I'm finally getting to watch this now. I'm a big fan of Louis Theroux.
I noticed that the shirtless boy (Joey?) at the beginning had a meltdown after he said hi to his sister and his sister didn't say hi back, then every acted like he had a meltdown for no reason and they sat on him. With the other kids it bothered me that no one bothered to find out why they were attacking people or having meltdowns and then they'd dramatically turn to the camera and be like "THIS is autism."
My little brother has HFA and he acted like those kids when he was little. He didn't understand (or care, it was hard to tell) when we'd tell him to do/not do something or why but you could usually figure out what he was doing. For example, if he's throwing a mouse two feet it's because you can throw a cat two feet and it doesn't hurt them. So we stopped giving him mice as pets.
It bothered me the way they kept focusing on when kids "started" communicating. Not when they started speaking English in a way others can understand.
The mom of the twins said they were extraordinary people before the twins came into their lives. That woman doesn't deserve those kids. Or any kids.
And then why does Joey's? mom say that residential treatment is the only outcome for all these children? If one can't live independently, there are all different levels of assisted living and ways that people can be useful, productive, and happy without being neurotypical.
That guy Nicky's family was the only one that didn't make me mad. But good for Louis for doing a show on it.
21 Apr 2012, 6:19 pm
