I'm About to Rant

Watch out, dear readers (ha!), but I'm about to rant. Sorry, but that's what I'm entitled to as a real-life blogger, right?

I can't stand Jenny McCarthy. She's even more frustrating to me than Nickelback (which is saying a lot; see below). I saw this video with her and Perez Hilton last week and it brought back so many reasons that she makes me crazy. I don't really care about her status as a celebrity/Playmate/comedian, what I care about is her position as an advocate for autism.

I guess I should preface this by saying I've pretty much decided to spend my career working with young kids with developmental disabilities, particularly autism. I've really only had a taste of it and I know it's going to be an incredibly fun, challenging, and rewarding experience. I am all about increasing autism awareness and funding to try to figure out what causes this thing. I also know a lot of amazing people with autism, and know how incredibly hard even the simplest things can be for families living with this complicated disorder.

Jenny McCarthy has a son with autism who has apparently been "cured" through some pretty controversial therapy techniques (I'll get to that later). The main reason I can't stand her is because she is telling people things that are not supported by any credible scientific research. She has gone on tons of talk shows, done countless interviews, even written books saying that autism is caused by vaccines. That is just not true. Well, I should clarify that statement - all of the research studies that have investigated it have concluded that there is no link. The only study that I know of that linked autism to vaccines was retracted this year due to unethical and unscientific research techniques; namely, the study was partially funded by lawyers representing parents looking to sue vaccine companies. To top it off, the researcher forced kids to endure painful and unnecessary procedures like lumbar punctures.

Besides spreading false claims about the cause of autism, Jenny McCarthy also loves to talk about how her son was "cured" of autism with controversial and dangerous techniques including chelation therapy and a gluten and casein free diet. Some people are saying her son might not even have autism at all, but some type of seizure disorder.

So maybe you can see why I think it's completely irresponsible of Jenny McCarthy to take advantage of her position as arguably the most prominent parent of a child with autism by spreading inaccurate information to the public. Parents are so desperate to "fix" this, and will take any advice, especially if it comes from a seemingly reliable source. Even if said source is a former Playboy model.

Side note: If you want to do something small to support autism, check out www.communicationshutdown.org.