Oprah will have a show on Autism on April 5th

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Could someone try to get this on Youtube? Oprah doesn´t air here in Finland.

Okay, I just watched the show. One of the parents from the documentary had to open up the can of worms regarding vaccines. I came away with more investment in the notion that there could be different types of autism (possibly indicating different triggers). Otherwise, I felt the show was fairly upbeat, especially near the end. It was good to hear the panel of parents say that their child was the best thing that ever happened to them.

It would be nice to see her do a show on Asperger's next.

Okay, I just watched the show. One of the parents from the documentary had to open up the can of worms regarding vaccines. I came away with more investment in the notion that there could be different types of autism (possibly indicating different triggers). Otherwise, I felt the show was fairly upbeat, especially near the end. It was good to hear the panel of parents say that their child was the best thing that ever happened to them.

It would be nice to see her do a show on Asperger's next.

I just watched it. Austism Speaks played that awful documentary on the show (the one with the crazy mother who said she would have killed herself and her autistic daughter if it weren't for her other daughter.) There was nothing from the autistic childrent themselves, only viewing from the outside by the families, and a pediatritian. One mother made a point of bringing up the vaccine theory even though the pediatrician said it had been refuted (i didn't get the impression she liked speaking out about that though.) I wasn't highly impressed with the presentation because it made it made autism look like something absolutely horrible to live with. I understand that the children were lower functioning, but that is still no reason to only offer an outside perspective and to show how awful it is for families to have to put up with the autistic kids. They also kept saying that they knew their kid was in there somewhere and that kind of ticked me off. Autism is the way the kids are, it is not a diseased barrier that is horribly keeping their personalities inside. Look at their personalities now! Their personalities are not hidden! Those around them just don't like the personalities that they see because they can't understand. At one point, someone said that they wanted the kid with autism to love them, but that he/she can't feel like we (NT's) do. That's not true. The autistic kid can feel just as much as anyone else, and I am sure that they love thier families, they just can't express it the way those families want them to. So like I said, I wasn't impressed with the show at all. It just wasn't right.

I had a bad feeling about Oprah, one of the most NT women in the world, doing a show on autism...and my hunch was correct.

First of all, the show focus on the kids from the "Autism Speaks" video. Yep, that one-where the woman says she wants to kill herself and her autistic child. Then the parents kept saying things like, "If only he could say the word, Daddy", even though the boy communicates with his father in different ways. Or, "I know my child is in there" and saying they wish their kids could show them love. It makes me wonder. Did these parents have kids to fulfill their own unresolved needs or so they can have someone to love them back?

It seems they didn't try to find out why their kids stimmed or why they acted out in different ways. They only cared about the behaviors "driving them crazy" and tried to eliminate them altogether. In other words, the focus was on how it affected the parents, not on how the kids felt.

The worst thing was that although they very briefly talked about it being on a spectrum, they sensationalized it, acting like it was on par with Bubonic plague and compared it to Cancer. Cancer? My brain is NOT a malignant tumor!

Yeah, I was disappointed with it as expected. How dare they show that woman who wanted to drive her and her daughter off a bridge! It was pretty negative throughout I felt, but was a bit more positive at the end.

I definitely think higher functioning individuals need more media attention to show that autism isn't all bad. It would also show what people with autism are capable of. Not one word was said about AS or HFA, not that I thought they would say anything on that, but still...

I was also disappointed, but it was slightly positive in the end. What I didn't like was that the "mother" who wished she could kill her defective daughter and herself was on that show. I do remember that pediatrician mentioning HFA, as her son is high-functioning, but she said that it was because of "early intervention," not that he's born that way. It would be good if she would do a show on Asperger's and HFA, so viewers who don't know about autism would see the other end of the spectrum.

I'm glad I didn't see it. These posts are a reminder of why I haven't watched Oprah or any of these other talk shows in years.

oooooh, there is a reason I hate the Oprah show. It could have been worse but right off at the beginning they called it a "disease" and even gave statistics from the CDC. I agree that it would have been really nice to have some autistic kids on there and show some cases that are not the most extreme, like some of them CAN talk (actually lots of them). I would have liked to hear the word "Asperger's" at least just once! But at least she did mention "spectrum" And of course they just HAD to use clips from Autism Speaks.

I had to turn it off when that one lady started whining about family vacations. The three of them (parents and older son) go on vacations without the autistic one, "because they have to!".
:puke:
I hate watching rich people complain! They bitched and moaned about horrible their life was. And they showed the footage from Autism Every Day where the little girl says, "I wish I didn't have a sister with autism". :punch:
I have never liked Oprah and this just reinforces why.

okay, totally off topic (sort of) but the number one thing I just hate about the Oprah show (other than the sensational topic matter of course) is the screaming---seriously. When the show opens up and she walks out, or at certain times during the show when something happens, everyone in the audience screams and it drives me crazy!! !!

Sorry, I just had to get that out there, it is a serious pet peeve of mine. They do the same thing on Tyra's show. I guess that's why I only watch Fox News and Weather channel, it is all I can take

I watched it, kind of. I didn't appreciate the Autism Speaks video, and I really disliked that they gave the "I want to kill my kid" lady more airtime, but it could have been a lot worse. Mostly, what I don't understand about these shows is why they don't get a mix of kids AND adults with Autism (since it is a spectrum disorder) and have people with Autism WHO CAN ACTUALLY SPEAK get on the air and show the world that Autism isn't what they think it is. I was watching it with my younger sister, though, and the part about vacations invoked a "yeah, sometimes I wish we would leave you behind 'cause you get annoying and embarrassing, but then when we get there and get settled in, you're still fun to be around, you still have fun." I mean, my family doesn't go on many vacations, but when we do, we ALL go, and if that means concessions have to be made, then so be it. Granted, I am "high functioning," but still...

That show made me SICK.


-SpaceCase

... i didn't watch the show but from what i'm hearing, it's what i was expecting

the mainstream seriously needs to be aware that autism is more than having a speech disorder and/or a severe learning disability