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Lt to Rt..Bob and Suzanne Wright, Eric and Karen London
In a blog article written by Claudia Kalb in Newsweek, Autism Speaks has announced the resignation of Dr. Eric London.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. Eric London, and his wife Karen, in 1998. My husband, my mother, Caitlin, Deirdre, Erin, baby Meaghan and myself traveled to New Orleans, LA to attend a NAAR gala.
I had called Karen, on the phone, prior to the engagement to tell her how excited I was that NAAR was started and to tell her a bit about my family.
You see, we were in the process of having Erin diagnosed at the age of 18 months.
We had 2 kids with Autism, which was unheard of at the time.
The NAAR benefit was held in New Orleans...one of my favorite cities. The gala was held at Ann Rice's mansion. John Goodman was to MC...I love him from Roseanne. Delta Burke, from my favorite show, Designing Women, was to attend also. In attendance,
was also to be Joe Montegna (who has a child with Autism)....
We arrived at this black tie affair...my husband in his rented tux..and me, in an evening
gown and a borrowed mink coat. We felt like royalty.
The evening started and we were told that John Goodman, Delta Burke and Joe Montegna
were all stuck on location somewhere, and would not be attending.
Dr. London took over as MC....and you know what..?? We did not miss Mr. Goodman AT ALL!!
Dr. London grabbed the microphone and began to tell a story. The story was about
their child who was diagnosed with autism. Tears began to fill his eyes...and the whole
audience listened and cried with Dr. London. He told about his passion in finding ways
to help his child. He told about his feelings and shared his soul....that was incredibly
brave of him....My husband looked at me...because I tend to well up when I see people cry (especially
men) and asked if I was okay...
I was !!!
I was, because I was in the presence of a man who was not going to give up finding ways
to help his son and not give in to the pressures of those who are wrong.
Dr. London...I wish you and your lovely family all of the best. I hope you can continue your
work in Autism with your new endeavor.
Comments
Jeanette,
Thank you for posting this; I have been conflicted about this issue, as we, along with the Londons forged many paths with NAAR. We supported the merge with Autism Speaks, as galvanizing all efforts under one "roof" sounded like a good thing.
I am very sad about all of the changes involved. I have always believed that it is about the Science, which I know, Eric London believes in.
What a beautiful tribute to Eric! I met him and Karen a few times when we lived in NJ- very dear friends of ours have a 13-yr. old son with severe autism. Their contributions are invaluable.
Next step- all states should require health insurance to cover autism therapies/treatment!
That is a lovely story but 15 yrs old and we are no closer to stopping this epidemic. We can all appreciate the contributions of the Londons while accepting the fact that the autism crisis has gotten worse not better. In the post Hannah Polings era the debate about the biological pluasibility of vaccines triggering autism is over- it is happening. My son has a mito disorder too, it is so common. Failure is not the enemy here- denial is. If anything we must broaden our scope of research, not narrow it.
Is anyone aware of the fact that not all individuals with autism esp... Autism Spectrum Disorders such as Asperger Syndrome would want to be cured..? the mere fact that their wishes and needs rest in your pocketbook and decision making skills its a shame that nobody looks toward the government for support "yes there are services that can help you and your child" but autism speaks isn't one of them..... they will take your money and dump it back into their own funds I'm sorry if you don't believe me
just do the research on your own
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