tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23662617.post-17019913656774923212007-03-07T11:40:00.000-08:002007-03-08T06:51:37.398-08:00This is what happens to Autistics who try to communicate their own individual reality - or at least, when it might cause reasonable people to doubt the advisability of subjecting their children to dangerously unproven therapies. This blog would be more honestly titled "Hating Autistics;" I have rarely had the misfortune of encountering such an outright slimy person.<br /><br /><a href="http://hatingautism.blogspot.com/2007/02/amanda-baggs-snows-cnn.html"></a><blockquote><a href="http://hatingautism.blogspot.com/2007/02/amanda-baggs-snows-cnn.html">Amanda Baggs Snows CNN (</a><a href="http://hatingautism.blogspot.com/">Hating Autism)</a><br /><br /><table style="width: 179px; height: 311px;" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/buy/gtaspie/-/pv_design_prod/p_2111194.92540438/pNo_92540438/id_16271859/fpt_/opt_/c_360/pg_1?pid=44399&tid=P_buygtaspiepvdesignprodp211119492540438pNo92540438id16271859fptoptc360pg1" target="_blank"><img src="http://images.cafepress.com/product/92540438v6_240x240_F.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/buy/gtaspie/-/pv_design_prod/p_2111194.92540438/pNo_92540438/id_16271859/fpt_/opt_/c_360/pg_1?pid=44399&tid=P_buygtaspiepvdesignprodp211119492540438pNo92540438id16271859fptoptc360pg1" target="_blank" rel="tag">My posactive anti-puzzle-piece autism awareness design that states "The Issue is Intolerance" and "Help Find a Clue!"</a><br /><br />Partial proceeds go to<br />stress relief.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/buy/gtaspie/-/pv_design_prod/p_2111194.92540438/pNo_92540438/id_16271859/fpt_/opt_/c_360/pg_1?pid=44399&amp;tid=P_buygtaspiepvdesignprodp211119492540438pNo92540438id16271859fptoptc360pg1" target="_blank" rel="tag"> </a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />What I just watched on CNN with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc">Amanda Baggs</a> playing the role of a low functioning autistic was a disgrace. Low functioning autistics can't type anything. They can barely pay attention to anything, nevermind keep up a conversation by typing 120 words a minute. Cute little girls don't usually turn into fat ugly monsters either.<br /><br />Did anyone else notice the little blond girl who turned into this beastly brunette? That little girl's eye contact with the camera looked normal to me. Perhaps her whole face changed when she was smitten with schizophrenia. Maybe she's not even the same girl.<br /><br />How come Amanda can focus long enough to type without stopping to twiddle her fingers? One who deals with autism every day knows that expecting a low functioning person to pay attention to any task for long is expecting a lot. This overacting is a dead giveaway that Baggs functions much too well to be considered autistic. Why didn't she space out in the middle of answering a question and go finger twiddling for awhile? Bullshit, this imposter can focus long enough to make her point for CNN without having any autistic "moments".<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><br />Autism occurs a spectrum and every autistic manifests differently. This is complicated by a number of other "comorbid" conditions that tend to show up with autism, but are not in themselves autism, and which also occur in other contexts. It's a difficult diagnosis even if you are not a quack, because there are overlaps with many other possible conditions - and all of this is generally determined without the input of the person concerned using diagnostic criteria that can only be described as "maddeningly vague."<br /><br />I should state for the record that there is, factually, NO credible scientific evidence of a link between mercury toxicity and autism. I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised and skeptical, seeing that mercury is by no means health food, and does have cumulative neurotoxic effects. But Autism is not the damage mercury manifests, and there have been enough studies to make what seemed like an attractive quick fix obvious quackery.<br /><br />Likewise, Applied Behavior Analysis and other such Skinnerian behaviorist approaches cure nothing. What they do is create a set of conditioned reflexes, which may or may not generalize into understanding of why the behavior is desired. Autistic children are trained in the same way the "white stallions" are trained to caper and dance - they learn that disobedience results in a shock prod to the genitals.<br /><br />This overcomes their reluctance to do nonsensical things they are uninterested in doing.<br /><br />Surface compliance is not a cure, nor is obedience evidence of respect. But I think this person is so insecure in his own masculinity that he takes his' son's autism as being willful disrespect for his authority.<br /><br />As far as I know, the only real cure for disrespect is to be respectable. Alas, I suspect <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> cure to be outside of John Best's grasp. He's far too attached to his own dysfunctions and personality disorders to either deserve respect or respect anyone with divergent, more useful viewpoints.<br /><br /><b>tag:</b> <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/cure%20autism%20now" rel="tag">cure autism now</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/neurodiversity" rel="tag">neurodiversity</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/posactive" rel="tag">posactive</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/pro-autistic" rel="tag">pro-autistic</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/aspie" rel="tag">aspie</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/aspergers" rel="tag">aspergers</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/AS" rel="tag">AS</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/autistic%20spectrum" rel="tag">autistic spectrum</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/autistic%20parenting" rel="tag">autistic parenting</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/chelation%20therapy" rel="tag">chelation therapy</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Amanda%20Baggs" rel="tag">Amanda Baggs</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Autism%20Quackery" rel="tag">Autism Quackery</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/xenophobia" rel="tag">xenophobia</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/bigotry" rel="tag">bigotry</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Beginning of Project Wonderful ad code: --> <!-- Ad box ID: 22304 --> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- var d=document; d.projectwonderful_adbox_id = "22304"; d.projectwonderful_adbox_type = "2"; d.projectwonderful_foreground_color = ""; d.projectwonderful_background_color = ""; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.projectwonderful.com/ad_display.js"></script> <!-- End of Project Wonderful ad code. --><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/23662617-1701991365677492321?l=www.graphictruth.com'/></div>Bob Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12331371505961522315Graphictruth@gmail.com5