It is nearly 15 years since I was thrown out of a conference in Bournemouth staged by the Treating Autism group for asking a challenging question of the star platform speaker Andrew Wakefield, then a popular figure claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. I was banned from subsequent conferences but noticed Treating Autism placards again in 2010, outside the General Medical Council in London, protesting in support of Wakefield after he was struck off the medical register when his research was found to be fraudulent.
Treating Autism has subsequently been rebranded as Thinking Autism, but though it has distanced itself from Wakefield it has continued to promote pseudoscientific theories and unsubstantiated – and potentially dangerous – treatments, such as stem cell therapies. Thinking Autism does not however seem to have rethought its anti-vaxxer prejudices which have re-emerged in response to the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Recent reports have revealed that Joanne Allman, trustee, treasurer and director of Thinking Autism, regards the Covid vaccination programme as a “reckless, dangerous, insane experiment” comparable to the policies of Nazi Germany. Allman dismisses publicity about Cmicron as “moronic variant scariant bull—-” and PCR testing as “a fraud and a hoax”. She stood as an election candidate for the Covid sceptic Freedom Alliance in Sefton, Merseyside.
Thinking Autism has not endorsed Allman’s anti-vax campaign, but its website claims that people with autism are at increased risk of adverse reactions to Covid vaccination, which is not true. It is however true that they are at increased risk of fatal consequences of Covid-19 infection, especially if they live in residential care (as many of the more vulnerable people with autism and severe learning disabilities do).
The exposure of Allman’s anti-vax activities has provoked some critics to complain to the Charity Commission and demand that the National Lottery review Thinking Autism’s substantial funding. Though they tried to silence me, I am not in favour of such censorship. Thinking Autism makes some sensible points about the importance of comorbidities in autism. They have also challenged some of the absurdities of the advocates of neurodiversity and the social model of disability who neglect the issues faced by those more severely affected by autism and their carers. I just wish their members would adopt a more critical approach to the pseudoscience that underlies both the campaign’s anti-vax postures and the promotion of quack therapies.
A trip to remember
Further to a plethora of recent reports of the therapeutic power of the psychedelic drug psilocybin for the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions and alcohol and drug dependency, I found myself in a head shop in Amsterdam over the Easter holidays where “magic mushrooms” – in which psilocybin is the active ingredient – are legally available. Taking the advice of the proprietor on dosage, I shared a small packet with my wife and we headed off to the Rijksmuseum to view its splendid collection of works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters.
I cannot claim any profound mystical experience or any particular impact on my subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, which researchers have identified as the location of shroom action. I can report however a vividly enhanced perception of colour and form and a general feeling of wellbeing. Altogether a most enjoyable day out.
Mask tensions
Travel in the age of Covid remains challenging. As the Eurostar left St Pancras, the guard marched down the train insisting that face masks must be worn. After we arrived in Amsterdam scarcely a mask could be seen whether on trams or trains, shops or restaurants, nor were any worn on the return Eurostar journey. We had read about Covid riots in Rotterdam and demonstrations in Amsterdam where museums and theatres had rebranded themselves as hairdressers and beauticians in protest against the arbitrary character of pandemic public health regulations. It was a relief to discover that the Van Gogh museum, recently reopened as a nail bar, had resumed its established function (with a spectacular exhibition of the artist’s late series of works in an olive grove).
It is nearly 15 years since I was thrown out of a conference in Bournemouth staged by the Treating Autism group for asking a challenging question of the star platform speaker Andrew Wakefield, then a popular figure claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. I was banned from subsequent conferences but noticed Treating Autism placards again in 2010, outside the General Medical Council in London, protesting in support of Wakefield after he was struck off the medical register when his research was found to be fraudulent.
Treating Autism has subsequently been rebranded as Thinking Autism, but though it has distanced itself from Wakefield it has continued to promote pseudoscientific theories and unsubstantiated – and potentially dangerous – treatments, such as stem cell therapies. Thinking Autism does not however seem to have rethought its anti-vaxxer prejudices which have re-emerged in response to the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Recent reports have revealed that Joanne Allman, trustee, treasurer and director of Thinking Autism, regards the Covid vaccination programme as a “reckless, dangerous, insane experiment” comparable to the policies of Nazi Germany. Allman dismisses publicity about Cmicron as “moronic variant scariant bull—-” and PCR testing as “a fraud and a hoax”. She stood as an election candidate for the Covid sceptic Freedom Alliance in Sefton, Merseyside.
Thinking Autism has not endorsed Allman’s anti-vax campaign, but its website claims that people with autism are at increased risk of adverse reactions to Covid vaccination, which is not true. It is however true that they are at increased risk of fatal consequences of Covid-19 infection, especially if they live in residential care (as many of the more vulnerable people with autism and severe learning disabilities do).
The exposure of Allman’s anti-vax activities has provoked some critics to complain to the Charity Commission and demand that the National Lottery review Thinking Autism’s substantial funding. Though they tried to silence me, I am not in favour of such censorship. Thinking Autism makes some sensible points about the importance of comorbidities in autism. They have also challenged some of the absurdities of the advocates of neurodiversity and the social model of disability who neglect the issues faced by those more severely affected by autism and their carers. I just wish their members would adopt a more critical approach to the pseudoscience that underlies both the campaign’s anti-vax postures and the promotion of quack therapies.
A trip to remember
Further to a plethora of recent reports of the therapeutic power of the psychedelic drug psilocybin for the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions and alcohol and drug dependency, I found myself in a head shop in Amsterdam over the Easter holidays where “magic mushrooms” – in which psilocybin is the active ingredient – are legally available. Taking the advice of the proprietor on dosage, I shared a small packet with my wife and we headed off to the Rijksmuseum to view its splendid collection of works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters.
I cannot claim any profound mystical experience or any particular impact on my subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, which researchers have identified as the location of shroom action. I can report however a vividly enhanced perception of colour and form and a general feeling of wellbeing. Altogether a most enjoyable day out.
Mask tensions
Travel in the age of Covid remains challenging. As the Eurostar left St Pancras, the guard marched down the train insisting that face masks must be worn. After we arrived in Amsterdam scarcely a mask could be seen whether on trams or trains, shops or restaurants, nor were any worn on the return Eurostar journey. We had read about Covid riots in Rotterdam and demonstrations in Amsterdam where museums and theatres had rebranded themselves as hairdressers and beauticians in protest against the arbitrary character of pandemic public health regulations. It was a relief to discover that the Van Gogh museum, recently reopened as a nail bar, had resumed its established function (with a spectacular exhibition of the artist’s late series of works in an olive grove).