Posts Tagged ‘savage’
Pills for Autism??
Posted on: July 26, 2008
I’m still seeing so much in the press and on the net about Weiner. The articles that agree with his inaccurate and harmful information are frequently agreeing with the theory that parents just want to medicate their kids for their behavior, and all will be good. Thing is, if he knew anything about autism, or if anyone who agreed with him actually did their research, they’d know their is no magic pill for autism. Or is there? If there is, why have I been paying out-of-pocket for therapies? Why am I fighting for services? Why is my son on waiting lists for things that will help him? Heck, sign me up for the ‘cure the behavior’ pill and I’ll take a look.
Oh, that’s right…more misinformation and ridiculous theories or “knowledge” based on other misinformation…probably based on more misinformation.
There is no pill/medication for autism. Yes, there are some medications that may help — for example, when your child is pullling out his fingernails, hurting himself or others seriously, or scraping his face every five minutes, to the point of blood, we can try Risperdal or Clonidine…and we can hope it makes a difference. If they are older and/or suicidal, and therapies aren’t working, we can hope an available medication may work. But no pill out there…NO pill…actually ‘fixes’ autism or its behaviors enough for any parent to chase it down. ADHD may be helped by a medication, but ADHD is NOT autism. Some autistic kids are ADHD, but that’s just a by-product. If you know so much, get your diagnoses correct.
Non-verbal kids’ parents probably wish there was a pill to help their child speak. I’d venture to guess many parents of autistic children wish there was something as easy as a pill, but the fact remains, a pill is a band-aid, and a pill won’t fix things permanently.
Mind boggling that we’re ‘after medication.’ Buy a clue, people. If Weiner had said “99% of <insert race/sexual orientation/gender/descriptive word> were all <insert derogatory word>,” the general public would be all over it. But why not, autistic children have been kicked out of school/class, thrown off of airplanes, legally restricted from church, and told to leave restaurants. Easy targets I suppose. And illegal if it was anyone else. Hell in a handbasket if it continues…and people wonder why parents of autistic children speak up so much. Wouldn’t you, if your rights and your child’s rights were disappearing by the second??
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 