The Interagency Autism Co-ordinating Committee (IACC) plays an important role in autism research and understanding. It is unfortunate that sitting as a public member of the IACC is lbrb blogger Matthew J. Carey, a member of the Neurodiversity movement which, at its core (1) portrays autism as a different way of thinking not a disorder or disability and (2) belittles efforts to seek cures for autism. His official bio posted on the IACC web site emphasizes his considerable background as an industrial researcher and his deep commitment to "communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism". The bio is very specific about his many accomplishments in industrial research. Although it does describe him as a blogger the bio makes no mention of Matthew J. Carey, Ph. D.'s anti-cure, autism is a strength Neurodiversity ideological biases:
Matthew J. Carey, Ph.D.
Parent and Autism BloggerDr. Matt Carey joined the IACC as a public member in 2012. Dr. Carey is the father of a young child with multiple disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, and is a frequent contributor to the Left Brain/Right Brain blog and other autism blogs. His writing focuses on reviewing current autism research in an understandable way for the public and he is deeply committed to communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism. He is also interested in analyzing trends in health and education public data sets; his critique of "Timing of Increased Autistic Disorder Cumulative Incidence" was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology and his analysis of parents' academic expectations for their children with ASD, based on the 2007 National Household Education Survey, was presented at a poster session during the 2011 International Meeting For Autism Research (IMFAR). Dr. Carey is an active industrial researcher in computer hardware whose current research interests include magnetic thin films, spintronics, and magnetic nanostructures. His work has been published in high-impact journals such as Nature Materials, Physical Review Letters, and Applied Physics Letters and he currently holds 106 patents or published patent applications. He received his B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College, his M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.
In a recent comment at his lbrb blog criticizing the Slate article Is the Neurodiversity (ND) Movement Misrepresenting Autism?", and its author Amy S.F. Lutz, Carey singles in on her comments about autism and the intellectually disabled and in the process single-handedly reduces the numbers of persons with autism and intellectual disability:
The fact of the matter is that, according to CDC autism expert Dr. Marshalynn Yeargin-Allsopp, persons with autism once constituted the "vast majority" of persons with autism ... until the APA expanded autism by grouping it with PDD-NOS and Asperger's in the DSM-IV group of pervasive developmental disorders now known as the "autism spectrum" reducing the intellectual disabled to approximately 40% of the entire autism spectrum.
The fact of the matter is that, according to CDC surveys in 2004 and 2006 those with intellectual disability still constituted 41-44% of the entire autism spectrum.
The fact of the matter is that IACC member Matthew J. Carey, Ph. D., (Physics), accomplished industrial researcher, provided no sources or authorities for his claim that intellectual disability is a small segment of the autistic population.
Of course in fairness to Matthew J. Carey, Ph. D., industrial researcher, his Neurodiversity beliefs probably didn't allow his purported commitment to "communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism" to function properly.
Amy F.H. Lutz is of the view, as am I, that Neurodiversity misrepresents autism. IACC member Matthew J. Carey's attempts to single-handedly reduce the numbers of intellectually disabled is a very clear example of such misrepresentation.
