The Autism Controversy
July 23, 2008 — Alenka | Posted in Health & Food. 4 Comments »In case you have been following the controversy regarding children autism-related statements by Michael Savage, we are publishing a transcript of his audio comments regarding his opinions and beliefs.
… And yet I will caution you to not rush to judgment, because the truly autistic child needs as much help as he or she can get. The truly autistic child needs the funding that should be provided. It is the falsely diagnosed, the misdiagnosed and the outright fakers who want the benefits who must be found out and must be turned out. So the money can go to the truly needy in this particular field. That was the essence of my conversation last week. Why would I have chosen to attack defenseless children when I have never done so in my entire life? Think about that. What would I have gained by doing it? Nothing! I didn’t do it! The fact of the matter is the enemies of the truth did it by using you, the parents of the injured child to turn on me, the defender of the child. Very clever the enemy (is). But those are the times that we live in. Let me say again. All of us have seen the faker with a disability placard on his car pull up in a blue zone somewhere in America. Whether it is to a drive-in restaurant door or a handicapped spot. And we have seen them get out of their car and look perfectly healthy; and the minute you look at them, they grab a cane or they grab their back and they hobble. We find that to be reprehensible, don’t we? Because those blue spots were put there for a reason.
They are there for the convenience of those who are not able as we are to get around. And we don’t want the phony disabled to use them. It is the same situation with the case of autism. We don’t want this money pilfered by those who are not autistic. Now, who are those who are not autistic? Are there many? My suspicion is, there are many. There are many, many, many people who have been put in this category either falsely or wrongly or put their children into this category in order to get benefits from it. Again, listen to what I am saying to you: if a child has a very high IQ, if they are late in talking… these are the characteristics that can put them in the checklist for autism. That might be an invitation to a false diagnosis. They have now broadened the category to include children in the new thing called the autistic spectrum. Why are they changing the definition of autism? Why does it now become the autistic spectrum rather than true autism? The answer is because there is now definitive medical diagnosis for autism.
And I’ll leave it at that. We have touched on these things, we have talked about these things, we have gone in circles about these things… So remember what I am saying to you: the truly autistic deserve our sympathy and our help. The misdiagnosed or falsely diagnosed and the outright faking parents need to be found out and turned out so that the scarce resources can go those who are in desperate need of them.
February 19, 2009 at 2:32 am
Indeed its very frustrating at first to know that your child has autism however this is not the right time to wallow in pity. Instead a parent should focus on the child’s being and how he/she can still live a normal life.
January 2, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I have an only son who is not developing as quickly as my husband and I would like. He’s never shown early signs of autism in any regards, but now at almost 3 he is running in circles, humming rather than talking and is NOT doing what a “”"normal 2 year old”"” should be doing (according to random others). I brought him to see a neurologist 2 weeks ago who diagnosed him with autism in a 15 minute evaluation. I honestly thought that I’d leave this visit with a sigh and an “I didn’t think there was anything seriously wrong, but thank you Dr.” That’s not what I got or what happened. I could barely make it home from the office because I was in hysterics. I have a blue cross PPO and I do know that this is enticing to physicians, afterall getting paid is good right? But I seriously wonder if I didn’t have insurance if I would’ve gotten the same diagnosis. As far as the “Fakers” that you claim exist…please enlighten me as to first of all, how they could fake that their child has autism or for that matter why????? Would a lying claim that their child is behaving with autism automatically get them a diagnosis? And if so….what truly are the benefits of this? Or is the medical field to blame for their over diagnosis and cashing in on a new epidemic?
January 2, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Adding to my last comment. I’ve read today about how children with autism tend to love Thomas the train (as does my son) and how these certain individuals with autism, as adults, seem to be attracted to computers, animals and science. WHAT? So how many of us are out there with autism and maybe it should be considered a blessing?!!? I truly believe that as a mother, you know when something is wrong with your child. I believe my son is not progressing quickly, but I don’t think that he has autism. I honestly, in my 38 years of life on this planet, have never even met someone diagnosed with autism…yet now it’s everywhere. I will go through the course of therapy that my doctor has prescribed, but if it comes to medicating my child….THERE’S NO WAY IN HELL!
January 6, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Kimberly, I am so sorry to hear about your whole experience! I can just imagine, what you are going through and how hard this must be for all of your family!!! It must been very painful!!!!
First of all, I don’t think you should blame yourself. It must be frustrating, but I could easily see myself in that situation: I am so much appalled by a general parent’s tendency to search for all kinds of problems in their kids – bow legged toddlers (yep, normal), inclined legs preschoolers (normal, again – they’ll straighten out as the kids grow), energetic boys labeled hyper, calm and slow to adapt kids labeled autistic. Some parents are really fond of examinations and so terrified of different disorders, that are ready to put that label on their kids even before finding out what that label means. So, I could honestly see myself in denial of a real problem. As parents, we want our kids to be “OK” so much, that we fall in these traps fairly easily. Please, please, please don’t blame yourself – autism wouldn’t be hidden for so many centuries, if it would that easy to spot.
I am no expert on autism (quite far from it) but I can try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge. First of all, I strongly believe, that every kid has some form of ADD or other disorder. I know kids who are diagnosed are attending therapy – with various degrees of success. I know kids, who should be diagnosed and would greatly benefit from it, but whose mothers are completely oblivious to it. I know some kids who are examined waaay too much. My good friend with a far superior knowledge of all these disorders once gave a good advice to an anxious mother, whose teacher was insisting on diagnosis for a smart, advanced, but an energetic five year old, who was taking his time adjusting to the kindergarten and the new rules: “If you don’t see how your child can benefit from it – don’t get a diagnosis. If you dig deep enough – you always going to find SOMETHING. There is no clear definition of what’s “normal”, and since every person is so different, some of those differences can appear (or even be!) exaggerated. ” That comes from someone, who has two sons in different therapies for different reasons. I agree with that. We can live perfectly normal lives with these exaggerated traits or even learn to benefit from it: e.g. energetic kid can learn to put his energy into a work and grow up into a really high achievers!
Now, the autism is greatly over diagnosed. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t ignore it. I don’t believe that all the doctors are just greedy and would misdiagnose a child for a personal benefit. We know a great deal of doctors genuinely caring for kids and wishing to help. If you don’t trust that doctor, get a second opinion. Or third. Or fourth. You might learn a great deal in the process – different doctors might have different solutions and recommendations on things that you may be even can do at home to help your kid! Nevertheless, the testing process has greatly improved in the recent years. The number of autistic diagnosis is also on the rise due the improvement of our knowledge in this area, to the better informed parents, to the better understanding among doctors. So early diagnosis can help you help your kid address these problems, learn how to deal with them and possibly even lead a normal life, in regular school!
Now, the last: why somebody want to fake it, what’s the benefit? Again, my knowledge is limited and even though I sounds like an anathema, some parents would like to take advantage from the private session with a professional teacher. I know someone whose as normal as it gets kid was learning French this way – in our state the therapy is sponsored by state, and, as my friend psychologist put it, everyone would benefit from some therapy. A private session with a professional who comes right to your house? For free?! Schools benefit from kid’s diagnosis as well: they allocate a child into a separate class, they get extra funding for “special needs”, they get to hire additional teacher AND the scores of that kid are not reflected on school’s record. So if there is a kid who gives a teacher some hard time… you can continue the rest.
Yet, again, there a great number of kids who DO need help and SHOULD get it. And a lot of those, who are not diagnosed, or who are diagnosed when so much valuable time has been lost. Once the testing protocols would improve, more of them will get the help they need.
Once again, my heart is bleeding for you – it is never easy… I wish I could give you a hug… But you can feel proud of yourself that you found it at such a small age, and that there so much hope for all of you! Wishing you the best of luck and holding my fingers crossed for you and your son!