Posted on 07/26/2008 12:06:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week, radio talk-show host Michael Savage talked about autism:
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.” I’m not an impartial observer here. My six-year-old son has high-functioning autism. He is exactly the kind of kid that Savage attacked.
Savage’s comments were wrong and harmful. Some autistic kids do learn to read and speak, which is why misinformed people may think that they are not “genuinely handicapped.” Yes, they are. Autism is a brain disorder that affects everything from social communication to physical coordination. Autistic people have multiple problems that make it hard for them to do things that the rest of us take for granted. It may take them years to learn how to toss a ball or nod their head.
And even when they can talk, they often have odd speech patterns that instantly mark them as autistic. Other kids taunt them with the very words that Savage used. If they respond verbally, their speech problems will draw even more taunting. If they respond with their fists, they run the risk that authorities will label them as “violent.”
Once in a while, parents take the approach that Savage recommends. It never works. Screaming insults at a handicapped kid is not child-rearing. It’s child abuse.
Conservatives need to speak out against Savage. Many news stories label him as “conservative” or “right-wing,” which may prompt some people to think that we agree with him. Savage has a long history of disgusting comments, which has led David Klinghoffer to speculate that his act is a giant liberal put-on, a “lefty’s cartoon mental picture of a ranting right-wing caveman.”
The liberal website Media Matters has spearheaded the backlash against Savage’s autism comments. Understandably, conservatives might be uneasy about siding with such an outfit. Savage has tried to exploit such feelings by casting his critics as PC leftists. But just because the folks at Media Matters oppose child abuse, it doesn’t follow that we conservatives should accept it just for the sake of disagreeing with them.
Besides, liberals do not have a corner on concern for autism. California’s 1969 Lanterman Act was a landmark in serving people with autism and other disabilities. Its sponsor was a Republican, as was the governor who signed it: Ronald Reagan. In 2006, President Bush signed the Combating Autism Act. Its author was Senator Rick Santorum (R., PA).
Savage has cited respectable commentators who suggest that many kids with the autistic label are merely late talkers. His defense fails on two counts. First, these commentators don’t speak in the hateful language that he has used. Second, although they make their argument in good faith, they get things backward.
When you first notice that your child has a speech delay — around his second birthday — autism is the last thing that you want to think about. Autism is devastating and frightening. It’s more comforting to think that your kid is just starting late and will catch up soon. Clutching the “late talker” security blanket, some parents wait months or years before admitting the possibility of autism.
At that point, they may indeed conclude that a formal diagnosis could be important in getting help. States and school districts often pay for the assessment. Every autism diagnosis means thousands of dollars for services that the federal government mandates but does not fully subsidize. With tight budgets, the authorities have no incentive to encourage overdiagnosis. Once in a while, a child may incorrectly get the autism label, but underdiagnosis is probably a much bigger problem.
We need more study of the causes and prevalence of autism. At the moment, though, the issue is Michael Savage’s attack. He has since claimed that he is a nice guy who wants help to go to those who truly need it. Nonsense. If he cared about autistic kids, he wouldn’t have spewed words such as “moron” and “idiot.”
And he shouldn’t claim to be a conservative. He has cheapened political discourse and hurt defenseless children. There’s nothing conservative about that.
—- John J. Pitney Jr. is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.
You do know that there is no drug to cure Autism. There is only drugs to counteract the symptoms. I listed three of the main ones including Prozac that recently had the age of prescribe lowered to 7 years of age.
Lets turn this same mentality that Savage spits out.
How about guys that can’t get it up and take viagra.
Probably millions are taking that and other meds just like it.
Now that is over medication. Maybe those guys arn’t trying and want the easy way. Maybe they arn’t real men.
Maybe they should be slapped and told be a man.
The Savage argument can be used with any situation
To bad those who have no clue buy into it.
“Tourette’s is one of the few disorders that seems to be curable, for some, through mass administration of heavy doses of antibiotics,”
interesting - I didn’t know that.
“I do wish they’d simply learn some new words though.”
Don’t you think that’s the point?
It’s almost like a compulsiveness that compelled him to speak the most vile words in the most inappropriate place (church).
He could carry on a normal conversation - but when he was trying to sit quietly and listen...the “words” would start with him trying to fake a cough to cover it up.
I’m not cold hearted, I just don’t care to have the very vast majority drop standards of decor to care for one child whose mom is incapeable of taking charge of her child.
I am certain many Autistic as well as a.d.d. kids etc really only need a good swift kick in the rear and a parent or hopefully two that love the child, care for their welfare and development and stand firm.
The ADD and ADHD Ritalin crowd has reinvented itself under the guise of Autism. Talk to the front line dealing with the inundation of new cases that is pushing the true afflicted into the background.
This new Medicated Children Network has a strong following and quite a few ardent supporters even on FR. For a disease, even with only 6 in 1000 children being diagnosed (up from .5 in 1000 just a few years ago according to the CDC) it is amazing how many think every child they know including theirs is Autistic. What a shame to the true sufferers out there. I am so sorry some children aren’t popular.
We had this same thing happen with Type II Diabetes 5 years ago. Used to be 120 mg/dl was NORMAL, then they changed that to 110 mg/dl, and all at once everybody from 110 to 120 were roped into the new definition.
Idiots in the MSM misinterpreted the effect as an epidemic of diabetes, which it wasn't, but how would they know so many of them are alcoholics.
Frankly, if they raised the standard to 170, or maybe 230, I'd still have Type II. Don't bother me none, eh!
Then there are "brats" ~ when they run down the airplane aisle, just reach your arm out and clothesline them ~ that'll make 'em shape up. Irrespective of the applicability of new diagnoses, there seem to be no shortage of certifiable "brats", and all of them, sad to say, are OTHER PEOPLE'S KIDS ~ da*ned those people ~ shoulda' kept it in their pants or something.
I'm certain all of your kids are well behaved little ladies and gentleen who just sit there quietly staring at their thumbs, twiddling them, first forward, then backward, over and over and over.
I've seen them before.
So quiet.
/sarc.
I'm right here Genius!. I have been right here for 323 years through all of the IEP meetings, the days spent at the autism project at the University of Pittsburgh. I've been through the threatening to kick the asses of other parents that allowed their little thugs to physically attack my child. I was there when Catholic pre-school tossed my son out. I was there when they said that he could mouth words but didn't know what they meant. I was there to prove them wrong. I was there when the school psychologist said he would have to go into a class with emotionally disturbed children. I was there when he wanted to start high school without an in-class aid. I was there when he couldn't hit a softball and was embarrassed to go to gym class. We hit a thousand balls. I was there when his chemistry teacher said he had an unusual knack for the subject. I was there when he couldn't find a job. I gave him the first one and have helped him find the rest. I was there when his College roommate freshman year asked for a differen'troomate. I am there for him now, making sure he doesn't wear short sleeves in February, or A jacket in the summer. I will be there in 1 year when he gets his black belt in karate. I will be there in two years when he graduates with his Doctor of Pharmacy Degree and three when he completes his masters degree in Japanese. He plays the violin and guitar too. I will be there when he cashes his $20,000 signing bonus. Idiots like Savage and his sycophants would poison the educational opportunities for kids like mine. Your ignorance is appalling too. No wonder you are a Savage fan.
“I just don’t care to have the very vast majority drop standards of decor to care for one child whose mom is incapeable of taking charge of her child.”
well...it’s a balancing act, and there are varying degrees of the severity of illness.
And what you have are parents who are trying to teach their child how to behave in social situations - how to behave in public - but when they venture out for those lessons you never know how the child will react to certain situations.
Or - the child may seem to be fine during one outing - the parents relax a little, and are caught by surprise at a later outburst. It can be unpredictable.
This can lead to some parents not taking their child out AT ALL. Everyone becomes secluded -and then the child really never learns anything, because he never gets out.
So it can seem - for many parents - that they are damned no matter how they approach the situation.
Before going into the legal field, I delt with children
with neuro bio diseases. You might want to spend time with children and their parents under these situations and see what the real world is about.
What are you talking about? Do your research and tell me what thresholds were changed in diagnosis to account for the CDC’s numbers? Explain why increased benefits for the disease and lowered age of prescribe for existing drugs to deal with common symptoms catapulted it from .5 in 1000 to 6 in 1000. And then explain why so many people here claim at such low levels why they are Autistic, why their children are Autistic and how it can be that they know so many children that are?
” I will be there in two years when he graduates with his Doctor of Pharmacy Degree and three when he completes his masters degree in Japanese. He plays the violin and guitar too. I will be there when he cashes his $20,000 signing bonus.”
Congratulations on being such a blessing for your son and helping find his way.
You are a hero.
No answer to any question. Figures.
Parents are fanatical about their children having an excuse for not being popular and not fitting in socially. It is that simple for the most part.
Thank you. He will be financially successful, and hopefully happy, but he is and always will be lonely for a girlfriend.
He has great friends that go all the way back to speech class in elementary school though. It is something of a nerd fest however :)
Best thing I can recommend is to have TWO parents raise a child. NOt One. Male and female seems to be the best also as both genders contribute in their own ways.
Yours not based in reality.
Then lets take all meds off the market that don’t deal with life or death and that included other mind alterings
such as liquor.
What is a neuro bio disease and isn’t delt spelled dealt or is that the legal way of spelling it in court?
“you score well on a test, you are autistic.”
That isn’t what I said at all - nor is it what I believe at all.
” Should they self prescribe medication because they have autism “
I am not an expert - but I believe autism is not something treated with pills - but with therapy.
“Just because they don’t listen to rap or they enjoy the opera, or spend their waking hours studying, doesn’t make them autistic.”
And where did you see someone say this?
“To put it bluntly, and this is my opinion, isn’t it easier to control a nation that is medicated, or people who think for themselves? “
Once again...autistic kids are not medicated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.