Posted on 04/16/2012 3:16:08 PM PDT by dynachrome
ABC's Primetime:What Would You Do? strangely attacked conservative talk radio host Michael Savage on Friday for autism views he expressed almost four years ago.
The following was injected into an eight minute segment dealing with how people respond in a public setting when an autistic child acts up (video follows with transcript and commentary):OFF-SCREEN ANNOUNCER: Now if you're finding it hard to believe that anyone would mistake autistic behavior for misbehavior, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SAVAGE: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Now, even the mildest of autism is a diagnosed disease, and all levels of autism are considered disabling.
The same thing happened with ADD. It used to be mild ADD was called "daydreaming", medium ADD while being male was called "being a boy", and severe ADD was called a learning disability.
Now, even the mildest ADD is a diagnosed disease, complete with prescription psychotropic drugs to treat it.
The first question is, how did we make it all these years with undiagnosed mild autism in our midst? Perhaps their parents kept them under control, and later as adults they did not conform, got into trouble, and ended up in the criminal just system.
Others with mild autism, such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison just went on about their lives.
The second question is, how will we make it with diagnosed mild autism in our midst? The economic impacts of the medical and disability costs will be large.
The third question is, what will be the impact of multiple generations of people who have spent their childhood years on psychotropic drugs on society?
One more thing. This was told to me by a pediatrician who was an expert in ADD. ADD is always hereditary. No child has ADD unless one or both parents has ADD. If neither parent ever experienced ADD symptoms or compensating behavior, and their child is diagnosed with ADD, it is a misdiagnosis.
Just because your child has a legitimate disorder doesn’t mean that there isn’t an issue with other children being misdiagnosed. For example, there are plenty of kids out there with legitimate cases of AD/HD, but there are also a large number who got misdiagnosed with that disorder and medicated. The two things aren’t mutually exclusive, so maybe you shouldn’t get so defensive if people question the current Autism/Aspergers diagnosis explosion.
My 3 1/2 year old daughter is autistic and she has good days and bad. She has attacked both parents and her 6 year old brother as well as our pets, sometimes very violently. We never know what might trigger her behavior and sometimes there are triggers which lead to seizures. We select when and where to go into public depending on her habits that day but my husband and I have a pretty good routine if things turn while we are out...one of us exits with her while the other stays with our son to pay the bill at a restaurant, finish watching his little league game, etc. Living with the trials of a special needs child eventually becomes your life, you begin to accept the challenges, but I won’t lie it can be very frustrating. She is our angel and we love her and her brother loves her tremendously, but is vocal at his frustrations sometimes which we tell him he has every right to feel and we make sure he is given special attention so he doesn’t fall through the cracks. It is hard for the child, for the parents and siblings. But we know that God gives you what He knows you can handle.
Here is a discussion that though not by any means presented as "the final word" but I was impressed with the young author's work.. Professor Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt University is cited in the article. (W/o double checking I will say that it is obvious that Pope John Paul II High School is NOT a public high school) Redefining Autism
BTW, I prefer contumely rather than curse words from those who do not agree with what I have provided. But of course the option is yours.
In the early 2000s Michael Savage took credit for Bush's term "Compassionate Conservatism" and claimed that Bush stole it from him but brushed off the "theft" and was just happy that the President was using it.
I had been listening to Michael Savage before Bush was even President. I know how the chronology goes.
I stopped listening ti him when I noticed him using Keith Obermann's tactic of bashing talk show hosts with much bigger audiences only for the purposes of them mentioning him on their show and perhaps giving Savage a boost in his own ratings. Another thing that turned me off from Savage was his obvious triangulation on issues to get liberals listening. One day he's against gay marriage and the next he looks for and supposedly finds an issue where he can say "I can't blame the gays for not liking the republican party". Monday it's candy for conservatives and tuesday it's candy for the liberals.
Yeah, I doubt it too. I bet "The Leprechaun" and "The Professor with a Chalkboard" won't have anything to say either.
I’m not sure if it was from the same researcher, but I heard about a recent study done in California, where they found that one of the major factors in autism diagnoses turned out to be the proximity to other families with ASD children. Since autism isn’t contagious, and they haven’t found an environmental cause, the conclusion was that this was due to social factors. So, either knowing other children diagnosed with it made parents start recognizing (or thinking that they recognized) symptoms in their own children, or doctors in that area were giving out diagnoses more liberally.
I’m sure that there are some people that scam the system by claiming that their son/daughter is autistic but it is far too simplistic to assume that the majority of these kids are normal but pretending to be autistic or are being forced into the category just so some lazy teacher can have him/her drugged up so that they are nice little zombies in school. It is not just some social/bad parenting thing that is causing this, these kids ARE damaged as they’ve examined the brains of these kids (that have died in an accident) and they are not normal. Also they have a lot of other things wrong with them physically (usually their digestive track is a mess and their immune system is way out of whack). Like a lot of diseases autism effects these kids differently and so some of them seem almost normal where others will never be able to even go to the bathroom by themselves and couldn’t form a word to save their lives.
Every time this subject comes up there’s a lot of ignorance displayed on this board about this problem and I do wish that those spouting off would go educate themselves but they seem to think they know it all and have no reason to actually look into whats going on with these kids. This is a growing problem with one out of 100 kids now effected, fortunately there are treatments that work for some of these kids and about 50% of them can be made well enough that you either wouldn’t know that they had been diagnosed at one time or you may just think they’re slightly odd. However, the other 50% are never going to be able to function on their own and will need help or be institutionalized when their parents can no longer take care of them.
It may be asking a bit much but try to at least have some compassion for the parents of these kids and stop with the utterly foolish comments as you have no idea how much this disease impacts the lives of those parents with an autistic kid.
I cannot imagine anyone rejecting compassion for autistic kids and the families.
The ignorance that you describe and your wish that those spouting off would make an effort to learn however seems a bit puzzling.
I can only speak for myself of course and I can see no harm in pointing out that there are problems with the process of diagnosis. I find nothing wrong with supporting people like Dr. Savage, Dr. Sowell, et al. against critics who condemn them for simply pointing out that fact.
I got a real problem with idiots like ‘Doc’ Savage claiming 99% of ADHD/Austic/Asperger kids are nothing more than ‘brats’.
screw him.
“I find nothing wrong with supporting people like Dr. Savage, Dr. Sowell, et al. against critics who condemn them for simply pointing out that fact.”
What I condemn is the assertion that the majority of these claims is made up (90%) thats like saying to all these people suffering (and I’m one of them) that you’re a liar, there’s nothing wrong with your kid. Or these ignorant “it’s the parents fault, they spoiled they’re kids, that’s why their acting up in public”. It is probably more like 10% that may be scamming the system but no way more than that as most parents (even in the ghetto) don’t want their kid stigmatized with the “mental or retard” label that special education kids get tagged with. And for those that think it’s just bad parenting, you’re nuts, you just don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
Thank you for your statement. I too am tired of defending our autistic child.
Only a complete an utter MORON suggests that our Austic children just need firmer parenting.
Those who suggest it show incredible ignorance and prejudice on the topic.
To suggest its a scam, well, I’d love for you to tell that to the rooms full of desparate parents. Contrary to popular belief you really don’t get much in the way of services or HELP. We are desparate for information, for effective treatments etc. ALL OF OUR CHILD’S CARE HAS BEEN OUR OWN MONEY
So go rag on the parents who let their drug addled, sex crazed little babies run amock on society and quit criticizing Autism.
I ran across some information recently that I thought was interesting. I have been researching gluten-free eating, and I found that some parents of autistic children are having some success with gluten free diets for improving the symptoms their children experience. Has anyone here tried that?
My daughter is on a gluten-free diet but we found virgin coconut oil and seaweed extract give the best results. It is difficult to know what may or may not work, most parents I know try anything suggested. Several earlier posts by other parents of autistic kids stated many things well....you want a cure not a handout, you want understanding and compassion from people when in public and we want people who are not interested in helping find answers to step away from microphones.
Do you always answer your own questions to others? Without giving those persons a chance to answer?
If so, you're assuming a lot. And you know what assuming does...
Gluten free may be helpful for some children with autism. They do have eating/allegery problems. For example my son did not eat red meat until 13. He could not stand the texture or the tasts. As a baby he spit it out. Same as toddler, etc.
Autistic children experience the senses quite differently from “normal” people. Some children can’t stand the feel of certain fabrics on their skin. Most can not stand loud noises. They see the world very differently.
Savage was way ahead of the rest on that scam too. This is about the attacks on his comments about his autism of about 4 years ago, but he’s been warning listeners to the ADD/ADHD scam since at least 1997.
Just thought you should know since your comment didn’t seem to acknowledge it.
I’m not surprised that savage was on top of it early. Thanks.
No,autism doesn’t correlate with violence per se. But when they are young, they will have zero impulse control. Plus they will be overstimulated at an aquarium. Adult people with autism won’t be violent.
Plus the bald guy always plays the jerk.....not that I am feeling single out or anything. ; }
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