Autistic Society. I speak and write on autism.

My book, “Learning to Live with High Functioning Autism” is available in a Spanish translation, Convivir con el Autismo. I have also contributed a chapter to Asperger Syndrome in Adolescence edited by Liane Holliday Willey.

ACTION FOR AUTISM is a reaction against names like Action Against Autism and Defeat Autism Now! Names like these suggest to autistic people that we are against them as people. You may not mean that. But if you care about autism you ought to care about the feelings of autistic people and not use language that makes them angry or upset. If you disregard the feelings of autistic people do not be surprised if you are disregarded.