Misrepresentation of Autism Disorders: Autism Reduced to a Trendy Label?

The DSM5 will formally recognize Autism Spectrum Disorder. This New Autism Spectrum Disorder has actually been used for a while in reference to the various Pervasive Developmental Disorders in the DSM-IV and has helped lead to the banishment from public consciousness of  those with Autistic Disorder and intellectual disabilities, the "full blown" autistics to borrow terms from both Steven Higgs on whom I commented recently and Michelle Dawson who appeared as an "autistic" before the Supreme Court of Canada in opposition to parents seeking government funded ABA treatment for ... Michelle Dawson ... sorry, my mistake ...  they weren't seeking ABA treatment for Michelle Dawson .... they just wanted to help their own children. 

Michelle's Dawson grandiose, and absurd, pretension of  knowing better than parents of autistic children what was needed for those children has been eclipsed since then only by her own rhetoric, the incredible, sad story of CNN's obsession with Amanda Baggs and of course, the New Yorker Magazine/Obama administration's  belief that the anti-autism cure,  autism is not really a disability,  barely autistic Ari Ne'eman should sit on important disability and autism committees.

The misnamed ASAN, Autism Self Advocacy Network,  founded by the ever skyward Ari Ne'eman (Can a position in the Obama cabinet be far away?) has also helped promote the Ari Career Movement.  Composed of lawyers, researchers, writers, professionals of various stripes it is anything but an Autistic Disorder movement. It  isn't even clear that the ASAN requires an actual PDD or ASD diagnosis for persons to consider themselves "on the spectrum". A more accurate name for ASAN by far would be BARN ... the Barely Autistic Rights Network.

BARN, Dawson, Alex Plank, Amanda Baggs replace actual Autistic Disorder with their own self images, the images of those who can function very well interacting with NY and Toronto  media and Washington  and Ottawa politicians.  "The full blown autistics" living in institutional care or otherwise living restricted lives are not in the minds of decision makers who determine whether funding will be made available for autism treatment, or what kinds of schools or residence accommodations should be available to those with actual Autistic Disorder.

"Stranded", author of the Stranded in Motherhood blog, in commenting on my post about Autism Myths, said it very well:


"urrrgh, make so angry. Khaled wants to be cured. He wants to do things the way he knows other people are doing it, he is frustrated with himself when he cannot focus and his body wont stop moving....he is trapped. We see it in everything he does. And he is only 4! What a load of rubbish about individuals not wanting to be cured. I don't want my child's disorder to be sidelined as just "a difference", he is smart, funny, loving, gentle and severely disabled by AUTISM.


The real autism. Not the "trendy label" shoved down our throats by the media, but the real thing."

Steven Higgs on Autism - One Half Sentence for Autistic Disorder, One Whole Article for Aspergers

Steven Higgs has been a refreshing voice on the autism internet.  He doesn't simply regurgitate the official line on issues and his journalism background and writing skills are always helpful.  When it comes to autism "spectrum" disorders though Steven Higgs does what most in the mainstream media and on the internet do ... he ignores almost entirely those with Autistic Disorder, those most severely affected by autism disorders, and writes an article about the entire autism spectrum of disorders in which he focuses on Aspergers.

In Autism's generation gap, a lesson re-learned Steven Higgs relates his experience, and those of parents of autistic children that he has spoken with, when they realized certain essential truths about "autism".  Higgs mentions ... in one sentence ... his experience with "full blown autism":

"Travis is the first autistic person I've actually conversed with. Over the course of this project I've interviewed a half dozen parents with autistic kids; shaken hands with, observed and photographed a 22-year-old man with Autistic Disorder, also known as "full-blown autism," who lives in a group home in Indianapolis and requires professional care, 24-7; and shared space with (but only caught a fleeting glimpse of) a 15-year-old girl with Asperger's."

The highlighted words in the preceding quote are the only mention of Autistic Disorder in this article about "Autism's" generation gap. The rest of the article is about Aspergers.   Like almost all mainstream media and internet articles the Bloomington "Alternative" journalist's essay is anything but alternative. It is yet another article in which the author talks about autism by taking the easy route, by focusing on the high functioning persons with Aspergers  exemplified by the corporate board members of ASAN  and its leader Ari Ne'eman,  a very intelligent, high functioning person with  excellent communication and social skills, and curiously enough, a diagnosis of Aspergers, who has been appointed,  first by himself, then by his media and political connections, to speak on behalf of the entire purported autism spectrum. From Jim Sinclair to Temple Grandin to Michelle Dawson to Amanda Baggs to Alex Plank to Ari Ne'eman to this  Steven Higgs  article,  the public rarely  sees those most severely affected by autism disorders.

To his credit Steven Higgs at least mentions, albeit in one part of one sentence, the existence of persons with Autistic Disorder  who require 24-7 care.  In itself this brief mentions a bit of autism reality rarely seen outside this, and a few other,  Non Neurodiversity,  autism blogs.

That small mention of someone severely affected by Autistic Disorder is a huge step forward in mainstream media and internet discussions of the alleged  autism "spectrum".  But more is needed to end the misrepresentation of autism spectrum disorders and the banishment of the original, severely autistic from public consciousness. Much more.

Autism Not a Gift for South Carolina Boy Who Jumped to His Death from a Moving Ambulance

"Shelley Hodge said nobody believed her when she protested her 16-year-old son’s release from a state psychiatric hospital, warning that he could hurt himself or someone else. That teen, Ryan Emory of Greenville, was being driven back to the same hospital Sunday when he loosened a gurney’s straps and jumped out of the back of an ambulance as it traveled down Interstate 85, authorities said.

Emory later died at Greenville Memorial Hospital "

- Greenville Online.com, Autistic Greenville High student dies after jumping from ambulance   

The Greenville Online describes an autism reality unlikely to be portrayed on CNN, or  the larger mainstream media generally,  which prefers to focus on feel good stories about high functioning persons with autism and Aspergers and generally ignores the  harsher realities confronting persons with low functioning autism disorders.  Thanks to Claire Danes and the producers of the recent biopic about Dr. Temple Grandin the misleading image of autism as nothing more than a different way of thinking will likely be pushed more and more by a mainstream media that has no desire at all to burden its viewers and readers with darker tales of the dismal life prospects of those for whom autism is a serious disorder.

CNN has posted a video clip of Temple Grandin on its web site opinion page under the title Temple Grandin: why autism is a gift. In the video Dr. Grandin describes yet again her way of looking at the world and, apart from describing her way of thinking in very positive terms, she also offers the widely circulated opinion that Einstein and Mozart were autistic; a claim based purely on speculation .  Many parents of autistic children would disagree with Dr. Grandin and CNN, which has in the past fawned over Amanda Baggs,  a person with an autism disorder diagnosis who once attended a college for gifted youth . Many parents, including me, love our children and find great joy in them,  but live with the reality that our children are not Dr. Temple Grandin,  that  they are much more severely affected by an  autism disorder which  will restrict and impair their lives.  For the sake of our children, we have to be brutally honest when describing their condition to a world that does not always want to hear about the realities confronting those most severely affected by autism disorders.

The Greenville Online article reports that Shelley Hodge said nobody believed her when she protested her autistic 16-year-old son’s release from a state psychiatric hospital, warning that he could hurt himself or someone else:

"The last six months have been particularly difficult, Hodge said.

Emory became more aggressive lashing out at relatives and others, she said. He was in and out of hospitals for fainting spells and his behavior. 

Hodge said that when the psychiatric institute released Emory, she protested plans to send him home.

“I’m like, ‘He’s 250 pounds. I’m afraid for his safety and mine,’”

“And I wrote that on the discharge plan. Hodge said she believed her son’s troubles went beyond autism and that he needed a thorough evaluation and to be in a controlled environment with “24-7 care.”

A state mental health worker told her Emory’s needs weren’t critical enough, she said

(Highlighting added - HLD)

The media, and health care authorities, don't always put much weight on the information provided by parents of children with autism disorders.  A world that  prefers to see autism as just another way of thinking, as the way of  Einstein and Mozart, does not always listen to parents who claim that their autistic child suffers from a serious disorder which causes harm to them and others. Shelley Hodge tired to tell them but it appears that no one listened.

Autism may be a gift for Dr. Temple Grandin. For others, like Shelley Hodge's son Ryan Emory, it is a disorder which can restrict their lives .... and even end them at an early age. You can read more fully about Ryan Emory at Greenville Online. You are unlikely to see his story  on CNN.

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Neurodiversity's Extremist Autism Cure Opponents - By What Right Do They Object?

The declaration has been made by celebrity "autists"or "autistics" like Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs, Ari Ne'eman and various Neurodiversity bloggers that ""We", persons with autism spectrum disorders, do not want to be cured".

These persons with mild autism spectrum disorders, including Aspergers, routinely declare that "autistics" do not want to be cured, should not be cured, and in fact can never be cured. Their implied claim to omniscience aside, by what right do these people purport to speak on behalf of other people's children, on behalf of people much more severely affected by autism disorders than they with whom they have little in common, and even on behalf of higher functioning autistic persons who oppose their ideological opposition to curing autism?

The same people who object to Autism Speaks, who turn out in massive droves of 5, 6 and even 7 people to protest at large Autism Speaks rallies of thousands of parents and autistic people, and who dwell in the lavish attention of CNN, the NYT, CBC, the New Yorker and other mainstream media outlets, demand the right to impose their ideological opposition to autism cure on my severely autistic son and the children of other people with autistic children. On what grounds do they claim this right?

Do I have the right to demand that Ari Ne'eman seek a cure for his very high functioning Aspergers? Do I have the right to tell Michelle Dawson who excelled in the challenging work environment at Canada Post, appeared as an "autistic" in the Supreme Court of Canada and before a Canadian Senate committee to oppose ABA for autistic children in Canada that she must seek a cure for her unspecified autism spectrum disorder? Do I have the right to tell Amanda Baggs, the author of many very sophisticated disability essays on autism and other medical conditions and the producer of videos depicting what she considers autistic stimming, that she must seek a cure for her autism spectrum disorder?

The answer, of course, is NO. And Ari, Michelle, Amanda and other ideological opponents of curing autism have no right to oppose or interfere with attempts by families, governments and society to cure their own autistic children or to cure those autistic adults like Jake Crosby and Jonathan Mitchell who seek cures for themselves.

I have a message for Ari, Amanda and Michelle: I do not seek to cure you of your Aspergers or high functioning autism disorders. Do not claim the right to speak on behalf of my severely autistic son. You have no right to interfere with efforts by me, or other parents, seeking to help or cure our autistic children. None at all.

Someday, hopefully, even if you do not, the dilettante autism journalists at the NYT, the CBC and other MSM outlets will come to understand that you are interfering with the basic rights of families and parents to help their own children.

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CNN, CBC and the Amanda Baggs Controversy Site

At least two major and very influential media institutions, CNN in the US, and CBC in Canada, have featured Amanda Baggs as a person with an autism spectrum disorder and presented her views on the nature of autism. Some of her views were also presented by Michelle Dawson, who stated that Ms Baggs was an "autistic", to a Canadian Senate committee that examined autism and autism service delivery in Canada. When media institutions, and advocates like Michelle Dawson, present the views of an individual, in this case Amanda Baggs, as representing an "autistic" perspective do they have a duty to confirm that the person does in fact have an autism spectrum disorder before they do so?

If information surfaces subsequent to their presentation that calls the diagnosis into question do these presenters have a duty to correct, confirm or qualify their presentation of the individual as being an "autistic"? If that individual's views on autism are likely to affect public perception of the nature of autism disorders and public policy on provision of autism services should there not be a follow up from those that have presented her views as representing an autistic perspective?

In the case of Amanda Baggs serious questions have been raised about whether she is autistic or not and about the veracity of information about her life that she has presented to the world. A detailed account of information contradicting Ms Baggs personal accounting of her life as an autistic person can now be found on line at a blog site called Amanda Baggs Controversy.

The author of the ABC blog is anonymous. The blog does provide links and references, including to on line discussion groups in which Ms Baggs has apparently participated over the years . If the entries were in fact made by her, they show that she has presented herself as suffering from many mental health disorders, other than autism spectrum disorders, over the course of her life. The disorders from which Ms Baggs has allegedly claimed to be suffering from over the years include Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder), Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression.

In her presentation to the Canadian Senate anti-ABA activist and autism researcher Michelle Dawson quoted Ms Baggs from one of the latter's videos:

"I am a non-speaking autistic woman. While I do not agree with functioning labels, I have been labelled low-functioning"

The Amanda Baggs Controversy site references a number of personal testimonials purporting to contradict those statements and indicate that Ms Baggs was in fact a very capable speaker. Internet writings purportedly authored by Ms Baggs are provided in which she talks about discussions she has had in the past, and an admission by her that it is her voice heard in one of the videos. There are several testimonials referring to earlier periods of her life and her very high functioning abilities demonstrated during those years.

Amanda Baggs, in her video productions posted to the Internet, on her blog site and in the quotes of her comments made by Michelle Dawson to the Canadian Senate committee, often uses the "Royal We" in describing autistics, purporting to speak about how "autistics" think, feel, exist in the world. I have been a long time critic of CNN and CBC for featuring her as representative of autistic persons who offers the insights of an autistic person. With the many people who suffer from Autisic Disorders in the world CNN felt it appropriate to present Ms Baggs and her views of autism on multiple occasions. Her rehearsed Internet videos do not resemble autistic behavior that I have seen as the father of a severely autistic 13 year old boy or as an autism advocate who has had interaction with a number of persons with Autism and Aspergers including some autistic persons living in institutional care but I acknowledge that I am not qualified to challenge her ASD diagnosis.

I do though think that it is incumbent upon organizations such as CNN and CBC, who have presented Ms Baggs as an autistic person whose views about the nature of the disorder should be considered by the public and by public policy makers, to follow up on their own journalistic representations given the existence of this public controversy. These organizations should interview her again, the persons who have provided information contradictory of her personal life claims and the professionals who have treated her over the years to confirm, refute or qualify what appear to be well documented claims such as those presented at the Amanda Baggs Controversy site.

CNN and CBC have told us that Amanda Baggs is autistic and we should listen to her views about autism, autism treatment and services and public understanding of autism. If their characterization of her as being a person with an autism disorder, or the facts of her personal narrative, are found to be incorrect ... or if they are confirmed ... those results should be presented to the public and public policy makers for consideration.

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Autism Severity

The DSM V committees drafting revisions to the manual are considering distinguishing between autism disorders based on severity or level of functioning. Some autism "self" advocates have long complained about distinguishing between functioning levels of autism disorders based on functioning labels - HFA, high functioning autism, or LFA, low functioning autism. Some object to the division of autism disorders according to severity.

The DSM-IV already implicitly recognizes these differences by specifying with respect to Aspergers Disorder that:

D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

Language, cognitive development, age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction and childhood curiosity about the environment are all basic elements of functioning in the "environment" .... in the real world. By definition persons with Aspergers Disorder diagnoses do not lack these important elements of real life functioning ability. The criteria for Autistic Disorder by contrast is based in part on the presence of some or all of these components of real life functioning. The persons who suffer from Autistic Disorder are by definition more severely affected by autism deficits than persons with Aspergers Disorder.

My son Conor is severely autistic. That is a fact of life with which we have to deal every minute of every day. He does not possess the communication skills or understanding of the world displayed by Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs or Ari Ne'eman. These people can communicate with the world and demonstrate intellectual skills and understanding of the world far beyond what can be imagined for my son. It is silly, just plain silly, and nothing more than that, to pretend that there are not significant differences in functioning levels and understanding between these three examples of high functioning autistic persons who have spent much time in front of television cameras articulating their views of autism disorders and the world and my 13 year old son who reads Dr. Seuss and can not, for his own safety, be left unattended.

As I understand from the Internet Ms Baggs was either at, or about to enter, a college for gifted youth at a similar age. Ms Dawson is a person who, in addition to being an excellent letter carrier in the very challenging world of Canada Post, was able to become an autism researcher, make representation to the Supreme Court of Canada (where she opposed government provision of ABA treatment to autistic children) and to a Canadian Senate committee examining autism treatment and funding issues. Ari Ne'eman is the head of an organization based in Washington DC who regularly appears before cameras, and meets with political and public bodies, declaring on behalf of all autistic persons, including presumably my son and other autistic persons like Jake Crosby and Jonathan Mitchell, that "they", autistics, do not want to be cured.

As a parent of a much more severely affected son with autistic disorder I am tired of the silly attempts to deny the obvious differences between those who can function well like Dawson and Ne'eman and those like my son who require 24 hour supervision. I have visited adult autistic persons living in psychiatric facilities in New Brunswick who can not function in the real world AT ALL let alone make representations to judicial, political and legal institutions or engage in autism research or advocacy.

My son can not speak to the world. But Ari Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs and Michelle Dawson do not speak for him. They do not share his realities. They are not affected by autistic disorder as he is and they show no real awareness of the very real differences between his reality and theirs in their sweeping generalizations about autism and what "autistics" want.

The DSM V committee attempt to distinguish between levels of autism severity or functioning is a step in the right direction. Look for a determined effort from Mr Ne'eman, Ms Baggs and Ms Dawson, and their followers, to oppose that direction. After all, if the obvious differences between high functioning persons with autism and those, like my son, who do not enjoy their gifts, are expressly acknowledged, the self appointed "self" advocates ability to speak on behalf of those much less fortunate autistic persons would be seriously diminished in the eyes of the public and more importantly in the eyes of reporters from the CBC, CNN, the New Yorker Magazine and Newsweek who cater to their wishes.

Focusing on differences in autism severity would, however, bring needed attention to the challenges faced by the severely autistic some of who currently live out their lives in institutions. A couple of years ago a middle aged autistic woman in New York was regularly abused by staff but could not communicate with the world to tell of the abuse. The matter came to light because of a conscientious staff member and video recordings which captured some of the abuse. The plight of that woman, her life challenges and realities, are much different that those of the high functioning autistic media stars who barely acknowledge the existence of the severely autistic and do not display any understanding of their realities.

If the DSM V does differentiate between autism disorders based on functioning levels, or severity levels, it will be a much needed step toward helping those severely autistic who can not speak for themselves. It will help to ensure that their needs, so different than those of media trotting, high functioning "self" advocates will be met. It will be a much needed step in the right direction.

It is time for the low functioning, severely autistic, to be acknowledged and their needs addressed.

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Autism's Invisible Adults In the New York Times

Congratulations to the New York Times for running a small guest opinion piece about the fate of autistic adults. The article, Growing Old With Autism, is written by Karl Taro Greenfeld, the brother of a low functioning autistic adult and the author of Boy Alone: A Brother’s Memoir. Mr Greenfeld makes the argument that the focus of autism awareness, fund raising and government response has been almost entirely on autistic children. The result has been a lack of resources in critical areas such as residential care and employment opportunities for autistic adults, particularly low functioning autistic adults.

Mr Greenfeld's brother is in his 40's and is low functioning. I am the father of a low functioning 13 year old who, like many parents in that situation, is struggling to prepare for my son's future. I am pleased to see the NYT devote some attention to this serious situation facing autistic adults, particularly low functioning autistic adults.

Mr. Greenfeld quite correctly points out the emphasis on autistic children in today's autism. awareness. Although he talks about his low functioning autistic brother's challenges he does not address directly another issue confounding the problem for low functioning children now becoming autistic adults - the media misrepresentation of autism disorders as being reflected in the realities of persons with high functioning autism spectrum disorders. By and large the media loves to dote on the high functioning autistic and Aspergian media trotters like Amanda Baggs, Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman and Alex Plank. Few mainstream media features are built around the invisible autistics - the low functioning autistic adults living in institutional care or otherwise living very restricted lives dependant on the care of others.

This father of a teen age boy/young man with Autistic Disorder and profound developmental "delays" says thank you to Mr. Greenfeld and the New York Times for this small step towards reminding the world about the invisible autistics, the low functioning autistic adults, the ones who do not attend university, pose for fashionable photo shots in high powered magazines or run from camera to camera shouting "we don't want to be cured".

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Autism Diagnoses: DSM V Should Separate Autistic Disorder from Aspergers and HFA

There are two major problems with the current DSM categorisation of Pervasive Developmental, or Autism Spectrum, Disorders. One is the lack of any relevant distinction between Aspergers Disorder and those with higher functioning PDD-NOS and autistic disorders.

The other DSM problem which generates much unnecessary conflict is the inclusion of these various disorders on a "spectrum".

This inclusion of substantially different disorders, with wildly different challenges, in one "spectrum" of disorders implies that the very serious challenges of persons with Autistic Disorder who lack a fundamental understanding of the world, who have very limited abstract thought and who have very little in the way of communication skills are somehow fundamentally similar to persons with good to excellent facilities in all these crucial areas of life.

The intellectual, understanding and communication deficits of the severely autistic should be recognized in a category separate from the high functioning persons who live in the media spotlight and purport to speak on their behalf, even while they deny their existence, and complain that honest description of their realities by loved ones constitutes stereotyping and "pity partying".

Research is resulting in more and more people describing autism in the plural as autism disorders with different causes and different possible treatments. The life realities for those with severe Autistic Disorder are much different than those of Ari Ne'eman, Dora Raymaker, Alex Plank, Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs, Jim Sinclair and other high functioning "autistics" and "Aspergians". The real life challenges of these two groups are very, very different and the DSM should reflect those differences.

As an added bonus if the DSM V modified its autism spectrum as suggested, ASAN and other HFA and Aspergers groups would not have to feel embarrassed by lower functioning, more severely affected persons with Autistic Disorder. My son Conor, who I love dearly, is one of those lower functioning, severely autistic persons that the Neurodiversity crowed is embarrassed by. I speak honestly about his challenges. I do so as the father that has loved and cared for him for 13 years and will do so as along as I am alive. I do not see his autism realities, his real life challenges and prospects reflected in the ideology and rhetoric of the "autism is a culture, a natural variation" crowd at ASAN.

It is time for the DSM to get realistic about the Autism "Spectrum".

It is time to merge High Functioning autism disorders with Aspergers Disorder and separate them from Autistic Disorder.

It is time for the DSM to recognize the importance of levels of ability to function in and understand the world and to reflect those levels in their classification of development disorders.

I say this on behalf of my son with Autistic Disorder and profound developmental delays. I say this as the person with the legal and moral right to speak on his behalf since he cannot.

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Autism Murder Charges - Time To Pull Our Heads Out Of The Sand

In recent days and weeks two severely autistic young men have been implicated in homicides. In one case, a young man with autism has been implicated in the death of his mother who publicly professed her deep love for her son and the joy that he brought to her. In each case the legal process will unfold and determinations will probably have to be made about the competency of the young men charged. The evidence and facts will determine each case, not the opinions of internet bloggers and media editorialists.

In a general sense though both cases, regardless of the outcomes of the legal processes, point to the need to discuss autism honestly, to describe realistically the challenges faced by persons with autism disorders and family members and others who care for them. As the father of a boy with Autistic Disorder, assessed with profound developmental delay I have seen our beloved son injure himself with biting, and expose himself to greater risks by putting his hand through glass windows and wandering off onto busy streets oblivious to the dangers of automobile traffic. I have also watched with dismay the persistent attempts by some persons with high functioning autism and Aspergers Disorder, and some misguided parents of autistic children, to whitewash the unpleasant realities faced by some persons with autism disorders, their family members and caregivers.

The end result, whether it be court proceedings, where I have occasionally appeared on behalf of some persons with Aspergers Disorder, or lives spent in institutions, two of which I have visited here in New Brunswick, Canada, is not always pretty. We do no favors, no favors at all, to the autistic persons in our lives, if we ignore the negative realities faced by some with autism challenges because other persons with higher functioning autism or Aspergers will feel offended.

Jim Sinclair, Amanda Baggs, Ari Ne'eman, Michelle Dawson, Jypsy, Estee Klar, Kristina Chew, Dora Raymaker and other Neurodiversity ideologues take offense whenever someone discusses negative autism realities. They sign petitions, launch media petitions and attempt to suppress any negative imagery or description of the more severe autism challenges. Such suppression will only prevent the development of possible cures and treatments, or prevent the application of existing well substantiated interventions like ABA. In fact Neurodiversity ideologues openly oppose existing, effective ABA and the search for future cures and treatments. Searches for causes and cures of autism are opposed relentlessly and those seeking cures for their own autistic children are villified by Neurodiversity ideologues. Even the reference to autism disorders as medical disorders is verboten.

Neurodiversity ideologues are unlikely to change. Their views are entrenched and tied to their own public careers as professional "autistics" or "enlightened" autism parents. The truth is that they discourage society from addressing the harsher realities of autism by effective therapy, treatment or cure. They help keep members of the public from understanding the full nature of autism, particularly as it affects the most severely autistic. Theirs is a movement whose aim is to keep everyone from facing autism reality. Theirs is a movement which wants society to keep our heads in the sand and ignore autism reality.

The murder charges against two young autistic men who may have had little control over their actions, who may have had no intent as the law, and society generally, understands that term should be a call that we all hear - a call to pull our heads out of the sand.

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Severe Autism and Perpetual Self Injury: 109 Hits Per Hour

109.

As in 109 hits per hour by an autistic child injuring himself/herself. This information was provided as part of a case study reported in a recent Johns Hopkins Newsletter. The study reported that, ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, was used to treat an autistic child who was hitting himself/herself 109 times per hour. The report states that the therapy resulted in a reduction from 109 to 19 hits per hour, permitting behavioral therapy and even attendance at educational programs - a substantial improvement in the child's quality of life.

Apart from the outcome of the ECT therapy, about which therapy Christine has commented and raised some very serous concerns, the perpetual nature of the self injury engaged in by this autistic child shows how utterly absurd the idea is that we can not discuss autism in terms of functioning labels or degree of severity. It is extreme denialism to suggest that a child who injures himself/herself 109 times per hour is not severely affected by his/her autism. It is extreme denialism to suggest that such a child is anything other than low functioning. It is extreme denialism to suggest that a child, or an adult, who injures himself 109 times per hour, who injures himself perpetually, does not suffer from a serious medical disorder. It is extreme denialism to suggest that a person who is perpetually injuring himself, herself does not require treatment and, if possible, a cure.

Ari Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs and Michelle Dawson can appear on CBC, and other ill informed, gullible news media, pretending to speak for all persons with autism, and declare that they do not want to be cured of their autism. But they have no right to make such declarations on behalf of those autistic persons like the child in the Johns Hopkins report who injured himself/herself 109 times per hour until treated.

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CNN Provides Some Autism and ABA Reality

I have been a frequent critic of CNN's coverage of autism disorders, particularly what I saw as Dr. Gupta's fawning over, and multiple interviews with, Amanda Baggs, a person whose autism disorder characteristics many parents do not recognize in their own autistic children. I have to admit though that with Teen's family transformed after autism intervention CNN has shown some of the real challenges, tantrum behavior, self injury, family disruption, that can result from autistic disorders.

Just as important CNN has also covered an intervention by an Applied Behavior Analysis therapist. The story of how ABA helped the Bilson family and their autistic daughter should be must reading for ill informed opponents of ABA. Hopefully Dr. Gernsbacher, Dr. Mottron and their mentor Michelle Dawson will visit the site and try to approach it with an open mind. Their ideological opposition to ABA for autistic children has not been helpful. Hopefully they are still capable of learning.

Full marks to CNN for this autism reporting.

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Stephanie Lynn Keil, An Autistic Person, Offers Some Autism Reality

Today I received an interesting comment from an anonymous poster who pointed out that a previous comment on my site was spam. That exchange jogged my memory of a very kind comment, definitely not spam, that I received a few weeks ago from Stephanie Lynn Keil , an autistic person who, unlike some of the persons who frequent the media circuit alleging that "autistics" do not want to be cured or treated, has a different point of view.

Stephanie has been severely autistic, now considers herself moderately autistic, and lived an institutional life for many years. She provides a realistic perspective on the challenges facing the moderately and severely autistic and offers her perspective on Amanda Baggs and the media circuit autistic celebrities. Stephanie also speaks about her artistic talent which can be seen at her site Stephanie Lynn Keil.

Stephanie's kind, and informative, words to me, which were previously posted on the Study Suggests Post-Natal, Environmental Causes of Autism comment , follow:

Stephanie Lynn Keil said...

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog. I'm 20 and I have severe autism (well, "moderate" now) and it's nice to finally find someone rational. I came to the online world hoping to find others like me but I was very disappointed to find I was one of the very few who actually has autism.

Anyway, I talk very little and have great difficulty with it but can obviously type well so my doctors are now thinking I may have some kind of verbal-oral apraxia. I live with my father and barely leave my house and the only people I communicate with are my family and I barely communicate with them (I recieve disability). I spent years in institutions literally lost in "my own world," hurting myself, pacing all day listening to my headphones, had rigid routines, talking only when spoken to and using words and phrases I borrowed, until I was 18. A doctor told me that at around 17-20 the fronal lobes begin to activate and that this probably helped to contribute to my "breakthrough," along with treatment and helpful people. Makes sense to me since autistic people obviously develop at a much different rate. I call it my "awakening."

Anyway, Conor is lucky to have such a smart and loving father. I'm very naive and I first I believed that Amanda Baggs was telling the truth, but then I realized that it was obviously a fraud. Low-functioning autistic people able to type exist, but Amanda isn't one of them. It's completely illogical and I don't understand why so-called "aspies" and "auties" believe it. Maybe it's because they aren't autistic enough to see the obvious logic and instead want to be a part of a "social movement." I don't even understand Neurodiversity: I don't understand politics or anything social and can't understand how all of these "severely" autistic people understand it either. What's the point? "Autistic community" is an oxymoron. I can't get past that.

Anyway, I go to the local mental health center for treatment (God forbid I get treatment) and am hoping to move into my own supervised community apartment soon. I'm also a savant, which means that everyone in "aspie-land" hates me. I didn't even know I was talented until I was 18, until my "awakening." I never told anyone what I was thinking, it never occured to me because I thought everyone was exactly like me and knew what I was thinking. So, obviously, no one knew and they assumed I was mildly retarded. My favorite thing is art (I also have music, language, hyperlexia and memory) and I'm planning on being a painter because I can't make money doing anything else; art is my passion, or in clinical terms, "obsession." I realize how lucky I am to have savant talents and it makes me sad that no one likes me for it.

Your blog is one of the few autism blogs I read because yours is actually rational. You have a severely autistic child but you're not part of the "mercury" parents and you love your son for who he is and make sure that he recieves good treatment so that he can have the best life possible. Sadly I've found this is a rare occurance. I have a severely autistic couisn whose mother has fallen prey to dangerous treatments. I like your blog so much I may make a painting for young Conor.

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Autism's Outcasts

Parents like Heather R understand that autism is not always Positively Autistic. Her son is one of autism's outcasts:

“ I have a son who is 14 and severely autistic as well. I have had workers in my home with him for 2 years now. They told me it was supposed to be only until we could get him some help. He needs an assessment and a medication overhaul where he went completely out of hand and uncontrollable during puberty. No hospital in n.b can take him. Moncton refused him. I.W.K has been saying for the last year and a half they have no psychologist. I see a psychologist once every six weeks or so and we try something else. One of the medications made him bust through windows another gave him seizures. Right now we have between 10-15 restraints were the workers hold him for from 15-40 minutes of temper tantrums. He wears a helmet so he won't poke out his eyes. Hockey shoulder pads so he won’t bite his arm to shreds. He was bad when the workers first came with severe wounds up an down his arms but the hospital said it was no place for him, so we treated him at home. He also wears towels on his hands to prevent pinching and towels on his legs. My little boy is in crisis and we have no hospital that can even evaluate him. I have been waiting for help for 2 years, how much more can we wait. Sure they'll put him in a house if I can't stand it anymore but they would get him treatment.”

There is in the autism world a large number of autistic persons, like Heather R's son, who are not featured on CBC, CNN or most of the mainstream media with its generally shallow treatment of what are now referred to as the Autism Spectrum of Disorders. (One major exception is the Vancouver Sun with its representative and responsible series Faces of Autism). These autistic persons are Low Functioning, suffer from cognitive impairment, mental retardation or any other term which may be deemed politically correct and many of them live their lives well away from the cameras or public attention. They are not featured in splashy CBC and CNN features. They are autism's outcasts. For them, life is not always Positively Autistic.

Media Exclusion of Autism's Outcasts

The CBC has recently featured, in "Positively Autistic", a handful of persons with High Functioning Autism and Aspergers, very intelligent, articulate individuals who purport to speak for the many Low Functioning Autistic persons even while expressing disdain for the terms High Functioning and Low Functioning. (High Functioning and Low Functioning are terms used throughout the professional studies of Dr. Laurent Mottron also featured on the CBC's misleading effort "Positively Autistic". Dr. Mottron himself has worked with and studied High Functioning Autistic persons and persons with Aspergers).

The CBC, following a path already well travelled by CNN, has featured Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs and other high functioning autistic persons who use the "royal we" in declaring that autism is not a disorder but simply a "natural variation". By this ideology autistic disorders should be celebrated not cured and autistic people do not want to be cured. Attempts to describe the differences between these high profile celebrity autistic persons and the low functioning autistic persons who have difficulty understanding the world are at risk for their lives, and will end up living in the care of others long after parents are deceased is disparaged. The reality of the less fortunate is abandoned for the ideology and agendas of the more fortunate. As for the media itself, it doesn't make for feel good viewing material to see the harsher realities of low functioning autistic persons who live in institutional care or engage in self injurious behavior.

If Peter Mansbridge and the CBC want to practice real journalism they should show the whole balanced picture of autism. For many autism is not "Positively Autistic". For many autistic persons life is not so pretty. The CBC should visit the adult autistics living on hospital wards, or in institutions where they eke out a bleak existence far from the media spotlight enjoyed by the celebrity high functioning autistic persons featured on Positively Autistic. The CBC should talk to the parents who can no longer care fore their adult autistic children and have to give them up to the state.

Autism's Muddled Terminology

The word Autism is used loosely on the internet and mainstream media, and sometimes in scholarly journals and serious professional studies, to refer to any of the disorders listed as Pervasive Developmental Disorders, in the DSM-IV, the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The public, and professionals, often refer to the PDD's as Autism Spectrum Disorders. People with any one of the distinct PDD disorders are often referred to as "autistic". Unfortunately this lumping together of various PDD or autism disorders, and of high functioning and low functioning "autistic" persons, can have negative impacts on the value of research concerning PDD's.

It can also have a negative impact on public awareness of, and understanding of, lower functioning persons with Autistic Disorders, particularly those with serious cognitive deficits. This lumping together has also resulted in some High Functioning Autistic persons (to borrow an expression found in many studies by Dr. Laurent Mottron), and persons with Asperger's Disorder, (Ari Ne'eman founder of the Autism Self Advocacy Network, acutally has an Aspergers diagnosis) purporting to speak on behalf of ALL persons with PDD's, including those lower functioning persons with serious cognitive deficits whose life realities are so drastically different from their own. These "autism self advocates" actually interfere with the attempts of parents and caregivers to obtain services for their own children and adults who can not speak for themselves. The high functioning "autism" self advocates also actively obscure in the mainstream media the very existence of lower functioning autistic persons, persons with serious cognitive impairments - autism's outcasts.

Autism Research - Exclusion of Lower Functioning Autistic Subjects

In The face of Autism research as reflected in the IMFAR looking glass, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 2 (2008) 385–394, authors James M. Bebko, Jessica H. Schroeder, Jonathan A. Weiss, Kerry Wells, Kristen McFee and Gayle M. Goldstein reviewed the abstracts from a major autism conference (IMFAR) from 2004 to 2006. They found an increase in the proportion of studies with preschool or infant participants. There was also a decrease in studies using lower functioning samples, and an increase in studies using Mixed samples. The use of control groups generally decreased, and the use of cognitively impaired comparison groups remained low:

In terms of the functioning level of participants, research in autism has tended to focus in recent years on the higher functioning range of autism (HFA) or those with Asperger Syndrome (AS). According to a meta-analysis of cognitive and behavioral studies by Mottron (2004), over 75% of published studies on autism in 1999–2002 were comprised of participants with no identified cognitive delay. Such focus limits the generalizability of findings, as a large portion of individuals with autism and autism spectrum disorders have associated cognitive impairments,with estimates ranging from 40% to 70% of the population (Fombonne, 2005; LaMalfa, Lassi, Bertelli, Salvini & Placidi, 2004). Clearly a more balanced range of studies, with appropriate comparison groups is necessary.

....

Associated with this profile in the use of comparison groups in studies presented during this time period is an apparent decreasing representation of individuals with low or moderate intellectual impairments in the studies. One risk of such a trend is that our understanding of autism may become biased to the higher end of the functioning continuum. It is important that research continue to include individuals with cognitive impairments to ensure that our knowledge based on etiology, assessment, and intervention continues to expand across the entire range of expression of the disorder.

The authors' emphasis on the importance of inclusion of autistic persons with cognitive impairments in future research echoes a concern expressed by Dr. Laurent Mottron in his 2004 paper noted above Matching Strategies in Cognitive Research with Individuals with High-Functioning Autism: Current Practices, Instrument Biases, and Recommendations, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 34, No. 1, February 2004 :

The charting of cognitive deficits and strengths among persons with autism requires comparison of their performance with that of another group. In addition to differences in clinical status, the target and comparison groups can differ on many factors, such as age and level of functioning, which may influence the cognitive performances under study. Therefore, some kind of control should be used to limit the confounding effects that may result from this heterogeneity in these groups.

As autism is a condition that begins early in life, is observed across the range of functioning levels from severe mental retardation to superior intelligence, and may or may not be accompanied by identified neurological syndromes, a random group of individuals who satisfy the criteria for the diagnosis is likely to be heterogeneous at multiple and possibly interacting levels. This heterogeneity complicates the matching procedure and, accordingly, leads to the study of specific subgroups.

...

Some recommendations follow from these two studies. The first recommendation would be to focus on people with autism with mental retardation as well as on higher functioning persons. According to the current trend revealed by Study 1, matching issues, availability of high-functioning individuals and other practical concerns, results in an emphasis on cross sectional studies involving adult, intelligent individuals with PDDs. Besides the positive aspect of increasing our understanding of high-functioning individuals, one may question whether this research strategy will also be associated with conceptual and empirical insights about persons with autism who function in the range of mental retardation.

The trend toward under representation of autistic persons with cognitive impairments is very significant given the large proportion of autistic persons who also have cognitive impairments. The Bebko article referred to studiesn indicating that 40-70% range of persons with PDD's also have cognitive impairments. The Canadian Psychological Association in its Autism Brief to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology November 9, 2006
stated that:

• Cognitive impairment is present in about 80% of persons diagnosed with Autism and
general intellectual functioning is most often below average. Persons diagnosed with
Asperger’s Disorder have average to above average intellectual functioning.

Autism's Outcasts and Some Harsher Autism Realities

Unlike the HFA persons and persons with Aspergers featured on the CBC the parents of Low Functioning Autistic persons, including me, know the fear that happens when their child goes missing as so often occurs with autistic children. We also have to deal with the realities that our children will be unable to attend Simon's Rock College for gifted youth (Amanda Baggs), excel as an employee in the complex work environment of Canada Post or intervene in the Supreme Court of Canada to argue against government funding of evidence based inteventions for autistic children (Michelle Dawson).

My son with Autistic Disorder, who can not speak for himself beyond a very basic level, is Low Functioning. Describing him as such is both honest and accurate. Attempts to obscure his reality by simply describing him as "Autistic" and lumping him together with the articulate Baggs, Dawson and Ne'eman is a violation of his most basic rights to be known by the world as who he is. He will require care by others for his entire life long after I am dead.

The hundreds of thousands of parents who are fighting for treatment, and seeking cures, for our autistic children do so because we know that our children deserve the best lives we can give them. Estee Klar-Wolfond, featured on CBC, is not representative of most "autism parents" who have fought hard for preschool funded autism interventions, appropriate educational assistance, tertiary care for those autistic children who engage in serious self injury and for decent adult accommodations.

Heather R's son is one of many of autism's outcasts, low functioning autistic persons whose stories are unsolicited for flashy articles in New Yorker Magazine or appearances on CNN and CBC. They are autism's outcasts. And it is we, their parents, and other caregivers, who will continue to fight on their behalf.

World Autism Awareness Day Has Come and Gone - Now What?

History has been made. The first World Autism Awareness Day has come and gone. CNN, to their credit, featured many more faces of autism, albeit briefly. CNN, to its discredit, returned to its fixation with "atypical" autistic person Amanda Baggs and her neurodiversity, "WE don't want a cure", ideology. But there is no denying that people around the world had their awareness of autism raised to one extent or another. Visits to autism blogs like this one doubled or more on April 2, 2008. OK, we have more autism awareness, now what?

For this father of a 12 year old boy with Autistic Disorder with profound developmental delays the fight will continue to help improve his situation in life and hopefully that of some other autistic children and adults here in New Brunswick and possibly elswewhere in Canada by fighting for government funded ABA intervention for autistic children wherever they live in Canada, continuing to fight for Teacher Aides and Resource Teachers trained at the University of New Brunswick Autism Intervention Training program and fighting for improvement in adult autistic residential care and treatment.

If you are an autistic adult, or parent or family member of an autistic child or severely autistic adult you probably already know what you are fighting for, you probably know what has to be done to help yourself or the autistic loved one in your life.

If you are the parent of a newly diagnosed autistic child though you will want to consult your local professionals with autism expertise. If you do you will most likely be told that there are a number of autism interventions but that there is one above all that has been studied and stood the test of time and been proven effective in helping autistic children - Applied Behavior Analysis:


“ABA is the application of a scientifically-based approach to teaching and behaviour management. Its greatest goal is to teach children the skills that will allow them to be as self-supporting as anyone else in society, to be able to make choices for their own lives.


Dr. Mickey Keenan, University of Ulster, School of Psychology


ABA has more research support than any other treatment or therapy for this population. It incorporates proven strategies such as shaping, prompting, and positive reinforcement. Numerous task forces around the country have endorsed ABA as the preferred therapy for children with autism. There are hundreds of objective research studies that have shown ABA to be an effective method for teaching language, social, and independence skills, and for reducing problem behaviors. There are few, if any, research studies examining sensory integration, floor time, music therapy, and special diets.


Alan Harchik, Ph.D., BCBA, the May Institute


The effectiveness of ABA-based intervention in ASDs has been well documented through 5 decades of research by using single-subject methodology21,25,27,28 and in controlled studies of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention programs in university and community settings.29–40 Children who receive early intensive behavioral treatment have been shown to make substantial, sustained gains in IQ, language, academic performance, and adaptive behavior as well as some measures of social behavior, and their outcomes have been significantly better than those of children in control groups.31–40

American Academy of Pediatrics, Management of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, October 29, 2007

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Alex Plank with Aspergers Does Not Want To Be Cured But He Does Not Speak for My Son with Autistic Disorder

The major media is again featuring a high functioning person with Aspergers who claims that autistics don't want to be cured. In the Chicago Tribune.com Alex Plank offers the anti-cure ideology promoted by Jim Sinclair, Michelle Dawson and Amanda Baggs, all very high functioning persons with pervasive developmental disorders which are often casually referred to as autism spectrum disorders. Mr. Plank according to the article " has a girlfriend and is interested in computers, writing and acting." So why should Mr. Plank want to be cured? I am not sure how or why Mr. Plank, or family members, sought and obtained his pervasive developmental disorder diagnosis. Given his own self description it is hard to see why he was even diagnosed in the first place but he certainly is not qualified to make the statements about autistics not wanting to be cured.

Mr. Plank according to the Tribune article:

1. Is a college student and founder of a Web Community.
2. He has a girlfriend and is interested in computers, writing and acting.
3. Had friends and had no problem with eye contact or socialization.

Given the above description I can understand why Mr. Plank would not want to be cured although I am not sure what he could be cured of since it sounds like he is an ordinary functioning individual.

What Mr. Plank is not is a person with Autistic Disorder with profound developmental delays like my son. Unlike Mr. Plank my son does have problems with language and has cognitive challenges. He can not function in the world without 24/7 supervision. Occasionally he bites himself and he has put his hands through windows and smashed holes in walls. He does not understand all the dangers of everyday life like automobile traffic and he will not be able, like the fortune blessed Mr. Plank, to live an independent life with girlfriends, college and computers.

Mr. Plank though is offended that parents like me talk about the harsh realities faced by our severely autistic children because it makes him uncomfortable as an "autistic". He is also offended that parents seek treatment and cure for their own children which, given Mr. Plank's good fortune are almost assuredly more severely disabled than he. Mr. Plank, by his own self description, does not face the severe challenges that are faced by many autistic people with actual Autistic Disorder. He should be thankful for his blessings and quit posing as a spokesperson for all "autistics".

Mr. Plank, Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs, Jim Sinclair and other very high functioning persons at the upper end of the "autism spectrum" should be thankful for their blessings and stop attacking parents trying to help their own children. No one wants to cure you Alex, stop trying to keep my son and other persons with Autistic Disorder down so that you can feel better about the "autistic" label you have embraced.

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Autistic Self Injury - Study Confirms Self Injurious Tendencies of Children with Autism Disorders

In Injury propensity among children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinical Psychologist and blogger Nestor L. Lopez-Duran Ph.D., host of Translating Autism, reviews a study which , in Nestor's words, "provides some compelling evidence indicating a higher risk of injury in children with autism as compared to typically developing children. "

The study - McDermott, S., Zhou, L., Mann, J. (2008). Injury Treatment among Children with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(4), 626-633. DOI 10.1007/s10803-007-0426-9 provides information which confirms what many parents already know - children with autism are more likely to be injured than typically developing children. Generally children with autism disorder are 21% more likely to be injured than their typical peers. Two specific injuries that jump out by their magnitude - children with ASD's are 760% more likely to suffer a poisoning injury and 762% more likely to suffer from a self inflicted injury than their neurotypical peers.

I am no fan of the thinking of those who assert that autism disorder is not in fact a disorder; that it is just a natural variation that should be embraced, but any condition which results in such serious levels of self injury is obviously a disorder. Period.

Interestingly, despite the extreme rhetoric of the "autism is beautiful" crowd which tries to smear parents seeking to cure their autistic children by insinuating that such "curebie" parents are responsible for atrocities like the murder of Katie McCarron the study provides no assistance to their argument - children with ASDs are not more likely to be injured by peers or adults.

As a parent controlling and minimizing self injurious behaviors is one of the several reasons why I use and seek ABA intervention for my profoundly autistic son. His reality includes self aggression. The Michelle Dawsons and Amanda Baggs can ignore that reality. As his father I can not and this study is a perfect indicator of why I can not.

Many thanks, again, to Nestor L. Lopez-Duran for highlighting and explaining this study.

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Will World Autism Awareness Day Raise Autism Awareness or Create Autism Confusion?

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. Hopefully the UN declaration will have the effect of creating real awareness of Autism Disorder and the related Pervasive Developmental Disorders. The prospects of that happening are slim though. It is much more likely that more confusion about autism will be created by the large media organizations such as CNN that dominate world protrayal of autism.

The biggest obstacle to generating real autism awareness will be big business, the big business of maintaining ratings for a large news organization like CNN. To generate media attention CNN will provide feel good stories. CNN will, yet again, interview Amanda Baggs, a "voice of autism" largely created by past CNN promotion. Ms Baggs is a very intellligent and articulate person in her late 20's diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder as an adult. She was able to speak throughout her youth and adolescence, had friends and even attended Simon's Rock College for gifted young people. Ms Baggs was previously diagnosed with a variety of other disorders and, prior to meeting an autistic person, and subsequently obtaining her own autism diagnosis, she wrote elequently on topics like schizophrenia, TLE, elves and fairies.

Now, CNN hangs on her every typewritten word, as a true "voice of autism". Ms Baggs story bears no resemblance to that of my son who has very little oral communication ability or to the many autistic people I have met in 10 years of autism advocacy. I am not saying Ms Baggs is not autistic, she has a medical diagnosis, but her autism is the only one I have ever heard of where a person who can communicate orally thoughout her life becomes unable to communicate orally as an adult.

CNN will show other remarkable stories of autistic persons who, thought to be "retarded" ,have become able to communciate through typewriters, technology and Facilitated Communication. What they will probably not do is visit the autistic persons living in residential care facilities because they can not live on their own or visit those autistic people who can not, and, unlike Ms Baggs, never could communicate orally or by any other means. The middle aged lady in the New York residential care facility who could not tell the world that she was being abused by staff because she could not communicate at all, the children and adults who hurt themselves seriously.

CNN will probably not tell the world that the Facilitated Communication they help promote with their feel good stories has been discredited by serious responsibile agencies which have reviewed FC and found that the "communication" is often a reflection of the facilitator's thoughts not the autistic person. (When an autistic person uses technology without a facilitator it is properly described as Augmented Communication not Facilitated Communication). Nor will CNN be likely to mention the recent case in Michigan that saw false sex abuse charges dropped after a family had been ripped asunder and suffered as a result of communications, purportedly from their autistic daughter, which appeared to have been influenced by the "Facilitator."

Will CNN help bust autism myths and raise real autism awareness or will it simply continue to create new myths and create more confusion? We should have a better idea on April 3, 2008.

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Autism and the Media - CNN's Shameful Non-Coverage of Severely Autistic People

CNN is continuing its shameful treatment of persons with severe Autism Disorder. If your only knowledge of autism was garnered from viewing CNN broadcasts or blogs you might think that autism is not a disorder, that every autistic person finds a way to communicate and that all autistic persons live happily ever after. You would not know that many persons with severe Autism Disorder, not Aspergers, not PDD-NOS, but Autism Disorder with profound developmental delays, require constant care and supervision. Some live their lives in residential and institutional care facilities. Some are assaulted in their residential facilities and lack the communication ability to express themselves to others. You would not know these things because CNN does not cover the "feel bad" autism stories, only the "feel good" autism stories.

CNN is a news organization and one would think that between interviews with Amanda Baggs they would find time to MENTION the fact that there are many seriously autistic persons who live desperate lives. They might, for example, cover the story of the middle aged autistic woman in a New York residential care facility who was physically abused and assaulted by attendants but lacked any means of telling anyone because she could not speak, write or type to tell what was happening to her. The situation came to light only after another attendant brought it to light and it was confirmed by video cameras in the facility. CNN might also tell the stories of autistic people who hurt themselves seriously by biting and head banging or those who simply wander off sometimes found safe and sound .... sometimes not.

CNN could tell you these stories but it won't because they are not "feel good" stories. Such stories are not as good for the ratings as the feel good stories. CNN would prefer to tell you, several times in fact, the story of Amanada Baggs an autistic persons diagnosed as an adult who types as a means of communication. CNN does not mention that Ms Baggs, before her autism diagnosis, and by her own voluminous internet writings, spoke to others, used speech to communicate, had friends, and attended Simon's Rock College for gifted young people. CNN does not give that full picture because it wouldn't make such a great feel good story. It makes for a much better story line to go along with the pretense that this person is non-verbal and communicates via technology.

At least CNN has started to feature autism stories other than Amanda Baggs of late. But once again it goes for the ratings oriented feel good stories. In Autistic poet gives rare glimpse into mystery illness CNN tells the tale of Tito Mukhopadhyay a non verbal Texas man previously thought to be retarded who can type and even write poetry. It is a genuinely heart warming story and I am happy for Mr. Mukhopadhyay and his family. And I do acknowledge that CNN does pay lip service to other more severe autism realities in this story ... with one line:

Whatever autism is, its symptoms range from a mild form to rendering individuals dependent on others for life.

Now if only CNN will actually do a feature on the lives of those autistic persons who CAN NOT communicate by keyboard or otherwise and who live their lives dependent on others. Maybe some day CNN will have an Anderson Cooper Katrina moment, cease with the "great job, Brownie" coverage of autism and show the world the harsh realities of life for those with serious Autism Disorder. Mr. Cooper has been part of the Amanda Baggs autism feel good spin so it probably won't come from him this time but maybe some younger journalist, a real journalist at CNN, will feel it is time to stop misleading the world about autism and show the whole range of autism realities. Real autism acceptance means accepting the harsher autism realities faced by many persons with Autism Disorder and their families.

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Autistic Man With 8 Year Old Mental Capacity Missing In LA Area

Police in the Los Angeles area are asking for public help in finding a 20 year old autistic man, with the mental capacity of an 8 year old, who has gone missing:

Police are asking for the public's help to find a missing 20-year-old Sylmar man with autism.

Daniel Robert Logan has been missing for two days, according to his family. Logan, who police say has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old, was last seen Wednesday at his residence on Cobalt Street.

The police say Logan is also unlikely to ask anyone for assistance. He knows his name, birth date and address, but does not remember his telephone number.

Logan is described as 6 feet tall, 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, and probably at this point sporting facial hair. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt, blue jeans and black slip-on shoes.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts was asked to contact
Missing Person's Unit at (213) 485-5381 or 1-877-LAWFULL.

- CBS2.com

Hopefully this young man will be found safe and sound. Neurodiversity ideologues who argue incessantly on the internet, appear in endless media interviews, lobby political bodies and courts and purport to speak for all autistic people, should explain how they have anything in common with low functioning autistic people like this missing young man. Of course, they refuse to acknowledge, reality and common sense notwithstanding, the existence of any low functioning distinctions amongst persons with autism.

After all, how could high functioning autistic people like Michelle Dawson (researcher, anti-ABA activist, intervenor in Court proceedings, former postal worker) and Amanda Baggs (former student at Simon's Rock College for gifted youths) garner so much attention for themselves, and purport to speak for all autistic persons, if the media realized that their disorders are so different from those of lower functioning autistic persons like the 20 year old man with autism disorder and an 8 year old mental capacity in this report?

As the father of a 12 year old son with Autism Disorder and profound developmental delays I have lived through similar experiences to those being experienced by Daniel Robert Logan's family although not for such an extended period. Some autistic persons who go missing are in fact found safe. I hope this is again the case for Mr. Logan and his family.

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