Latest Autism News?
Posted on: July 23, 2008
I was going to do a normal weekly or twice-weekly update on latest news in the autism community, but you’d have to have your head in a cave if the first “Weiner” talk (Savage’s real last name…I can’t help but refer to him as that) you’d hear is on my blog. Not only would I repeat what is readily available all over the internet, but I’d be joining in the hype and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think blogging or talking about him is a bad thing. The news has to get out there, and grassroots viral marketing is the best way to do it. Word-of-mouth is a beautiful thing. But, at this point, I almost just want to move on and let the current momentum continue to see it on to its fruition. Maybe Weiner will be fired, maybe he won’t. Maybe his show will be removed from *more* stations/networks, and maybe more advertisers will remove their ads from his shows, but I trust that in the end, good will have come from it even if the autism community never really gets the ‘you were wrong, 99% of autistic kids aren’t brats’ and so forth. So, what good will one more blog do? Probably not much at this point, so I’m going to move on. But, since most of the news in the community these days is about Savage, I’m not sure there’s much else to cover. One really good thing, as has already been pointed out, is that this media attention is helping with autism awareness. I’d prefer to see that as a focus, instead of looking reactionary demanding an apology for an opinion, however misinformed.
In the end, while I definitely am not a Weiner fan, and I will never listen to him, I have bigger issues in my life and I can’t let the flurry of anger over his ridiculous comments to take more time/energy out of my day than they already have. I have an autistic child to raise. I have skills to work on with him, I have games I want to play with him, and I have cuddles I want to give him. Spending hours emailing people and his sponsors, I just don’t have that kind of time. That’s not to say I’ve not done anything, but that I can’t let it take over. We parents can’t let a negative situation like this drag us from our priority: our kids. Maybe it’s because I work so I don’t have the spare time, so I don’t want to offend but I just have to let go at this point. So, my next goal is to find some autism-related news that has nothing to do Weiner and does not have the word brat or racket in it. Got any cool links to share?
Autism Watch: 2007 
July 23, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I won’t even address the Hotdog, ’cause that would be giving the topic more air time. I’m so impressed that you’re doing so well at keeping your focus on your boy. That’s what really counts!