I am Bonnie Offit!!

Yes, It's true. I am, in reality, the wife of Dr. Paul Offit. JB Handley, one of the heads of Generation Rescue and Age of Autism, has put forth a challenge to blogger Sullivan, accusing him of actually being me in a post titled "Is Paul Offit's Wife Internet Troll/Autism Father 'Sullivan'?" In response, other bloggers, like Orac and Kev Leitch have tried to claim that they are me, but don't be fooled. I've finally decided to come clean, to keep Sullivan from unwarranted attacks.

How did this all start, though?

Well, Liz Ditz left this comment at Squidalicious:

Sullivan (who, like you, I know in real life) writing at Left Brain Right Brain, links to this post

http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2010/03/holly-robinson-peete-on-huffington-post/

Two of her points I found particularly important:

#4 -- the lag in diagnosis & treatment for African American, Asian and Hispanic children

#7 -- There are many adults with autism, some diagnosed in adulthood.

Apparently, Mr. Handley mistakenly thought she was referring to Sullivan with the "her" pronoun. Liz sent me an e-mail this morning letting me know about Handley's post and clarifying that she was referring to the individual who actually made the points, namely: Holly Robinson Peete. I can understand how Handley might make the error he did, which led him to look for evidence to support his already firmly held belief.

Mr. Handley doubts that Sullivan is the parent of an autistic child because:

* I have yet to see a single post where Sullivan mentions her autistic child in any material way or reveals anything about the pain of caring for an affected child.

Yet later on, he quotes a fax from Sullivan:

It is with great dismay that I, a parent of a young child with autism

Handley also offers up his disbelief that Sullivan is just a layperson, because Sullivan speaks quite well on complex medical topics and shows a good understand of Dr. Offit's my husband's financial compensation for his rotavirus vaccine. Handley seems to stagger under the notion that if he can't understand something, then no other laypersons can understand them, either, ergo they must be a scientist. Furthermore, if his buddies Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted can't do quality investigative reporting to find what Sullivan found by doing a minor amount of research, then Sullivan simply must be Paul's wife.

One thing I'd wonder, though, is why, if Sullivan were Bonnie me, would he need to e-mail Paul about issues, instead of just talking at home?

Oh, I liked this little bit from Handley:

Evidence #5: Sullivan knows what’s in Paul Offit’s new book, Deadly Choices, even though it hasn’t been released yet

Sullivan writes:

While the word “autism” doesn’t appear at all on the Amazon.com page for the book, it will come as no surprise that the autism/vaccine parent groups play a prominent role in the book’s discussion of the modern anti-vaccine movement.

Dr. Offit’s books get read. By important people. I have little doubt this one will too.
As I said with my discussion of Panic Virus, there is no joy in realizing that some of the vocal autism-parent groups are being chronicled in this way. There is, however, relief that books such as these signal that perhaps the worst is over. The public and the press are no longer giving the idea of the vaccine-induced-autism-epidemic the credibility it enjoyed only a year or two ago.

The book isn’t out until January? Why does Sullivan already know what’s in it?

Perhaps a look at the full title of Paul's book would help: Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All. The description on Amazon includes:

Deadly Choices is the story of anti-vaccine activity in America—its origins, leaders, influences, and impact—and is a powerful defense of science in the face of fear.

In light of the info available at Amazon, perhaps the fact that organizations like Age of Autism are dominant in the anti-vaccine movement may have prompted Sullivan to make the connection.

Handley:

What does Sullivan, a layperson father of a child with autism write about? Hannah Poling, Barbara Loe Fisher, Andy Wakefield, Generation Rescue, and Jenny McCarthy.

Hmm. I've written about all of those, too. See! I really am Bonnie!

You know, JB is really just making a sad attempt to "out" Sullivan and Bonnie Offit myself. In painting Sullivan as being, in reality, me, he is trying to goad Sullivan into revealing his identity. A secondary motive is to "out" me, which I guess he has succeeded at, since I've revealed my true identity here.

Well, Mr. Handley, you've succeeded in half of your goal. Hopefully Sullivan can relax for a bit while you try to dream up some other paranoid scheme.

Addendum: As further proof that I am Bonnie Offit, why else would Kim Stagliano have banned me from Age of Autism? Think about it.

If Handley takes his post down, here's a Google cached version.