Toni Braxton’s son was not cured of autism and it’s irresponsible for her to say so

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Here here! Do people think we can never learn anything? Yes I think differently than many people. Yes I can't abide fools and have been accused of being rude when I didn't really mean it, and I don't care. So what? I'm a bit odd? I certainly don't care. I'm also a brilliant mathematician and excellent computer programmer and get excited when I spot Mars or Venus in the sky or a special rock on the ground. This talk of 'cure' is so much BS. Our brains are wired differently ie the wiring is DIFFERENT not WRONG. Sure many of us need extra support to get on in a world filled with NTs, and we can stuff up lots of times, lose jobs, can't get a job in the first place etc. These are things we need help with and many of them take us longer to learn, we aren't totally stupid, if fact some of us are brilliant, we can all learn lots of things.

However just because we learned how to play with the NTs doesn't mean we become one of them! Frankly I don't want to be dull and boring, sitting in front of the TV thinking that man's greatest achievement is sport because some dullard on TV told me so. (what a load of crap!) Personally I think curing autism is like trying to cure homosexuality or being black - We are who we are, & if society has to accept transgender people, gay marriage and the like they they should also accept us for who we are, different and beautiful ( we don't need to be cured just a little help from time to time.)

PS I'm not trying to attack ppls sexuality, it's just that your sexuality is part of who you are just as being autistic is part of who I am different isn't alway bad.

I think it incredibly fair that she be challenged on this.

On one side I do see where, as far as the state of understanding of autism is concerned, it's neither wholly environmental nor wholly genetic.

In theory I don't think its necessarily impossible, just that I'd have to go to Sagan on this - it's an extraordinary claim and it would need extraordinary scrutiny to be vetted. Also from what has been seen to date, even if someone did somehow have their autistic symptoms just reverse out and evaporate, there would be no reason to believe that the mechanism was simple enough to replicate the conditions on a mass scale. It would be interesting if it were true but regardless highly unlikely and being this is a celebrity speaking colloquially all the more so.

Wow the last time I saw that much shame coming from a parent was when the doctor made my mom get on the scale ... Surely its very obvious that Toni was ashamed of the diagnosis that her main focus was looking for a "cure"

For minimata type autism, the only repair is prayer for the damaged nerves. There is a man who had this in a rural community near Jacksonville. Classic case. For years his mother prayed for him. He developed to just about normal. He got a doctorate in college and now is the pastor of a church here in town.
For Neanderthal type autism, John Elder Robison is the closest thing to a cure I know of. His mirror cells now work, giving him empathy. He still has the big bones, strength and focus of a Neanderthal.

You want pseudoscientific nonsense? I'll SHOW you pseudoscientific nonsense!

Wow. The crazies have come out to comment on this thread.

Maybe because it was advertised in emails? Twice actually. (I'm not a conspiracy theoriest, but it does make me wonder if Braxton's people offered Alex a fee in exchange for linking to information about her tour. Any publicity is good publicity? Anyways. I guess it really doesn't matter.)

Neanderthal Autism. That is a new one. And really kind of funny. Takes one to know one, I guess?

I wish wrongplanet had a unfollow button to click like facebook. This thread is goin' DOWN. Their ain't no place other it can go after saying that we are neanderthals and claiming vitamins can cure us. lol. (All these years! If only I had taken more vitamin b!! !!)

I'm not normal. I refuse to be normal. Not being normal is awesome; in fact, some folks with open minds see it as Super Epic. I have great respect for Alex for developing this site as it helped me to develop my writing talents that I never developed in any creative way in either school or work; just on a couple of occasions where for some reason I broke free in middle school for a Christmas story contest and Philosophy class in college.

In short, i reached deep down and expressed emotions in words that was very difficult for me to do other than short factual statements all about non-fiction, of course.

Anyway, I don't post here anymore, because it is very difficult for me to conform to the form of what folks name as the way the English Language is written in straight lines all the way across the page.

In my opinion, it should be expressed naturally like sound waves, or perhaps more poetically put like the waves of the Beach and what is left when the essence of the Ocean become the shorelines of that essence as waves and never ever straight lines.

I am a curvy person now; I do not move by sidewalks in steps or lines of pages by words. But, Smiles, most of the rest of the world sees lines and sidewalks, and moves accordingly the straight and narrow path of what is designed by the architects of sidewalks and pages. I am much more now like the Matrix oracle and Neo2 and architect3.

Anyway, to make a 'normal' paragraph break. I refuse to be normal, because i can. I am re-tired with rubber now on what once was hard and metal wheels, and am Financially Independent and without that millstone of Having To Conform, and by the way I would fully capitalize those three words for emphasis but the straight line and sidewalk folks of the world, of course, would see that as yelling, instead of simple emotional emphasis as that is the what normal expects; and sure, I understand that as i used to conform to normal to survive in society.

There are two types of intelligences assessed in science. One, is fluid intelligence; and the other is crystalized intelligence. I just so happen to have a great deal of both, as empirically assessed, now. What that this means is I know the facts and I can revert back to normal writing, if I apply the rule of sidewalks and lines of conformity in crystalized intelligence.

According to research by Michelle Dawson, non-verbal Autistic folks with a verbal delay in childhood, like me, who had this difficulty until age four, often compensate with fluid intelligence as neuroplasticity and epigenetics will humanly and naturally do to adapt to challenge of environmental struggle and change. And later in life they actually exceed so-called 'normal' 'neurotypical' folks in measures of fluid intelligence.

And interestingly, these once non-verbal so-called Non-Verbal Autistic folks, also have been shown in Dawson's small studies as exceeding so-called folks with the diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, in measures of fluid intelligence. They still lag behind, though, in crystalized intelligence as measured in standard IQ test way. The Raven Matrices measure of fluid intelligence provided the measure needed to illustrate this 'Autistic Advanatage', per the non-verbal folks with language delay of spoken speech.

In reference to one of the comments in 'this' discussion, where an individual stated that their classmates sort of stagnated after high school, per Michelle Dawson's research, this makes a little common sense, as use it or lose it applies to all stuff human being.

Go to school and learn facts and get a job and do the same thing over and over and sit in the same basic way of sitting down all day; and physical, sensory, emotional, fluid, and crystallized intelligences stagnate from not doing very many things different anymore, than at least school demands in the way of learning so-called new facts, from before that increase crystalized intelligence in memory way.

And yes, of course, it is more complicated than that but I'll try to keep this somewhat short in what my potential is of writing close to a Novel in one sitting, as I continue to increase both types of intelligence by simply using it, gaining it, and never losing it, to this point at least, in my life.

Interestingly, when Hans Asperger's case study patients were followed up on later in life; most had found niches they were good at and were doing quite awesome, in fact; credit fluid intelligence of course, in adaptation to challenge of struggle in the environment, and change.

Now, then, the thing about the original assessment of what Hans named as Autistic Psychopathy; verbal delays like mine until age four were included in that assessment. The APA was as they say, stuck in the world of crystalized intelligence and wanted to make the diagnosis as 'normal' people do, by the Crystalized Intelligence book of before. So, they made basically a watered down version of what they already named as Autism, by simply reducing the number of diagnosing elements to 'Autism Lite', also known as Asperger's Syndrome, back in the 1994, DSM IV addition of that diagnosis.

Now, the DSM 5 has come up with a behaviorally determined cover-all diagnosis to make life even easier for them to label it as just one thing. This is what normal people do. They come up with labels and pills to make life easier for them to solve problems.

Problem is; this approach is symptom based rather than root of condition based. And of course that root in the case of Autism is in the whole of the human being in all types of intelligence; including sensory, physical and emotional intelligences that Standard IQ does not assess at all. And if you've ever met a psychiatrist; most lack high degrees of emotional and physical intelligences as they are medical doctors and they have been studying facts in the way of crystalized intelligence for literally decades sitting at a desk and now even worse, attached to a computer all day; even in the office with the patients at-hand attempting to do mechanical cognition and social cognition at the same time, which even science shows now, is not what human beings are evolved to do efficiently without the potential for great stress and reducing the proficiency of both types of cognition now, when each is not focused on separately. And of course that is common sense, but no, common sense is not always the way of the crystalized intelligence of what comes before in book way. By the way, wow that was a really long paragraph and sentence; it could be so much easier to read without these long, long lines.


I am diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome by three diagnosing professionals, still. I have the paperwork to prove it. My sister is also diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. More than likely my father and grandfather had the same condition but of course, the diagnosis was no where to be seen in most of their lifetimes. My father did law enforcement and never rose above the 'degree' of Deputy Sheriff as he lacked the social skills to supervise. My Grand father was an X-Catholic Priest and a noted Author of last Century who even dined with Einstein in the socialist party circles in New, New York in the intellectual circles of that place then. By the way I am very wordy and can be very precise and detailed too, if I choose to express that type of intelligence with relative human free will.

Initially, my doctor diagnosed me with PDD NOS, because of the language delay in childhood; but after further assessment changed me to the Asperger's syndrome diagnosis, per the original Hans Asperger's diagnosis of the condition that includes a potential language delay in childhood that is often associated with Hyperlexia, in which I was a very precocious reader with difficulties in reading comprehension that fits that mold too.

I have extreme tactile sensitivity, which means I cannot touch anything manmade without extreme discomfort. I spent most of my life in man-made environments with hands closed and rarely open, to avoid touching man-made stuff with my finger tips.

This Wrong Planet Internet site, helped me immensely to express myself in writing. I thank Alex Plank, very much for the opportunity to write on this site, as by the time I was able to accommodate 19 medical disorders, enough to write on a computer, about two inches from the screen in extreme pain, with most of the disorders, likely a result of Autistic Burnout after conforming to what society expected of me in over 30 years of work; yes, this site probably literally helped to save my life, as I was suicidal for the two years before that. I had Type Two Trigeminal Neuralgia, the worst pain known to humankind, like a Dentist Drill in my right eye and ear without novocaine, for a total of 66 months, from wake to sleep; including 33 months with a lot of that time spent here writing as no drug would touch that pain, and writing helped me a little to remove it from my focus.

It took me 66 months to recover from two years of fight or flight stress that basically almost killed me, as science shows now the stress hormones will break down one's body from head to toe, which did happen in my case. Doctors have no idea what causes Type Two Trigeminal Neuralgia, but in my case it certainly may have been associated with the break down of myelin sheaths as i was in pain in every cell of my body from head to toe, too. I was also assessed with Fibromyalgia, Sjogren's Syndrome, Dysautonomia, and Severe Degenerative Arthritis in my spine, etc., but the worst part was losing my emotions as without emotions there is no glue for cognitive executive functioning.

What I found in my personal research in the road to having an incredibly awesome and epic life now as assessed by some third party interests, is increasing my physical, emotional, and sensory intelligence through free style dance and free verse poetry to connect language with emotion and to regulate emotions and integrate senses through the art of movement (dance/martial arts) as all emotions and senses flow through the human body, and moving naturally regulates emotions and integrate senses when one moves innately, instinctually and intuitively without lessons on how to move.

Anyway, I am comfortable in my own skin now, in ways of getting around the world with advanced proprioception and in emotionally regulating my feelings in the human environment and integrating senses, which means I am centered and no longer lost in an environment, 'out there'. Yes, I have great self-awareness now, where I was incredibly deficient in this human skill before that seems to come naturally for most everyone else.

Here's the thing though, with use it or lose it; I received all my gold stars in school, through my Hyperlexic 'super power' of reading very fast and memorizing rote facts that I spit back like a computer on multiple choice tests. The teachers loved it, as they never had to help me do anything in the way of learning or tests. Problem was that had little to nothing to do with the real life of work that I would encounter after earning three degrees in college, So, in a way, this incredible strength was my incredible weakness, as I failed to work very very hard on the types of physical, emotional, and sensory intelligences that would make life so much easier than the incredible hard it was that almost literally killed me by age 47.

I survived. I adapted to struggle and changed. I continue to rise now and thrive.

There is even a song for that I will share below. I am so sorry that I did not continue that line above to the side of this page, as I must conform here to come back to even say all of this. But here's the other thing, my so-called professionally labeled Autism is Super F iN epic and it has made me one of the most epic individuals to ever dance and write on this earth, and I prove that by writing the longest long form poem in the history of humankind, now approaching 4 million words; and sure I literally prove it with my signature link below, as it is way too long to ever ever publish in print.

In fact, Microsoft word says it would take over 30,000 paper pages to print what I name as the 'SonG oF mY SoUL'. And i also have fully documented almost 6,000 miles of dance in tens of thousands of photos in that same Super Epic personal bible of mine in autobiographic fashion too that includes close to 1000 selfies of gorgeous college age girls smiling ear to ear with me at the dance hall I have danced now for 122 weeks named Old Seville Quarter in Pensacola Florida. Funny, the girls never liked me in school, much. And now totally beautiful college age girls I do not even know attempt to kiss me, or at least that's what it looks like at the dance hall with their friends, as recent as last night. And I can even prove it here, with my signature link in my most recent blog post with the photo, as the photo is too big to fit the formatting here, in case one wonders, if i am telling the truth.

I make zero dollars by doing this. I have danced walked a free verse style of martial arts and ballet everywhere i go now for almost 6 thousand miles after I recovered from the disabling portions of those 19 disorders that without question I suffered with, like A Biblical 'Job' for 66 months, as a shut-in in my home. Yes, Autistic Burnout hurts, very bad, as I can certainly attest to.

So what does this have to do with the topic at hand. Autism cannot be assessed by behavior alone, as far as what makes it the most difficult of all to deal with in the inner Universe of the human being. No one could see the stress I was under when I was in those two years of flight or fight stress at work, as i conformed, as I truly believed I would never ever get another job because people most always thought and expressed I was weird. I wore a mask of Okay when I was literally slowly dying inside. It really hurt, so bad.


No one could see that hell, but me. I looked normal enough on the outside, and still do now. I am different. I am even too different to post here the way I normally speak now in words, and I accept that as I do not expect anyone to tolerate or accept me, as often folks don't. To each his or her own is the way I live. Where folks tolerate and accept me it's wonderful, and where folks don't, I move on to greener pastures, as online allows an environment out of my closed- minded community in my red state area to do that in ways of blog and poetry to express all of who I am as different and human being.

As far as dancing everywhere I go like a Bruce Lee Ballerina at around 6 feet tall now at 235 Lbs of solid muscle. I am stronger than every Marine in my military gym with legs now that press close to half a ton 33 times in what the strongest folks who leg press there cannot even budge as I've watched them try it up close and personal to their dismay. So no, i am no longer that uncoordinated Five foot 10 inch, 120LB scrawny boy from Middle School with the long blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and eye lashes that people called the F word and not Fred.

My genetics are different, I matured slowly, and am still getting stronger by the day, as empirically assessed at the gym. So, no one messes with me in the general public, as I can easily pass now for a College Linebacker who floats like a butterfly and can sting like a bee with martial arts kicks every which way and loose.

Botton line is, I do not fit in, but I still rise to the occasion of all my human potential and am no longer held back by anyone who lives on the pages and sidewalks of crystalized intelligence. I am fluid as whole, and I am the Ocean and Field and Wave and Particle whole as one in trinity of threes that even science assesses as real.

As above so below, inside, outside, and all around. Most folks don't realize we are walking and talking mini-me's of the Universe when whole and part the same. I was blessed by Nature in what I view as God to be able to see and feel this.

If my Autism Is a Disability, I fail to see and feel this. In fact I fail to see any labels at all.

I am, I rise and thrive, end and beginning of the story whole.

And this will not make total sense to perhaps
95% of the people here as you folks are
much more normal than me,
as whole
as my
history
shows here.

Oops, I did it again. Again, just dropping by out of respect for Alex. He probably is more Autistic like I am when I was his age too. And sure, he has already done something super epic by creating this site. It just took me longer at age 50 and after to start the journey of me finally getting free away from societal expectations that make no sense for me.

I was the last kid picked on sports teams, and the one who was picked on by almost everyone for being different in middle school.

I am now, likely the most different person of all in my local community, as assessed by that 'general audience'. But here's the thing, I accept all of who I am now from head to toe. No one stops me from being me now, because I am strong enough to be me now, no matter what anyone else thinks or feels about that..

I no longer conform.

Again, I rise, I thrive.

I sing
A Song
of Free.

Thanks Alex.
You did a great thing
by making this site.

And no, no one will ever ever cure me
again into the insanity of normal as insame..

And as the moderators predicted, I am still incurable from being me. And at least for me I F in Love it. And no, I cannot come back, 'cause I will not conform. But again, that doe not mean I do not appreciate Alex for helping me to finally be me, by creating the opportunity to write on this site, as Super Epic in so many ways never ever seen before.

Have a nice day.
I hope every one here will
one day rise, thrive, and never
ever conform again. But yes, first,
make sure you have some money,
as the working world will not accept that;
The 'normal' one at least, with smiles; but sure, I could on and on about that so bye, and I do mean bye to this straight line..



(Song Rise, by Katy Perry for inspiration. Inspiration is important in life
and so are emotions fully expressed and not repressed or oppressed.)


Whatever it is i have.

It is a gift

Bottom line,
and I prove it everyday,
for the naysayers of life that
say you can't, you can't, just 'cause you are different.

testing

I'm wondering how Alex busted the 60 character limit for post titles with this topic.

The great problem I see is that Ms Braxton has come out with a rather outlandish idea, if she wants people to pay attention then she needs to argue a good case using evidence. So far I can not see any evidence or hard facts so I say we should not believe her. The problem these days is that a halo effect exists these days, people think that as a person has a talent for one thing then they have a talent in another area.

For example Bono from U2 has a good ability to sing and make songs, but I have to ask why does his ability to sing make him more able than "Mr Average" to understand the complex issues behind world poverty. But I think that many people will pay more attention to Bono than other people as he is a pop star. I see the same problem with Ms Braxton, I think that people may pay her a lot more attention than she deserves due to the fact that she is a pop star.

I have seen what she said about God punishing her by giving her son autismDaily Mail article. To my mind this is outlandish and offensive.

Firstly we will not debate the existence or power of God, lets save that for another day in a different forum here. Maybe the one devoted to religion and philosophy. However it is rather medieval to imagine that God goes around striking people down as punishments on earth for a range of crimes. If you read the bible you will notice that in the new testament that the key story is about getting your life straightened out again and getting a better relationship with your fellow man and God.

It reminds me of the 1980s when some people (including medical doctors) were saying that AIDS was God's judgement on gays. One medical doctor who was shocked and troubled by this make the mocking reply that this was medieval and that maybe shortsightedness was God's judgement against people who read too much.

Ignoring the fact that the new testament God is not so keen on thunderbolts if we assume that God wished to make a special example of her, why would he do something to her son. Imagine a vengeful god who wanted to punish a singer who had done X, Y and Z, they would strike them mute or make them sing out of key. So we have to ask why would a God want to harm an innocent as a means of delivering a punishment to their mother.

_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.