Oprah today!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2005
Oprah today!
21
Thu, 04-05-2007 - 10:02pm

Just finished watching Oprah on Tivo. Saw a lot of overlap betwen what she showed and The View last mionth, except I thought she was more informed and seeemed more focused than Rosie et al were. Quite impressed with Oprah. I was interested in the vaccine issue coming up and how O handled it; way to go!!! In case you don't know I have always thought Liam's dtap and mmr at once exacerbated his already emergng symptoms. Yes I said it.... so there:)

This is why Cian will get no more vaccines and Roan gets nought until 2 years and then we follow the DAN regiment. Still a good show. Amy what did you think?

Dee





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Registered: 03-28-2003
In reply to: dublindee05
Thu, 04-05-2007 - 11:16pm

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Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 2:29am

Having sat in the audience, I have to be honest...I was very underwhelmed. The production staff was professional and the show was well run, but Oprah herself was rather disappointing. She wasn't really engaging, she was just kind of "there".

On a strictly basic level, I thought the show was lazy. Please forgive the reference to my theatre experiences, but it was as if she'd seen somebody else do a Lerner and Loewe show and chose to steal the choreography rather than creating her own. They relied on clips from the documentary so much that very little dialogue took place, and therefore, they focused on one small part of the autism population. This was very disturbing to me because I happen to have children on both ends of the spectrum. The best dialogue occurred after the show...but I got the impression that we shouldn't expect to see it on the "after show" show that runs on the Oxygen network.

I know that for the sake of raising money Autism Speaks (and organizations like it) have to focus on the most extreme cases and all of the "negative" aspects of the disorder, but that's simply not the way my family works. We focus on the positive...all of the time. At some point during the mourning process I realized that autism is life altering, but NOT life threatening. It was by letting go of my "victim mentality" that I found I was best capable of helping our two spectum kiddos.

Now I'm probably going to get flamed for this statement, but I was a more than a little put-off by Katie Wright (Christian's mom and the daughter of the the Autism Speaks founders), but not because of the vaccine issue. She just seems to carry around a huge chip on her shoulder...and considering that Claire's "level of autism" is similar to Christian's, I guess I can understand why...but I just don't see how that's moving this cause forward. During the after-show she made some comment about how the CDC spends all this money on The Bird Flu even though "nobody in the U.S. has ever gotten it", but yet nobody knows anything about autism. It came off as bitter and angry. Kind of like a spoiled little girl who hadn't gotten her way. Then her mother started quoting old statistics about Polio and how back when 1 in whatever (can't remember the exact number, but it was in the thousands so way higher than autism) contracted Polio, the people joined together and found a cure, but yet nobody is working on finding a cure for autism. Okay, no doubt the CDC has some major flaws (hey, I used to work for the state's Dept. of Public Health, so I know a bit about how it works) but most of us sit here and get really agitated when somebody refers to autism as a disease. So which way do they want it? Is it a disease you can "catch" or is it a disorder to be treated???

Look I'm not an expert, far from it, I'm just a mom who tries to relate what our family's experience has been. And since the subject has been raised here, I will say (for the record) that there was no vaccine incident or no development of a medical issue with either of spectrum kids. Our children could not regress, because they simply never developed to an age appropriate level.

Amy

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Registered: 01-02-2004
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 8:30am

Amy,

I wish YOU were sitting up there on the panel of guests! Based on everything I have read on your post I would have related to you more than any of the other parents I saw.

I agree that the show was disappointing. It wasn't bad, just lacked the energy that seems to be a part of her other shows. Katie Wright did come off as having a giant chip on her shoulder. I thought most of the parents were so depressing.

I find it interesting that nobody is talking about how the rise in ASD is also because more and more children are being thrown into the spectrum that NEVER would have been diagnosed before.

We are very lucky to live in an area where services are abundant and I thank God for it everyday. What I can't believe are the people out there that have to spend their life savings to get help for their children! My daughter was dx'd at 3 and we immediately got behavioral therapy, OT and ST and we didn't have to pay a penny. I think we need to raise more awareness on how to get more services available to these children AND the importance of early intervention.

In my opinion spending money and time looking for a needle in the haystack (or the environment) is not as urgent as trying to get help to the children out there that desperately need services.

And just for the record ASD runs on my husbands side of the family. We have a niece on the spectrum and we know for a fact that she did not have vaccines as a baby. My husbands father, brother and nephew are all on the spectrum as well. My father in law was born in 1916 so I don't know what they did to babies back then! In our case it is definitely genetic and probably has something to do with allergies.

All I know is I knew there was problem and talked with our Dr. and she referred us right away to our local CDU at Children's Hosp. Today I have 4 year old daughter that talks too much sometimes! She is always asking questions about everything. She has friends and enjoys a wide variety of activities. She is smart, beautiful, loving and funny and is just like any other 4 year old we know. I can't believe that if we lived in another part of the state or country our outcome could be much different today.

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Registered: 05-16-2006
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 8:41am

Amy
I totally agree with what you're saying. She did come across as a bitter woman. I realize her child was "robbbed" in a way some of us havent' experienced.
I too enforce the posistive side of Adam's autism. He is my quirky 3 yr old who has MADE progress.
We for the most part in here, have a liter side of the spectrum but still can identify with alot of the autism realities. We too still grieve and that is what makes us human and yearn for the best our kiddies can achieve.

I am glad someone had the balls to say how they felt about "shots" etc...........
It's not 100% confirmed on a level most of us are not content with. I still have my thoughts on that. I agree the "cocktail" shots is when Adam started to not respond to his name and zone out on me.

Overall it feel the show scratched the surface, then again, all the shows the past few months left me feeling unsatisfied:The View, Larry King, Oprah

It could be a marathon of shows and most of them, cover the worst cases and people give the pitty party.
What about US? The side of it where the "oddball" kids aren't really mentioned?

That's my side of it

Nora

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Registered: 10-03-2006
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 9:36am

Amy,

Thanks for your honest input on the show, from someone who was actually there. I thought the show was good and thought Oprah did a great job but I wasn't in the audience. Maybe it came off differently to those of us watching at home.

I agree the show was not without its flaws. I've seen Oprah show more passion for other topics and I also would like to see more parents other than those from the Autism Speaks film. I couldn't agree more that Higher Functioning kids need more airtime on all shows airing this month. The entire spectrum needs more reprensentaion.

I also agree with you about Katie Wright and her mother. Not that I don't feel for their situation but there comes a time where you have to accept your child as is and do the best you can with him/her. I am glad you stated that you don't want to give into a "victim mentality." I fight that temptation every day. You are right in saying that Autism is "Life Altering," NOT "Life Threatening." I take your words to heart and will try to remind myself that it's all about perspective...

Anyway, I get the impression that the Wrights still haven't gotten out of this "victim" mode and it is evident in the elder Mrs. Wright's demeanor whenever I've seen her speak on TV. I am glad that she wasn't on the regular Oprah broadcast. Forgive me everyone, I know Autism Speaks is a great organization but I just can't deal with her anger and vigilance sometimes. Autism is NOT a disease. It is not Polio. I had an Uncle with Polio and he lived a productive and fun-filled life.

The jury is still out for me on the whole vaccine issue. I know some people who swear that their child "changed" after the MMR vaccine but I don't believe it was the case with my DD. I do, however think Oprah did the right thing in letting Katie Wright mention it. I also think there is so much focus on children who have lost their skills that the public might not realize that many of our kids just NEVER developed normally, as was the case for my DD.

Thanks again Amy, for writing for your experience being in the Oprah audience. I wish I could have been there. Hopefully, she will air more shows on Autism and get into more detail next time.

Dizzy

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2005
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 11:53am

I think I liked the show as it was the best of the three I've seen lately (Larry King, The View and now Oprah). However I have to agree I struggle when all these shows discuss and acknowledge are the severist cases; makes me feel like my kid isn't as worthy of the fight, kwim?

The other issue with that is when people find out Liam is ASD I get the same reaction; "oh I'd never have thought, he's so engaging and verbal..." blah blah blah. I think it's because people only see The Autism Everyday doc stuff and assume that's all autism is, that or Rainman. I didn't realize it was the daughter of Autism speaks founder on th panel until Amy mentioned it, but dh and I both commented on how haggered and miserable she seemed, while Danson's mother seemed so much more upbeat, accepting and level. Hmmm, once again my eyes are opened all that much wider by you all here.

Dee





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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 12:37pm

After last nights chat..I did catch the Oprah show at 1am and I agreeit focused so much on the low end of the scale not the whole spectrum (I think one of the Doctor's sons mave very well have been more PDD or Aspie from the way he said the child improved)

I actually went surfing with with Renee over to the ABS news website and looked at their videos of Echos of Autism and was way more impressed with their material. They showed ASperger's ans did a great job showing kids with it. One a college student the other a middle schooler and that is where I saw Josh more than in Oprah's spot. But what she said I didn't knwo was that April is Autism awareness month.

AS far as the vaccines are concern i again put to you exhibit A.. My son who was born with other birth defects. Had 4 major operations before he was 2. And then decided he like being under general anesthia that he just had to go and break his leg riding his bicycle at age 7 for a total of 6 times under general anesthia.(and the dentist thought I was nuts for not wanting Josh to get choral hydrate at age 3 to fix a small cavitiy, i was the idiot who chose to use a local anesthia and a papaoose thingy,,but I just was getting more tired of the general crude and nervous)Though I wonder if the last 2 surgeries kind of pushed him more to the egde.

But Josh all along when I look back always had some signs of being an aspie even as a baby. Did not nurse well, walked late, delayed speech, he would not stay put with me at Mommy and me prefer to crawl to someone else. Did not like to do art projects, hated to d othe food smooshing. Josh prefer the texture of stage 1 and 2 baby foods and did not go to table food till after age 1 and my other 2 were on table food by 8 months..etc
Little signs

No one totally nows what the triggers were.I think with the aspies the traits were always there and their was never a true regression. But it may be with the classic autism what ever the trigger that is where you see the regression esp based on what i saw on the one person's videos

Rina

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 12:41pm

I was dissapointed it was all about the autism every day video. Enough already. They made it seem so hopeless. I would have liked more dialog. More helpful information on how to get these children identified and what help is then available. There are so many wonderful therapies now. Families need to know about ABA, VBA, RDI, OT, PT, ST, listening therapies, nutrition, DAN, Yasko, Sequential Homeopathy, ect.

Samantha

Samantha
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Registered: 01-29-2004
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 1:39pm

I was dissappointed too. Eventhough autism is a spectrum, the program covered only one end of it. If you want to hear more on Asperger, here is clip from nightline (4/4/07).

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3006889&page=2

- Anandhi

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: dublindee05
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 2:04pm

Amy,

I had never seen the actually daughter of the autism speaks people but I can tell you that Suzanne Wright bothers me for the same reason. You will not get flamed by me. My problem is that she seems rather melodramatic and promotes that autism is the end of the world.

Anyway, I have tried a few times to express my thoughts on this but you did it much better so I will quit and say I agree.

I missed the episode. My big hope was to see you in the audience so that bums me out that I missed it. I had hopes that Oprah would do a good job but unfortunately, the Wrights have done a lot of good in raising money, etc. But at the same time thier views have kind of over taken the media lately and I find it bothersome.

Renee

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