Comments on: Why I don’t like “I am autism”

By: Operation Rescue « Here Be Dragons

Operation Rescue « Here Be Dragons — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:02:46 +0000

[...] is heartbreaking to watch our parents throw embarrassing tantrums on teh interwebs. Of course we know they can’t help it, but [...]

By: David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E.

David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E. — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:07:16 +0000

BMS: “Either way it is extremely generous of you to take the time to show me one more footpath to poke my head down. Thanks.”

Welcome. Someone very nice and rich gave me a very nice scholarship to be able to do all this, and I feel that if I can do something to make things less confusing for someone then I should… sort of like that film, you know ‘Pass It On’. Someone does something good for me, so I should do something good for someone else, and hopefully that’s how it goes on.

There’s some people on these blogs who – for some reason – come on and whinge and won’t be helped; some have seen you as such a person. I didn’t get that impression about you. I wish you all the very best in getting to the bottom of what has affected your son’s development. Way past my bedtime now… work in the morning … g’night :)

By: bensmyson

bensmyson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:58:35 +0000

“OK, so your kid is different. Its not the end of the world.”

Good luck with that “different” thing.

A guy walks up behind your son when he is a year old, swings a baseball bat and strikes your son square on the head, meant to do it or not makes no difference, your son falls to the ground, loses his ability to speak, he stops making eye contact, from that moment on he is brain injured, I mean different. Yeah that’s not the end of the world, your world at least.

By: kathleen

kathleen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:13:38 +0000

Well said Anna.

By: Anna Hayward

Anna Hayward — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:48:10 +0000

Maybe we should all drop the warrior analogy and learn some calm acceptance of what is and cannot be changed? I am Aspergers and I have two autistic children, one severely (albeit high functioning). I’ve been through the screaming, non-verbal child stage, which never seems to end (but it does); I’ve had a doubly incontinent 6 year old being uncooperative in the disabled bathrooms; and I’ve had the sleep deprivation – I could get a medal for that. Not to mention the full time job of advocating for my children. But that’s what you do when you’re a parent – its not heroic, its just what parents so. And my kids aren’t heroic, they’re just doing what they need to do.

People with autism are people. No matter how low functioning, or how able and we deserve respect as equal human beings to everyone else. ‘Autism Speaks’ is not respectful and it reeks of bitterness and anger that life is not how it “ought” to be. Get over it. Life is hard for some, but you have enough to eat, you have a roof over your head… OK, so your kid is different. Its not the end of the world. Your kid just wants to be happy, just like you.

By: bensmyson

bensmyson — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:04:49 +0000

Shanna you sold me on the community, I’m with you 100% on that.

By: Shanna

Shanna — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:46:26 +0000

Bensmyson-I am quite sure we are never going to see eye to eye on this matter. You can call your son what ever you choose. It is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I obviously realize that autism is not the only thing that defines my son. He has his own intrests and his own unique personality. Rather I think of autism as a community he belongs to. And I just see no purpose in tearing that community apart. There are strong, amazing, special people of all ages who belong to that community.

By: Clay

Clay — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:00:25 +0000

Nah, he’s not so bad. I just went and looked at his website. It’s a very touching story, and I began to understand a little bit, about his and his wife’s difficult journey. As for the “autistic” thing, some ideas just take awhile growing into, and it may be that Ben has Heller’s, as David pointed out. And he really doesn’t like Jenny McCarthy, so he can’t be all that bad! ;-)

By: bensmyson

bensmyson — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:59:42 +0000

Thanks for the bigoted label Joseph. Personally I feel the more accurate label is a person of a different opinion, otherwise we are all ignorant.

Dwarfism is easy to recognize, as is the color black, it’s simple. And why would anyone say a person is gay or homosexual unless it is to label them as to someone’s sexual persuasion and why is that of any importance? Would you say, this person is straight, or asexual? Someone diagnosed with autism is not so easily defined. It could mean anything and usually does. My son’s injury is much more complex than what the term “autistic” defines him as.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:09:41 +0000

Shanna, I do not see autism as a person, it is a diagnosis, a label. Autism is not who your son is, your son, my son, is much more than that… I refuse to call my son “Autistic”

That something is a label doesn’t mean that it can’t or shouldn’t be used as an adjective (what you call “a person” which is inaccurate.) For example, little people have dwarfism, but it’s not common practice to call them “persons with dwarfism.” Similarly, homosexuality is a label too, but gay people are not normally referred to as “persons with homosexuality.” Black people are not referred to as “persons with blackness” and it’s not because the color black is a person. Disabled people can be interchangeably referred to as persons with disability or disabled people. Etc.

I’m thinking you’re just a person with ignorance, Bensmyson.