Other tutors entered and exited the team, we changed consultants for the better, and I kept getting paid pretty well for less-than part-time work each week. This nonverbal boy, I soon learned, is a special gift from God. I now claim him as a relative, though he technically isn't one, because I learned to love and appreciate the special spirit that is his. I will truly miss him as I enter a new phase in my life.
Now, anyone who knows where I stand on the political spectrum can guess how I feel about Media Matters. I even subscribed to their daily e-mail for the purpose of laughing about the daily whine about the "vast, right-wing conspiracy." Still, I owe Media Matters today for bringing this to my attention. I cannot describe how shocked I was to hear that Michael Savage had actually insulted children with autism based on nothing more than his own prejudiced misconceptions. He said that autism is "a fraud, a racket," which I know for sure to be a myth. Autism is a real disorder that affects real people every day. It affects families and communities. It has affected our entire nation.
Estimates show that 1 in 150 Americans have some form of autism (because autism is a spectrum disorder). To illustrate the gender-bias of this disorder, 1 in 70 American males have some form of autism. If you go outside right now and walk through your neighborhood for a few minutes, it is incredibly likely that you will pass a house in which resides a child with autism. If you have school-age children, chances are that your child has a classmate or even a friend who has some form of autism. Some of these children can survive in "typical" circumstances and require just a little help. The boy who I know is in a class especially made for children with autism. He requires help in almost every aspect of his life. He is not faking it, and he is not just acting out for attention. He is a victim of a vicious cycle that impairs concentration, attention, social maturity, and his immune system.
Some doctors even believe that autism begins with a weak immune system (the genetic component) and is exacerbated by certain vaccinations. I happen to be on their side. Having read Jenny McCarthy's book Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, I can honestly tell you that, although a critic of big government, I am in favor of incredible amounts of research to solve this problem. We need to put vaccines under scrutiny, give parents more options, and increase governmental funding on the issue. Cancer and AIDS each get several times more research funding than autism, though autism affects a strikingly greater number of Americans. To say that 1 in 150 Americans is part of some huge, orchestrated attempt to get attention and make a "racket" is less than ignorant: it is unfathomably rude.
When it comes to autism, I don't care what stripe you are. If you mess with autistic children and hinder the process of educating the public on the most common neurological disorder in America today, I will match your ignorance with facts and destroy your myths with the joint passion of thousands among thousands of Americans who have no greater hope than the healing of their loved one. Political affiliations aside, autism is a test of America's moral decency. We have a lot of questions and very few answers, and to have influential people like Michael Savage proliferating myths about autism is not just unhelpful: it is unethical. It is an abuse of his position, and we the people must make it clear to our celebrities and our governments that autism is real, that we care, and that we aren't going away.
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Comments: 24
The Anti-Vaccination Movement
Vaccine Safety: Vaccines Are One of Public Health's Great Accomplishments
Interview with Roy Richard GrinkerAuthor of Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism
Selene, thank you.
Thank you for your dedication to the cause.
Seriously though, these kinds of experiences are so transformative. You're lucky to have found each other.
http://www.savageonautism.com/
If you don't have the time, then I would withold judgement. In the meantime, I stand with Savage on many issues, and especially on the issue of children, in general, being over medicated.
Autism was originally blamed on "refrigerator moms" who were cold and unloving. Now Savage is rehashing the old myth that autism is blamed on bad parenting and bad parents. That is simply untrue. If you have any doubts, read some literature by O. Ivar Lovaas, the leading autism expert in the world.
I applaud your work with the children of Autism. It is indeed real, and one need only be associated with it's trials and tribulations for a short time to understand that, and the sense of aloneness these children feel, even when surrounded by the love of family and friends. The "Unloving Mother" theory has long since been discarded.
I work with children of Down Syndrome which is similar, in some degrees, and can co exist with Autism. It is one of the more rewarding aspects of my life, and provides me the opportunity to enhance the quality of life for the child and for myself by being associated so closely with God's special beings.
Autism is a complex neurological disorder that is believed to be caused by several imbalances in these children's bio-chemistry. Toxins introduced through vaccines and/or antibotics like augmenten seem to be the most common triggers referenced by parents with children with Autism.
These children have thorough medical evaluations where the presence of the extra twenty-first chromosome to the childs cells, and a uric acid clearance, among other phases of evaluation indicate the presence of the condition. I am unable to understand anyone labeling it "fraud."
Further specific clinical evaluation is required for these children prior to prescribing a drug, of any kind, either stimulant or depressant, because many pharmacological agents have been proven to worsen the condition. Over medicating is a most unlikely occurrence in light of today's knowledge on the subject.