Film about autism and MMR

[Jimjams]

On Dec 15 on channel 5 there is a film about autism and the MMR. it's called Hear the Silence. Apparently -even if you;re not enamoured with the MMR storyline- its a pretty accurate portrayal of life with autism in the family (oh heck!) I've seen the word "harrowing" used. Apparently you need lots of hankies. My friend's (from email) son is in it. 4 years ago they said he wouldn't ever talk and now he's been in a film- absolutely amazing. i can't wait to see it. MrsF - remind me please :-)

The woman from truly madly deeply is in it as well- she plays my friend's son's mum.

[popsycal]

i will watch this with interest - please remind me too

[coppertop]

Please, mrsf! We're relying on you to remind us. It sounds like a good one to watch. Thanks, jimjams.

[Jimjams]

OK- and her other son who has DS is in it as well- as an extra! So watch everyone!

[Jimjams]

Don't worry I will be reminded anyway.

[tamum]

I think there may be a debate after it too- my neighbour is going to be on a debate soon on channel 5 about MMR and autism, and I have a feeling it's linked into the film. I'll let you know if I hear any more!

[Jimjams]

thanks tamum. Am I right in thinking he believes there may be a case for a link in a (small) number of cases?

Having heard about it I'm really interested in the protrayal of autism. It would be good to move on from Rainman

[tamum]

Yes, he seems to be less anti-MMR than he used to be, but I think your summing-up is spot on. He is sure that there must be other factors involved because there's been too great an increase in the incidence of autism for MMR to be the only explanation, but he still thinks there's something in the MMR story. I hope I've got that right!

[Jimjams]

Sounds as if I share his views then- that's good to know

I am more interested in how it shows autism than the whole MMR thing though- apparently it is very realistic. Really must get my MIL to watch.....

[misdee]

i wayched rainman the other night. was good, but i thought maybe its just a bit stereotypical. dont really know kids with autism, but from what people say on here it was a bit too, damn words missing in my vocab to discribe it. please fill in blanks.

[polly28]

Wish we got channel five here,we seem to miss loads of good stuff.

[coppertop]

You've just given me an idea, Jimjams. My mum likes a good 'weepie'. I'll see if I can get her to watch it. The portrayal of autism might be a little different to how ds1 experiences it but she would be able to see a different side of things. Then again, she might spend the next 6 months trying to convince me that ds2 shouldn't have the MMR...

[Jimjams]

well thanks to rainman everyone always says "what's his special skill?" which is fairly annoying. I think its a bit cheesy myself misdee.

I think this film is more full on with the autism- more real as to just how bloody difficult it can be- I think it shows more the -what I call- poo smearing side of autism- don't know if it shows that(!!) just to me that describes reality more than everyone being able to feel good becuase someone can compute massive numbers in their head or whatever ("oh aren't they strange, but oh so clever"- not the reality of autism for most people although it does happen). At least that's what I'm expecting from thestuff I've heard.

Does my son have a special skill? Well thinking about it he can match people with their cars, months down the line after meeting them once- I have no idea which car belongs to them!

[Jimjams]

got it a bit wrong at the beginning- juliet stephenson plays the lead role's mum.

There's some ABA in it as well

[mrsforgetful]

i've tied a knot in my handkie...may need you lot to remind me why!!! Seriously...i'll confess something now- DS1 and 2 both had all their immunisations...but i'm scared to allow ds3 his final booster (should have had it pre-school). I know there is supposedly no risk-especially if given separately...but do these proffessors and doctors who researched this have Autistic children? ds3 is probably just a NT sibling of Auties...hence he has may Autistic behaviours- my gut feeling is that he is FINE now, but because of some of the things he does do which 'remind me' of the Autistic Spectrum...i don't feel able to 'tempt fate' .However I had measles at 12 yrs old and my brother had mumps- so i also don't want to risk unecassary sideeffects of illness to- but IF he has the injections and then 'gets more autistic' i will always blame the MMR- however if we don't do it and he still does then i'll blame the first MMR...cant win really...this is one of those times when i'd like to fast forward 20 years and see how he is.

[jmb1964]

Yes, I know tamum's neighbour too - he's seen ds1 - and I think this must be the discussion he's in. We're not sure about MMR for ds2 (now 19 months and pointing beautifully) but he (the neighbour) hasn't really steered us either way.
We can only get video through the digital bit of our TV, but I haven't worked out yet how to video these channels - does anyone know if you can??

[hmb]

You can (I think), but you can't then watch something else at the same time.

[Jimjams]

yes you can (that's how we get channel 5) but you can't watch something else on digital at the same time (you can watch something else through the aerial at the same time).

[hmb]

Ah, right. We don't have anything other than the 5 terestrial channels. MIL got a set top box when we visited. Not sure if it would be worth our while. The only thing that I'd like to get is sky when it is showing 'West Wing', but it doesn't hurt me to wait until it is shown on C4! And to get sky we'd have to get the whole package, and we are not doing that.

How is the form filling going? I hate forms with a passion, so I do sympathise.

[Jimjams]

hmb- it is on terrestrial 5. We just can't get 5 terrestrially- we just get grey shadows, but we can get it through the digital (as all the terrestrial channels come through the digtal channels as well).

[Jimjams]

Was that DLA forms? They're not!

Grrrrrr. Must do that.

[Davros]

The following report appeared in the Guardian on Thursday:

Boycott of Five's MMR drama

Sarah Boseley, health editor
Thursday December 4, 2003
The Guardian

A number of senior doctors have boycotted a debate to be shown after Channel Five's drama documentary on Andrew Wakefield, because they say it is biased and emotive in its portrayal of the scientist behind alleged links between the MMR vaccination and autism.
Scientists from the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency are understood to have turned down an invitation. Former colleagues of Dr Wakefield at the Royal Free hospital in north London also declined to take part.
David Elliman, consultant community paediatrician at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, said: "The film is very, very partial. It's very much this one man against the medical establishment, who is the only man who listens to children and to parents - paediatricians don't and GPs don't.
"However one tried, if there has been 1 hour of that, how on earth can you redress that balance?"
Hear the Silence, starring Juliet Stevenson as the mother seeking answers to her son's autism and Hugh Bonneville as Dr Wakefield, will be screened on December 15.
Dr Elliman said that he initially thought it would be helpful to have a debate to redress the balance immediately after the programme, but as he watched a preview he came to the conclusion "that one could not have a sensible discussion about the facts".
The programme "starts from the premise that MMR is linked to autism and the onus is to disprove that. We know from past experience that, when you give balance to somebody, the public goes away thinking there is a balance in the scientific argument which is 50:50. That is not the case here."
Dr Wakefield's former colleagues, who jointly published the paper hypothesising a link in the Lancet in 1998, all said then and still say they believe in the safety of MMR. They have become increasingly critical of him.

[Jimjams]

errr but the dept of health applauding every piece of "new" (actually just a rehash of numbers) research isn't biased?

Actually I just wsh the politicians and media would leave it all alone, maybe some sensible research would be done then.

Did you know channel 5's legal team have had to work overtime to get this screened in the first place? A number of injunctions were taken out (actually that could be the incorrect legal term - but quite a lot of effrt was put in to prevent it being shown). It was originally scheduled for the summer. Someone is very scared about it being shown. It may well be very biased (I suspect it is) but most people are able to see when something is one sided- wish they would stop treating us like idiots.

[Jimjams]

I'm still looking forward to the portrayal of autism more than the MMR stuff.