Savage Stands by Autistic Remarks

NEW YORK TIMES ^ | July 21 08 | JAQUES STEINBERG

[cvq3842]

Anyone trying to get him off the air will only make him a martyr.

I thought the comments were deplorable. But I can always change the channel if I don’t want to listen.

[Biggirl]

Second it!

[Izzy Dunne]

I agree with you. Even though the part about “Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ” is a truly stupid thing to say to a three-year old, Savage has a right to say it, and if his broadcasters make money from him saying it, more power to them.

Me, I'll continue to ignore him, and parent my own way.

[guido911]

Absolutely spot on. Savage plainly has no idea what he is talking about. Furthermore, the more he clings to this idiocy of a position, the more he loses whatever credibility he has.

Is it at all possible he got autism confused with ADHD?

[Tamar1973]

He’s 99.9% dead on. Autism is seriously overdiagnosed as are many mental disorders.

[lormand]

"But he has a college degree in food!"

...and has written several books on the subject too

[DeLaine]

He’s the one out of 100. I have had a friend with a completely disabled autistic child. And I’d go so far as to say that many autistic children are just poorly parented, I have no idea how many that could be.
I also have friends with mildly autistic children who are pretty fair behaved.
So he’s exaggerating. No surprise. I wouldn’t take this personally if I were you.

[Williams]

Savage will probably bring some lawsuit to defend his right to say these things, and then have his listeners pay for it. Guy has bestselling books and big radio contract and he funded his CAIR lawsuit with listener donations.

Guess he wanted to go one better on the "ADHD is made up" theme. Sorry but when "conservatism" gets involved in saying kids' medical conditions don't exist, count me out. Autism is not even a close call. My wife's school has a whole class of autistics they are severely disabled.

[DeLaine]

Maybe they aren’t there to serve the conservative movement.

[garbanzo]

Even though the part about “Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ” is a truly stupid thing to say to a three-year old

Why? Savage comes from a generation where three-year olds were routinely told that and most of them turned out fine. It's only in our "progressive" generation that never telling anyone "no" is a mortal sin.

[wideawake]

Exactly.

[Tamar1973]

It’s the “mildly autistic” children that probably aren’t even autistic at all. They’re pigeonhold so the drug companies, schools, etc. make a few $$$ off them. I was barely saved from a diagnosis of autism with a simple hearing test when I was 3 years old.

[Vigilanteman]

My daughter works with autistic kids. Dr. Thomas Sowell is also very knowledgeable and has written books on the subject. So I'm taking this statement both from what my daughter has told me with experience and what Dr. Sowell has written about them.

The bottom line is that what Savage said is insensitive, harsh and lacking in any compassion. But he's essentially correct. All autistic kids need extra attention, but most of it is the attention of time and disclipline which a loving parent or caring teacher could deliver. A minimal amount of medication can also be helpful, but not in the frequencies and quantities pushed by the "funky kid" industry.

[EyeGuy]

“Is it at all possible he got autism confused with ADHD?”

My initial thoughts as well.

I am shocked at the percentage of my young patients that are on some form of “attention-enhancement” medication.

[DeLaine]

Some take this so personally. Hear the “i know of one (or several) and therefore he’s just wrong and I’m deeply offended!! crowd.
It IS overdxed.
and many of the libs “little darlings” can’t be crossed.

[Mr. Mojo]

But he has a college degree in food!

Or "Nutritional Ethnomedicine" or something. A degree he's so proud of he never fails to go even one 3-hr segment without mentioning his "physician" and "scientist" creds. Savage would last less than a week in a real medical school.

[camerakid400]

Maybe I shouldn’t have posted. Lots of Savage haters here!

[garbanzo]

Sorry but when "conservatism" gets involved in saying kids' medical conditions don't exist, count me out. Autism is not even a close call.

Do you honestly believe that we've had an order of magnitude increase in autism over the course of one or two generations or just more and more broad definition of a condition based on vague clinical diagnosis?

[RightWhale]

Autism is a real thing. Probably it is overdiagnosed. There is no cure but some get over it anyway.

[AnnaZ]

I’m sure parents of “autistic” children will go ballistic. But there are also a lot of parents who willingly accept their kids being doped up with Ritalin. And they support that too.

I think that perhaps both you and Savage have confused autism with ADD (or ADHD).