Autism Speaks: I was Wrong.

[SirNitram]

It's dehumanizing, very simply. You're not a person, you're some fairie monster. I truly fail to see what calling out this kind of stuff is so objectionable. Or do we pretend that this stuff never affects the child?

[General Havoc]

I literally do not see what is dehumanizing from that passage. It smells of desperation, I grant, but what parent doesn't see their child in some kind of fantastical terms? Moreover, bad writing aside, the metaphore is simply not that objectionable to me. There is a process going on inside the child's head that the parent cannot understand, that nobody can understand. She is not advocating anything in it, she is describing her fear at what is happening to her child.

I absolutely do not see a single thing objectionable in that passage. If you do, that's fine, but I just don't see it.

EDIT: All right, I read it over a few more times... I think I'm starting to see what you're talking about (maybe). I still don't find it objectionable.

[SirNitram]

It's not the worst I've seen(That's typically when they're saying stuff like this or worse in front of the kid.) but it reeks too heavily of the constant dehumanization of not just this disorder, but others. Yes, I'm certain it's desperation and even honest. But that's a scary path to be on. It's the mentality that led to the worst forms of Aut treatment, before geneticists got involved and began doing real work, but it's also the source of why Lovaas' ABA/IBI methods were used on homosexuals, and a host of other atrocities through history. Once it's okay to dehumanize an Undesirable if you're honest, I get nervous memories of what happens to the Undesirables. Maybe we live in a more enlightened age. I hope so.

[FickityTwists]

I dont think its a bad thing to want the best for your child. To want to protect them from something that is effecting thier life.

What I dont like is ABA therapies. Its very ridgid.
You remove ALL distractions from a room in the house and put things like a desk and other learning apperatis in the room. The child is then FORCED ( by rewarding them for sitting and staying like told) to stay there. There is no playing, no fun, no laughter.
As a parent, there is nothing I wouldnt do to help him on his journey. Help him to be able to figure out how to regulate his behaviors, so he can go on feild trips and stay over at a friends when he gets older.
Help him be able to communicate with the world around him using words and sign language.
Nothing I wouldnt show him or do to help him understand that it is okay to ask others for help, an item he wants or even just carry on a normal conversation with them.
But, I have an upperhand on most parents. I went to school for simular psychological disorders. Though I did only a breif study of ASD in children, I am able to use that to avoid the " cure all" solutions and treatments that other parents fall victim too.
There are parents out there that think " I WISH MY CHILD WERE NORMAL" but most of us just want them to be happy and able to function day to day. Doing everyday childhood things like climbing on playground equipment, going to birthday parties, sleeping at a friends, being able to write their name, throw/catch a ball, socialize in full sentences and be able to know how to say " I AM MAD!" instead of screaming, throwing and shutting down in hysterics. Things that other parents take for granted.
Yes, there are also those parents that say " I want my child back" Or " where has my child gone" but those are expressions. For most children with autism, they can be giving you a hug and telling you things like " love momma" one day, and the next they dont know how to hug or kiss or love the way they did before. I get that. I have seen it happen. But I dont think of it as my child going anywhere or that the person i knew before being gone. I think of it more as them having to work harder to be loving, emotional and caring. They have to work harder to communicate with others. They are still the same person they were before.
Does that make sense?

Nitram, did you hear what Mike Savage had to say about Autistic children?
I went into a complete rage when I heard it. IF you have not seen this yet, do a google search on Mike Savage Autism and read/listen to it.
The fact that this fool said what he did and then tried to take it back is absurd! What a jerk!

[SirNitram]

Nitram, did you hear what Mike Savage had to say about Autistic children?

I can imagine, on the basis it's Mike Savage. He shits on everyone not of his 'tribe'.

[FickityTwists]

Nitram, did you hear what Mike Savage had to say about Autistic children?

I can imagine, on the basis it's Mike Savage. He shits on everyone not of his 'tribe'.

Well, lets just say he took a lot of shit over it. I couldn't beleive he said what he did. I could of brained him.