SafeMinds, Wanted To Be at The Hearing But Couldn't.

November 29, 2012
UPDATED Wanted to be at the hearing but couldnt!

Weve collected testimonials from almost five hundred autism families who wanted to attend the Federal Response to Autism Hearing but couldnt. Turn the page to read their stories.
Samples
"I cannot attend the hearing because after 11 years of paying out of pocket for autism treatments we are now bankrupt. I work two jobs and have to be home to administer supplements and treatments to my son. " I cannot attend the hearing because small changes such as my absence can send my sons into a pattern of regression that will take weeks to recoup. "I cannot attend the hearing because my now non-verbal 11 year old son bolts in public places and becomes aggressive if I don't understand what he wants or can't figure it out quickly enough." "I can't attend the hearing because I have three special needs children who require my care and constant attention." "I cannot travel to Washington as I need to be home with my child who requires 24/7 care. It is difficult for parents of children with disabilities to become politically active because the disability itself provides restrictions." I cannot attend the hearing because Autism has destroyed my family and I am still picking up the pieces." "My son is 22 and severely autistic. It is impossible for me to find a care giver this close to a Holiday. But how I wish I could tell you my story."
www.safeminds.org (tel) 404-934-0777 (fax) 714.495.4088 16033 Bolsa Chica, #104-142, Huntington Beach, CA 92649
I CANNOT ATTEND THE FEDERAL AUTISM HEARING BECAUSE "Thank you for listening. I cannot grace your presents 11/29 as I quit my full time job to be able to manage [my sons] schedule & now attend school and live off of school loans in order to be flexible for his appt's & more importantly his seizures that immobilize him for 8days each occurrence. So plz get busy researching autism." "I have a child with Autism, and I am the caregiver" "I cannot attend the hearing because my son has in home behavior therapy after school and it's vital to him. He also has seizures and I am his primary caregiver for his meds. " "I cannot attend because my husband and I both work to pay for autism and we have grandma taking my son to therapy." "Dear Law Makers, I want to attend the hears regarding autism spectrum disorders however; I home educate my son because he has Aspergers. His intellect is in the brilliant range but his sensory issues and anxiety make it impossible for him to be in a traditional classroom without his self esteem being completely crushed. Please help the millions of children suffering with this. They are going to be adults, they have rights and our country/world better get ready. They are valuable members if our society." "I am unable to attend the hearing because I am a single mother of two boys (6&8) with Autism. Taking time from work, arranging child care, and having them miss therapies is not an option for us. No one can cook or prepare their food or give them their needed treatments daily. They can't come with me because they can't deal with crowds and loud noises. We don't have money to spare as autism will cripple you financially. They don't have safety awareness skills and could potentially wander off and get lost...or worse. " "I cannot attend the hearing because my son had autism and I have to take him to occupational therapy that afternoon." "I cannot attend the hearing because I am my 86 yr. old mothers full time care giver & can not be absent from home due to the travel time" " I cannot attend the hearing because I have no one to watch my child. He is 14, and his vaccine injuries have left him nonverbal, self-injurious, and aggressive. It is simply not safe for anyone other than myself to care for him. " " I cannot attend the hearing because my 5 year ok d daughter needs 7 hours a day of intensive therapy to help her with basic life skills. She is severely vaccine injured." " I cannot attend the hearing because my son can be highly disruptive in public places, even though he is almost 9 years old. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to be home for my 2 boys with developmental issues (ADHD, autism, speech disorder, auditory processing disorder, crippling anxiety) in order to maintain their routine, fix our gluten free/dairy free/GMO free dinner, help with homework and give meds."
Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 2 of 29
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"I cannot attend the hearing because my daughter with autism has been in and out of the hospital for 7 months with severe ulcerative colitis." "I can not attend the hearing because I have no one that could take care of my Autistic child in my absence. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I've opened a school so that my children have a safe place to learn. This is after 8 years of 1:1 intensive therapy, and biomedical interventions not covered by insurance. My children are on very strict diets and I don't have the money to hire a chef." " I would give anything to attend the hearing, but caring for my son requires special skills and I have no one to fill those shoes if I leave and he would never handle the trip. " "I wish, but my son is recovering from aspiration pnemmonia after having a seizure induced by a DPT laced mercury vaccine in the eighties. My daughter is also affected, and has seizures." "I can't attend the hearing because I will spend the day driving my daughter to/from her special-needs school and various therapies (3-4 hrs DAILY in transit time, 8-10 hrs DAILY total). Gee, I wonder why more of us parents don't have time to attend!" "I am mom, guardian, caretaker, advocate for my son. I can't attend the hearings because 1) I can't afford to go there because most things that help my son who has vaccine-induced autism are not covered by my insurance. And I have private insurance as well as medicaid. 2) Because even if I could afford to attend, I have no one qualified to care for my son so that I can leave the house. Caretakers make the least money for the most responsibility -- a precious life. I don't want the kind of person caring for my son who gets paid minimum wage to. You get what you pay for. My son deserves better than minimum. 3) I was there at the very first Congressional Hearings on Autism over a decade ago. My son's before and after autism pictures were shown. My son has only grown older and sicker since then. If I thought something would change, I would find a way to be there. But sadly, your silence on this matter speaks loudly. You simply do not care. You are not brave enough to go where the truth takes you. Vaccine Damage. Mitochondrial dysfunction. Metal poisoning. Seizures. Silence. Autoimmune Disorder. My son has it all." " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to work so my wife can stay home and care for our twins with severe autism." "I can not attend the hearing because my son can't have any absences from the school evaluating his behavior after his last school kicked him out for having an autistic meltdown and I have to meet his school bus." " I cannot attend the hearing because I am an Autism teacher and my students panic with changes to their daily schedule."
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"How I wish I could be there in person; BUT I am a single mother caring for my 10 year old son with Autism. Finding childcare is not often an option for me. Please pay attention to the cries of parents, and consider finding some way to set up treatment centers dedicated to Autism in several locations around the country. " "I would love to be there but we can't afford the plane ticket because we have spent $6400 in the last 6 months on speech therapy which is not covered by insurance." " I want to attend the meeting but cannot because my son is in special education at this time. When he gets off his special education bus at 3:25pm, he likes to stay home, instead of playing with friends or other activities that typical peers enjoy. " "I am a 51 year old mother with an advanced degree from Northwestern University. I had to give up my career for my son. I can't attend events such as this hearing because my son requires a special diet and other intense assistance 24/7. My husband works hard to pay all the bills and can't take time off. I have been on one trip the last five years and that was only so I could see someone who was dying." "I am unable to attend because I must work to pay for therapy for my son." "I cannot attend the meeting because the cost of having a child with autism leaves me with no money to travel." "I cannot attend the hearings because my child will become self injurious in a strange place with strangers all around and she will not be able to sit quietly for any length of time." "Lack of time due to the everyday duties of being a person trying to do the right things while still on this earth." "I cannot attend because my son can't handle being in noisy crowded environments and will fall apart for the next week when I am away." " I cannot attend the hearing as I work full time, am divorced and do most of the care for my 19 year-old daughter who has seizures and an autoimmune disease along with autism diagnosis." "I can't attend the hearing because I have to home school my son because the public schools here just try to label ASD kids as MR and throw them away. When I pulled my son two years ago and he was TEN, his math was at the 0.2 percentile and his reading was around the 4th percentile. His skills were at kindergarten level. Now his math is at fourth grade level and his reading is at the 3.6 grade level. Writing is at fourth grade and spelling is at fifth grade level. He still has a lot of catching up to do, so rather than be a teacher and pull a paycheck, I stay home and teach my son, lose my paycheck AND still pay my school taxes on time. I also have to get him to therapies, manage his supplements, cook his gf/cf/sf organic meals from scratch, and work like hell to get the mercury that was put in him out of his brain and body. He was diagnosed very hush-hush with "heavy metal intoxication" in 2003 at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX where we were told it was the vaccines but we couldn't say that because it was "for the greater good" and our son was just "one of the losses," and we should just go home and "accept it." (EMERGENCY EDUCATIONAL VOUCHERS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM ARE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!!!)" "I can't attend the hearing because my child with autism also requires 24 hour a day nursing care that i provide for him due to his mitochondrial disease." "I cannot attend because I take care of my 20 year old son with autism." " I cannot attend the hearing because small changes such as my absence can send my sons into a pattern of regression that will take weeks to recoup. Intense therapy, love, devotion and hope have helped them to make amazing progress over the past 7 years. Please don't give up on our children. They can overcome this with support." "I have worked with autistic children for 10 years and understand all the statements you have listed. Everything you have listed is true and even more. "
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" I can not attend the hearing for several reasons: My daughter with Autism is now sick once again and even if she wasn't I could not go because she runs away from me, has no fear of traffic, heights, strangers, she has several food allergies making it extremely difficult to go out of town with her and when we rarely do we have to pay a lot of money to have a hotel room with a kitchen so I can cook her special meals, but besides all of the other reasons above I simply can not afford it, Autism has financialy destroyed me, our extremely expensive insurance does not pay for therapy and the supplements she requires they however do pay for 70% of her immune therapy medicine after I meet my annual deductable of $7500 and that is very hard to do when you are unemployed and receive no medical, SSI, food or cash assistance. Please think of all of the children and families that our suffering and struggling every day to make it through the day, please put yourself in our shoes and image how hard it would be to not give your child what they need to feel better and not be sick and in pain all of the time. She no longer has a voice so please be her voice at this hearing." " I would love to have the luxary of traveling with my family to Washington DC on my son's behalf. [He] is ten. He has autism. He struggles and works harder than any kid I know! If we could come to the hearing we would. My wife and I need to work, and [our son] needs to go to school. Autism makes it difficult for us to many things other families enjoy and take for granted. Our life is very limited. It is forever dictated by autism. " " I am 10. I have autism. I am an autism advocate who meets with many political figures about autism. I even met President Obama. No one seems to be listening though. Nothing ever changes unless it is to take things I need, like respite, away from me. I wish I could come and talk to everyone in Washington DC, but I can't. I have school. School is very hard for me. It takes me a long time to catch up if I miss. Plus it would cost my family too much to have to miss work and to drive that far. I am sorry no one will hear what I have to say and wish everyone who makes decisions about me, would be able to know how they could help me and all of the many others with autism. I wish I did not have to have autism! I wish people would listen! " "I have 2 children, both recovering from Autism. I can not afford to travel as we need every penny as their treatment is sooo expensive. Also I need to ensure all their supplements/ meds etc are given correctly 5 times a day and that all the food that goes in their mouths are safe for them (not any easy task). I'd be there if I could." "My son has extreme sensory sensitivity especially to sound and will bolt away when overstimulated." " I have two adult children that were harmed by vaccines. One has bipolar and the other has autism/epilepsy. I also have a husband that is vaccine injured and has an acquired mitochondria disorder. I have two elderly parents one with crippling rhuematoid arthritsis and the other Parkinson -- I would love to be there, but I am about the only one in the family that is healthy enough to take care of the rest of the family" "I can not attend the hearing because of need to work to pay off the ever increasing and all consuming debt to pay for my Granson's autism care." " I cannot attend the hearing because I have no one to take care of my daughter." "I cannot attend the meeting because I am too busy taking care of my son, and I cannot afford to travel and [my sons] OCD is so bad sometimes we can't even make it to the doctor." "I am a school Principal and need to tend to the children and hug my children with special needs!!!" " I am a single mother of an autistic child and just over the income limit which would qualify us for food stamps. This hearing MUST address the regression in to autism from a born-healthy baby!!!! My child is not able to stay still and will try to get away from crowded places. We have no family to stay with her so that I could go even if i could afford the airfare! Soaring Autism rates will buckle the system in a few short years. HELP NOW "
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" I would love to attend the hearing but it is just about impossible to find child care for even a few hours for my non verbal, severely affected child with autism, frequent grand mal seizures. It would impossible to bring him as he cannot sit still in public places and would tantrum and scream." " I cannot attend the hearings because I am unable to travel with my 32 yr old severely impacted by autism son, getting pelted from the backseat of a car for 2 days would not be good for him or me, because he would not understand where we were headed. This happens even on short trips. " "I can't attend because I have to stay with my son because at 14 years old he can never be left alone. He may wander away or get hurt." "I am unable to attend the meeting because my child has seizures and I have to be available in case of an occurrence." "I am visiting my older son and his new baby in Denver, Colorado for a few weeks." " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be training 2 new tutors to work with my 18 y-o son who was severely injured by his "routine" childhood vaccines and has what doctors like to call "autism." I spend my days training tutors, making stimuli for my son's intensive ABA program, filling out paperwork pertaining to my son, taking care of and supervising my son, giving him his special vitamins and supplements, and caring for him round-theclock because he is still like a young child, even though he is 18 years old. My life revolves around his care, and always will. " " I cannot attend the hearing because my child has to be home due to his chronic GI issues, in addition to his autism and inablitlity to be in loud public places." " I cannot attend the meeting as I will be caring for 12 hours daily my only Grandsons who are vaccine damaged while both parents work to try to PAY MEDICAL BILLS that insurance DOES NOT COVER!" " I cannot attend the hearing because my 3 year old son attends Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy 5 days a week... and my insurance company doesn't pay a dime for his therapy. PLEASE tell HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to make ABA therapy an "essential benefit" of the Affordable Care Act." " I cannot attend the hearing because my cannot handle ANY change in his (which means MY) routine." "I can't attend the hearing, I will be educating my 10 year old son with autism; I had to quit my job to give him the education that he deserves. Our public school system here was unable to keep him safe & in the classroom!" " I cannot attend the hearing because my child has a therapy session that afternoon." "I cannot attend the hearings because I do not have my own transportation or the funds to travel." " I can't attend the meeting because my son suffers from other medical conditions besides Autism and because crowds and noises make him upset and anxious. " " I can't attend the meeting because my son suffers from other medical conditions besides Autism and because crowds and noises make him upset and anxious. " "I am President & CEO of LTO Ventures (www.ltoventures.org) and cannot attend the hearing because our funding is committed to our mission to develop live/work/play residential communities for adults with autism." "I cannot attend the meeting because my autistic grandson needs supervision 24/7 and my daughter works two jobs to pay for his therapies." "I cannot attend the hearing because I need to be home to take care of my 20 year-old son with vaccine-induced autism. I am also saving my money to take him out of the country again for stem cell therapy-which is making DRAMATIC improvements in his cognitive functioning. What a shame he can't get this treatment in the US!" "I cannot attend the hearing because my now non-verbal 11 year old son bolts in public places and becomes aggressive if I don't understand what he wants or can't figure it out quickly enough."
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"I cannot attend the autism hearing because our family is broke. We spent over a million dollars in medical, therapy, and educational expenses for our two autistic children, and they are only 11 and 14 years old." " I cannot attend the meeting because my child gets over stimulated and starts screaming on outings. I cannot afford a babysitter that would have the skills to address my son's needs appropriately . "Have to work, help with homework and conserve funds, but have a duty, having read AGE OF AUTISM to speak out about mercury. Our energy is consumed in our kids, but we have a vital message: Respond to the autism epidemic with integrity and everything you've got." "I am the Grandmother of a child that quite talking and eating after the Roto Virus Vaccine. Every bit of my time and any extra money goes towards helping my daughter with this childs education and doctors. " "I cannnot attend,I have spent every moment of the last 17 years recovering my son from severe autism.Even with my husbands surgery income, we have exhausted our funds. Hunt is doing good but still there is more to do.The money spent coming there will instead be spent for treatments we have coming from another country.Hope all is well. Thanks Congressman Burton." "We cannot attend the hearing because our 31 year old vaccine injured son with autism is covered with chicken pox. We are his 24/7 caregivers." "I cannot attend the hearing because after 11 years of paying out of pocket for autism treatments we are now bankrupt. I work two jobs and have to be home to administer supplements and treatments to my son. " "My two kids have severe autism and I cannot fly with them -- leaving them for a few days is too stressful on us all." "We'd love to attend this important hearing, but finding someone willing to stay with our autistic girl for an afternoon is a real challenge." " I cannot attend the meeting - because I cannot afford the expense. Every penny of my income goes to pay for non insurance covered therapy and bio medical treatments for 2 boys on the spectrum, ages 5 & 6." " I live [with] my 9 year old that has classic autism. Which means that we will be unable to attend as my child cannot handle ANY public environments due to his condition. " "I am unable to travel to attend the meeting as I am working full time to support the needs of my son and can' afford to go unpaid and in addition to leave him to travel to another state is not possible. Please listen to the parents! We are the ones who know our children and understand their capabilities and needs. Every one of us would give our lives to make even one day better for our children and we deserve to be heard." "I want very much to attend the hearing, but cannot as my son cannot handle public places with lots of people and lots of noise. He will behave terribly!!! I cannot hire a sitter to watch him as all of my money goes into autism treatments to try to heal his body and mind" " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my child to do genetic testing that afternoon." "3 disabled people in my family and poverty." " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be at ABA therapy with my 10 year old son with autism." " I would like to attend the hearings but cannot because I work both a corporate job and my own business in order to be pay for the autism services and treatments my son requires." "I am unable to attend the hearing for many reasons. First, because of my son's severe autism, I have lost family and friends and have no one to watch him while I make the trip to DC. Second, financially it isn't feasible with the costs of raising a child with autism, to take the extra money from his treatments would be detrimental to him and his health. Third, he wouldn't handle the trip well as he's unable to handle large public places without having sensory over load. I could honestly keep going with the reasons why, however, please know that autism has become our lives. I love my son more than my own life and he nor our family should have to live with the disregard that our government and this committee has shown us and thousands of others. "
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" I cannot attend the hearing because my child has serious sensory issues, gets easily over stimulated and prone to screaming meltdowns that are not allowed or even tolarated by society. We also have serious economic problems ( most of her therapies and medical issues are not covered or partially covered by our insurance and it is impossible for us to pay transportation, lodging for the hearing and apart from that my child has such severe gastrointestinal issues that her special diet is not available in any typical restaurant. So life is autism is difficult and limits everything in our lives." " I cannot attend the hearing because my 8 year old son with severe autism elopes and runs from anyone in strange situations so I would not be able to bring him with me. I would not be able to get any type of childcare for him as his aggression (due to his inability to communicate) is too out of control. " " I can't attending the hearing because my child has several therapies scheduled for that day including occupational and behavioral therapies." "I cannot be there because I need to be home to make sure my son gets all of his medicaitons/supplements, make sure his diet is followed, make sure he does not harm one of his siblings as he can be physically aggressive without warning. Plus it's his birthday that day. He will be 13, and still can't tie his shoes, or write his name very well. " "My son has seizures and I have to be home to administer meds, also he will "escape" or "meltdown" in unfamiliar places." " I cannot attend the meeting because my child with autism has had allergy problems at school so I cannot be more than 30 miles from the school in case I am needed." " I have MS from a vaccine reaction. My daughter has autism from a vaccine reaction. We cannot afford to go to the hearing, and my daughter cannot afford to take off the time from her special autism classroom, speech therapy, and my intensive homeschooling. " "My age and illnesses do not allow me to attend. I also help take care of my 22 year old autistic son who attends a day program with disabled adults.He has seizures and must be medicated daily.4" "Dear sirs, I cannot attend this hearing because I am a single mom who must work that day, my son has autism, his father sadly died of cancer last year so I am our only wage earner . please solve this mess. thank you, candace" "I cannot attend the hearing because my child has no safety awareness and a regimen of seizure medications that means I cannot leave her. Ever." "I have 2 children with AUTISM enough said!!!!!!!" "I cannot attend the hearing because both of my little boys have autism, need constant care, and do not travel." "I can't attend because I have to homeschool my Asperger's son because he couldn't stand the constant commotion of an average classroom. " "I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my son to undergo a QEEG (quantitative electroencephelogram) to detect changes in brain wave activity." "I cannot attend because my son has Autism and I have to constantly attend to him to take him to therapy, meet his dietary needs and keep him safe from himself. " "I am very concerned with the increase in Autism. I have numerous friends with children who live with autism everyday with no break. I myself worked fifteen years for a local school district, and seeing the massive increase in children with autism is extremely frightening. Please have the meeting, and better yet increase the meetings to get more information or give more information, these people really need your help. "[My son] is 10 and has autism. He and I are serious about autism advocacy and would love to be in attendance! However, regretfully life circumstances, finances and autism just do no allow for us to do so. " " I cannot attend the hearing as I am helping my wife tend to our vaccine injured child." " I cannot attend the hearing due to caring for my vaccine injured child."
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" I will be unable to attend the hearing because I will be at work, as a teacher, supporting my family, including my child with autism, and all the children with autism that I have in my class." " I attended the Green Our Vaccine Campaign. Since then I have been laid off for the last 4 years, we as a family are head over heels in debt thanks to autism and the lack of this country providing proper medical care to children like mine. Our 2 oldest children, ages 22 and 20, are paying for their own college and we are living paycheck to paycheck. I did today go to my Congress Person's, Mr. Issa, office in San Marcos, CA, because that is what I can afford to do to show my support of the hearings." "I can't attend the hearing because I have 3 special needs children who require my care and constant attention. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be working at my job as an IDEA Part C Early On Consultant evaluating babies with disabilities to provide a future for my son with autism when my husband and I can no longer care for him. " "I can't attend the hearing because I am a poor disabled single-mom with no car. My son with Autism takes all my time and money, and my health." "I can't attend because I never go anywhere I don't absolutely have to go because I'd rather be taking care of my autistic son." " I cannot attend the hearing because I'm working from home and watching my autistic son while my wife attends a follow-up medical appointment with one of the specialists treating him." " I cannot attend the hearing because my child with autism has a tremendous fear of airplanes and he rages at the suggestion of flying. Additionally, he has so many food allergies that flying and traveling long distances puts him in a medically fragile position." "I cannot attended because my son wanders off and it's very difficult to keep up with him in a crowd. He has very low safety awareness. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I cannot find a special needs baby sitter." "I cannot attend because I am a 63 year old Grandma/Caregiver for my 2 Grandsons with Autism" "My child has autism & a very defecttive immune system that has once again caused him to be extremely sick so I will be at home administering meds to him." "I can't attend the hearing because I have to take my son with autism to his multiple therapy sessions. I also can't take the day off as we have to drive him across the country that weekend to see a new doctor that specializes in autism treatment the next week. ""I cannot attend the hearing because I cannot afford to as I am going broke paying for autism." "I am a single parent of a 7 year old with classic autism. I work two jobs to pay for autism and have to make sure his needs are met here at home. " " I can not attend the hearing because I am homeschooling my child. Our school district refuses to give him an appropriate education and my son is very ill, and medical care is expensive." "My grandson is Autistic. I help my daughter, my 87 year old brother in law, and husband. I wish I could attend. I want to encourage research that will give relief to those suffering with autism. They have medical issues that need to be addressed. Drugs that control them are not the answer. My grandson has made great strides. Thanks to my daughters perseverance. These kids suffer and we must find ways to help relieve their pain. They have many medical problems that are not addressed. Right now the parents are on their own with little or no help from the medical community. I wish I could tell you the progress my grandson has made, At great sacrifice from his parents and brother. Please do not waste any more time arguing. There is too much to do. Don't write off these kids. "I will be attending a CraftFair held by the Special Education Unit that my daughters' Autistic Support Class is organized by. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my child to therapy that afternoon." "can not go because of my kids.my son is autistic and my baby has special needs it not easy for my to go out.
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"I was author of the still-unchallenged gene-expression (/environmental) theory of autism, www.autismcauses.info. I can't attend because I can't afford the travelling from uk, but I consider that the USA leads the world in the foot-dragging denialism of the realities of autism and its causes and cures. Not least the FDA (mis-)leading the world with its lies denying the huge harmfulness of dental amalgam. And the US government's half-hearted approaches to honesty about autism and about amalgam spread immense damage well beyond its own borders." " we apologize for missing the hearing but due to [my daughters] chronic and constant unmanageable screams of pain and vocalizations I fear we will be escorted to the exit door....AGAIN!" "Autism is too expensive to be able to afford a plane ticket!" " I cannot attend the hearing on Nov. 29th because I am homeschooling my autistic son and we have speech therapy that day. " " I cannot attend the meeting because my son can have agressive and disruptive behaviors." "We cannot attend the hearing because I have to take care of my children and he can not miss his therapys scheduled for this week. " "My vaccine injured son will be in Special Ed PreK and then ABA in the afternoon. " "I am unable to attend the hearing because my child with autism has a life threatening i tractable seizure disorder, is feeding tube dependent, is legally blind, has Crohn's disease, arthritis, uveitis, osteopenia, stage III liver disease and bi-lateral foot disease. Please make the children the focus of this hearing." " I am unable to attend the hearing because I am a single mom and have no one to care for my daughter with autism. " I cannot attend the hearing because I work two jobs to pay for autism and cannot take the day off. My wife also wishes she could travel, but she will be administering the required medications + taking our son Andreas to his therapy sessions. "I cannot attend the hearing because I have to transport my son to college. Because even at age 22 he cannot multi-task such as drive a car, stay focused and not get overwhelmed by traffic congestion, etc. Autism has robbed him of his independence and the underlying cause was due to vaccine injury." " I cannot attend the hearing because my son has therapies and that I need to drive him to and medications that I need to administer. My husband works overtime to pay for all the treatments and cannot take off work. " " I cannot attend the hearing because other than my husband, who has to work to support us, there is no one capable of handling the myriad of prescriptions and behaviors that have become our life since autism affected our family. " "Over the past decade, we have spent in excess of $400,000 on my two sons with autism, the majority on my younger, more severe son. They have both improved NO THANKS to ANYTHING federal agencies have done. In fact, quite the opposite, many actions taken by those entrusted to tackle the autism epidemic have greatly hindered efforts to determine causation, find effective treatments, and help those already affected with safety initiatives and services. I simply can't afford the time and money to get away, and overcome the hardship in finding child care, when the primary individuals at the heart of this horrendous fiasco, Kathleen Sebelius and Thomas Insel, don't have the courage or the courtesy to show up and answer to the people. The autism epidemic and our government's handling of it will go down as one of the most disgraceful eras in our nation's history." "I unfortunately can not attend the hearing due to financial reasons. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket to treat my son who has "autism." He is chronically ill." "I cannot attend the hearing because I will be at home taking care of TWO chronically ill vaccine injured children who I only realized were vaccine injured after the window of time I was allowed to report the injury. My son has MODERATE to SEVERE Autism, and has been getting progressively better with each day as we address his underlying Co-morbid medical conditions that are NOT acknowledged or COVERED by current autism coverage, or legislation. This is a child who went from having NO words in one year to being FULLY verbal and affectionate with appropriate and UNCOVERED
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biomedical treatment. Over 90k worth. " I cannot attend the hearing that day because my child has speech therapy, followed by adaptive skills therapy. " "I can't attend the meeting because my autistic son can't afford to miss both therapies that day, and he is impossible to deal with in public." "I have two children with an autism diagnosis and a mitochondrial disorder and need to be home to administer their medications " " I will not be able to attend the hearings because I will be at [my sons] IEP meeting trying to attain help for him in his classroom. We will be accompanied by our advocate that we need to make sure we get what he deserves. " "I would love very much to attend the hearings; however it is impossible financially. I have a 7 year old with autism who has almost 50 hours a week of therapy. His therapy, medications, supplements, special diet and many other supports are financially bankrupting our family. We also have a daughter in college that gets zero financial aid since FAFSA doesn't consider medical expenses. Therefore every penny goes to our sons therapy, our daughters college and the rest goes on our overused credit cards. I could not responsibly spend money we don't have on a trip to D.C. for these hearings. But I will be there in spirit. I pray that something will come out of the hearing and not just yet another opportunity for their to be discussion without action. Thank you for what you are trying to do for our community. All my best. " " I cannot attend the hearing because we live out of the area and all of our money goes to paying for various Autism interventions and support for our son. " "I cannot attend the hearing because we live out of the area and all of our money goes to paying for various Autism interventions and support for our son. " "I need to work. We require two incomes to support my daughter's treatments that are not covered by insurance. " "I cannot attend the hearing as I live too far away and as a single parent cannot afford to travel with my 2 children (1 with vaccine induced Autism). "My child has seizures and can't be left unattended." " I cannot attend the meeting because all our extra money is going towards funding therapies and treatments to help my child become a functioning, independent, tax paying adult someday. " "I cannot attend the hearing because my twins with autism have speech and occupational therapy." " I cannot attend the meeting because of the cost of travel. Also, my son, who is considered recovered from autism, has his Bully Proof class of Jiu Jitsu, and I have a meeting with our RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) Consultant. Even in recovery, therapy continues and finances are a concern. " "My vaccine injured son who has autism cannot sit quietly and listen, nor can he tolerate crowds and new places. He is 31; what will happen when I can no longer care for him and protect him? We don't need more genetic research, we need acceptance of the biomedical protocols that help reverse autism or improve/alleviate the medical symptom we call autism. Admittance by our government of what we already know can cause autism in many children such as my son--VACCINE REACTIONS. Never should 4we assume vaccines are safe for everyone; even our supreme court justices say they are unsafe. "I cannot attend because I have to take my daughter to ABA therapy that day." "My son is 8 years old now, has high anxiety when seeing huge crowd and has sensory integration disorder thus can not fly. He was a fine child listening to story time before vaccine." " I cannot attend the hearing because I cannot leave my 9 year old son with autism. We do not use babysitters because it is too stressful for him. He has speech therapy on Thursdays and a social skills class. If we deviate form his schedule/routine he becomes very upset and hard to console. His day is best when I am around so that we can stick to the routine and I can feel confident that if he was to have one of his seizures, I will be there to care for
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him." "I have 3 children, 1 with regressive autism, not conversational, has seizures, GI dyfunction, immune dysfunction, etc. which makes it very difficult to travel away, due to all of his medical and needs and verbal difficulties he needs me always available for him. Please hear the messages of those who will be able to attend because 1 in 88 just cannot wait any longer!" " I cannot attend the hearing because my 20 year old son has meltdowns and I can't risk taking him on a flight. I have nobody to stay with him here." " I cannot attend the hearing because I don't have anybody to watch my autistic 21 year old. My husband cannot take off of work to watch him because he has to save his leave for medical appointments and emergencies. I cannot come with my son on the metro because his behavior is too unpredictable." " I can't attend the hearings because the high cost of my son's Autism treatments has eaten into our travel budget. " "I cannot attend the hearing because we live 1/4 way around the plant. My six year old ASD son can not sit for more than a few minutes and would be thrown off commercial airlines. We have spent over 330K trying to heal the damage vaccine & antibiotics has caused him." "I cannot attend the meeting because I have to be the one to pick my child who has autism up from school since that is our normal routine. Any deviation from that normal routine is too upsetting for my child even for one day. " " I cannot attend the hearing because our 6 year old and newly diagnosed 20 month old have occupational and speech therapy " "I have three daughters profoundly impaired by their autism ages 12, 16 and 17. It's impossible logistically and financially to take them to DC or to leave them home. My family has been decimated by autism. " "I will be unable to attend because our discretionary income pays for my son's therapy which is not covered by insurance. In the five years since his diagnosis I ave had to quit work in order to take care of my son's needs. This loss of income has resulted in a loss of tax revenue in that I no longer earn an income and no longer purchase retail goods that carry sales tax. " "Because my son is just to sick for me to leave." "I cannot attend because my child does not travel well and cannot tolerate crowds due to his autism." " I cannot attend the hearing because my child has ABA therapy and I must drive my child to and from therapy." "More important than why I can't attend is why is Congressman Issa REFUSING TO ALLOW DR. BRIAN HOOKER TO TESTIFY ABOUT CDC'S CRIMINAL MALFEASANCE?! It's an outrage! Regurgitated pablum from the same talking heads won't get us out of this mess, only the truth will set us free and shooting the messengers just compounds the public's distrust." "We moved to [home town] to get medical help due to mold illness. I am sorry that I cannot attend do to that I am unwell to attend. 16 yr. old autistic son is at home due to mold allergy and reactions. cannot attend school. so no one as well to stay with him. " "I cannot attend the hearing because my son, who will turn 21 in January and has no place suitable to go when he "ages out" in May, would have to come with me and therefore miss a precious day of the wonderful school program he currently attends. " "I can't be at the meeting because I need to be at counseling with my 20 year old son who has Asperger's Syndrome and still no job or school activities." "My son cannot miss therapy and we cannot afford to travel due to expenses surrounding autism and lack of support." "I cannot attend the hearing. We must save every penny that could otherwise be used for travel to offset the $40,000 of out of pocket therapy, medical, and care-related expenses for my 9 year old autistic son that we incur beyond our decent medical insurance coverage each year." " I can't attend because most of my time and effort is devoted to advocating for children with autism--a much neglected population. We've had 2 decades of soaring autism rates and completely helpless health officials. All they can do is repeat endlessly that there's no known cause or cure.
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Autism is a nightmare affecting an epidemic number of our children and no one seems to care. The frightening truth is, autistic children become autistic adults and they have the potential to bankrupt us. What issue could possibly be more critical to the U.S. Congress? "I can not attend the hearing because I have 3 back to back therapies (OT, feeding therapy, and speech) on Thursdays for my son with Autism and his developmentally delayed brother." "I have severe Autism (and also a Juris Doctorate degree and passed a bar exam), and I cannot attend the hearing because my disabilities are extremely severe and Congress has not removed the disability barriers for me to attend via Internet interactive communication in my synesthete / blindness color of electronic purple. This is because Congress does not understand Autism, and it is not hearing from the actual people who have Autism. State and Federal Courts are also inaccessible to Autism for the same reasons. Autistic people are sick and tired of not being heard. " "I cannot attend the hearing because I am the parent of an autistic child and travel is almost impossible." "My son will be in ABA therapy." " I am a single mother of a child with autism and his only caregiver, I must stay home with him. It would not be easy for him to attend, especially with a crowd. He might have a huge meltdown from all the activity and noise or try to dart off and could get lost. " "I have to keep my son on his regime of diet and supplements. A special trip to DC is not in our budget." " I am the mother of two children suffering with autism. My family is unable to attend this hearing as we are currently embroiled in a fight to keep our children's Medicaid active in NC." " I can not attend the hearing because my son runs away in public places and has speech therapy due to he is 5 and still can not speak." " I cannot attend the hearing because I am a single parent of 2 children with autism who has to pay $25 an hour for babysitters qualified to handle both children. Although my son is 16 & should be worrying about his first car, he instead is sitting next to me watching Barney tapes, shredding magazines & trying to put them back together like a puzzle. " "I am the primary caregiver to my 18 year old son with autism. He is functionally about 3, non-verbal, in diapers and unable to care for himself in any way. He is adopted, as are his other 3 sibs with special needs. I have/are homeschooling the other 3. We have done everything including up to 700 hours a year additionally to school to help him progress. We will be taking care of him for the rest of our lives...I don't go anywhere or do anything, anymore. My life is over for the most part and we, my husband and myself, love him beyond words. Please help this epidemic end..." "Because my severely autistic son has therapy 30 hours a week and I need to be there with him." " I cannot attend the hearing because we must save money to travel to Texas once a year to seek proper treatment for our autistic son's bowel disease. There are no GI docs in Minnesota that will treat his painful bowel disease properly simply because they do not want to be treated and scorned like the honorable Dr. Andrew Wakefield." "I can't attend the hearing because my 23 year old son has severe autism. He has very loud vocal tics -- sometimes he yells a couple hundred times a day (I've counted). If he's yelling, no one else can hear. He also hits himself hard, repeatedly, in the chest. We urgently need research that will help kids and adults with autism here and now. The IACC has not looked for a single therapy or treatment for individuals like him, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars." "Thank you so much Congressman Issa, You are courageous for holding this hearing. I cannot attend because I cannot take any more time off from work but my wife will be there representing our family. Please ask the NIH and CDC tough questions." "Because my severely autistic non-verbal son depends on me for everything. I have no alternative care givers, his grandmother (a state licensed teacher) even refuses to babysit him because his meltdowns can be severe and lasting up to 12 hours. "
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"Traveling with autism is extremely difficult. My son is very limited from what we believe to be a vaccine injury. He is non-verbal and does best when he sticks to a routine." "I cannot attend the hearing because as a single parent of two autistic children I have no savings or credit to afford the plane ticket and hotel. " I can't attend the meeting because I have an Autistic son whowas would have a meltdown if I weren't home to put him on & get him off of the bus." "I'll compare my medical bills to yours...let's start with [my son]...so far this year, he has cost the medical system 150K. That's just this year, last year, around 100, and previous to that the around 125K. Ok, let's do the math. and that's insurance stuff...but the uninsured stuff is around 50k (yeah, there goes my retirement, bye bye bye bye)...so, let's add up autism for one child, thirty years....we are probably looking at millions. Let's count in supports, say for thirty years, around another million. That's not even counting FUTURE supports for them when we die! I am not even counting my daughter so double that. So the "tax" on the system my family alone has ventured around ten million or more, possibly twenty...now, let's think of all the kids with autism, and let's play the game of guess...guess how much autism costs our nation? ARE VACCINES THAT DAMN GOOD NOW? I mean really? And do you think for a millisecond they will EVVER expose the vaccine autism link, knowing, that all these families will SUE the government for damages? We are talking NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE, we are talking a trillion trillion dollars of debt. ARE VACCINES THAT DAMN GOOD NOW? Maybe it's time the government STOP mandating vaccines, and let the parents decide, and maybe, just maybe, they will see autism numbers go down and the burdens on the system decrease. I wish someone would elucidate this to the congressional meeting on autism coming up? What the heck needs to be done, is for parents to take back their children's health, and possibly their own." "I cannot attend the meeting because I have to work and I don't have anyone to watch my adult son with autism at that time. My son lost all evening services when he hit 21. We need more support and services." "I cannot attend the hearing because my son gets very upset by crowds and noise. He is 8 years old and does not speak. He is unable to grasp some basic skills that we all take for granted!" " I cannot attend the hearing because with to Autistic children, I never have a break to get away from therapies, homework, behavior training, and simply getting them through the daily routine." "I can not attend the hearings as I have to care for my son with severe autism who is 4 but needs the care of a newborn since he can not communicate needs, feed himself, dress himself or use toilet." "I can't attend because of my work schedule, finances, and child care. I am truly interested in having this committee commit to finding out the true reason why Autism is so much more prevalent today instead of staying on the same course and doing nothing. In my opinion, there are different factors for different kids that in most cases come down to an immune system dysfunction. It is not just vaccines although not all kids should have the same schedule. Stop throwing away money to organizations that are not trying to solve this problem medically. If nothing is done and the current trends continue, Autism numbers will rise to more than the current 1 in 88. How do we support that as a society? Is this the legacy that you as leaders of this country and the medical profession would like to leave when perhaps something could have been done??These are children who deserve a better quality of life. " "I cannot attend the meeting because I have to work in order to afford the medications my son's insurance won't cover because Autism is "not a medical condition" or they consider his treatments "not medically necessary" so i have to pay for it all out of pocket. Which leave no money for Therapy, so the only therapy he receives is 30 mins of speech therapy once a week. It's all he gets and I don't want him to miss it." " I cannot attend the hearings because I have a son with autism who must be homeschooled after a special education teacher abused him and caused him to have severe anxiety."
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"I cannot attend the hearing because I am now Mr. Mom, caring for my children at home while my wife is forced to support our family because we couldn't/can't get assistance with our non-verbal aggresive autistic son. We are prisoners in our home with no respite because the most serious cases of autism render families invisible due to isolation." "I cannot attend this very important hearing because my sons non-verbal aggressive autism warrants that my family remains prisoners in our home. Also, I am now the sole provider for my family of 5 because my son injured his father during a personal restraint and rendered him unable to work. Also, due to his behavioral dependency on pharmaceutical drugs, and our inability to obtain private insurance, I must ensure that I don't make too much money and have him kicked out of state health care, even though I am a college educated and professional woman who wants to be independent, pay taxes, and hold my head high. Help Autistic Families." " I cannot attend the hearing because I need to be with my son who significantly regressed two different times, both just after receiving vaccines." "I will be caring for my adult disabled son who is 21. He has Moderate Autism! He can not stay alone, nor can be quiet for the hearing. I will be doing this just like every other day of my life for the past 21 years........ "I can not attend because my husband and I work full time." "I am a 67 year old example of a caregiver single Mom of a 31 year old autistic son that cannot attend the hearing because of his needs. I am the best possible s future of all caregivers in that I am still alive and hanging on. Please consider this when the needs of adult autistics are considered, housing, employment, supports. " "It's my day to watch our little darling while his mommy gets a break... we all take turns so its not hard on mommy and daddy... he requires a lot of care... so going places must be of absolute have to go ..." "I cannot attend this hearing because I must be home to meet my 25 year old autistic son's bus when he comes home from work. He cannot be left alone." "We would love to attend the hearing but caring for our autistic son 24/7 leaves no time for anything else." "I am the Autism Coordinator for a three county area of California which serves over 2000 individuals with autism and their families. I cannot attend the hearing because I will be assisting parents new to the diagnosis of autism to access private insurance benefits for necessary treatments." "I cannot attend the hearings because my 17 year old son with autism has school and therapy and requires to maintain his schedule in order for him to maintain his calm and keep his aggressions to a minimum. I work while he is in school and because the cost to raise a child with autism is astronomical, it is difficult for me to take time off." "I have to meet with a special education attorney that afternoon. My autistic daughter's federal rights are being violated in school. " "I can't attend the hearing because I have to pick up my autistic daughter from school and take her to behavioral therapy. " "I cannot travel to Washington as I need to be home with my child who requires 24/7 care. It is difficult for parents of children with disabilities to become politically active because the disability itself provides restrictions." "i cannot attend this meeting because of the distance and due to my job lose 2 weeks ago." " I cannot attend the hearing because our family is bankrupt due to the cost of our daughter's autism therapies. We cannot afford a plane ticket. " "I cannot attend because my husband works out of town to be able to provide for the needs of our family and particularly our sons medical needs due to his autism. I am the only one available to care for him during this time. " "I have TWO Vaccine INJURED Children. I'ts just Financially Impossible [to attend]. " " I cannot attend the hearing because we will be with our son that day at [a hospital] in Chicago. He is having an MRI to explore seizure activity."
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I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take my twins affected with autism to speech therapy that afternoon." "I am unable to attend the meeting because we simply cannot afford to travel. We currently spend $1,200 or more per month on our son's medical issues associated with autism, treating things that insurance does not pay for." "I ama divorced mom with no family, no help and barely managing to survice financially. I willlose spousal support in a month. Sadly, I ama nurse but my 6'6 225 pound 17 yo son can not be left alone for long periods for me to work. I need help." " I cannot attend the hearing due to the tremendous financial strain that autism has caused our family and no caregiver to stay with our son." " I cannot attend the hearing because I work full-time to support my child with autism. " I do not have a child with autism, but there are sixty THOUSAND other families in North Carolina who do. I will not be attending the hearings because I now volunteer in one of the autism classrooms at a local elementary school and those teachers and families need help, every single minute of every single day. These children cannot even talk." " I cannot attend the hearing because Autism has destroyed my family and I am still picking up the pieces." "I cannot attend the Autism hearing because I can't take off of work from the job I'm happy to have so I can pay for speech therapy and physical therapy for my autistic son, therapies that the law lets insurance companies dodge paying for. My wife cannot attend because she is driving our son to those therapies." " I cannot attend the hearing because we cannot afford to on our income but I look forward to real answers, more help for struggling families, and I pray one day a cure! " "I cannot afford the travel cost. I have lived with autism for 37 years. When my youngest son was diagnosed autism was thought to affect 1 in 10,000. I have watched with horror as that rate has exploded to 1 in 88. WHAT is enough to deserve your attention?" "I have nobody to care for my severely autistic child but my husband. My husband is the only one working because I had to quit my job to take care of our son." "I live a long way from DC and cannot attend. Autism is the greatest problem our Government has faced and it is burying its head in the sand. Thousands of children are being diagnosed with autism and most of them will never hold a job and will require round the clock supervision. The Government does not care about the autistic and has given the pharmaceutical industry a pass on their responsibility, it is left to the parents to do what they can." "I will be taking my Autisic son to his speech therapy appointment." " I cannot attend the hearing because I am needed at home to take care of my 22 yr old son with autism. There are NO suitable adult autism programs in my area so we continue to teach him at home everyday." " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take my son to his specialized private school, then ABA therapy, then occupation therapy ... while administering his multitude of meds and supplements 4 times a day. My husband will be busy at work trying to pay off our massive incurred debt since our son's vaccine injury." "I can not attend these important hearings because I am sole provider for my son with severe autism and I have used all my vacation days taking my son to doctors and therapists." "Because I have to attend therapy appointments with my twins [who are] 14 years old with autism. Please act in behalf of all this people unable to attend. Thanks." "I cannot attend the hearing because my finances are completely drained after years of paying for autism. There is no extra money to get us to Washington to attend this very important hearing.
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" I cannot attend the hearing because I am a single, parent and I must be home to care for my son." " I regret that I will not be able to attend the hearing since I will be driving 2 1/2 hours one way to Albany, NY to take my child to a dental appt. I will need to try to hold and convince my son to allow the dentist to look into his mouth. I refuse to allow the dentist to use a papoose board (which I feel is barbaric and emotionally harmful) as this is the method they were using on my son in the past as per his autism residential program. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I am a single working mother who had to use her time off to attend school meetings and Due Process Hearings on behalf of my 14 year old daughter with Autism so she can have an appropriate education. The decision was rendered in June 2012 by the Impartial Hearing Officer which was in my favor and a month later the School District appealled the decision. I am still awaiting a decision to be rendered from the State Review Officer from last year. Now I have to go thru this whole process all over again for this year and with no financial means to obtain an attorney!!! " " I cannot attend the hearings because I have a week long meeting to attend for work. My attendance at this year end meting for work is mandatory. I need my job to pay for the $20K+ year medical expenses that we have spent the last 5 years. " "I cannot attend the meeting because we are a military family and cannot afford to travel there, due to mounting expenses from therapy for our Autistic child." " I won't be attending because I will be in school out-of-town for work." " I cannot attend the meeting because traveling is not an option due to finances when you have a child with autism." " I am a mother to a 3 and a 1/2 year old on the spectrum and a 1 year old typical child. I am unable to attend the hearing since my son will be receiving ABA therapy." "I am unable to attend the hearing because my daughter has an appointment with her psychologist, and she just recently had another seizure, so we have to stay close to home and figure out why they are happening. " "I can't attend the hearing because every other Sunday my wife and I drive from NJ to Delaware where our son is in a residential center in Delaware. It is a 2 and 1/2 hour ride one way and costly financially and emotionally because we realize our son will never live in our home because of his severe aggressions. I'm sorry I cannot attend but it would be diffuicult financially. Thank you." "I cannot attend the hearing because I work as a Special Education Teaching Assistant with kindergarten through second graders many of whom have Autism and because I have a son with Autism, who needs my help." "i cannot just take off and leave my family unattended." "I work and when I come home I am the primary caregiver for my 19 y/o daughter after school because she requires 24/7 care. She is like a "perpetual 2 y/o" - well, maybe three year old!!" "I work in a school for children with autism and have an adult son with autism who lives at home!" " I have been studying the vaccine issue in depth for many years. I won't be able to attend the hearings as I will be in flight that day. I am convinced that parents of vaccine damaged children are correct in attributing their children's health problems to vaccines. I think the Govt, together with the pharmaceutical industry, is covering up the damage caused by vaccines. If you want to drastically reduce health care costs, you need to curtail forced vaccinations, which are causing so much damage. " " I can not attend this meeting because my son has autism and I have no one who is able to watch him to enable me to be there." "I don't have sitter who can handle my son's aggressive outbursts and my husband works out of town." " I cannot attend the hearing because I'll be caring for my autistic grandson while his mother and father go to work." " I cannot attend the hearing because I must work to provide for my child with autism."
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" I cannot attend the hearing because I have been unemployed and disenfranchised as a nurse for three years. I will not allow myself to be pimping vaccines and their junk science for big pharma. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to work to pay for my childrens ongoing therapies and treatments. " " I cannot attend the hearings because my autistic 10-year-old can't be left, and he won't stand in line to travel. He has therapy for his autistic disorder four days a week, including November 29. He was injured by his one-year-old shots and a flu shot." "I am sorry I can not attend the hearing, I had open heart surgery 15 years ago while caring for TWO children with autism. I do not have the money to travel for this as I have not worked since my surgery. I spent all of the money I do have- making sure my boys have what they need. My younger son has very little language and depends on me for everything." "I would love to be there to voice my outrage but I am disabled and cannot travel that distance." " I cannot attend this hearing because my son has severe sensory issues, mitochondrial disease and head/joint pains. I must stay home with him to cook his special foods and administer his supplements on time. " "I can't attend the meetings because I have no one willing to stay with my 6 yr old autistic son due to his aggressive behaviors and violent outbursts" "I cannot attend the hearing because I need my job to pay for the full time care my 18 year old son with autism will need after I am dead and cannot take the afternoon off" "I can't attend the hearing because paying out of pocket for my son's therapies over the past 13 years has eliminated the concept of a travel budget from our lives." " I cannot attend the hearings because I have classes. In response to what I saw happening around me to the children of our country, I decided to go to medical school so I can understand what is happening on a biochemical level and provide care accordingly." "My son and husband cannot attend the hearing because of his debilitating sensory integration disfunction that autism/vaccine injury brings." " I'm not able to attend the hearing because my 15 year old son cannot handle any venues that may have applause. " "because my 20yr old has to have an colonoscopy done. He has throat and gut issues." "I cannot attend the hearing because my 9 year old child does not have the capability of sitting for more than 15 minutes and would disrupt your hearing, though I would just love to bring him." " I cannot attend the Autism hearing on November 29, 2012 because I am a single mother of a 7 year old with Autism who becomes very uncomfortable and bolts in public places. I also have MS (multiple sclerosis) and my gross annual income is under 8,000.00." " I would really like to attend the Autism hearing but I am unable to do so because I cannot financially afford to do so. My gross annual income is under the federal poverty income guidelines. " "My son will not tolerate going to a hearing." "Live to far away. " "I cannot attend the hearing because my child I will be taking my child to occupational therapy and theraputic riding that afternoon. She suffers from PDD-NOS. "Regretfully, I cannot attend the hearing in Washington D.C. because my fulltime job is taking care of my disabled son who has autism. I went back to work in June and only lasted 4 months because I had difficulty with childcare and transportation for my son. I could have been one of those Americans who successfully went back to work during this time of high unemployment but couldn't because the federal response to the autism epidemic has been inadequately addressed. "
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" I cannot ate d the hearing because my son has speech and feeding therapy that afternoon." "I would attend The Hearing but I live too far away and my family needs me here. Filling out this form is my way of being counted as a parent/stakeholder, and my way of letting Congress know I am paying attention. Thank you for having this hearing. Please make the most of it." "I wish I could attend the hearing because this is a critical issue for the financial future of America; I can't attend the hearing for this very reason. Providing the care and services critical to recover my child from Autism's abyss has cost my family everything we had and everything we could borrow (to-date, $1.5M). I no longer have a "cushion," a retirement account, a bank account, a mortgage-free home, or any valuable assets left to sell. I have run-out every available credit line and am barely maintaining the debt-service. I lost my professional career because of the level of care my child requires. I have no means by which to travel to Washington, DC with or without my children. If the US does not wake-up and stop the harm we are inflicting on this generation of children, we will pay for their care with our Social Security and never be able to "retire."" "Because we live paycheck to paycheck paying for medicine, vitamins and therapies for our 3 year old son who has Autism. " "My son is 22 and severely autistic. It is impossible for me to find a care giver this close to a Holiday. But how I wish I could tell you my story." "The reason I cannot attend the hearing that I have to work THREE jobs to pay for the medical expenses and treatments for my son, who has autism, and therapy treatments for autism are not covered by insurance in the state of North Dakota. Please pass some sort of legislation to help my family and the numerous others in the US that struggle daily to pay their bills. And also, please figure what is causing this epidemic, because that is what it is becoming. This is should be one of Americas top priorities, in my opinion, and it was not even mentioned during the Presidential debate, its a disgrace that it wasn't. " " I can't attend the hearings because I have nobody qualified to care for my twins with Autism while I'm away traveling." I cannot attend the autism hearing because I am suffering from caregiver burnout which is now adversely effecting my health and well being!" "I am living out of state, however if I was closer I would be there." " I cannot attend the hearing because I must care for my Autistic Child, administer meds and care for his baby brother. " "I would love to be there. However, we have a developmental pediatrician appointment at 2:30, which are 4-5 months out to schedule. We are missing OT for sensory processing and ST for assistive technology for this appointment as well, which we have weekly for 2 hours at the National Children's Hospital." "Hi, I cannot attend because I take my son with autism to therapy for 3 hours of ABA therapy, I wish I could attend to show my support, but its hard when you are a parent of a special needs child." " I cannot attend the hearings because treating my son's autism has overwhelmed our finances and thus cannot afford to travel to the hearings." " I cannot attend the hearing because my 8 year old has social skills therapy with his psychologist so he can hopefully make a real friend this year." "I regret that I cannot attend the hearing on Autism. I cannot afford to make the trip to D.C.; I am a single parent not receiving support. On that day my son has a doctor's appointment and two therapy sessions scheduled that I need to attend." "My child has 3 hours of therapy on Thursdays, due to his Autism diagnosis and other delays and we cannot forgo his sessions." "I can not attend the hearing because my Grandson will bolt in public places." "We relocated and became expats in order to be able to afford the treatment that our child needs and to pay for alternative schooling." "i can not attend because my 15 yr old with severe autism gets very aggressive if i try to take him anywhere and i have no one to watch him because of his disabilities and seizures" "I ca't attend the hearing because my daughter who is suspected of mitochondrial disease (and autistic like regressions and tendancies during times of stress, fatigue, illness, and exposure to chemicals and certain foods), is ill at the moment and also has a hematologist appt that day to test for a blood
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disorder she may have." "I have two autistic daughters, and I cannot attend because I will speaking at a university symposium on the link between vaccines and autism." " I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my child to his daily speech therapy. " "I connot attend the hearing because insurance does not cover my sons's autism, considering it incurable and untreatable (it isn't), and this has destroyed us financially." " I am the mom of 2 wonderful children and another one the way. I cannot attend the hearing because after my older son's diagnosis of severe autism, I decided to pursue a degree in special education and autism disorders. I will be busy finishing my schooling and taking my son, who is now 4 years old, to speech, occupational and behavioral therapies on the 29th. I beg you to please keep these wonderful children in mind during the hearing. These children deserve a childhood and a bright future. "We can't attend the hearing because our severely autistic son requires nearly around-the-clock care from the both of us." "Ay Im a single mother money is tight father may pay fourty a month child support if im lucky i.cant afford to take a day off if i want to keep up with my childs needs." "I cannot attend the hearing as I work fulltime to support myself, I am unable to take the time off work and quite simply, I could not afford the plane ticket and hotel costs even if I could take off work. I am autistic, and we autists need to be included in any discussion regarding autism. Thank you! "I am the primary caregiver of my sons. I have five children and I cannot attend the hearings because I have noone who can care for my children, especially my two sons with Autism. My younger children would have a hard time attending this event. My one son cannot be around a lot of people as he was a preemie and it is RSV season. " I have a 4 yr old daughter with autism. I can't attend the hearing due to the fact that crowds scare her, which makes her a flight risk. I also have younger child as well." "I cannot attend because we have 3 boys and our son with Autism has multiple therapies to attend daily. e cant afford them and we cant afford to miss them." " I cannot attend the autism hearings in Wash DC on Nov 29, 2012 because I am raising my autistic grandson and his expenses for bio-meds are so expensive that I do not have any extra money to fly to get to Wash DC. I sure wish I could afford to go and take him with me." "My Son has autism and at age 6 is not potty-trained, which means day cares will not accept him and finding affordable, qualified help with watching/helping him is extremely difficult. Also, all the autism schools have enormous waiting lists. " "I just had rotator cuff and shoulder surgery done. " "I live in Michigan and can not leave my children to come." "I will be working at my local High School with an autistic child. He cannot handle large crowds or loud noises." "I can not attend the hearing because we can not afford the trip to DC due to my son's autism. All our "extra" income goes to my son's therapies, his private school tuition and his medical care costs (even though we have insurance). " " I cannot attend because I dont trust that the state or national government will adequately fund programs to eventually care for my adult autistic son. Therefore, I am saving what I can rather than spending the money to travel." "I cannot attend the hearing because I have small grandchildren to watch at home." " I cannot attend the hearings because my granddaughter does not tolerate changes in routine well. "
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" I cannot attend the hearing because I have no one to watch my child. He is 14, and his vaccine injuries have left him nonverbal, self-injurious, and aggressive. It is simply not safe for anyone other than myself to care for him. " "I can't attend the hearing because I drive my son 160 miles Monday through Friday to get the necessary 40 hours a week of Behavioral therapy that is not available locally." "I cannot attend the hearing because my son has triggers that cause him to bite himself." "I am in California and am unable to make the trip for this important issue. Our son regressed into Autism 17 years ago. It's time to stop denying that we are doing this to our children. Take away the blanket no fault from the vaccine manufacturers. " "I can't attend the hearing because I work two jobs to pay for uncovered services my son needs." "My son's afterschool program is closed that day and I have to take the day off work already because of that. If I bring him, he'll miss a day of school and the therapy that he gets there, so I'm unable to be there." "I live in Minnesota and cannot travel. I have two children that are on the spectrum that I will keep being a voice for." "I cannot attend the hearing because my son cannot travel by plane and we do not have any family that can stay with him." "I cannot attend with 2 kids with autism, it's too far to travel & they don't deal well with crowds" "I cannot attend because my husband and I both work to pay for autism and we have grandma taking my son to therapy." I would love to go and be there but can't. My husband is very busy at work and I don't have a baby sitter for me son because of his seizures and special needs it's very difficult to find someone. We would either go all of us or can't! It breaks my heart! Thank you to all who can go and attend! I can not attend because my husband travels for work and I have no back child care. I have been pushing for congress to do the right thing and investigate the corruption within the NVICP for a long time. This hearing won't go that far, but it's a step in the right direction! I cannot go because I am broke! Years and years of various therapies, expensive specialist visits that are not covered by insurance, special food for my son's dietary/GI issues, The list goes on - supplements, sensory items, books, seminars, IEP meetings... You get the picture.
" I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my autistic child to therapy and have to work to pay for "autism". Please help cure this manmade disease." " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take care of my 21 year old son who suffers from vaccine induced autism due to a mercury laced RhoGAM shot given during my pregnancy and his childhood vaccines," "I wish I could be there. But we have a very busy schedule, soeech and ABA." "I don't like to be too far away from my son who has autism in case I am needed and I also have to work the day of the hearing." "I'm a mother of three, including a severely autistic daughter who is non-verbal, has seizures and needs 24/7 care." " I wish I could be at this hearing but it is financially and physically impossible due to the demands autism has imposed on our family. The impact on our family is severe, as we all share the burden of his 24/7 needed care...and the fiscal impact on my town is staggering, as his special needs school charges $75,000 per year to educate him. The current rate of 1 in 88 children having autism is unacceptable. A travesty. " " I could not attend the Autism hearing because I spent this time advocating for continued services at an IEP for one of my ASD children, appealing denied claims for my other ASD child with the insurance company, all the while ensuring both girls make their scheduled therapy appointments and leaving me enough time to drop things off at consignment and/or sell on eBay to pay for aforementioned expenditures. "I am a single parent of two children on the spectrum, one mild and the other severe. I have to work but also do not have sitter or support person to look after my severly affected child." "I cannot attend the hearing because I am a single father for my Autistic son and have to work as much as I can to provide." Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 21 of 29
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"My child has severe autism and requires 24 hours protective supervision." [I am] working towards my PhD in Special Education. I wish I could've attended the hearing, but couldn't do to school responsibilities. My concern is the alarmingly rising autism rate in Utah and the lack of funding to provide evidence-based services to children in Utah. Services such as ABA for children with autism can be costly, but have been proven to be effective in multiple research studies and parents anecdotal report. These services are necessary for children in that they help them to be able to function in our community and remove the burden of intensive care for many teachers and parents. I am trying to do my part in helping this population and I would hope others can do theirs to solve this national crisis. Proving more services in Utah is a vital start to help solve a problem to a state with one of the highest rates of autism in the nation. " I cannot attend the hearing because my child is over sensitive to noise and crowds. " " I can't attend the hearing because I have to be home for my son's ABA therapy session." "I cannot attend the hearing because our son's therapy costs us $1,000-$2,300 per month, making travel for any reason unaffordable." "I have five children, four of whom are seven years of age and under. Our family is affected on a constant basis by ASD and need our Representative in Congress to step up and push insurance companies to cover testing and ongoing care and treatment for the development of those children challenged by this quality of life obstacle." "My son is 35, one of the 1 in 10,000. Totally non-verbal, has seizures, self abusing and often violent. " "I will be working to pay for the therapy that insurance will not pay for. My 11 yr old son has autism 7 is non-verbal. He goes to a school for child with behavioral issues & in addition has therapy 15 hrs./week. " " I could not attend the hearings because I cannot afford to get to DC because we are finacially strapped due to having a child with severe Autism. " " I was sorry I was not able to attend the hearing, because my child was in therapy. I pay out of pocket for his therapy and was not able to afford to attend either." " I cannot attend the meeting because my son is on an extremely restrictive diet and I must be at home to make sure he is eating correctly." "I won't be able to attend the hearing because my child has therapy that afternoon." "taking my son to therapies and unable to get a special needs babysitter. " " I can't attend the hearings because my three children with autism cannot be left with other caretakers, and they can't endure long car rides, or long waits in very busy public places. My own health in caring for them has deteriorated so much that I cannot endure such a trip myself. I pay a lot of money for private insurance which I still can't access to take care of myself, or them, because of high copays." " I cannot attend as I am sick right now - being tested right now for heavy metal toxins - my oldest is autistic and my father has alzheimers. "the reason that i coouldnt attend the hearing is because i have a daughter that has adhd iam un able to to work because there is no one there that take care of her and can handle her with the needs that she needs" "I cannot attend the hearing because my child will be attending school." "I cannot attend because due to the high costs of having an Autistc child, all of our money goes to therapy, medicines, supplements, special diets, and special doctors that we cannot get help with. Insurance pays so little of these things and we have to fight tooth and nail for what they will pay for." " I cannot attend the hearing because I work as a principal of a school and cannot leave work. My husband cannot attend because he will be working all day and then supervise [my son], who has severe autism. He cannot be left alone ever. He has no sense of fear, no words and cannot take care of himself. He has the biggest smile you have ever seen. Please take this matter seriously as the number of children affected is GROWING. " "Because I have two ASD whi can't attend in large crowds " " I cannot attend hearing because my 5 year old on the Autism Spectrum has a busier schedule than most adults. Speech Therapy, Social Skills, Occupational Therapy and regular school takes up most of our time." " I can not attend the hearing because I am a Sr in high school living with autism. If I miss any school days it is extremely difficult for me to catch up. " Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 22 of 29
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"I am a mother of a child with Autism, and because of the massive costs associated with raising him (treatments not covered by insurance, diapers for him even though he's nearly 6 years old because he does not have full bladder control, gas money to drive him over 30 miles ONE way to school and then back home again, dietary issues, etc), I am working two jobs and unable to take time off in order to some to the hearings. My husband also works full time and is unable to attend." "I have a 13 yr old son, who is mostly non verbal, cant sit still for more than 2 minutes and has gastro intestinal problems since he was 2-3 years old " "Both of my children are autistic and I am their primary caregiver. [Son] is 20 and [daughter] is 18, so we are in transition into adulthood. I am not able to work outside the home because they cannot function independently. " I have two girls with Autism (ages 11 and 8). We were lucky, got early intervention for both and they are now considered higher functioning. However, the school system was not enough and so we supplemented many of the early interventions ourselves through private providers. This took a huge toll on our family financially but was well worth it. I cannot express to you enough the stress and burden that autism has had on our family and all families. We have had to fight our school district constantly in order to receive appropriate services. We have filed for 3 IDEA Due PRocess Hearings in the past 3 years. The first 2 settled, we had a 4 day hearing for the most recent filing this past summer. Due to needing an Attorney, expert witnesses etc in order to seem credible we incurred a debt of over $20k for this. Unfortunately the judge ruled that schools only have to provide "some benefit" and even if there is regression as we were able to prove that an appropriate education is provided if there is some benefit somewhere. Essentially if a child improves in an area regardless of the reasoning (parent help, natural developmental growth etc) then the school district has done their job. This was not sufficient for us - we expect more and so we now drive our child to a charter school 25 miles away that is for children with High Functioning Autism. We are fighters, know what our kids need, know our rights etc but it didn't matter as the school system was not required to provide anything beyond a pre-determined amount of services despite IDEA requirements. Children are required to be at school during the bulk of the day - there is only a short amount of time after school that they can receive necessary services. If we don't require the school system to do more and provide what is needed to these children then when will they get the help? "I am solely responsible for my 22 year old daughter with autism." "Simply put.. Therapy AND COURT because Virginia makes it so hard to get Guardianship of your own child. I should not be so complicated. Judges and Lawyers need not be involved. Time and money wasted up in red tape, just a simple filing in a clerk's office." " I would love to be present at the hearing but cannot attend the hearing because I must remain at home to attend to my non-verbal son who suffers from autism." "I must stay home to wait for my 18 year old autistic son to come home from school. He cannot stay at home alone and I cannot afford to pay anyone qualified enough to stay with an 18 year old boy who exhibits inappropriate sexual behaviors. In fact, I cannot live life in general for this very reason." "I wish and want to attend, but i serve in the militery and would not be able to get leave at that time. My son has Autism and I want him to be represented." I cannot attend the hearing because "just a babysitter" won't do for us. I can't ask a babysitter to administer 9 supplements and cool a gluten/dairy free dinner for my son. " "I have two young children who are diagnosed wth autism. Due to financial restrictions and also the fact that I am the primary caretaker responsible for my children's therapies I was unable to attend the hearing. However I just wanted to ask why there is no sense of urgency to find the cause/cure for autism? How many more children must be diagnosed with autism before it is demanded that environmental toxins and vaccines are independently studied? How much higher does the current 1:88 statistic have to get beforefore we all say ENOUGH? 1:50? 1:25? 1:10? Please don't allow that to happen to our Nations most precious resource, our children. This is national crisis and the time to press for answers is now. " "My son has autism inclusive of GI issues, mitochondrial disease, and CVID. Today I need to be with him while he receives a 5 hour IVIG treatment. He became I'll after have a flu shot containing mercury in 2006. "
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"I have always wanted to atend a hearing in Washington, but I have never had the time or the money. My twins were vaccinated simultaneously and reacted simultaneously. The aftermath left us in the continual struggle that we all have...looking for answers..looking for treatment. We immediately spoke out, but because we are a medical family we were told to keep quiet. My twins never received a diagnosis past late walker/late talker. We never received any aid or respite. We will always be playing catch up, but I thank God every day for showing me the truth about vaccines. Now I at least can at least prevent any of my finiancial support from going to companies that convince parents to harm their childre." " I cannot attend the hearing because my son, who has autism, freaks out in public and will try to run away. In addition, I have to take him to speech therapy, which I have to work a side job to pay for." "My child gets overstimulated in places with lots of noise and lots of people. I hope that the CHILDREN will be thought of as you discuss their fate-- what if YOUR child/grandchild were affected and could be helped... would you deny them?" "I can,t attend the hearing. [My children] would be running through the court room yelling and fighting nothing would be heard except my Grandkida" "My daughter has Behavioral and occupational therapies today." " I cannot attend the meeting because I will be taking my autistic daughter to ABA therpy at that time." "I can't attend the autism hearings because my family is spent, financially, physically, and mentally. My 7 year old son has behavioral therapy after school today. He has attended therapy both before and after school since he was 4 years old. Including speech, occupational, physical, and behavioral therapies. He has made a tremedous amount of progress since his diagnosis of autism at 2.5 years old. He has immunological, methylation, mitochondrial issues and food and environmental allergies. His care (special allergen free foods and supplements alone) cost us around $1000 per month. That of course doesnt include any of the before mentioned therapies that he has attended! I am spending money that we don't even have on this childs recovery. His independence as an adult is my mission in life. " "I cannot attend today because I do not have anyone who is trained to keep my son after school. Trained caregivers are very expensive. I will also be taking my son to occupational and speech therapy this afternooon." "I would love to be at the hearing! I can't attend, first and foremost, because I can't afford to travel that far. My family is on a tight budget. I am a stay-athome-mom. My husband works on the road. Most of what our 12 year old, non-verbal son needs to help treat his autism is not covered by health insurance so, we pay for it out of pocket. If we could afford to travel, I'd need to bring my son with me because we have no other family members who can care for him for the length of time it would take me to get to D.C. and back. My 15 year old daughter is the only "babysitter" we have when we need to go somewhere when the kids aren't in school." I cannot attend the hearing because I have to work to afford services for my autistic children and save my time off for meetings with the school systems to provide them with an appropriate education." " I will be unable to attend because my daughter with autism is in behavioral therapy 8 hours a day, and I am there with her to learn how to implement the programs so home so she is learning 24 hours a day. "I can't attend first because it is too far away for me to go. Secondly, the cost of keeping my son healthy due to the vaccine injury he received when he was young is astronomical. Between gluten-free, dairy-free, no dyes, no preservatives and the supplement protocol we maintain just so he can be a recovered child prevents me from having any money to do anything. Although I appreciate the knowledge of eating healthy and not allowing chemicals or processed foods into our diet it would have been better to change our lifstyle without autism spectrum disorder." "Our family is highly impacted by ASD. It actually dictates our lives completely! Autism demands our time, resources and attention 24/7. If humanly possible, we would be front and center at these meetings which may greatly impact our lives and livelihood! Sadly, we cannot. We need to stay back at home to earn a living, to try to keep up with our ever growing debt and bills, most them incurred due to autism. Our son with autism needs to attend school. School and life in general are extremely difficult for him. To have to make up even a day of school takes him and us several evenings of extra work. Attending those hearings just is not an option. So very sorry to say. Please keep our family in mind as you move forward. Thank you. " " I can not attend the hearing because we live to far away to travel, and all of our money goes towards treating our son's autism and bills. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I must be home to care for my autistic daughter." Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 24 of 29
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"I live just outside the DC, 495 beltway and could attend--However, my son is not able to go to school today because of his autism, OCD and aggression. I have to stay home with him for the 4th day this week. " "My child has severe autism and requires 24/7 care and a controlled environment or she can't cope. " "I cannot attend the hearing because my 13 yr old daughter with autism is home sick from school for the 20th day this school year." "[My husband and I] cannot attend the hearing because we both work full time jobs to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for our son's, autism treatments and therapies that our insurance company does not cover. Also, [our son] has speech therapy this afternoon and needs us to administer his medications, shots and supplements to him that we are using to try and give him a good quality of life. Also, [our son] has sound sensitivity and would bolt from the hearing." "I cannot attend the hearing because my child has ABA therapy this afternoon, bolts in public places and I can't afford to get there due primarily to his medical expenses. " "I have two sons with autism, ages 4 and 5. I can't come because I can't afford it. Their therapies are VERY expensive and most insurances do not cover them. We need ALL children to be able to get their therapies! Please help us!" "My son is in special needs prek and im a stay at home mom and he dont get home till 3. And he does not do well in public places like stores or crowded areas he gets very anxious can be hard to control." "my son is 21. I cannot attend the meeting because he has all the medical co-morbitites of autism. I cannot attend the meeting because he has no diagnosis, there are few to no doctors working to help. I cannot attend the meeting because he is the collateral damage of the autisim epidemic, auto immune, gi issues, mitichondrial. I cannot attend the meeting because my wife is at a medical breaking point from the stress. I cannot attend the meeting because the services in life after 21 would force all to institutionalize thier son at great costs to the state. I cannot attend the meeting because while the rate on the spectrum has gone from 1/2000 to 1/88 no one from the cdc or nih has ever wanted to see my son." "I cannot attend the hearing because my child's asthma has flared and I need to be home to administer the meds." "Cannot attend because I will be caring for a child affected by autism. " " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take my kid for his therapy classes." "I can not attend the meeting because my autistic son is arrgessive and I gave no one besides myself and school who will set foot in my home to watch him. Please help our children!" "I cannot attend the hearings because my son has sensory issues to a lot of noise and has a tendency to run. " "I cannot attend the hearing with my son because he had to be place in residential facility due to his aggressive and self injurious behaviors that no doctor can figure the cause." "I live and work in Texas. I take care of a vaccine injured child that has a label of Regressive Autism. It is too expensive to travel and take a break from work, this is only reserved for trips to doctor's visits in other states or medical emergencies (since they are too many ). I cannot stop working for the same reason and too many expenses." "My vaccine injured daughter needs more labs done. " "I cannot attend the hearing on behalf of my two beautiful young boys who have autism because I myself am having a medical procedure done so I may ensure my own longevity to care for their needs as they grow older." "I will not be able to attend the hearing because I will be in a special education IEP meeting advocating for a child to get his goals met." "I cannot attend the hearing because I need to have lunch with my daughter at school because her anxiety level is sky high due to her having Asperger's Syndrome and the school system refusing to address it." "I cannot attend because I have five young children, the youngest of which has autism and therapy that I take him to daily." "I am a single mother of 2; my 13 y/o son has Down syndrome and Autism. He does not handle changes in routine well, is stressed by crowds and crowded places, I pay over $700 a month in insurance premiums in addition to paying for meds, therapy, childcare for my younger child, special diet due to Celiac Disease, and cannot afford to take off work, travel with both children or find someone who can care for my son while I travel out of town to Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 25 of 29
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attend the meetings." " I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take our little boy to multiple therapies that afternoon. " "I cannot attend the hearing tomorrow because I am taking my son, who just turned 3, to occupational therapy." "because I would be taking my child for therapy." "My wife is a full time Flight attendant and i stay at home with my 9 and 3 year old. My 9 year old has Autism and is 100% non verbal. At age 13 months she had 8-10 words but those disappeared after the MMR/IPV/Varicella vaccine she recieved in the same day. She has never been the same since. Years of speech therapy, biomed and countless other therapies have each helped to a small degree..but still no words. I have never heard "I love you daddy". She is still in diapers. This is very expensive. A genetic cause? Ha...every single vaccine label says : "This vaccine has not been tested for mutagenic and carcinogenic potential" I had a normal child for a year...then suddenly after a vaccine our whole lives have been turned upside down. We are constantly told by the mainstream media and health professionals that vaccines do not cause ASD and are perfectly safe. This is a shame and it will continue. When it is your child, grandchild or other loved one ....maybe then things will change. "We are taking our child to school then to Hyperbaric Oxygen chamber treatments, WHICH HELP HIM SO MUCH, but are not covered by insurance. He can't travel much because he is aggressive when he hears sirens or intercoms. " " I cannot attend because I am the primary caregiver for my child and my child is not in school full time yet." "I cannot attend but believe this is very important." "All my flexible funds go to therapies and home education for our ASD child. Can not afford the flight to Washington, but am passionate about getting government Autism funds allocated into the right hands for research- the parents are the experts, not the researchers & labs. " "I have to attend an IEP meeting for my ASD daughter. Her current school is failing her miserably and I have to advocate for a more appropriate placement. Unfortunately, securing a change for her will likely require multiple meetings." "I cannot attend because I have to take my son to speech, ABA and Occupational therapy. Oh and I have to go to work to pay for all this because my insurance does not cover everything :(" "I won't be able to attend the hearing because I can not afford to take off work. Autism is expensive!" "I won't be attend because I'm here figuring out a way to make up for the Medical Flex Spending savings that we will be losing next year. This is on top of all the other new taxes you are hitting me with!!! " "I wish I could attend this hearing, but that won't be possible since I will be working the majority of the day and then taking my ASD child to occupational therapy." "I cannot attend the hearings because we are broke from providing our son with Biomedical Intervention since 1998. I have to help support my son in his first semester of college. Most parents of children with Autism don't have a problem like this. We wouldn't either if biomedical intervention hadn't worked for him because we were advised to institutionalize him when he was 6! " "I cannot attend because I will be in a meeting." "I have a 13 year old with autism and no one to watch him!" "Due to the severity of my 2 children's vaccine, 14 and 12 years ago respectively, my career was completely thrown off track. I am now back at the starting level in my career (part time adjunct professor) which puts us well below the federal poverty line. There is no way we could afford a trip anywhere out of Chicago." Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 26 of 29
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"I cannot attend the hearing because I will be driving my son back and forth to therapies and school." "I can't attend the hearing because I work full time, I am going to law school in the evenings, and I am raising a child with autism basically alone." "I can't attend I've had a death in the family AND because we can't afford it because of the cost of treating autism." "I have to be here to take my daughter to all her therapies!" "I cannot attend the hearing because my daughter (sibling to a brother who is now recovered) is attending the local preschool special education class so she and I can help as many families as possible to find answers and help their kids recover." "I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take my daughter with autism to ABA therapy." "I can not attend the Hearing because I have to take care of my 21 year old son with autism and see to it that his day "does not change", as change in his normal schedule is extremely difficult for him. " "I can't attend the hearing because I will be taking my three with autism to therapy." "I cannot attend the hearings tomorrow because I live in Minnesota & cannot afford airfare due to my daughter's autism & epilepsy treatment costing so much. It has depleted my finances & I am struggling pay check to pay check. It's frustrating because getting reputable & effective autism treatment is EXPENSIVE. My daughter needs these treatments so she can hopefully become independent someday & be a functioning tax paying citizen instead of a burden on society. Autism is a full time job plus overtime in addition to the job I already have. Action needs to be taken NOW or it is going to be a complete mess when these children transition into adulthood. It will affect EVERYONE regardless of them having autism in their family or not." "I have two kids with autism and have 2 jobs to be able to afford their therapies and treatments. " " I cannot attend the hearing because our finances are completely strapped trying to heal our two sons with autism." "I cannot attend the meeting. I work full time and have two kids and all of my money for traveling appears to go to some type of therapy." "I would love very much to attend the hearings; however it is impossible financially. I have a 7 year old with autism who has almost 50 hours of therapy a week. His therapy, medications, supplements, special diet and many other supports are financially bankrupting our family. We also have a daughter in college that gets zero financial aid since FAFSA does not consider medical expenses in its calculations. Therefore, every penny goes to our son's therapy, our daughters college and the rest of our expenses go on our overused credit cards. I could not responsibly spend money we don't have on a trip to D.C. for these hearings. But I will be there in spirit. I pray that something will come out of the hearing and not just yet another opportunity for their to be discussion without action. Please ACT NOW and help our kids, our families and your future children, grandchildren, etc. "I can not attend the hearing because Because I have to work to pay for my sons ABA Therapy that insurance will not cover." " I cannot attend because my husband is in the Army and deployed for a year. My son has autism and I am the only caregiver for him. I do not receive any respite care and I do not know anyone who is able to watch him long enough for me to attend." "I work at a school for kids with autism. I am not able to attend and can't afford the trip either. thanks" " I cannot attend the hearing because I need to take my son to his ABA and speech therapies. " "I run a school for children with autism and other disabilities and unfortunately we are very limited on funds, so it would be hard to attend. I also have a 15 year old son with autism, so I just wanted to say that I'm glad that the subject of autism is being brought up again in these hearings. I feel like the issue has been shoved under the rug for too long. " I cannot attend the hearing because I homeschool my 10-year-old son who lives with Asperger's Syndrome because our local public schools cannot effectively provide the kind of education he needs & deserves. " " we have a 9 year old with autism and severe immune problems. We cannot attend because we have no one to provide care." "I am also disabled and do not have anyone else to care for my grand daughter!" " I cannot attend the hearing because I homeschool my son with autism. The public schools could not meet his needs and there is no private school nearby for children with autism." Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 27 of 29
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"I would love to be attend the hearing in person and listen and learn from you all but I will have to take care of our son who we are healing from autism. Since we do not have the money to pay for any therapist/s for now, I let go of my job and became my son's tutor, therapist, etc." "I can't make the conference because my son has school that afternoon & I'm unemployed so we don't have the funds at this time." " I cannot attend because I have to to take my son to his behavioral therapy class" "I cannot attend the hearing because my children will both be attending occupational, speech, and physical therapy at that time. " "My son has Therapy and school I need to be his transportation." "My son requires 7x24 care by my wife and I. While I type this we are getting an IVIG treatment because of his compromised immune system." I cannot attend the hearing because my child has seizures "I have a nephew with Autism. I have two grandsons and I am terrified they will develop Autism. I cannot attend the hearings as I cannot take the afternoon off work that day." "My son will bolt in public places. We are also having toileting issues. My son is 20 years old." "travel and childcare prohibit me from attending on behalf of my children" "I cannot attend the hearings because my son can no longer fly in a plane. He is 18 & crowds make him very anxious. I stay home with him as my husband has to travel a lot for his job." "I can't attend the hearing because I will be homeschooling my child with autism so he can get a decent education " " I am not able to attend the hearing because I need to be able to pay for medical expenses for my two children. " "I cannot attend the mtg because I have 2 ASD children and will be taking one of them to Drama therapy to assist with Social Skills." " I can't attend because I am working and am not able to take off." " I cannot attend because I have 2 kids and no one to watch them while I attend." " I can not attend the hearing because I work two jobs to help pay for the treatments I am giving my son to heal him from coming down with autism. My son had a compromised immune system and high levels of aluminum toxicity. The therapy I sought would not be covered by my insurance and therefore, we are in debt and I have to work to help pay off our bills. Please consider all the parents who can not be there to share our stories. Thank you for looking into helping families and saving future children from an autism diagnoses." " I cannot attend the hearing because I need to be home for my child who follows a structured afternoon afterschool and if I am not home to help him he stresses and cries because he can not understand why I am not home to help him." " I cannot attend the hearing because my child, diagnosed with autism, will be receiving all day therapy on 11/29." " I cannot attend the hearing because my son with autism requires therapy and care all day, every day." "I cannot attend the hearing because I need to attend IPP (with Regional Center) and IEP (with LAUSD). However, I sent a letter to our representative, Howard Berman, about the wrong and harmful situation with North Los Angeles Regional Center. About how parents should go through battles every single day, which impacts their personal and family lives, jobs, and ability to raise their special child. I am still hoping to hearing from him. " "I can not attend, because or finances. As it stands today, our family who would be considered upper middle class, is having to spend our last dime each month (and all our savings) paying for treatments, therapies, and healthy food for our child who has autism. He is in seriously bowel distress, suspected of having bowel disease, so we are also currently saving money to see a top pediatric GI who specializes in gut issues with children with autism. I wish I could attend. " "I cannot attend because I have to take one of my children with autism to her occupational therapist, and then I have to take my other child with autism to an appointment with his allergist/immunologist at the same time." "I can't attend the hearings due to two things: One is lack of monies; and two, is that my Autistic son is home-schooled due to local public school not being able to handle him and he's here 24/7." " I cannot attend the hearing due to my sons Autism and lack of additional caretakers to help me." Parent Testimonials Congressional Autism Hearing Safe Minds - November 29, 2012 Page 28 of 29
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" I cannot attend the hearing because I have to take my son to behavioral therapy and occupational therapy. I also have to work to pay for the many medical issues that are affecting my son because of autism. " " I am unable to attend the hearings tomorrow because my 13 year old son with autism requires constant supervision. He also requires medication for his many gastrointestinal issues. My husband works long hours and I have no one to help me watch my son." "I am a single parent of 2 boys. A 20 yr old non verbal son with Autism, and a 22 yr old son who has had to witness first hand the helplessness a family feels with this situation. I cannot attend simply because I MUST care for my son, and there is no one else to do so. He must be watched every minute of every day, as he tends to run which could put him in harms way. I am the epitome of sleeping with one eye open all day, every day." "I can't attend the hearing today because I have to take my son to 2 therapies today. "I have to be with my kid and it is not easy to take her to the hearing with me due to screaming issues." I cannot attend the hearing because I must work to help pay for the various therapies that my son with autism requires." "because I cannot afford the plane ticket since a majority of our income pays for our autistic sons Behavioral Therapies. " "I wish I could attend but live out of town. " " I cannot attend the hearing because my son has occupational and behavioral therapies to address his autism." "I cannot attend, because I take care of two children with autism and I am exhausted." " I can not attend the hearing because I have 2 sons on the spectrum and since their care is so time consuming we had to give oup our jobs and start our own business so we could take care of them. We can not stop business to attend this hearing, loss of income equals loss of ability to pay for therapy and we have no one to take care of our children that have such specialized needs. ." "I cannot attend the hearing because I will be taking my child to ABA therapy and social group. " " My son has mitochondrial dysfunction (confirmed by Cleveland Clinic), heavy metal poisoning, immune dysfunction, and unexplained neurological abnormalities that are causing him to lose his ability to walk. I cannot attend the meeting because I will be taking him for IV therapy." " I can not attend the meetings because of I work six days sometimes seven days a week to cover AUTISM. If I take time off we may loose our home. Our children need congressional action! Please be their champions. We are the 47% not looking for a handout just some help." " I am the mother of a 13 yr old son with Vacvine Induced Regressive Autism and a neurotypical unvaccinated 9 year old son who I had when I was 40 and my husband was 41. We work 6 jobs and are drowning in debt we can not take a day off AUTISM is 24/7. The well check visit took ten minutes the path to recover his health will take a lifetime! Congress please act to help families like mine." "We work full time to afford therapies for our 8th grade son who has Aspergers (currently in therapeutic school recovering from a year of bullying in middle school) and our two other sons with learning disabilities." "My husband is out of town for work and I have to get my kiddos off the bus." " I will not be able to attend the hearing because my son will be in school and after school he works with a home ABA therapist. " "family issue" "I have grandaughter on ASD spectrum; she just turned age 8, cannot speak words. I have scoliosis of lumber spine and bad Sciatica at present. Difficult for me to walk or sit very long,etc.. do good WORK on this IMPT. ISSUE !" "I am a long term substitute teacher and I am unable to attend the meeting because I will be teaching a very special class of 7 severely autistic kids that day. " "I cannot attend the hearing because we need money every month to pay for the 5 different supplements my daughter needs daily."
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SafeMinds, Wanted To Be at The Hearing But Couldn't.

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SafeMinds, Wanted To Be at The Hearing But Couldn't.

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November 29, 2012

UPDATED Wanted to be at the hearing but couldnt!

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