Get your Vaccination!

 Local Vaccine Roll-Out Information:

Lane County Public Health has opened up pre-registration for vaccination to all Lane County residents. 

This pre-registration information effort will help populate a centralized database to help vaccinating health partners countywide contact those who wish to be vaccinated and schedule an appointment when they are eligible. 

You can pre-register online in either English or Spanish right now by clicking the link below:

www.lanecounty.org/covidvaccine

Important things to consider when pre-registering:

• We encourage anyone who has internet access to pre-register on the online portal. 
• If you have a friend or loved one who does not have internet access, or has difficulty navigating the internet, we encourage you to please help them by assisting them in pre-registering online.
• We will have phone pre/registration available in the coming days. 
• You only need to pre-register once and by only one method (either phone or online, not both to avoid duplicate entries). 
• If you have already registered with a provider or with your workplace, please DO NOT register again with the County’s database. We are all working from the same information and doing so will slow down our process.  
• If you are part of Phase 1A  and have not heard from Lane County Public Health or a local provider to receive a vaccine, please DO re-register using the new link.
• If you provide an email address you will receive an email confirmation that your registration has been received. 
• Pre-Registering to receive the vaccine DOES NOT mean you will be contacted to schedule an appointment right away. We will still follow Oregon Health Authority eligibility guidelines AND as always, our timeline to get you vaccinated depends on supply. In other words, even if you are eligible it may be some time before we have enough doses to offer you a vaccination appointment. Your patience is deeply appreciated. 
• Please remember, Lane County does not determine which groups are eligible nor the supply of vaccine that is available to administer.
• Once you have pre-registered, we ask that you not call the call center with additional registration questions unless you believe there is a critical error in your registration.  
• This process is NOT first come, first serve. We will be working from the phases and eligibility guidance provided by the Oregon Health Authority.  
• PRIVACY STATEMENT: Some personal demographics will be collected during registration process to identify which phase/group you are in. Information entered will only be used for the vaccination effort and will not be shared outside of the HIPAA compliant partners distributing vaccines. As vaccine becomes available, you will be contacted via your preferred method by Lane County Public Health OR a vaccinating health partner to schedule an appointment.

HERE’S HOW THE REGISTRATION PROCESS WORKS:

Step 1: Register via the online link provided or by phone. Please take your time to answer each question as accurately as possible. 

Step 2: If you register online and provide an email address, you will receive a confirmation email that we have received your registration. 

Step 3: You will receive a weekly, automated email letting you know who is currently eligible and that you are still registered.  

Step 4: When you are eligible and we have doses to vaccinate you, Lane County or a partner agency will contact you to schedule a vaccination appointment via the contact information you provided on the form. 

—

Loretta McNally, Executive Director

KindTree – Autism Rocks

Happy New Year 2021!

This is Tim Mueller, long-time KindTree volunteer and Board member, introducing our new Executive Director Loretta McNally. She will be revitalizing this blog throughout 2021, sharing what we at KindTree are up to, our goals and dreams, and your part in it. Thank you, Loretta, for joining our team!

Loretta brings 20 years of diverse nonprofit management experience with an extensive resume of creative and positive problem solving. She has worked for White Bird Clinic, Animal Rescue Teaching, Seattle International Film Festival, Washington Women’s Employment & Education, Tibetan Cultural Association with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the 2002 United States Winter Olympics, and more. In addition, she is a crew coordinator with the Oregon Country Fair and the parent of a daughter living with disabilities.

Loretta is excited to bring her skills and energy to our team of dedicated volunteers and staff as we grow our presence in the community. With the assistance of Charli Overman, STiLE Coordinator, the organization will be focusing on expanding our Skill Training for an Independent Living Experience (STiLE) Program, our Art Program, and of course our unique and essential Friends & Family Camp, coming up on its 24^th year. The organization is looking forward to hosting Social Skill Building Fundraisers and developing strong working relationships with our community.

Most importantly, Loretta shares KindTree – Autism Rocks core belief, that providing an environment of acceptance and respect for all people, and freely giving each individual the support they need to succeed, is the true key to unlocking the hidden talents, strengths, and potential in all of us that lead to a successful and happy life.

We look forward to a long and productive relationship, and hope you will follow this blog to get to know her and what KindTree is up to! Autism Rocks!

The Importance of Service Dogs and Why We Should Include Them and Their Handlers in Our Community

Amber Perry wrote a wonderful article about the KindTree Autism Rocks camp, a fun and relaxing trip where autistics "can just be themselves, free to stim, socialize with others without having to worry about ridicule or having any kind of authority forced on them, eat food that suits their dietary needs, enjoy plenty of arts and crafts and other activities to ground them and exercise their never-ending minds." I've gone twice before and it was a lot of fun, just as her article describes. I was excited to volunteer this year. I want to get more involved in the autism community, and of course thought this was a great way to do it. I was, however, disappointed to find out I would not be able to volunteer, or even go at all. It is upsetting to find out that a community that prides itself on being accepting of all types of people, can truly fail to be.

I wasn't allowed to go because the camp doesn't permit service dogs.

          When I attended camp years before I didn't have my service dog yet. A service dog is a dog which is trained to do specific tasks that aid a disabled person. A service dog, by law, must be allowed to go with their owner anywhere the public is allowed. Camp Baker Boy Scout camp is where KindTree's retreat is held, and due to some loopholes in the law the Boy Scouts are legally able to ban service dogs because they identify as a private club. This is like banning a person with a cane, or a wheelchair, or insulin to treat diabetes. And because the Boy Scouts have decided to grant KindTree’s Autism Rocks camp access to Camp Baker, it leaves little leverage for KindTree to advocate on behalf of its community members for ADA law without risk of dislodgement.

          Service dogs are a life-saver for thousands of people with a variety of disabilities. These dogs can be trained to smell the breath of a diabetic in order to assess their glucose level. They are trained to open doors, pick things up, aid in balance, alert people of imminent seizures, and call for help. They can provide a focus point for someone who is overwhelmed by their environment or events going on; this is called grounding and it's what my dog does for me. From an outsider’s view it looks like an excited puppy jumping up and down, being extremely adorable, and licking my face continuously. But even though T’Pol is an incredibly cute dog she has been trained to act that way. She is small, and easily fits onto my chest where she is trained to lay down just beneath my chin so she has perfect access to kiss my nose. When T’Pol does this I can focus on her, ignore the world, try to get my head together, and enjoy life.

We are all familiar with meltdowns. Sometimes our brains just can't deal with the overload of information the world offers. I have found, personally, that I can't focus on just something, but my sentient 3lb ball of furry energy can force me to focus by going, "Hey! They don't matter! Look at me! I'm so cute and soft!" I can sit and concentrate on her and then after a short time get back in there and deal with that horrible bright light called sunshine and those awful florescent bulbs. I can cope better when my neighbor decides he enjoys blasting "music" with overly heavy bass at odd hours, and I can make it through all the different kinds of social interactions I’m presented with without shutting down and running away. A simple addition of a fuzzy friend in a blue vest (not required by law, but often used to mark service dogs) is all I need to calm down instead of freaking out to the point of exhaustion, resulting in the need to sleep for the next 6 hours or more.

Not everyone on the autism spectrum uses service dogs, but many do for issues caused by autism as well as other disabilities not connected to autism. They are part of the autism community, but they are not welcome at this amazing, so-called accepting retreat so many of you look forward to all year. The Boy Scouts have been in the news numerous times for discriminating against a variety of people. Most likely you have heard about the lawsuits pertaining to the LGBTQ community, however there are others affecting wheelchair users, blind and deaf folks, as well as Down Syndrome and other disabilities.

I understand why KindTree felt they couldn’t press the Boy Scouts to support ADA law so I could attend this year. They had all of you to protect too. The needs of the many can certainly outweigh the needs of a few, but sometimes the needs of a few represent the needs of the many, and their rights. Should we be having our most beloved event held at place owned by such an unaccepting, discriminatory group? I don't have a solution. It’s a tough thing; where else would we have the retreat? I am sure it would take some searching, but I have to believe there are other places where everyone truly will be accepted.

As we continue to learn and advance and grow as an autism community, so will the tools we use to help us navigate life, like service dogs, giving us a wider degree of access and security in our crazy world. I will not be the last person to be denied access to an otherwise safe and accepting place I have every right to be. I sincerely hope we as a community find a path that allows the freedom we’ve fought so hard to find come to fruition for everyone, fairly and equally.

What Autism Is Not: 10 Myths About Autism

Autism awareness has increased several times over in the last two decades. Autism is now a household word. This awareness, however, has not significantly decreased some of the misconceptions about autism.

It's easy to find material about what autism is. You probably already know a fair amount. It's a developmental disability marked by deficits in communication and social navigation, as well as displaying intense, narrow interests.

Unfortunately, it can be more difficult to find information about what autism is not. That's what I would like to focus on in this piece. I've chosen ten of the most destructive myths about autism.

1. Autistic people do not experience empathy.

Let's start with one of the more pervasive myths. This is still frequently quoted by experts when describing autism. However, it's simply not true.

Empathy is usually described as the ability to copy another person's emotions. Doing this correctly requires at least some understanding of how th other person's mind works. That is always more difficult when the other person has a different neurotype.

It may appear that autistic people have more trouble with that because most of the people around us have minds that work different from ours. Once we can learn how the neuronormal mind works, empathy becomes much easier, and in fact, it tends to be easier with other autistic people.

2. Autistic people do not experience emotions.

Perhaps the root of this myth has to do with the fact that autistic people, especially children, do not tend to use nonverbal communication the same way as the people around them. This means that we tend to show emotions in different ways that most people are not used to seeing. In addition, the same situation will often trigger different emotions in autistic people from what it might cause in a neuronormal person.

3. Autistic people can't form relationships.

From what I can tell, most autistic people do place more importance on our own personal interests than other people. However, that does not mean that relationships, whether familial, friendship, or romantic, are any less important to us.

Don't forget that a relationship is a two-way process. If an autistic person is interested in pursuing a relationship with a person, and the other person is willing to reciprocate, autistic people can and do form meaningful relationships with others.

4. Autism is usually accompanied by an intellectual disability.

There have been times when the majority, or even all, of recognized autism diagnoses came with an intellectual disability. For a time, that was even part of the definition. It was reinforced by the fact that autistic children were often institutionalized and placed in a setting where learning opportunities were not present.

With the recognition of “high-functioning” autism and the addition of Asperger's syndrome, we know that autistic people are often quite intelligent. In fact, upwards of 70% of recognized cases of autism have no intellectual disability.

This has also led to a belief that all autistic people are geniuses, which is equally untrue. We are all individuals, and each of us is different. Autistic people exist along the entire range of human intelligence.

5. Autistic people are all the same.

This usually takes the form of, “I've seen [insert TV show or movie here],” or, “My [insert relation here] is autistic, so I know all about autism.” It can even take the form of, “I'm autistic, so all autistic people can be like me.”

The truth is that there appears to be several different kinds of autism. Even within that, we're all individuals. Each of us has different abilities and different needs. Some of us struggle with things that others find easy. A common saying in the Autistic community states that “if you know one autistic person, you know one autistic person.”

6. There is a normal child trapped inside an autistic shell.

This can be a particularly destructive myth. It's typically quoted by those claiming to provide a cure or a miracle treatment, playing on parents' desperation. It often leads to parents focusing so much on trying to save their child from being swallowed up by autism that they forget to build a relationship with their child.

The truth is that building a relationship is the most important thing you can do. Nurturing the child's interests, planning activities with the child, and just generally having fun are the best ways to cause the child to open up and grow as a person. The child will always be autistic, but that doesn't have to be a setback.

7. There is something in the environment that caused autism or aggravated symptoms.

Whether it's vaccines, lead, smoking while pregnant, or any number of others, something must have caused this autism.

In all likelihood, autism appears to be genetic. Unfortunately, the myth of an environmental cause often diverts resources away from needed supports and services, and directs them instead to trying to find the source of the autism. It can also lead to some off the same problems caused by myth #6 in this list.

This myth is also built on the next one:

8. There is a massive autism epidemic.

Autism rates have increased from 1 in 10,000 in the 1960's to 1 in 68 now. That's a huge increase.

For this, it's important to recognize the difference between autism and an autism diagnosis. The definition of autism has increased dramatically since it was first described by Leo Kanner. The vast majority of us are in a part of the spectrum that wasn't even recognized in most of the world until the 1980's, and wasn't broadly known by professionals until the 1990's.

Furthermore, several studies have shown that when you use consistent definitions across the generations, there appears to be no significant increase.

9. Autism is a childhood disorder.

Autistic children grow up into autistic adults. It should seem obvious when you think about it. The problem is that most people don't think about it. That can lead to inadequate services for adults.

10. Autistic people can't achieve success.

This is usually based on the idea that there are no benefits to autism. We have plenty of advantages that we can use. Logical thinking, intense focus, and attention to detail, just to name a few. Additionally, as I've said before, we're all different, and we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. If given a chance, there is no reason an autistic person can't succeed in life.

I've had to condense most of these to fit them all in one piece. If you want to know more about any of them, keep checking back, or read any of the many other autistic bloggers out there. I look forward to exploring these myths further, as well as other autism-related thoughts, in the future.

Autiism in girls vs boys

            At he risk of sounding sexist, when I read this article my first thought was of course they are going to look at boys more than girls. Girls are supposed to be quieter and shy. Boys are expected to noisy and active, if they don't, parents and doctors rush to his aid and try to fix the problem, lest the boy grow up to be different. There's a lot of social politics about how a child develops, especially boys.

            Another problem the article points out, is how long it took for girls to be properly diagnosed. They just didn't see the significance of the girls behavior. Again, less attention is paid to girls.

             Think I'm exaggerating? I wasn't diagnosed until I was fifty, the psychologist merely confirmed what I told him and despite having friends who had it or had children with ASD, no one saw it in me.

             "But you act so normal," they explained when I questioned them. Yes, after decades of imitating neuronormals as a coping skill.

            The Lesson here is that adults need to get past gender expectations and pay attention to girls as much as boys or it will lead to the stress of undiagnosed girls struggling to develop or fit in.

           

Say Thank you instead of I'm Sorry

This is excellent advise for those on the spectrum. Try it.

http://brightside.me/article/stop-saying-sorry-if-you-want-to-say-thank-you-a-seriously-insightful-cartoon-57255/

Aren't We All A Little Bit Autistic?

You seem pretty normal. Aren't we all just a little bit autistic? What is normal? Labels go on soup cans.

You may have heard some of these before. If you have an autistic friend, you've probably even said them. In all likelihood, you meant to be inclusive and open-minded. After all, your friend isn't that different from you. Right? It doesn't make sense to slap a different label on them.

While this mindset doesn't go entirely unappreciated, many of us in the Autistic community feel that it's dismissive of the different challenges we face on a daily basis. Even those of us who might appear on the outside to be mostly normal have worked hard to be able to function in a neuronormal world.

For many of us, the difficulties are primarily centered around communication and social norms. These are things that do not come naturally to us. That's not to say we can't learn those skills. It just takes conscious effort for us.

The truth is that we autistic people are very well aware of our differences. Most of us have come to terms with them, and are not ashamed of them. Most of us have no problem with others acknowledging that those differences exist. In short, there would be no word to describe the differences if the differences weren't there.

What about severely autistic people? Surely it's a compliment to say those of us at the Asperger's end of the spectrum aren't like them?

In a word, no. Don't forget that we have the same diagnosis as them, usually for many of the same traits. To compliment someone by saying they aren't like severely autistic people is to say that it's more preferable to be 'normal.' Such statements can make us uncomfortable sharing more about ourselves too.

And let's not forget the people we're making the comparison to. Let's imagine for a moment if someone were to say that at least their friend isn't like you. My guess is that you would find that insulting. It should always be assumed that severely autistic people have feelings and know what's being said about them.

There does appear to be one time when no one seems to want to include themselves on the autism spectrum. That would be immediately following a mass shooting, such as the recent tragedy in Roseburg, Oregon.

Thankfully, the news media has made a decision to not mention autism in a story without some degree of relevance. When autism is mentioned without an explanation of relevance, most people will determine the relevance on their own, even when there is none. For example, speculating if a mass shooter is autistic may lead people to believe that autism caused the shooter's actions.

Unfortunately, most pundits and bloggers don't hold themselves to the same standard. In an attempt to understand what led a person to kill several people, some will attempt to diagnose the shooter. Not only is this impossible to do simply from a news story and some vague descriptions from friends and family of the shooter, but it's also highly irresponsible.

Making unprofessional autism diagnoses for mass shooters in an attempt to understand their actions has in the past caused autistic people to be afraid to go to work or school out of fear for how they might be treated. It has also spawned organizations, such as Families Against Autistic Shooters. The world this creates, even though it's temporary, only adds to the difficulties of living with autism, while doing nothing to promote understanding.

In summary, we in the Autistic community have no problem with society recognizing differences between us and those surrounding us. The differences are very real. The problem only comes when those differences are used to explain unrelated behaviors.

Ignoring or fearing difference only drives people further apart. In order to fully integrate the human family, differences need to be understood and celebrated. This is the part where I call for autistic people to be proud of yourselves and educate those around you, as well as for non-autistic people to talk to and learn from your autistic friends and family members. After all, we might have differences, but we're all human beings first.