Jenny McCarthy Effect

This article appeared in the Oct. 2007 ARI e-Newsletter

The Jenny McCarthy Effect
E-mailboxes Overflow Every Time Evan's Mom Speaks Out - and That's a Beautiful Thing

She could have settled into a comfortable private life, cushioned from many of the pains of autism by the grace of her son's recovery. Many of us would have done that in her shoes--no one could have blamed her.

jenny But Evan's mom, actress, bestselling author, and TACA Spokesperson Jenny McCarthy, didn't go there. In the face of open criticism - and in some notable cases, overt hostility in the press - she accepted the heavy burden of spreading the word that autism is treatable.

Humbly manning her booth at the Defeat Autism Now! Conference in Anaheim this month, Jenny shared her hope with other parents (photo, right), met adults with autism, and cuddled with her lovely son, Evan.

Autism is a great leveler. A beautiful face and perfect figure don't provide protection from this disease. And, as anyone who joined us in Anaheim can attest: Jenny really is one of us, another mom on the warpath against autism.

Jenny Takes the Stage
At the Saturday afternoon Parent Session of the Defeat Autism Now! Conference, TACA President Lisa Ackerman (photo, right) took the stage to tell the story of Jenny's admission to the autism community. Like most of us, Ms. McCarthy slunk in terrified and grief-stricken, but she was lucky enough to find other parents on the biomedical path early, exponentially speeding up her child's access to effective treatment.

Jenny responded to Lisa's introduction by sharing her very personal account of both the warmth and hostility she met on her recent media tour. Who could resist the perspective of a fly-on-the-wall concerning the backstage shenanigans of the national talk show circuit? Jenny demystified the process, and made us feel - if only for a moment - empowered.

Few will forget the moment when ARI founder Bernard Rimland's son Mark presented Jenny with his painting, "Puzzled Angel," before a cheering crowd. She thanked him with a kiss (photo, below right) - the admiration was clearly mutual.

Jenny and mark In the 40 days since her book Louder Than Words, A Mother's Journey In Healing Autism was released, Jenny's added her voice to the chorus of parents and clinicians around the world devoted to treating autism. Her message humanizes the effective approaches to autism offered in several books released earlier this year, notably Bryan Jepson's Changing the Course of Autism and Ken Bock's Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies. As a result, our phones ring off the hook, autism websites log record hits, e-mailboxes are jammed with inquiries, and free webcasts meet unprecedented demands. And that is the best news in the world.

Jenny Vows: "I'm Not Done"
For those who were not able to meet her in person at the conference, more opportunities are on the horizon. Jenny has agreed to speak next month in Atlanta at the National Autism Association Conference, Nov. 9.

About Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy is an actress and New York Times best-selling author of Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism. She is the co-founder of teach2talk, which produces educational resources for children which target core speech and language, play and social skills using techniques including video modeling.

Jenny serves as the spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA).

Teach2Talk Videos Offer Play Modeling

The focus of teach2talk™ is a collaboration between a practicing speech language pathologist and the mother of a child with autism, is on developing high–quality educational products for young children in a wide range of chronological and developmental ages which are based on peer–reviewed, evidence–based scientific research, tested and validated in a clinical therapy setting, and making those products available to parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals.

Other books available from Jenny McCarthy:



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