I have never thought that such a “progressive” website like Truthdig would lower itself. I have never thought that Truthdig would post such an ableist article like what they have posted about Autism Spectrum Disorder (AKA Autism). The article makes all sorts of claims and also misses a lot of important information about Autism and its symptoms. Let’s take a look at it.

The article starts of by claiming that a minority of children that are diagnosed with Autism only carry the diagnosis “temporarily.” Didn’t know that Autism was similar to the common cold. I must have missed the memo on that one. Anyway the author states that

A minority of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)—conditions that are generally considered lifelong—may carry the diagnosis only temporarily, researchers say.

MedPage Today reports:

“Among 34 children who were no longer classified as having an ASD by ratings scales and clinical assessment, most had similar scores on socialization, communication, and language as their typically-developing peers, Deborah Fein, PhD, of the University of Connecticut, and colleagues reported in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.”

Call me biased but I can’t take an author seriously if his sentence ends with the word “psychiatry.” Sorry These are the same people who take their teachings from a guy who sawed off his patients limbs in order to “cure their madness” and is considered the “godfather of psychiatry.” I am not joking. This article also never makes the distinction between high-functioning and low-functioning autistic people when the article says “may carry the diagnosis temporarily.” The article might possibly be talking about high-functioning autistic/Asperger’s syndrome. But in the eyes of psychiatrists all autistic people are the same! The author continues by stating the obvious and also missing the point that therapy often does help autistic children when trying to control some of their more harmful behaviors, like biting or bashing your head into the wall.

“The results clearly demonstrate the existence of a group of individuals with an early history of ASD, who no longer meet criteria for any ASD, and whose communication and socialization skills … are on par with that of typically-developing individuals,” researchers wrote.

“How often this happens—and whether it truly does—is still controversial. Some studies have put that figure between 3% and 25%,” the site reported.

Researchers conducted tests in language, face recognition, socialization, communication and other areas in youth ages 8 to 21 who appeared to be free of symptoms.

JUST BECAUSE THEY MIGHT NOT BE DISPLAYING SOME OF THE STEREOTYPICAL SYMPTOMS THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY ARE CURED OF IT! Like I have previously mentioned, therapy does help with some of the symptoms of Autism. It doesn’t cure the person of it nor is that autistic child a neurotypical adult when he/she grows up. Also, autistic adults are very self aware of ableism and in the case of autistic women, misogyny. So, it would be fucking stupid to claim that if they are not displaying some of the more noticeable symptoms then they are cured. If that was true then I would not be easily distracted by background noises every time I am trying to have a conversation with someone. I would not be having difficulty writing exams with the other class and needing extra time to prepare.  Of course, that is not the definition of Autism to the neurotypicals, isn’t it? Autism is not an internal illness that has an effect on how the individual will interact with people and how they will react to stressful situations. Hell naw! Autism is just some phase according to these eggheads here!

Needless to say, I am shocked that they would post something so ableist and ridiculous. Well, they are gonna lose one reader today.

OP here

Truthdig Article here

Life in the Patriarchal Matrix:  I mainly blog about feminism, misogyny, disability and activism.