Rollens Rages & MIND Responds · 2006-02-08 21:00

A week ago today, several hours after sending a letter to Dr. Robert Hendren, Executive Director of the UC Davis MIND Institute, regarding the misappropriation of the name of that taxpayer-supported scientific institution in the byline of one of Rick Rollens’ histrionic, self-serving, epidemic-flogging editorials, a message from Mr. Rollens appeared in my inbox:

Subject: Autism Epidemic

Hey Diva (or whoever you are): How about coming out of your hole and debating me face to face on the autism epidemic?

It’s about time that you are exposed for what you are..a cowardly, misguided sole, who is so insulated in one’s own world and mind to not even see and recognize the epidemic of full syndrome, regressive, vaccine induced autistic children all around you.

You, nor anyone else, will ever deter or stop my efforts to educate the world about the autism epidemic.

This was my first-ever communication from Mr. Rollens, who seemed to be confusing me with the well-known blogger, Autism Diva. I decided immediately that his outburst did not merit a direct reply. A day and a half later, I wrote to Dr. Hendren.

Subject: Hostile Email from Rick Rollens

Dear Dr. Hendren,

On Wednesday afternoon, I emailed you a lengthy, courteous letter regarding a recent editorial bearing the name of the UC Davis MIND Institute. I addressed the letter to you as Executive Director of this publicly-funded scientific institution, to several MIND research staff members, to MIND board members with medical credentials, and to a McGill University researcher mentioned in the letter. I did not address or send a copy of my letter to the author of the editorial, Rick Rollens, because I have no desire to engage him; he is entitled to his personal opinions.

It appears that either you or another recipient forwarded my letter to Mr. Rollens, because I received the following email on Wednesday evening:

[here I quoted Rick Rollens’ email in full]

I look forward to a response from someone authorized to speak on behalf of the UC Davis MIND Institute, addressing the substantive questions I raised in my letter—something that cannot be said for this hostile, aggressive, personally insulting message from Mr. Rollens.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Seidel
neurodiversity.com | honoring the variety of human wiring

The next morning, I received the following message from Dr. Hendren.

Subject: Re: Hostile Email from Rick Rollins

Dear Ms. Seidel,

I did send your email to Rick Rollins to ask if he was representing himself as a spokesperson for the MIND Institute as suggested in your email. He assured me that he was not. As you point out, he has a right to his own opinion as a parent, advocate, and founding father of the MIND Institute. The article you pasted in your email has been circulated widely all without the attribution of the MIND Institute after Rick’s name as it was in your email.

I have appointed a Task Force at the MIND Institute to review the available material and render a position statement about the veracity of the expression “autism epidemic” which will hopefully address the issues you raise.

Sincerely,

Robert L Hendren, DO
Professor of Psychiatry
Exec. Director, M.I.N.D. Institute
Chief, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UC Davis

It was good to learn that an official response is forthcoming. I replied:

Dear Dr. Hendren,

Thanks very much for your email. I look forward to the Task Force’s reply.

The article that I cited in my letter, including the byline, “An editorial by Rick Rollens, MIND Institute,” appears online at:
http://www.onibasu.com/archives/am/160756.html
and
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/message/160756

Sincerely,

Kathleen Seidel

That evening, Mr. Rollens raged at me again:

Dont you get it?? Although I wrote and, as always stand by every word that I write, I have NEVER sent out one of these autism epidemic quarterly reports, which by the way I have been doing since 1998, as anything other as from me, Rick Rollens at rrollens@a[...].

Iam so well known in the autism community world wide for all my accomplishments and dedication to justice for the suffering victims of the autism epidemic that there is no need for me to associate my name to any one of the dozens of organizations and autism causes I have created, help create, support, or been deeply involved with. I have been associated at one time or another by others with nearly all of vast array of achievements and associations I have made over the years.

You should know first hand how someone can add or change things that are in the public domain. Having read enough of the Diva’s fiction, rewriting of autism history, misrepresenting the facts, and flat out being just plain wrong, I know you understand just how this is done.

Mr. Rollens is indeed well known in the autism community. He is well known for his public presentations, the announcements for which often prominently feature the name of the UC Davis MIND Institute. He is well-known for his periodic dissemination of press releases aimed at persuading the general public that the world is being overwhelmed by a virtual tidal wave of children made autistic by routine vaccinations.

Mr. Rollens is also well known for his influence on the public relations materials emanating from the MIND Institute. This influence was readily discernible in a March 2005 MIND Institute press release luridly entitled, Autism Epidemic Creates Interest In Potential Mercury Poisoning Links, the subject of my previous letter to Dr. Hendren. Rollens’ hand is also evident in the professionally produced Cold Hard Facts advertising campaign. The text for one print ad in that campaign included the statement:

The MIND institute is a collaboration of parents, doctors and scientists seeking to save children like Jorge from this epidemic….

Out of curiosity, I ran a Google search for instances of the phrase “autism epidemic” that occur on websites bearing the extension .edu. In spite of the current popularity of the phrase in statements emanating from autism=poisoning crusaders and media accounts informed by those crusaders, relatively few instances occurred on university sites. The vast majority were references to Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic, by David Kirby; Prof. Morton Ann Gernsbacher’s article, Three Reasons Not to Believe in an Autism Epidemic; and a recent lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, Origins of the Autism Epidemic, given by Andrew Wakefield, instigator of the MMR panic in the UK. Several articles in student newspapers employed the phrase, as did a few reproductions of articles from the popular press. Overall, academics and medical professionals tend to surround “autism epidemic” with scare quotes, referring to popular beliefs and the ongoing vaccine controversy. Examples include the title of a 2004 Columbia University lecture, Autism Epidemic: Fact or Artifact, and a presentation given this afternoon at Duke University, Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: Social Origins of a Medical Controversy.

All in all, there seem to be few academics or medical professionals (save for those who market certain biomedical treatments for autism) who publicly use the phrase “autism epidemic.” I would hope that the Task Force appointed to consider the concerns I addressed in my letter to the UC Davis MIND Institute will see the wisdom in henceforth eschewing the kind of lurid, unprofessional scandalmongering so favored by the not-so-gracious Mr. Rollens.

Comments


  1. Thank you Kathleen! — Jonathan Semetko    2006-02-08 22:53    #

  2. Suffering victims? Autism Epidemic? To paraphrase Hermann Goering, when I hear the words “Autism Epidemic�, I reach for my revolver.

    NOT REALLY. It’s in the other room, and other people’s words don’t threaten me enough to make me feel the need to arm myself.

    I must say though, that those words that that Rollens fellow used are so emotionally loaded that they might provoke some people to exceed the limits a prudent grownup applies to his thoughts and actions.

    Stay cool, all. Please? — Justthisguy    2006-02-08 23:05    #

  3. When someone as self important and pompous as Rollens starts ranting incoherently, you can be assured you have him worried.

    Funny how how he thought you were the Diva in his first mail to you and now he claims intimate knowledge of her writings. Thats the kind of accuracy and attention to detail one expects from a man capable of misrepresenting the Califonria stats every quarter. Well done Mr Rollens! — Kev    2006-02-08 23:12    #

  4. Well done Ms. Seidel – period. — Dad_Of_Cameron    2006-02-08 23:36    #

  5. Thank you, Kathleen. — Autism Diva    2006-02-09 00:00    #

  6. Rick Rollens certainly doesn’t speak for me. In fact, I’m not sure that he speaks for any autistic person. He’s a base hate-monger, which not only weakens the position of the argument he tries to sell people, but also makes me wish I’d never been born… just so as to avoid being an abused statistic so long after having been an abused child.

    I’m not impressed with him and I never shall be.

    Time somebody elbowed that idiot out of the limelight. — David Andrews    2006-02-09 02:48    #

  7. Rick Rollens purports to speak for the MIND Institute. There’s no denying it, really. Your citations make it crystal clear.

    I will be interested to see the official statement of the MIND Institute on the question at hand. Thanks for helping bring that about, Kathleen.

    Anne — Anne    2006-02-09 03:50    #

  8. Keep up the good work. We have to keep rattling their cages. — Mike stanton    2006-02-09 16:23    #

  9. He revealed himself and his weakness.

    It is really time we continue to raise our voices against careless and dangerous language that negatively persuades the general public.

    Estee — Estee Klar-Wolfond    2006-02-09 16:47    #

  10. I’m beginning to feel rather sorry for Dr Hendren – definitely the vegemite in this particular sandwich. On one hand there’s the institution that would like to hang onto some credibility and on the other there’s the founding fathers hell bent on using that precarious credibility to score publicity points – the ends justify the means and all that sort of rationalisation.

    I would imagine that Hendren is not in a position to tell Rollens to take a long walk off a short pier. — Alyric    2006-02-09 17:54    #

  11. Kathleen…you can really p*ss of a guy like Rollens by being reasonable, polite and factual. When he gets nutty, be even more reasonable, polite and factual.

    If you do that long enough, he will read one of your messages and in a rage, throw his computer out the window.

    Work on it. :) — TheProbe    2006-02-09 18:20    #

  12. Last night, someone at the MIND institute said to me, “Rollens is a liability.� It wasn’t Hendren, though.

    After hearing me rant about Rollens and the antivax stuff another person said, “I’m pleading the 5th…� In other words, you can’t say much direct and negative about Rollens without possibly dealing with the fallout.

    I don’t know what they can do about the “founding father� effect.

    The sad thing is that the stuff that the extremists say gets into the media and out there to Joe and Jane parent. The stuff that the scientists say that can be aggravating, but at least tends not to be incendiary and immediately dangerous, doesn’t make it into the media so often and is harder to remember than: “staggering tidal wave of small children with autism� (a direct Rollens’ quote).

    I don’t know when this “task forceâ€? is supposed to meet. I did talk to someone who said that s/he had hoped that the problem of the autism epidemic controversy and it’s connection to the MIND “would go awayâ€?. I said, “It’s not going to go away.â€? — Camille    2006-02-09 23:40    #

  13. “cowardly, misguided sole�
    sole

    Whoever ye may be, I don’t think you look like that :)

    “I have been associated at one time or another by others with nearly all of vast array of achievements and associations I have made over the years.�

    Mastering basic grammar is obviously not one of these achievements.

    Sorry, but I can’t respond to such arrogant hysteria with anything other than snark. Probably a personality failing. — MW    2006-02-10 04:58    #

  14. Excellent advocacy effort. :) Keep up the good work! This is just another example of the “Autisticâ€? community needing to correct the “Autismâ€? one. — Ari    2006-02-11 03:57    #