Dear parents,
We live in a time with more autism and troubles stimming from this. Below is a post from our dear webmaster J, as he responded to a post concerning the topic of autism and burden and other points of view. I asked permission from him to reprint the letter, mostly to show how many varying opinions we are facing and strong we have to be as parents always, with all our children, to do just do what is best by them.
I notice that you consistently post articles and excerpts of the writings of Michelle Dawson. I usually don't see comments by you to explain this. I infer that you post these writings by Michelle Dawson, because you agree with her positions?
I have read several of her articles and found that I disagree every time. Michelle wants the world to be an ideal place where everyone is valued for their differences and Autistic people are simply accepted as they are or allowed to choose for themselves how to live their life.
This is a fantasy. It is not how the real world works, and it never will be. In the "real world", a person must be able to function in Society at a minimal level allowing one to get to work on time, get along with other people and do productive work to earn an income to provide a minimal level of self-sufficiency. If an individual can't do that, they ARE by
definition, a burden on Society and the family that must care for them.
So when Michelle writes in the article you linked to, "And you must remind me that regardless of the extraordinary against-all-odds accomplishments of Asperger's people and autistics, we are still invariably considered to be a devastating burden on society. I need to be told that I am not a burden." She is explicitly showing her vast disconnect between fantasy and reality.
It is nice that Michelle is high functioning enough to find time to criticize all of us parents that provide PROACTIVE interventions to reduce or eliminate Autistic symptoms. If my son recovers emough to the point to allow him to write as eloquently as Michelle and explain his dissatisfaction with what we have done for him (ABA, Bio-Medical, Chelation, etc.), I will
do cartwheels across the room. My son started out as non-verbal with a CARS score of 38.5 (Moderate to Severe Autism).
My opinion is that Michelle is well-intentioned but very misguided. HAVING Autism does not make one an expert in Autism. Her opinion is no more of value than the next person.
People who KNOW about Autism, are the mothers that run daily, proactive, intervention programs; program therapists that help recover children with their treatment services; Doctors willing to invest themselves in the pursuit of knowledge about the latest Biomedical treatments and then apply them; and finally, parents of adult Autistics, still caring for individuals, unable to care for themselves.
So, again, I am uninformed as to your purpose for posting links to these articles, but for you to do so in newsgroups that are generally focused on proactive action and intervention is at a minimum a waste of time and to many, an insult to parents that dedicate and sacrifice themselves to the goal of improving their children's lives.
J. Reirdon
Excerpt from article that was posted:
“Being Told or Being Told Off?
Reciprocity at the Diagnostic Interview
(a book chapter by Michelle Dawson)“
"I need to be told that I am not a burden. I am not another sad and tragic statistic requiring endless expensive services. I will, however, be used this way by dishonest non-autistics who, honestly, should be denounced for their irresponsibility then treated for their emotional
problems."