Autism, and the current negative opinion on it by Deth V

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Autism, the word usually brings images of children who have strange tantrums that seem to come out of nowhere, and can’t communicate with the outside world (or "in a shell"). The stigma of autism is damaging to the Autistic community, and it only provides a view of one side of the autism "spectrum". To gain a better understanding of Autism, the public should shed its current views of autism, and develop a new view provided by trusted people with autism, and other unbiased sources.

What is Autism? Autism is defined as a "pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)" by the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it usually is defined by the impaired social skills and repetitive behaviours that come with the people with Autism. Usually the traits very widely with where the person is on the spectrum, the spectrum is usually used as a scale to place how much autistic symptoms (And the severity) in the person is, and the terms used usually are “High functioning” autism and “low functioning” autism. Some autistic groups believe that the definition of this should be changed, and the major labels removed!

For example, if they are high-functioning (Example of High Functioning autism: Asperger’s Syndrome) they usually can talk fine, and integrate fairly well within social environments, although still impaired (most notably Social Awkwardness and Lack of Eye contact) and they usually are very talented in their hobby (usually hyper focused on whatever this is—more on this later)

Low functioning autism is the form of Autism that is generally portrayed by the media, and it is a more serious form of Autism, usually people with low functioning autism have very delayed speech, and have extremely poor social skills. There is also the extremely serious problem of self-injurious and aggressive behaviours within this side of the “autism spectrum” (although, please note that this doesn’t happen extremely often). This is the part of the spectrum that some autistic people agree should be treated or medicated to at least a “higher functioning” level of autism, and some people think that just therapy should be used for the low functioning autistic.

There have been a few corporations (most prominently Autism Speaks*) who have strongly believe in the idea of a cure, and act as “charities” for the cure. Some of the corporations involved in the cure movement push for unorthodox treatments; claiming that they can act as a cure (or at least as a reduction to the autism symptoms) and help the autistic child act “less autistic.” Some of the treatments recommended by the corporations can potentially be dangerous, and some may be beneficial. One of the treatments recommended by a major corporation is called chealtion.

Chelation therapy for Autistics is based on the theory** that excess metals in the blood of an infant child from vaccines cause autism, and that the removal of the theorized metals shall cause the symptoms of autism to cease. From the autism Speaks website: "[...] Although no statistical analyses were conducted on the effectiveness of chelation therapy in children with autism, Dr. Mumper has cited positive responses from parents who report an improvement of symptoms following oral succimer chelation therapy as part of the DAN!note1 protocol." ***

Chelation therapy has been proven to be dangerous, and the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) have made a public statement labelling it "Dangerous and Illegal"[1] and it has also been proven to be detrimental to the health of the autistic patient, there has been even a few cases where patients has died under chelation therapy [15] . It also has been proven to have no effect on the behaviour of the autistic patient, as noted by a report [2] made by the CDC studying the effects of chelation and cognitive behaviour. Overall this is an extremely unbeneficial treatment to autism, and needs to be stopped.

There have been truly beneficial treatments for autism, one of them is working with a Social Skills therapist.[3] This focuses on working on the tough areas of the autism traits while not trying to get rid of autism all together. This also attempts to teach the autistic more about certain behaviours in society that are the normal behaviours, and helps the autistic to blend in more with the environment. It is an effective treatment as it leaves the autistic strengths while working on the weaknesses of the individual.

While the intentions of some of these corporations may be good, there are some bad sides to them, the largest corporation, Autism Speaks, is a popular example of showing the bad sides of the people who want a cure. They have released videos demonizing Autism (most popular example is “I am Autism” Which appears to have been taken down after numerous complaints about it). They have also released a video called "Autism Every day" [4] where one of the representatives of Autism speaks representatives speaks about how she sometimes wishes to drive off a bridge with her autistic daughter in the car (which would amount to a murder-suicide). Another thing to note is that this organization advocates pre-natal testing for autism (at this time, it is still being researched) which eventually would lead to the abortion of babies with autism.[7]

Another side of the organization called "Austim Speaks" is that in their tax returns [5] It has been noticed that some of the employees are payed extremely high amounts of money (above 100,000 dollars a year "compensation"!). Some even get higher than the ones noted. All and all Autism Speaks is not a good corperation, and the things promoted by it are detrimental to the autism community.

On the flip side there are groups that promote a positive outlook on autism, and oppose a cure (some of the groups are: Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Aspies for freedom, etc.)These groups appear to be the most beneficial to Autistics, as they push for integration into society rather than elimination from society. These groups promote Social skill group meet-ups and awareness of the people with autism, to help people understand them better. These groups are also usually made up with people with Asperger’s or High Functioning autism

Some of these groups have protested at some of the walks for autism, which are run by the corporations that are pro-cure. The groups are mainly made up with people who have autism, and their family members. The protest groups support what is called neurodiversity, which is the promotion of a view of acceptance of people with autism (And other psychological conditions) and have a message calling it "just a difference" and not the "disease" label that is made by most of the corporations out there.

Why exactly should autism NOT be cured? The autistic community believes that autism should not be cured because they believe it would remove the very thing that makes the person unique, and removing it would remove major portions of their personality that is influenced by autism.[8] Many of them also believe that without autism, they would not have the talents they have today. These groups feel like it would be a lot easier to go through life without having people think of them as a disease.

The Groups that are for the cure of autism believe that autism is very damaging to the parent’s relationship; they believe that autistic children will never be able to support themselves, and they believe that there is a person "hiding" behind the "veil of Autism". They seem to have a firm believe that eliminating autism is the right thing to do. What they fail to realize is how many extremely talented people have autism, and how successful they have gotten [9]. They also fail to realize the strengths that autistic people have, and the advantages that they would have compared to if they did not have autism. If autism was cured, these type of people would cease to exist, and the talent they have would also dwindle down as the population of autistic entrepreneurs, CEOS, Actors, Inventors, Etc. is eliminated.

There are lists of famous people [9] [10] with autism that have been posted on the internet, and some of the famous people on these list have even admitted to having some form of autism themselves. Most notable is the founder and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has often been thought of having Asperger’s Syndrome (A form of High functioning autism). Issac Newton and Einstein have also been thought of having some form of Autism.

Autistic Adults tend to be successful in their jobs, as most of the jobs preferred by Autistics require attention to detail [12]. Engineering fields have been thought to have attracted Autistic people as the style of work lines up nicely with the way autistic people think, engineers are also thought to be twice as likely to have autistic children compared to people who work in other fields. [11] Whatever the case may be, if the autistic individual finds a career that revolves around their interest (which are usually very intense interests) they will be very successful in that career.

The attention to detail has been thought of giving the autistic individual a talent for noticing differences that normal people would not notice, giving them an advantage, and the passion of the autistic individual for a certain field of interest is greatly valued as the person would, on average, know more information than a regular person in the field. What they cure groups also fail to realize is that many of the people with autism do not want a cure and that they do just fine living on their own, they have accepted who they are, and embraced it as a part of their personality. [13]

Most autistic individuals live fairly normal lives, and many autistic people get married and have a few kids. They usually are successful in their jobs (although sometimes needing help integrating into the work environment) and live quite happily. Acceptance and awareness would prove to be a great benefit to the autistic people, and would improve on their overall comfortableness in their work environments because most of their peers at work would understand them better, and accept the sometime strange behaviours by the autistic person. This acceptance would also improve life at public schools for children, as there would (hopefully) be more understanding from the teachers and school children, and there would be less bullying. This would lead to happier autistic children, and then happier autistic adults.

There is an issue that has been brought up about self-injurious behaviour by autistics, usually in this rare behaviour, these children are either exposed to too much stimuli (and “stimming” in a bad way to cope with it) or have other problems with them. This issue can be resolved in most cases by therapy, or some other outside help. The children can also grow out of it.

There is another issue that has been brought up by “curebie” groups: "What about the low functioning autistics? They might not get anywhere in life, and will have to stay at home for the rest of their life!” Only a tiny portion of low-functioning autistics will have an extremely tough time getting out of their home, most low-functioning autistic children grow up to be high-functioning autistic adults. Some of the IQ measurements may even jump 50 points after the low-functioning autistic learns how to communicate. [14]

Whatever the case may be— being on the low end of the spectrum, or on the high end of the spectrum, there is no doubt that the potential benefits of autism greatly outweigh the potential pitfalls of Autism. Autistics are not “doomed for failure” like some of the views out there portray autism as, but there is one thing, the public view is changing on Autism, there are now positive portrayals of autism out on popular TV shows, and the public opinion is slowly changing. Overall conditions are changing for the better for autistics; better, more accurate portrayals on TV are gaining popularity, and a more positive public opinion is contributing to a healthier look on autism. It is now only a matter of time before a healthy opinion is the most widespread view on autism, not the negative portrayals made by corporations such as Autism Speaks.

In time, the word Autistic will not bring images of recluse children who can’t communicate and have aggressive tendencies, but will bring images of mostly normal people, with a genetic and psychological difference in the way they act. In time, there won’t be views of autism as a tragedy, in time, there will be acceptance, and understanding of the mental state called autism.


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&nbps I hope you readers liked this report, it’s been a long time since I first made this report, I hope all the information is still relevant to these times. In my more personal opinion, it really saddens me seeing these totally evil corporations succeed, while the people with the BEST interests for the autistic people don’t get as much publicity. It sickens me when I see ads for autism speaks, because I remember all the horrible things some of the higher-up employees support. I hope everyone goes out and does their OWN research and maybe talk to some autistics themselves, so you get a better view of what Autism ACTUALLY is.


I am Autistic, and I have no disease.

~Deth V

Bibliography

* http://autismspeaks.org accessed 6-1-2011
**http://www.healing-arts.org/children/metal-metabolism.htm
*** http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/sci ... ummary.php [Bottom of the page] Accessed June 1st, 2011
[1] http://www.aolnews.com/2010/10/15/fda-p ... nd-illegal Accessed June 1st, 2011
[2] http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/Lead/ACCLPP/Sup ... 0Rogan.pdf Accessed June 1st, 2011
[3] http://autism.about.com/od/autismtherap ... basics.htm Accessed June 1st, 2011
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDMMwG7RrFQ Accessed April, 2011
[5] http://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/Autism ... 0_2009.pdf Accessed April, 2011
[6] http://www.examiner.com/autism-in-long- ... ism-speaks Accessed June 1st, 2011
[7] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7013251 Accessed June 2, 2011 Comment: The researcher from Cure Autism now works in Autism speaks at this time, as CAN and Autism Speaks have merged.
[8] http://aspiesforfreedom.com Accessed June 2, 2011
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pe ... m_spectrum Accessed June 3, 2011
Comment: I know this is wikipedia... but they have everything cited and this is the best source I know and it is the most comprehensive list.
[10] http://www.child-autism-parent-cafe.com ... utism.html Not a really good list, but I'll list since it is "more reputable" than wikipedia.
[11] http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/dia ... and-autism Accessed June 3, 2011
[12] http://autism.about.com/od/transitionco ... skills.htm Accessed June 3, 2011
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZOD9xOnJs Accessed June 2, 2011
Comment: A protest video against Autism Speaks, pretty much outlines the self-acceptance of the autistic people involved in the protest.
[14] http://www.astridvanwoerkom.com/en/auti ... oning.html Accessed June 3, 2011
[15] http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5508a3.htm Accessed June 3, 2011
note 1: DAN Means Defeat Autism Now... As far as I know, they merged with AutismSpeaks.