Michael Savage says that "autism is a fraud"

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'Bout time.
Savage (who deserves his name) is the putz, not ASD people.
Edit: Savage said that his remarks "were ripped out of context by far left Stalinists".
So, having a ASD makes us a Stalinist?
I call B.S. on his claims,, which were disgusting enough to begin with.
Fire 'em, NOW.

Hells yeah, and don't forget the example of faking athsma that he gave before! I mean really this guy is coo coo. He makes Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the right-wing look tame.

He is irrelevant and must go.

He's really getting roasted, all right. Too bad Autism Speaks isn't speaking.

Radio host angers parents of autistic children

I love how now he's saying that autistic kids should be "free", when yesterday he said that their parents should belittle them and try to make them change.

Huh-Huh! The Weiner is "getting roasted." I know it's not that funny but I couldn't resist.

Last edited by archdude on 22 Jul 2008, 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Too angry, deleted.

Here is another video link:
CLICK HERE

I just listened to what Savage said about autism from the link in the first post. I was also watching "Showbiz tonight" a few minutes ago and they were talking about the same thing. I think what he said was stupid.

I'm feeling a bit equanimous tonight, so here's my take on the Michael Savage controversy.

We can look at it as something really awful, which it arguably is, rooted in misinformation and prejudice.

We can also look at it as an opportunity to be heard, to set the record straight, to let more people know what autism and Asperger's and the other autism spectrum conditions are all about.

Methinks it's both of these things and probably some others that I haven't thought of.

The reasons that we should not take him seriously are all in his educational history.

http://www.thesavagemichael.com/biography.html

In college he studied herbal medicine and biology, how did he wind up as a talk show host???

Also if he is indeed a student of biology, surely he would not dismiss Autistics as "spoiled brats", surely he would not dismiss a disorder without good scientific reasoning, instead of the simple angry crap he feeds his listeners.

Geee........
I smoked some herbs while in college!! !
Can I have a radio show?

Autism a fraud? Definitely not! But I think Savage does have a point there, and I think he is issuing a wake-up call here. The other day I was in the grocery store when a kid (not a toddler, but a 9 or 10 year old) decided to have a very loud meltdown. As an ASD individual who is trying to make it in society, I was deeply embarrassed. True, I was no angel at that age, but I knew that there were some things I just did not do, and throwing tantrums in a store was one of them.

What does it say about us when a child's public meltdown is explained away as due to autism? If the ONLY image that the NT public has of us is that of unruly children, it is no wonder that we face discrimination as adults! To excuse bad behavior on the grounds of autism does not do anybody any favors, and only gives fuel to Savage and his ilk.

Are autistic kids brats? Yes, in many cases. Do they HAVE to be brats? NO! Autistic children can and must be taught self-discipline. They can be held accountable for their behavior. It may be more difficult, but it is not impossible. Otherwise, how can we ever expect society to accept us as equals? Yes, what Savage said is rude, insensitive, but it is how a lot of people do feel about autistic children--and with good reason. Maybe instead of condemning him we ought to listen to him and ask ourselves, where is this man coming from, and why? I can tell you if my only experience or knowledge of autism was what I see in the grocery store, I think I'd be inclined to agree with him regarding autistic children.

deleted.

ClosetAspy, these remarks are highly misguided:

Not everyone with AS will hold the same standards of behaviour as you did, regardless of how hard the parents try.

The difference in behaviour and prevalence of symptoms is why many of us wish to consider autistic disorders to be put on a "spectrum" rather than considered as a single condition. The single most significant misconception I can see people uninformed about AS making is to put us all in the same boat, as (say) the kid from the supermarket or as Dustin Hoffman from Rain Man.

This may well be impossible to do to the extent you describe.

We're not equals. Many people need special attention. Treatment that may not be equal but is nonetheless fair is still reasonable to expect. I'm not the ten year-old kid you saw at the supermarket.

Your reasoning would be poor, based on a weak inductive argument. Of course Savage doesn't require strong reasoning to do his job, all he needs to do is cause a sensation.

I just read this from Talk Radio Network, who hosts the Savage Nation. "Dr. Savage has clarified that his July 16th statements concerning autism were not directed at those who are in fact challenged by this horrible affliction, but were instead addressing efforts to broaden the concept of autism beyond those who truly are autistic to a broader “autistic spectrum” of behavioral symptoms which are also manifested by persons who do not suffer from autism, and his concern that many children are being misdiagnosed as autistic due to the subjective nature of autism diagnosis (due to the lack of known biomedical indicators, such as blood tests, to definitively confirm or deny the actual existence of autism)." So yeah, he was saying that people with AS are fakers. I'm pissed off all over again.

I find what he said abominable and it truly makes me ill, but I don't think he should be fired for it. I don't think Imus should have been fired for what he said either. I believe in freedom of speech and I don't think that people should be fired for saying things. He's a nut job, and people know that. What good will getting him fired do? I think it will do harm because the more people are fired for saying things the harder it becomes to draw the line between what is alright to say and what is not alright. If you have read 1984 it has the potential to become sort of like the "thought police" in my opinion.