wavefreak58 wrote:
Decepticon wrote:
Autism is big business these days.
I'm beginning to see this and it scares me. Once something becomes a money machine, that which it originally served becomes parodied and increasingly marginalized, pushed aside so that the machine can function at ever increasing speed.
OK I've said this before and I got shot down in flames for criticising the wonderful Tony, but here goes.
I found his book rather helpful.
I found his attitude exceedingly unhelpful.
I paid for a two day conference with him- on the first day he spoke about children , and apart from his rendition of "spot the Aspie"
(see link - she describes it better than me, but that was also my opinion.
http://autisticcats.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... -show.html)
it was positive and sympathetic to kids with Aspergers.
The second day was directed at partners of (mainly) men with Aspergers, ie the Cassandra crowd, A fact I was unawaare of beforehand, as I had taken time off work, booked accomodation and dragged my husband down to attend a "couples" session. His attitude had done a complete 180, as he was now targetting these poor long-suffering women, and not the parents and teachers of Aspies.
I couldn't help thinking what would happen to those "wonderful children" he had spoken of the day before, once they hit puberty, if this was the atitude he was promoting. I felt incredibly ripped off and misrepresented, as he was perpetuating myths about aspergers that were just false. I have heard that he's copped a lot of flak over it and has adjusted his attitude a bit, but that's a bit like Charlie Sheen saying he's going into rehab because he's got a bit of a problem; or our rugby players publicly "apologising" once they get caught beating their girlfriend/dealing drugs/ urinating under a table.
Autism is indeed big buisness.
29 Jan 2011, 7:54 am
