Unknown_Quantity wrote:
I'd have to read more of his book. Because the way I read that, it sounded like he's not saying Autism doesn't exist, but that all these bad parents who are raising dumb kids want to blame something for their failure, so they pick Autism as an excuse.
It's like parents who blamed their kids' bad behaviour on ADD/ADHD when in fact, they had done nothing to correct their child and had basically ignored their brats horrendous behaviour until somebody called the cops.
Some people are actually Autistic and some actually have ADD/ADHD, but a large number of families are using these conditions as an excuse for not doing any hard work when it comes to raising their kids.
Leary doesn't say "Autism doesn't exist" or "there's no such thing..." He says, "[your] kid is not autistic." Directing the comment at parents explaining away their kids lack of achievement on a medical condition they don't have.
At this point, I do not appreciate the comments he made, however, in the interest of being reasonable and fair, I will concede that this
might very well be true. All I ask is that you concede that, whether the comments are true or not, as a "public figure", it is his responsibility to say what he means,
not mean what he says. It should not be up to us, or anyone else to interpret what he means.
15 Oct 2008, 11:03 pm
