Autism night at TGI Fridays in NJ

I'm moving this one back to the top so that all you Jersey folks might try and get a good meal next Tuesday (TGIF may never be the same again ;))

***UPDATE*** Fortunately for TGIF, we were not able to attend, I got stuck trying to get around all the flooded Passaic River bridges in Paterson. HERE'S a link to TGI Friday's comments section so you can all tell how happy you were to here this was done in NJ and maybe they can do it nationwide next year!!!

This one came from our old therapist who is trying to disseminate this information for an obviously strong, and in her way, courageous young woman. I will use my very limited audience to help spread the word. I haven't a clue why this did, but it made me well up that this young woman saw this opportunity to help those families affected by autism in a very small and personal way, hope to see you there (the TGIF in our area will never survive the 7 of us going there, but we may just try):

To Whom It May Concern:

Could you please make copies and distribute this letter and flyer to all the families in your school. Also, if people could spread the word to their friends and family who have children on the autistic spectrum that would be excellent!

My name is Alexandra Abend and I have an 8 year-old brother with autism. I am a Junior in high school at Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey. I was elected 1 out of 44 girls in the entire country to participate in a women's leadership conference hosted by Mount Holyoke College called Take the Lead. At this conference we were each asked to come up with a social action project topic. My action project topic is making families affected with autism feel comfortable and able to enjoy a relaxed family dinner at T.G.I.Fridays. I have already spoken with all the general managers in New Jersey for T.G.I.Fridays and they are all on board for the project. It is called Autism Family Night; it is taking place on April 17, 2007, it is only taking place in New Jersey this year. The families can go to any T.G.I.Friday's near them on April 17, 2007 with the flyer in order to make their meal more enjoyable.

This is important to me because my youngest brother was diagnosed with autism six and a half years ago and I have been extremely involved with autism and other special needs ever since (five years ago my father and I started a Sports Clinics for children with special needs and we have been running it ever since).

This project sometimes sounds confusing because people ask, “What's the project?” So, to make it clear, all I am doing is designating a day during Autism Awareness Month (April 17, 2007) for families affected with autism to come together and enjoy a relaxed family dinner without feeling stigmatized or uptight. In an effort to make the night more enjoyable for the families, I have given all the Friday's in New Jersey information to disseminate to their staff, which explains autism and some associated symptoms. This project is very special to me, and in order for it to work I need your help in distributing this flyer.

If you have any questions you can contact me at abenda08@kentplace.org, or if you receive any questions about the event you or those people can contact me at that email address also.

Thank you for your help and support.

Alex Abend

BTW, I have a PDF FILE of the flyer she mentions (yea, it's on COSAC's site finally).

Ms Dachel Please Keep Your Opinions Out of My Backyard

Am I gettin' sensitized to dis stuff, or is this lady steppin' on MY turf, tellin' the government in MY state how to spend OUR money??? I'm puttin' on my JERSEY voice for dis witch, I'll be moa' civil-like below:

From the Independent, a local weekly newspaper in Northern Monmouth Co NJ...a letter to the editor:

We'll pay a terrible price for failure to address autism

I read Dan Newman's Feb. 21 report "Assembly bills aim to better autism awareness," and I'm honestly stunned by information provided. Mr. Newman tells us that the CDC has found "New Jersey to have the nation's highest reported rate of autism, in one out of every 94 children, whereas the national rate is one out of every 150 people." First of all, let me correct something in this story. The national rate is one out of every 150 children. There isn't a single study that has been able to find the one in 150 adults with autism. Any adult reading this is aware of children with autism, but they'd be hard-put to name even one autistic adult they know.

Nowhere in Mr. Newman's story do I get the sense that this is a health care emergency. He tells us that "Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. recently announced his work on a seven-bill package designed to improve detection, treatment and awareness of autism in New Jersey." Detection? Treatment? Awareness? With a rate in New Jersey of one in every 94 children - including one in every 60 boys - it sounds like they're pretty good at detection. People must also be very aware of the numbers after the publicity New Jersey has gotten lately. As far as treatment, with the skyrocketing numbers, it's hard to imagine where anyone will find money for treatment.

This seems a strange way to address an epidemic. Where is Roberts' concern for the cause? Anything that affects so many children should be seen as an emergency. We need to stop it from happening to more children.

Remember polio? At the height of the polio epidemic in the 1950s, the disease affected one in 3,000 Americans. Polio was a health-care crisis. A massive effort was made to address it. Not so with autism. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - which gave us the new rate - still can't decide if this represents an actual increase in children with autism.

The CDC gets billions of taxpayer dollars each year to run health care, and they've been counting children with autism for over 10 years. They still don't know if all the autistic kids everywhere mean that there are more children who actually have autism. Officials merely repeat the old claim that autism isn't more common; doctors are better at diagnosing it and the CDC is now better at counting kids with autism.

Others are making the illogical claim that the new 1-in-150 rate proves that the rate hasn't changed since the 1980s. In The New York Times, "Study Puts Rate of Autism at 1 in 150 U.S. Children," Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, from Yale University School of Medicine, is quoted as saying, "It appears that the rates are unchanged over the past 20 years or so." In the Atlanta Journal Constitution article "Are Autism Cases on the Rise in US?," child psychiatrist Dr. Bradley Peterson tells us that "the numbers are comparable to what they were 20 years ago." The press never seems to demand that officials prove that autism hasn't increased. All we seem to hear about are autistic kids. Where are all the autistic adults who were missed in the past?

Show us the autistic kids from the 1980s who are now the autistic adults in their 20s and 30s at the same rate as children today. Where are the 40-, 50- and 60-year-olds with autism at a rate of one in 150? What are they doing? Lots and lots of parents desperate about the future for their autistic children would like to know. News sources never give us the proof and neither does the CDC.

Regardless of how many times we see the false claim that autism isn't increasing, no one can explain the numbers, and within the next five to 10 years these kids will begin to age out into the adult population. Imagine what it will be like when one in every 150 18-year-olds won't be going on to school or getting a job, but will be going on disability for life with autism. That isn't happening now because autism doesn't affect the adult population at anything like this rate. When it begins, it will directly coincide with the retirement of the baby boom generation.

We will all be paying a terrible price for the failure to address the autism epidemic. The words of Laura Bono of the National Autism Association are also a grim forecast for the future: "As those children reach adulthood, the U.S. is ill-equipped to care for them. Not only do we not have enough services for adults now, the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. Frankly, we don't know what we're going to do."

Anne McElroy Dachel
Chippewa Falls, Wis.

http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2007/0228/Letters/016.html

Ms Dachel:

While I wholeheartedly agree that we should be concerned with the latest NJ autism rates coming in at 1 in 94, however, I would like to disagree on several points in your assessment of this "health care emergency".

First, as you stated, we need to stop this from happenning to more children. How do you propose we do that? Since I would assume you are pointing a major finger of blame at the theory that environmental causes like toxins in the environment and specifically thimeresol and other heavy metals in vaccines, I would point out that studies have proven no direct causal link between thimeresol and autism. Would you propose we spend our hard earned tax dollars continuing to disprove this relationship?

Personally, I'd prefer to see this money spent on services, detection and awareness. I'll leave the research to the ferderal money from the Combatting Autism Act and the 950+ million dollars earmarked.

Next, you characterize these 1 in 150 children as becoming an overwhelming burden on society once they reach adulthood. I would submit that a vast vast majority of those 1 in 150 are classified as Aspergers and mild PDD-NOS and will have no trouble being productive members of society. Besides, if we spend our hard-earned tax dollars on services, detection and awareness, we will be able to treat and help these kids earlier so that they may even lose their daignosis before 18, 12, 7 or even 5 years and earlier.

Lastly, I like to take exception to your challenge to find all the autistic adults. Remeber all those high functioning Aspergers and mild PDD-NOS children you characterize as burdening society? Well, they grow up and DO lead productive lives; maybe as chemists, technicians, computer programmers, scientists. Some may seem anti social and 'quirky', they're out there though.

Don't take my word for it, ask some of our local programs like IMPACT in Middletown that work with transitioning autistic teenagers; Bayshore Jointure Commission working with preschooler through high school; the countless other excellent programs in both public school systems and private programs; therapists and volunteer programs in the Bayshore area in Monmouth county. Better yet, come see what happens when we have more early intervention; good therapies; well funded school programs; and SOLID research into causes and strategies to help children AND adults. In short, our 1 in 94 number is a testiment to what happens when you take autism diagnosis and treatment seriously.

Very Truly yours,

Bill



Whew, dat wuz hard stayin' in character dat long! We know what we're doin' in dis state tho', an deeze people shouldn't be messin' wit MY backyard!