TACA Call to Action

Ring, ring.... Ring, ring....
Jenny's calling....

See y'all in Atlanta sometime during the weekend of June 28th.

For full disclosure, I don't think the CDC or the FDA are 'the bad guys'.. in fact I've had the pleasure over the course of my professional career to get to know quite a few people that work for these organizations. And by large they are committed, caring individuals with personal and professional ethics that are beyond reproach. These people 'took the job' because they want to make a difference, and not because of 'the perks the job had to offer' (believe me, for the regular Joes and Janes in the trenches, there ARE NO PERKS; I can't even buy those that have become my friends a cup of coffee, I can't even sit down with them for lunch, even if we all pay for our own because of the potential for a perceived conflict of interest). So no, I am not a believer of the 'big conspiracy' theory.

So why am I going?

Because I do think that the LEADERSHIP, especially the POLITICAL leadership, of these organizations need a wake-up call (and I'm talking about those parts of the political leadership that testify in front of Congress to show 'we've done a good job this past year, so please don't cut our budget for next year'). There is an autism epidemic, plain and simple. This BS of continuing to 'spin the data' to support that 'it's all better diagnosis, and we are now classifying schizophrenics as having autism' just has to STOP.

It's time for all of us to come together, to stop the denial, finger pointing and blame gaming, and WORK TOGETHER TO HELP ALL WITH AUTISM, KIDS AND ADULTS ALIKE, NOW (and to ensure that the autism epidemic does not become a bigger problem than it already is...). There are a lot of really smart, dedicated, and resourceful people on both sides of the Great Divide, and just THINK for a moment about all we could accomplish if we could just 'recognize that there is a problem and then play nice' to solve the problem.

[yeah, yeah... Dream On, Dream On... but ya know what, girl's gotta dream every now and then.. and that's exactly why -I- am going to Atlanta]