Why do people torture their children in hopes of cures?

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What I read supra makes me ill. It reminds me of some of the initiations that went on in West Point during the 1840's. In the same token, once in a while, one has to endure torture to save a life. I shall explain. My sister was born without the capability to produce white blood cells - what is known a s pre-natal immune deficiency. This was back in 1971. We discovered she had it when she broke out with smallpox after she had been given the vaccination at age 2. After 23 operations including 3 thymus gland transplants, she was at death's door. Then, in desperation, Dr. Richard Hong of the University of Wisconsin Hospital started taking blood tests of my mom, dad, brother and me. Then, just me. They took so many blood tests that I had needle tracks on my arms. When the veins collapsed, they went into my neck. I was only 8 and I was made fun of at school because everyone thought I was on drugs. Then, they did it. In February 1973, I became the first bone marrow donor in the history of the State of Wisconsin and the second in the world. I am also the only person in the world to have donated twice - both to my sister. Imagine railroad spikes being driven though your bones - that's what it feels like. They took it from my hips, thighs, and sternum. But all I wanted was my sister alive. Today, she is a school teacher in Iowa and is married with 2 kids. I saved not only her life, but my niece and nephew's lives - and their descendants besides. Today, extracting bone marrow is so much easier. I feel like Neil Armstrong after he went to the moon. So you see, depending on how you look at it, sometimes torture is necessary.

Longshanks

I understand that you're saying sometimes suffering is necessary for people to get better. It's true many medical treatments are painful but we consider the ends to be worth the means. I think what makes the bleach thing to upsetting is that the children's lives are not initially in danger, and this is something that is forced on them. If it were adults making their own decisions to do this to themselves, I would still find it upsetting, but not as outrageous because we all have the right to make our own choices about our bodies and lives.
I don't think anyone was trying to insult you at all, it was just a clarification of opinion. And what you did for your sister is a beautiful thing which saved her life and I would never want to compare saving a life to trying to rid a child of Autism by poisoning them.

Part of me is stuck in a credibility loop.

Care2, unfortunately, has a bit of a reputation for never letting the facts get in the way of a good headline.

I cannot fathom anyone with even the most basic education in medicine, biology or chemistry seeing this as a viable therapeutic action. And yet I know that there are vast pools of human ignorance out there. (sigh)

mmmm..... good old poison

I still don't understand how bleach is supposed to cure autism. Where did their logic come from?

When children turn out strange, the parents often feel that it must be somehow their fault. They think that society is judging them as bad parents. So their desire to "fix" their children can be entirely selfish. The logic of using bleach is quite revealing. They see their children as an embarrassing stain on their social life that needs to be removed.

Sorry if this is slightly OT, but....

I think a large part of why so many parents have this attitude of "Oh, no! My child will never be normal!" when their child is diagnosed with Asperger's or Autism is how the media and certain organizations portray it. Sure, there are Autistic children who aren't able to talk or any of those other things, but they are in the minority. Autism is not a disease. It may mean you are different, but not defective. Why others might try to make it look like some life-altering disability whose "victims" have no hope other than to scare parents and the general population is beyond me.

I know sometimes parents get overwhelmed, I get overwhelmed sometimes. There are days where I get so frustrated, and I just cry because I wish my son didn't have to struggle so much and that life could just be simple for him. I think the problem is that parents who resort to these extreme treatments can't get over their despair, they can't get past the problems, they don't know how to just accept the way things are, and let go of the idea that they could ever make it go away. Everyone has problems, and children with autism unfortunately have a lot of struggles to deal with, and we wish we could just make it all better. But the best thing for our kids is to love them as they are, and help them feel accepted and learn how to cope with their difficulties, just like everyone alive learns to cope with life. When we get in the mind frame that the only way to help our kids is to get rid of autism, we aren't telling them that they're special, and unique, and beautiful, we are telling them that they are flawed, and sick. They're going to hear enough negative things in this society, they should never have to hear it from a parent. We are the ones who are supposed to always love them, always think they are the most brilliant, the most beautiful, to tell them they are perfect the way they are. Resorting to poisoning isn't just physically damaging, but it is extremely emotionally damaging. It is telling our kids that we don't love them the way they are, and that we are willing to make them suffer in an attempt to have a different child than the one we have.