The prime-time current affairs program on Australia's national television channel carried a rather dumb piece on childhood autism last night.
They started out with the old riff about "the silent epidemic, the wretchedly debilitating syndrome known as autism spectrum disorder". It soon became clear that they weren't concerned so much about the children as about the "agony" and "suffering" of their parents. The message was that the government should spend more to ... well, to do something.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1942203.htm
Please believe me, not all Australians are as silly as these guys!
I don't think it was so much dumb, Aleel, it was more along the lines of "typical government". Maybe that's dumb as well, but the real issue - certainly in Australia - is the lack of financial support from government.
This is because they aren't taking it as seriously as they should.
But I was peeved at Kerry O'Brien calling it an "epidemic". That's wrong and I'm going to send an email to the ABC about that.
The same programme did pretty much the same thing a few years back as well. With exactly the same attitude as you describe.
It's another one of those things where people care more about parents than they do about kids. (Any other situation and society would consider this attitude to be completely unacceptable.)
I don't think it was so much dumb, Aleel, it was more along the lines of "typical government". Maybe that's dumb as well, but the real issue - certainly in Australia - is the lack of financial support from government.
This is because they aren't taking it as seriously as they should.
But I was peeved at Kerry O'Brien calling it an "epidemic". That's wrong and I'm going to send an email to the ABC about that.
Amazing! I agree with Timelord on an issue and he has spoken sense.
Yeah, I saw that programme as well. All this : "imagine a child that will not make eye contact with it's parent's" stuff. Well, I don't have to imagine it, my daughter doesn't make eye contact. But then neither do I. Always these programmes are about the "suffering of the parents". I do wish, just OCCASSIONALLY, for the sake of equality, that they'd interview an actual Autistic. Ask US what it's like, living amongst a herd of illogical, sex-and-sport-obsessed, socially-fixated morons. But no, it's always "the poor Autistic who needs somebody else to speak for them."
Makes me so mad!
Alison
Ask US what it's like, living amongst a herd of illogical, sex-and-sport-obsessed, socially-fixated morons. But no, it's always "the poor Autistic who needs somebody else to speak for them."
Makes me so mad!
Alison
Hee, my NT husband just saw me posting this and brought me a cup of tea! They're not all bad, just sometimes I get so upset it makes me cynical about all of them.
Alison
Apparently A Current Affair have done it again. I missed it, but apparently there was a follow up story to the one they did on a teenager who was right out of control - and they had him in some sort of "shock therapy".
I'm not liking the sound of this at all! Anyone (in Australia) see it?
I'm sorry, I don't watch ACA, so I didn't catch that story. I try to be a bit selective about what shows I watch on TV.
It was actually last night, but my wife taped it and I'll watch it when I get a chance and report back tonight.
I have yet to see a proper, bona fide, interview with a mother who did not cry when she heard the diagnosis and does not want a cure. I know there are some somewhere in the world, so why aren't people listening to them?
Ooh, me, me! I was thrilled to find out my daughter is just like me (I'd already guessed that, of course, but still, DX proved it!) but then, I'm not a neurotypical.
Alison
I know there are some somewhere in the world, so why aren't people listening to them?
Because the media regard it as not sensational - and therefore not news.
Go figure!
No wonder idiots like David Kirby and the Geiers get so much publicity. Because they jump on the bandwagon with these crying mums saying "here - we have a cure!" Of course the grieving mum will jump at it without even thinking.
That's how Generation Rescue works as well.
It's not that nobody's listening to the Autistic, it's that there's so many groups that claim that the Autistic can't speak and that you should listen to their views instead. It's hard for people like me to say that I have Autism and that I don't hate it when there's these organizations like Autism Speaks which claims to be speaking on my behalf yet has extremely different views than the ones I express. This is mostly thanks to the fact that Autism Speaks is an NT run organization so they tend to get a little more credibility than us "retards" thanks to the public getting so much "smarter".
We're at the point where who are the people going to listen to, those with a "mental disorder" or those who don't but may have likely at one point heard something a doctor once said. People don't often ask for credibility anymore, one day someone can see an episode of Oprah about how tragic Autism is, then read a wikipedia article, and some of the bullshit on Autism Speak's site, then all of a sudden this person is an "Autism Expert". Those of us who actually have Autism are just the retards, what the hell do we know about Autism?
Autism Speaks need to learn when to speak, and when to just sit back and learn themselves. They may oppose the mercury militia, but they also support eugenics. That's why they won't let us speak when we can. No one knows the Autistic Spectrum better than us because we are living it!