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pezar
Toucan
Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Age: 34
Posts: 250
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 Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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What I have a problem with is the whole idea that autistic people are "in pain" as if they had a cancerous tumor or something. As we all know, autistic people may get frustrated from time to time, especially toddlers who can't speak and therefore scream to compensate, but they're not "in pain", physical (unless they have a physical ailment in addition to autism, like food allergies) or mental.
The "pain" is really the psychic pain of the parents who suddenly realize that their kid will never be "normal" and therefore never go to Harvard or do whatever dreams the parent has for their kid. (Even that is not universal; higher functioning people may be perfectly capable of achieving greatness in the right environment.) It seems that fathers especially want sons to be "fishin' buddies" and when the son is unable to the father feels like less of a man.
The parent's pain gets projected onto the kid, who is then perceived to be "suffering" and in need of chelation or other quack "cures". The parent may even feel that the kid is better off dead because his pain (actually the parent's) is too heavy a burden for the parents to bear. This is how some parents arrive at killing their autistic kids.
American parents especially seem to view kids as just another gadget; if it won't do what I want it to, trash it and get a model that will. Not every kid will head a hedge fund at 25 and make their parents and themselves obscenely wealthy, which seems to be the general desire of the upper middle class for their kids. Even NT kids won't. Because the kid's talent is working on cars or computers and not playing Wall Street for billions doesn't make them any less valuable as human beings, yet for growing numbers of American parents that's what they think. A child's value should not be limited to how much money it can make; that our society views its kids in such a way is symptomatic of deep social rot. With parents killing kids if the kid won't be a millionaire but will need specialized and expensive lifelong care, our society needs a value adjustment. |
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asplanet
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 11, 2007
Posts: 1890
Location: Cyberspace, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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Pezar:I do not feel anyone is saying that all autistics are in "pain" but they often do suffer, not allowed or understood from birth, parents unable to cope or understand often find the easy option for themselves and go as far as drugging there children...
I do feel unfortunately a lot of the mental problems people on the autism spectrum often go on to have are partly caused by having to living on the edge of society quite often.
Of course more and more autistic children people are doing really well in this world, but there are more and more parents now embracing and truly trying to understand.
_________________
"Believe in your self, we are who we are - as it can feel like an endless task trying to be someone else!" Alyson Bradley ... Aspergers Parallel Planet web site - http://asplanet.info/index.php
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bicentennialman
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 21, 2008
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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| That's probably the best article I've ever seen on the subject; it's very helpful! |
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Inventor
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 16, 2007
Posts: 2840
Location: New Orleans
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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I like that Alex Plank guy.There is no cure, and won't be, get used to it, we are here now, deal with it.
Of all of them he has the most powerful non agenda, I'm Autistic, so what!
I thought it well writen and honest. When someone states he takes seven medications a day for depression, the most common NT ailment, and there is no medication for Autism, he is telling it like it is.
The Mercury Mafia is looking to score big time on a lawsuit, which has no Scientific basis.
Autism Speaks brings in $20,000,000 a year, and keeps half.
ABA is by the Professional hour rate.
The activists are enjoying an obsession,
Alex Plank is dumping the value of a really cool sports car into Wrong Planet.
Support Wrong Planet Awareness, click on the link on top of the page and keep the good work going. |
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Hodor
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 18, 2008
Age: 19
Posts: 834
Location: On a dumb island
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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I liked reading that article, compared to most articles on autism that make me feel like I've just inadvertently started a nuclear war. It was good to see some familar faces from WP commenting on it too. 
The 'pain' that people with autism/AS is normally caused by an inability to be in touch with the world that we really want to be part of. Physical pain as a result of autism/AS, such as that caused by wearing itchy clothes, for example, is minimal in comparison.
I completely agree with pezar's sentiment about the parent's pain being projected on the kid, who hasn't grown into the child that his/her parents were expecting. But isn't one of the joys of having children the sheer unexpectedness of what your kid will be like? That's what I've been told, anyway. Autism is not a death sentence, and it should never be referred to as a disease or an epidemic - that automatically puts it in the same league as the Black Death. Connotations of death, disease and disappointment should be avoided, and portraying at least some aspects of autism/AS in a positive light wouldn't hurt.
So, good article. We need more like that.
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ACHTUNG all WP'ers...I will not be online from Aug 18th for a while due to a house move. I'm still alive and well but might not have internet access for some time. So long!
[I have updated my blawg.]
Sprecst žu englisc? |
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Thomas1138
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Not a bad balanced article. I just wonder why they couldn't find a better counterpoint than vaccine nutters. |
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anbuend
Oak-Type Autie
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 3312
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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The second sentence in the last post is why I don't really see it as all that balanced -- balanced means more than just giving a couple of sides and then attempting to find the point in between them, and really doesn't mean finding whatever extreme viewpoints you can find and putting them (or approximations of them that fit the most readily into how an outsider might view them from a distance) side by side.
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"We may seem in the gutter from up there where you are but maybe you don't know we still see the same stars." -Donna Williams |
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Thomas1138
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 06, 2008
Age: 29
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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I think our side was fairly well-represented. The author's biggest sin was in tossing out several vague generalizations about people who he spoke to.
That said, those generalizations aren't that different than a lot of posts I've read around here. So I take him at his word that they're real. |
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asplanet
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 11, 2007
Posts: 1890
Location: Cyberspace, New Zealand
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 12:05 am Post subject: |
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No one will ever get it 100% right to suit everyone, but its a great start!
_________________
"Believe in your self, we are who we are - as it can feel like an endless task trying to be someone else!" Alyson Bradley ... Aspergers Parallel Planet web site - http://asplanet.info/index.php
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chocoholic
Phoenix
Joined: May 22, 2008
Posts: 517
Location: At a Chocoholics Anonymous meeting
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 12:27 am Post subject: |
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| Probably the most balanced, well thought out article on this issue I've read so far, even if imperfect. It's definitely a step in the right direction. |
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DeaconBlues
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide - call me...
Joined: Apr 22, 2007
Posts: 1626
Location: Earth, mostly
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:30 am Post subject: |
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The article was surprisingly well-balanced - most of what I've read has come across as press releases from Autism Isn't Allowed To Speak. I was kind of hoping there would be someone interviewed with a circumstance similar to my own (undiagnosed AS, largely because the diagnosis didn't exist until I was in my 30s, with a profoundly autistic child), but I suppose there aren't enough of us out there to blip the radar.
I do note that the excruciating ABA schedule discussed doesn't really seem necessary - I've never done that with Morgana, but she's stopped self-harming, has lessened tantruming, is expanding her food repertoire, and is increasing her vocabulary rapidly. (It wasn't until she was in preschool that I learned I'd been using a "therapy" for years. The books call it Floortime - I just called it "playing with 'Gana on her own level.")
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If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. - Robert A. Heinlein |
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Shelby
Deinonychus
Joined: May 01, 2007
Age: 29
Posts: 347
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Those people who made comments that we are a nuisance and we are accepting brain damage made my blood boil. To me that is the equivalent of calling a black person the N word. |
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rdos
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Age: 47
Posts: 799
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 3:01 am Post subject: |
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| It is a well-balanced article, but I wish they would study ABA just a little more. What usually is said to be cured by ABA is not autism but environmental traits like tantrums and bad behavior, which is ultimately caused by bad parenting. In every other field such behaviors are seen as the result of bad parenting, so why is it "autism" in this context? I have to wonder if ABA doesn't just shut the autistic kid up so it cannot protest against the bad parenting or if it actually does some good as well? |
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Belfast
Vast Ambivalence
Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Age: 35
Posts: 1717
Location: New England
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 7:03 am Post subject: |
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Author of New York mag. article was recently featured on PBS's special program called "Depression: Out of the Shadow", he seemed to "get it" (whatever that is) for the most part, about brain differences.
Here's link to newspaper article mentioned in this one (I hadn't heard about it), interview with creator of Neurodiversity site. Title: "A Forceful Voice in the Autism Debate" from Concord (N.H.) Monitor:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/FRONTPAGE/804270376&template=single
Hope the link works (considering length)-highlight & paste if necessary. Also don't want it to stretch out the format (width) of page.
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*"You cannot administer a wicked law impartially-it destroys everyone it touches, its violators as well as its upholders."* |
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asplanet
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 11, 2007
Posts: 1890
Location: Cyberspace, New Zealand
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| Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 8:36 am Post subject: |
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I feel in the middle at the moment of wanting to take more action for change, have started up a ACTION Autism NZ Group but also found as soon as mention any think to do with autism rights people back away, so trying to keep a happy media...
Here in NZ I feel if push the issue too much, my group becomes exclusive to only those wanting to push autism rights, I know it should not be like that but I really want to include everyone and feel its vital we all work together for real change and I do share and agree with many, if not most views with the Autism Rights Movement etc.. but maybe not ready to be so forceful myself, yet 
Just wondering really what peoples general views are on autism rights etc.. the way forward 
_________________
"Believe in your self, we are who we are - as it can feel like an endless task trying to be someone else!" Alyson Bradley ... Aspergers Parallel Planet web site - http://asplanet.info/index.php
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