Secretary Kennedy’s best appointment to date - my dear friend and mentor John Gilmore - Michael Kane
On Friday I was informed that Secretary of Health Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appointed me to serve on the federal Autism Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).
The IACC brings representatives of the federal agencies responsible for dealing with autism together with advocates, researchers and other members of the public to put together a plan for federal autism policy.
I am honored to have been considered and accepted the offer. I am looking forward to using this appointment to help move our criminally unproductive response to Autism and answer the many unanswered questions about America’s most neglected public health catastrophe.
I intend to bring to the IACC my lived experience as the father of a 25-year-old, non-speaking man who also suffers from apraxia, chronic gastro-intestinal issues, autoimmune dysregulation, and OCDs, who regressed as a result of vaccine injury as an infant.
My goal is to do what I can to make sure we acknowledge the multiple causes of autism, especially vaccine injury, develop treatments and support for those affected, find cures, implement prevention, and create systems that assure people with autism develop their full potential and lead lives of dignity.
Help John Make a Difference:
I need your help to do this. Serving on the IACC is a volunteer position and I will continue as I have for the last 20 years working with the Autism Action Network. Please consider making a recurring donation to the Autism Action Network to help me advocate on the IACC for my son and our families.
In my son’s 25 years on this planet not a single medical intervention that helped his profoundly debilitating conditions was developed or approved by the federal government.
My son was clearly injured by the vaccines he received in his first year of life, culminating in a massive regression after his 12-month round of shots. Regression happens to about 40% of the people with autism, but researchers who deny that regression occurs are still getting grants from the NIH. And the causal role of vaccines is still denied by the medical establishment even though the FDA finally admitted that the evidence is not there to make this claim.
When my son received his first official diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (a since retired category) on September 11, 2001, the autism rate among children in the US was thought to be about 1 in 1000. The rate had gone up rapidly since the 1980s but officially we were not sure if the increase was real, but we were told it was mostly the result of better case finding and changes in diagnostic criteria.
In the most recent ADDM from the CDC, the current estimate is that 1 in 31 8-year-olds in the US have autism, but the CDC says they are still not sure if the rate is really going up! The fact that this question remains unanswered allows the powerful to pretend nothing has changed, no urgency is necessary, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, and is evidence of gross institutional malfeasance.
These are some of the perspectives I bring to the IACC. I will do what I can to make sure that these views are reflected in federal policy, and I will keep you informed on what happens along the way.
John Gilmore is a legend! Congratulations
Best decision ever! Go gettum John!