Where's Her Mito Pin???

Hannah Poling's mother at the press conference today...see here.

I am trying to find the complete press conference, please leave me a link should you have it!

From the clip I saw, I am livid. This mother, whose child, let us not forget, has a mitochondrial disease, spoke of how agonizing autism is . She and her husband wore their big puzzle pins (where are the green UMDF pins???????). She speaks of how Early Intervention labeled her as "multiple intensive needs" (which, from what my friends at ECI tell me, words like that are typically left for children who have breathing tubes, multiple disabilities, etc., very rarely used with a child with "autistic features"). and how her husband's heart broke when he realized his daughter may have autism. The same old pity party that tells the world that all of us living with autism in our life are miserable, how we've been cheated, and how desperate our situations are. I am now certain she has been trained by DAN! or whoever on her talking points.

How sad, not only for the autism community, but also for the mito community. This could have been a wonderful time for this family to use the media as a tool for awareness for mito (and raise much-needed funds for a disease that can be fatal).

For what it's worth, Hannah is a beautiful young girl. The camera panned to her, I think in an attempt to show how "injured" she was from the vaccines. Well, for any 9 year old, to sit there quietly with a swarm of strangers and cameras, in a strange place, I think she did amazing! We've all seen politician's children go nuts during press conferences. Could I see some "signs" of autism in Hannah, yes. But, I also saw a child who sat politely (in an outfit and setting, that would probably send both my daughters into distress, btw), was able to unscrew & replace a water bottle lid, and, most importantly, a beautiful girl, with gorgeous red hair, and a contagious smile. She is, like my daughter, full of life.