Ignorance rides again

desertmom · **Ignorance rides again**

I swear, if there was no such thing as freedom of the press, there'd be a lynch mob. I can't believe any responsible place would publish such garbage. This was brought to the attantion of an autism board I'm on.

Thomas Sowell

Idiot.

bonnotsm9 · 09:07 PM

Well I was a late talker, as were my sisters and uncle, NONE of whom are autistic. My dd is autistic- no doubt about it. I certainly wouldn't want to have been labeled autistic just because I didn't talk until late. The boy he uses as an example did not exhibit the other signs of autism, it was only his failure to speak that generated the dx. He was speaking to a small segment of the population who do not speak until later but do not exhibit other signs of autism, yet are labeled autistic anyway. I think his point was valid, but the article wasn't perhaps fleshed out enough to make that obvious to someone who hasn't read his book Late Talking Children. FWIW, I read that book and decided to take my dd in to be evaluated for autism because she didn't fit the description of a late-talking child, but did have all the symptoms of autism.

I also don't like how some members of the autistic community seem to think they own the disorder and Heaven help anyone who thinks even slightly differently than they do. It's tacky to call him an idiot and suggest a lynch mob go after him just because you don't like his point of view.

desertmom · 07-22-2008, 06:07 AM

This guy actually has a history and reputation for this. And...I agree that talking late is in NO WAY a sign of, or even a reason to be tested for autism, as there are a host of other symptoms. I was reading more today of these people who just say discipline them, smack them when they are loud and make them sit down when they tantrum. Fortunately, my son wasn't one of the tantrumers (my daughter is!), but I've seen the parents who have to deal with this, along with their children. Discipline won't work, and will have the opposite affect.

I think it's interesting that you got something different out of that article than I did, especially knowing how close this is to you, too. Not good or bad, but just interesting, and shows how our slant (or even mood/experience from the day) affects our openness to some of the media.

But I do take exception to your comment about "owning" the disorder. If only. If I owned it, I could choose to disown it. Instead, I deal with it. Every day. And I am not nearly the only one of this opinion on this piece.

bonnotsm9 · 01:20 PM

I think his reputation comes from people in the autism community who don't like his book. These are the people who seem to think they own the disorder. They just can't seem to get it through their heads that he is talking about kids who aren't autistic but just talk late. If a child doesn't have the rest of the symptoms of autism, why dx him/her as so? It does irk me that a part of the autism community feels they have the right to demonize him and try to shut him up, simply because, imo, they feel that his opinions detract from their kids' disorder. If there are autistic kids and a seperate segment of merely late talking kids, let them co-exist, let them both be correctly diagnosed.. He should be allowed to talk about them without such an outcry from the autistic. To me it seems as if some parents of autistic children are saying, "he can't talk about the late-talking kids because it takes away from my kid. My kid is more important than those other parents' kids. Besides, I think they should be called autistic just for merely talking late."

And I do think that calling someone names and suggesting violence against him is trying to "own" the disorder. Or at least the criteria for who gets the dx. It's still tasteless. And that goes for everyone else who has the same opinion that treating him that way is okay just because they don't like what he's saying. It smacks of middle school bullies. Just because you all agree doesn't make your actions any less offensive.

That's the chief reason I don't go to any autism boards anymore. It's stuff like this. Someone posts an article like this and runs down the author. Then everyone else jumps on board. When they are finished skewering the author, then they'd go on to badmouthing all the parents they know from real life or other boards who may agree with some or all of the article.