The Autism Acceptance Project is one of the more recent rhetorical adventures of the anti-cure, autism is wonderful, movement also known as neurodiversity. If I sound cynical it is because I am. With a son with classic Autism Disorder who is profoundly autistic I, unlike the TAAP people, can not afford the luxury of wishful thinking. I am not seeking help for my son's many positive attributes. I am seeking help for his negative attributes, the very serious, even life threatening deficits, which impair his quality of life, and will lead to a life of being cared for by others, just as they do for many other lower functioning, inarticulate autistic persons who are not represented in the Neurodiversity discussion groups. The TAAP folks object to candid description of unpleasant truths.
They react hysterically when parents seeking help for their own autistic children speak the truth. Witness the verbal abuse heaped by them on the parents of the Autism Every Day video. I will not stop speaking the truth while the TAAP and neurodiversity crowd write pseudo-scientific critiques dismissing evidence based standards of treatment for autism and condemning truthful portraits of classic lower functioning Autism Disorder.
If the neurodiversity crowd wants to paint a more positive picture for art galleries and society teas fine. Let them petition the American Psychiatric Association to change the names of higher functioning autism disorders to some other labels so that they do not have to be associated with the lower functioning classic Autism Disorder people like my son. That should ease their acceptance goals considerably. They can feel good about themselves and their friends in the neurodiversity movement. Those of us fighting for real help for our autistic children can do so without the annoying sounds of Autism's sirens singing in the background.
Harold, The Neurodiverse would welcome your suggestion if they actually cared about autistic people. As you've seen though, their only concern is bashing scientists who try to help autistic children.
ReplyDeleteThe Neurodiverse are not as dumb as they seem. Their mission is to make autism look like a minor annoyance so that public opinion will not be swayed against the drug companies. That's why they have actresses like Amanda Baggs pretending to be autistic and making it look like our kids will be able to function as well as she does.
Neurodiversity is just a sham. That's why most of them are anonymous.
The Neurodiversity movement is an inherent self-contradiction.
ReplyDeleteIt is based on a concept, autism, which is a disorder by definition.
It also preaches autism awareness but attacks and abuses those who speak about the realities of autism.
Neurodiversity uses pseudo-scientific critiques, largely by unqualified persons with no formal scientific training to attack treatment methods even though they are by their own admission anti-cure and anti-treatment.
My 6 year old autistic son does not speak. Has no fear of danger. no apparent sense of pain. Generally fits the "classic definition" of autism. I know that he is profoundly delayed, based on my experience with his older brother, who copes better despite his Down Syndrome.
ReplyDeleteJust as I would not strive to eliminate the DS of one, I would not want to "cure" the other.
If you disagree with TAAP, how do you feel about
http://www.gettingthetruthout.org/ Getting the Truth Out?
How do you feel about autistic adults who have found the tools to object to their mistreatment?
If you want to learn the "realities of autism" it would be best to ask autistic people, not scientists.
suzanne
ReplyDeleteMy 11 year old son does not just "fit the diagnosis of classic autism disorder" that IS his diagnoses. He is professionally assessed as severely autistic with profound developmental delays.
It is your personal choice whether to accept your child's autism or try to cure or treat it. I choose the latter as most parents do. I still have to deal with society's "acceptance" issues as I did yesterday when my son had a "meltdown" in a shopping mall.
I don't argue that you or any other parent should be forced to seek treatment for their child's autism although I think it is regrettable that you do not. What I object to is the constant attempts by some in the TAAP and neurodiversity movements to obscure the very serious challenges confronting autistic people especially severely autistic people and their families.
As for talking to autistic persons I do. I talk to my autistic son which I could not do before beginning ABA. I have also worked for several years with a very intelligent, high functioning, autistic person who was for several years on the Board of Directors of the Autism Society New Brunswick. I have also talked to and represented legally autistic persons.
TAAProject doesn't do the things you claim it does or does not. We would welcome you to come out to a meeting.
ReplyDeleteThe sadness in a parent coping with child autism, seems to be borderline depression.
ReplyDeleteOur son has so many up and down days, and it is true that we are like a barometer with him the reading. We try so hard to stay positive all the time, but it truly depends on the number of good days we have.
It's a very bad indictment of the UK, that we have so little support in place. We so envy America, at least 10 years ahead of us. If we had the money, we would come over for a few months and get proper sustained help.