Radio Host Michael Savage Says Autistic Kids Aren't Sick..."Just Brats"

A Savage Betrayal Of Humanity Radio Host Michael Savage Says Autistic Kids Aren't Sick..."Just Brats"

I’ve written for years about the problems I’ve had with talk radio, and did so, for the most part with tongue tucked firmly in cheek. I’ve even had my own show in L.A. so In some way, I’ve been a part of the problem I write about. I do get ticked off, but rarely does anything said on talk radio ever cause me to lose my sense of humor. Until this past Wednesday.

On his syndicated talk radio show, The Savage Nation, Michael Savage (real name: Michael Weiner), the third most listened to talk show host behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and a bomb thrower like no other, called the disorder known as Autism, “a fraud” and “a racket.”

"I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.” (Full audio at:

There’s so much I wanted to say, not only to pound some actual knowledge into whatever Savage uses for a brain, but also to defend those families who have been besieged by the heartbreak and hardship of living with someone, especially their children, with Autism.

I wondered how Savage might feel it were his child who was constantly being met with disapproving stares from strangers who recommend that “if your child can’t behave maybe you shouldn’t take him out in public.” And how he might feel if the knew that it is going to happen every single day.

But as I began to write a note to Savage, I realized that it would be more appropriate to have someone who knows full well the devastation felt of not only hearing the diagnosis of your child as autistic, but having to live through the day to day sadness, frustration and pain you feel when it hits you that your child may never have what most would consider a typical life. For that I turned to my son Ryan…

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior. That diagnosis in itself may help define a set of Rebecca’s symptoms, but it far from defines who she is any more than insensitive or mean-spirited totally describes you.

Rebecca can be sweet, funny, happy, sad, angry, silly, frustrating, irritating, gentle, kind or any number of other adjectives you’d use to describe a typical eight year old, though brat is not one that her doctors have used to describe her. That usually only comes from those ignorant of her condition.

When Rebecca is having a meltdown or dealing with any other upsetting moment in a public place, we are almost always met with judgmental glares from onlookers who are thinking, boy, if that was my child… or who might even say, “If you can’t control that child, keep her home!” G-d forbid these people ask if there anything they can do to help you. It’s something every parent of an autistic child has had to deal with most every day.

If you don’t understand Autism, its very easy to say or think such things. I probably did too before my wife and I had Rebecca, but I never went on a radio show, where millions of people believe I am some sort of authority, to label innocent children as a moron or idiot. That you supposedly hold master’s degrees in medical botany and medical anthropology makes your actions even more shameful.

Imagine, Mr Savage, if you lacked the ability to express your feelings, thoughts or needs. Imagine if this were your child. Would you want your child smeared for something they had no control over? Many children with autism lack the capacity to verbalize their feelings instead act them out. This is not how they act like a putz. This is how they communicate.

Being her father, I see Rebecca’s many challenges, stressors and unexpected events that challenge her ability to get through each and every day. As parents, her stressful and frustrating moments become OUR stressful and frustrating moments. What loving parent doesn’t cheer when their child succeeds or aches when their child is hurt, frustrated or upset?

Because the world challenges Rebecca so incessantly it would be easy to want to keep her home, insulated from the world, protecting her against the whirlwind of circumstances that at once can delight her one moment or upset and anger her the next. But ours is a life built on “that which does not kill you, can only make you stronger.” With each challenge Rebecca meets head on, she can learn and grow, hopefully adapting to the world, one step at a time. With each fall that she rises from she learns to walk a little stronger; gains confidence, and actually learns to become the best Rebecca she can be.

What no parent of a special needs child wants is to be pre-judged or isolated and kept in the shadows so that people like you don’t have to look at a child with a disability. We want and need support of those around us and hope upon hope that our child be treated with compassion and understanding.

Ryan Young is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York. His dad is author of “Great Failures of the Extremely Successful…Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Steppingstones to Success.”

Of course "it's real to us," as one of Kipling's characters said.

But being "quirky" didn't used to be a medical diagnosis. Odd compulsions and so forth run in my family. I'm a borderline case, my son is more so (he can't bear to be touched either). We fight it when we can, work around it when we can't.

Addressing the issues in childhood is probably easier, just because habits aren't formed yet, but put your engineering thinking skills to work and you'll find ways around. And for heaven's sake try to reassure your parents that they shouldn't feel guilty.

You can’t just ‘misdiagnose’ a normal child as retarded and have everybody accept that. It would be like saying a child has Down’s Syndrome when they do not! If something would get misdiagnosed on purpose I think it would be something like ADHD or depression because normal kids get hyper or sad sometimes so the diagnosis could be believable. But normal kids don’t just up and act retarded, so I don’t think anyone would believe their child had autism unless they really did.

You SHOULD be 100% right...you really, really SHOULD be.

There's no getting around the fact that Savage goofed badly - he made up statistics, and as you point out, probably picked on the wrong demographic (ADHD vs. autism). You needn't look far into the community to find kids where you can say "yeah, that kid obviously suffers from A/B/C, no doubt."

However, there is a (not huge, but) growing issue with problem-behavior children whose diagnoses are being manipulated by problem-behavior parents. (And yes, surprisingly, this sometimes includes steering towards a diagnosis of autism.) This is most likely to happen in situations where the parents have never been able to conrol little Johnny, discover they are in a public school system where there are special programs for disorder A, or B, or C, and see this as a means of shifting blame towards a disorder instead of a parenting style.

(Through the eyes of family members who teach in the local school systems), I have seen cases where the kid was diagnosed as A, but the parent badgered a psychiatrist to diagnose the kid as B, because the school had a special program for B. The kid spent a year there, and the program "didn't work" (translation, parenting was still necessary). Therefore, the parent decided that a different school with a program for C would be better.....so they went, with announced premeditation, and got a diagnosis of C, and moved the kid to that school. Because it is a public school, nobody dares risk the fallout from challenging such parents.

Some of the As, Bs and Cs that have been involved in these little games are Aspergers, Downs(!), Autism, ADHD, etc. The most insidious thing about parents who play these games is that they begins to cast aspersions on the majority of families who ARE affected by these conditions.

I think Savage would have been better served to narrow the focus of his tirade: even the New York Times has dared to tread into the discussion of improving parenting skills to help with childhood mental disorders.

...But the science behind nondrug treatments is getting stronger. And now, some researchers and doctors are looking again at how inconsistent, overly permissive or uncertain child-rearing styles might worsen children’s problems, and how certain therapies might help resolve those problems, in combination with drug therapy or without drugs.

Savage is dead right about this. In my son's kindergarten class 10 out of 12 of the boys--and NOT ONE of the girls--had been diagnosed with some bullshit "autistic spectrum disorder", including a kid who was the best reader in the class.

Boys who talk late are being diagnosed. My wife's brother did not speak nary a word until he was FOUR, and now is a top salesperson for IBM. He is 55. Had he been around today, the idiot quacks would have convinced his parents to f**k him up with drugs and useless "therapy".

Just like ADD and ADHD (with which I myself was "diagnosed" and my parents--thank God--ignored the diagnosis), 80-90% of "autistic spectrum disorder" diagnoses are bullshit.

I do not trust these pediatricians, as I do not trust OBGYNs who try to outlaw midwives (our children were born at home despite the hysterical pleas of our OBGYN-brainwashed relatives). Just as with "global warming" this is about MONEY, not science. And the gender discrimination is just absurd, along the lines of "The War Against Boys". Boys who won't act like girls are often the first to be pigeonholed into ADD or Autistic categories.

Of course there are exceptions--but they are OBVIOUS. Truly autistic children are a tremendous challenge and often a nightmare for their parents.

Michael Savage did not point our correctly why misdiagnosis is happening.
It is not because of children’s behavior although it can be involved.
It includes children who talk late , learn differently, or have a different personality of any kind that is overdiagnosed.
Go to www.latetalking.org, for the facts on this issue.
There is a support list for parents in this situation.
Dr Camarata likely pointed out more clearly and correctly than Michael Savage that overdiagnosis is largely due to a falsely increased spectrum .This so called spectrum has gone way beyond the requirements of the DSM IV. It includes differences in personality.
Even the DSM IV criteria can be subjective, but school professionals have bought into overdiagnosis to the point that perfectly normal children are being so called diagnosed only because they speak later.
There are now “ cures” for normal kids with different personalities, being claimed by the therapists.
There IS autism for sure, but the kids who really need the help are not getting it because of this very complicated self deception . The funding needed is spreading out to the wrong children in the wrong way.

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