Parenthood article compares grieving over ASto grieving over

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No he didn't say any of that either. I am a very literal person. . if you attribute a quote to someone when they didn't actually say it it's erroneous and yes it's self serving.

For the record what he apparently did say is:

http://nbcparenthood.tumblr.com/post/73627205567/jump-ball
I don?t have the sense that Hank is impaired in the way I would typically consider someone diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder is. Hank is able to function at a much higher level than Max in terms of social engagement, social management and interactive facility, despite the fact that Max has been afforded all the interventions and therapies provided for him. If Hank does have Asperger?s, was he just better off or less severe as a boy than Max? Does Hank really have a disorder, or is it just a matter of (at times) being a socially inappropriate, self-absorbed twit who?s generally even nice and tolerable?

Where do you draw the line?

Take the poker game for example, where Hank acts somewhat like a jerk and creates issues for some of the other players. Hank comes across as selfish and insensitive, but do we diagnose someone with this behavior as having a psychiatric disorder? Do we really want to pathologize the human experience in that way?

Labeling someone gives us a reason, or better yet an excuse for their idiosyncrasies and neuroses, but where does that all lead? As evidenced by the card game, Hank can read social cues, but he ignores them at times. He has the ability to understand what someone else needs emotionally because he can put himself in the other person?s place.

Unlike Hank, Max struggles with trying to read others and has trouble understanding their difficulty. He has problems identifying with another person?s struggle. Reading someone else?s emotions and understanding their situation from an emotional vantage point will always be difficult for him. He will probably approach some understanding of what he should do in certain situations because he is bright and can analyze a social setting. However, Max will probably never be able to feel what others are feeling. He will not be able to empathize and engage in the same way that someone without Asperger?s disorder is able to do. The same Hank who disrupted a poker game was also mindful enough in a different situation to ask his daughter, Ruby, to befriend a young man who was socially awkward and strange in his interactions. Such a sensitive concern for the feelings of others would have been impossible for Max.

In my mind, this is the main difference between an autism diagnosis and someone with difficulties in social skills. But it?s because people like Hank were being diagnosed with Asperger?s (a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder) that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was changed. Just because someone has difficulty with relationships and people doesn?t mean they have autism. Sometimes being selfish, self-absorbed and immature means that the individual has some growing up to do. And unlike someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the person has the capacity to do just that.

No it's not printed wrong. He certainly did NOT say what was claimed which was dishonest to miss quote him and claim he did.

Now I see you are now bashing parents again.

As many posts on WP prove.. some people do indeed use autism as an excuse to justify acting like jerks. He made a distinction between having a disorder and just having poor social skills. I however do not think it's a one or the other thing. You can also have ASD and choose to act like a jerk and I am getting tired of people acting like it's permitted as if it's just a symptom of being an aspie.

No. Some behaviours are a choice.

It was also a choice to post blatant falsehoods to the point where you used quotation marks. Ironic given you are attacking him for being immoral. Lying is immoral too.. and I certainly do not think that is an ASD thing.

I have no problem with people being pissed off when experts actually DO say offensive things.. but if they truly are offensive then you needn't actually change what they say to have people agree.

This "parent bashing" thing again? I'm sure you must know many people on the Autism spectrum have a history of being silenced, told they must only speak well of others, be good and compliant. Many Autistic people have suffered due to the idea that parents can never be criticized. Will you be the one who lets us speak, or will we be silenced again, and reminded Autistic perspectives about parents always will be silenced?

Yeah, about as real as gay people being pedophiles, no the portrayal isn't accurate.

What a vivid strawman you have concocted. Perhaps everywhere it's mentioned is just a "Little watched show" and "aiming for realism", don't go telling people they shouldn't criticise based on utter crap. They thrusted their sh***y stigmas into the public arena, and should absolutely be criticised in such.

Well Autistic people have insights on helping Autistic kids their NT parents may not have thought about.

Except it isn't based on utter crap, as other posts on this thread have demonstrated that type of reaction isn't uncommon, it was just a poor choice of wording, and IIRC the poster I was replying to agreed with me, in that people fraudulently viewed autistic spectrum disorders as a problem, but was arguing the show should have gone for a positive reaction anyway.

And the writers chose to portray a common "sh***y stigma", they didn't invent it, that kind of reaction does happen, and I very much doubt it was intended to upset anybody (except perhaps in a dramatic sense). Maybe we should spend more time going after people who actually dislike us and who are actually going to cause us problems, instead of well meaning people who made a mistake, that some people found offensive...

Some do.. but only if they have the same type of autism and that insight may be welcome only when it is actually asked for. Given the vitriol expressed towards parents generally of course many are going to say no to it.

But ASPartOfMe, Moromillas, VioletYoshi, and myself all have the "same form of autism" as Max