Still rare
only 10 years ago, autism affected one in 10,000 children.
Today, one in 250 children in the
United States of America has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
An increase of 4,000%
"We are at war,
there are great battles being fought. We need more soldiers. We
need funds to spread the word that our troops are at work; that
are reinforcements on the way; that the rations will not run
out. We need research dollars to identify all of the enemies and
educational funds to give those held captive the tools they
deserve for life. We need awareness so that another generation
of children will not be lost."
Nancy Cole
|
Oregon's Reps and Contact
Information for the 2004-2005 Year
|
Information on Unlocking Autism
This is where we'll announce the
most recent additions. If you've visited us before and want to
know what's changed, take a look here first.
What's New with Unlocking Autism?
DUAL POLLS THIS
WEEK!!!
If a Presidential Candidate agreed to pursue a ban on thimerosal or
mercury containing products for pregnant and nursing women and
children under the age of 18 over the span of the next four
years, would it affect your choice for the candidate?
If a Presidential Candidate were to sign the pledge presented by
the Autism Epidemic Awareness Fund to double funds for autism
research over the next four years, would it affect your choice
for the candidate?
Go to
http://unlockingautism.org/ and cast your vote!
The most recent UA poll was asking which Presidential Candidate
for the 2004 election would be more effective for our community
over the next four years.
The poll had 13,045 participants on it's face, however, someone
took it upon themselves to hack a total of 2307 votes for John
Kerry. We subtracted that amount to give you some more
appropriate numbers. When you do that the results reflect the
following:
Total Voters: 10,738
President Bush - 4809 Total Votes or 44.78%
Senator Kerry - 5672 Total Votes or 52.82%
Ralph Nader - 257 Total Votes or .02%
Our new poll will be up until 5pm on Thursday evening and asks
two questions: If a Presidential Candidate was to sign a pledge
to ban the use of thimerasol on all children under 18 and
pregnant/nursing women would it affect your vote? and If a
Presidential Candidate was to sign a pledge agreeing to double
the amount of research funding during their term would it
affect your vote?
Please only cast your votes once. (www.unlockingautism.org)
Everyone is on the honor system although we can tell when people
hack the vote. Our goal is to rock it...not hack it. So
everyone please play fair.
While this poll is not "scientifically" conducted it does give
us valuable information and feedback that we can provide to both
of the candidates...which we will do on Friday morning.
Thanks for your participation!
Shelley Hendrix Reynolds
President, Unlocking Autism
"Help Us TREAT Autism"
Halloween/Fall Project
Please visit our website at
www.UnlockingAutism.org
to print off our free "Help Us TREAT Autism" color pages for
your child and all his or her classmates or friends.
This
cute coloring page is a picture of our little Boy and Girl all
dressed up and ready to enjoy their favorite fall costume party
or Halloween event. While you are there check
out our "Help Us TREAT Autism" package which includes:
1) a
large canvas bag with strap handles for collecting their treats.
This bag is screened with the outline of our Little Boy and Girl
all dressed up. It is ready for your child to decorate using all
their paints, markers, glitter, glue and imagination.
2)
25 color sheets for them to share with their friends or
classmates.
3)
25 - 4x5 folded flyers giving a brief explanation of autism,
Unlocking Autism and a checklist of the signs of autism.
4) A
small gift bag, perfect for holding the flyers and any collected
donations, should your or your child should decide to collect
donations during their Fall Festival, Halloween parties or while
trick or treating.
This
package is only $10 and a great way to help us
Unlock Autism, One Door, One Child At a Time.
iAbida Special
Needs Education
is a web-based
application to help caregivers and
parents manage the day-to-day communication issues that they
face. The entire team can see recent events, electronic daily
journal logs, dietary schedule, calendar events, IEP
information, group discussions and much more. The application is
secure, pass-word protected and aggressively priced at $9.95 per
month, per special needs individual. There is an unlimited
number of caregivers that can access the information, so bus
drivers, educational tech’s, teachers, physicians, parents,
grand-parents, speech therapists etc. can all log in and see the
same data.
iAbida is the pioneer in Individual Communication Management!
To register for a free 30 day trial, click on the logo above.
Unlocking
Autism is taking a poll:
Do you believe Thimerosol contributed to your child's autism?
Thank
you so much to everyone who participated in last week's poll.
Over 1,887 people participated and cast votes in the following
manner: 1364 believed that thimerosal played a role in their
child developing autism or 72.28% 368 said no, it did not play
a role in their opinion. 155 were undecided.
We have a new poll that will be
up and running until next Monday night at 5pm: Which
Presidential Candidate do you think will be more attentive to
the autism community for the next four years?
Cast your vote at
www.unlockingautism.org
and please use the honor system and only vote once. Thanks
again for exercising your right to vote. We want to whole
community to be in shape for November 2nd!
The Power of 1.5 - Political
Autism Conference
Washington, DC
April 21 - 23, 2004
In April 2004 in Washington, DC Unlocking Autism, together with
Cure Autism
Now, GRACE Foundation of New York, The Dan Marino Foundation,
The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism and Talk Autism, will
host an energetic Political Autism Conference (PAC). This
conference is designed to equip parents and advocates from
across the country by giving them the necessary tools and
education to bring about political change for the issues of
autism. The objective is to review the political process at the
national level so that attendees can go back to their states and
hometowns with confidence to affect change at a local level...
2001 Autism
Rally, Conference, Hearings, and Caucus - In California, one
child is diagnosed with autism every three hours, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
This is the story of one week in Washington D.C., during which a
group of people, mostly parents, came together to make a
difference.
This is the Story of "The Power of One."
It takes one to lead, one to affect change
and one to make a difference. It is the power of 'one.' Let
that 'one' be you! It does not matter how much time you can
give our cause, as you can affect change in many ways. Lending
your name for support, telling your story, helping fund raise,
writing our legislators, advocating and supporting other
parents and the list goes on and on. The important part, is
doing 'something.' It is kind of like the movie, "Pay it
Forward," when we help others, the fruits of our labor come back
to us and our loved ones 10 fold. It is the power of 'one.'
YOU can make a difference and TOGETHER we are stronger.
One
Child, One Door at a Time
UA's NEW Address
PO Box 237
Walker, Louisiana 70785
(225)-665-7270
