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Video for Autism Speaks
Here's an interesting little project to raise money for charity, this particular video is raising money for Autism Speaks. There are other videos on the site as well, but this is the most engaging. There are some beautiful pictures as well as some challenging words. I learned about this video from Krazy Kat and Mother's Intuition.
I'm sure there are many bloggers who decry such a video and who abhor a line such as "a world where autism is a thing of the past". There are a few commenters on the video itself who fall into that category.
The problem is that the word 'autism' is drawn with too wide of a brush. Somehow, the syndrome covers each of these and more:
- a child completely unable to communicate and unable to cope in most environments
- my son who has a very hard time communicating, has "odd" gestures, has apparently no desire to make "friends", but at the same time enjoys doing many of the same activities of other kids his age.
- a boy who has no issues communicating either by speech or by writing, but has a very hard time understanding social situations.
- children born with a very noticeable "difference" from day 1
- children, such as my son, who develop normally until around age 2 and then regress into their own world.
When a video like this says that we ought to make autism "history", I think it's suggesting that many of these children are living a life unfairly thrust upon them due to environmental reasons. Those battling this concept of a "cure" or making autism "history" seem to be the most likely to deny environmental reasons for this disorder, that autism is just "normal". There may indeed be some number of on the spectrum who are "just that way", but due to the wide spectrum of autism they have the same label as someone like my son.
It's not fair to either side, the only fair thing would be to abolish the "spectrum" idea and diagnose the various symptoms differently. Until that happens though, and it never will, I fall in with the "cure" camp and strongly believe that far too many of our children are suffering with neurological damage due to environmental factors.
5 comments:
I feel a bit at odds with the majority of opinion that seems to be out there regarding autism and it's causes and possible cures and therapies related to cures.I agree that the spectrum is really wide and that is why some appear to be 'cured' because all those diagnosed as being on the spectrum are exactly that..............somewhere on the spectrum. I can see how all the possible causes suggested for autism occurring can be valid and so any 'cure' or therapy would have to be individual.Confused yet? I find it a bit difficult to explain.
What worries me is how nasty some of the arguments on blogs are getting with people trying to prove only their idea is right.Maybe their ideas are right , for those with certain symptoms but the wide brush is just that........wide. So we are all right and we are all wrong and should be working together.
Really good blog entry , you really made me think
Thanks.
Well said Steve. It's incredible that some parents and those that work in the Autism world STILL don't believe this disorder is indeed a spectrum, a special blend for each person with this disorder. This is what causes all of the in-fighting, which ultimately makes it harder on parents to make informed choices.
Isn't that we only use, and know what about 20-30% of our brain does/is capable of? It doesn't surprise me that we are only in the 'kick start' phase of what causes spectrum disorders....more to come as more money pours into research. I fall into the environmental opinion myself. But I don't spend alot of time dwelling on it - we have it in our house, we spend our energy dwelling on doing what we can for the boy with it, not 'how did he get it'. That boat has sailed...
BTW - thanks for stopping by the blog. I added ya to my blog roll.
Jerry
Found you blog surfing. We used to live in Morgan Hill! :)
I totally agree with you. I find it sad that there is so much division among the autism families.
I can deal with people who may have different theories or beliefs than I do but it is getting harder to deal with the "radicals" from both camps.
I know what works for my child and I wouldn't presume to tell another family that these things will work for theirs. They might help...they might not.
But I think it is important that we get all of the information out there so that any new family getting a diagnosis realizes that there are therapy options out there.
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