kgaccount form YouTube says aspergers is not autism.

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She put him on the news to fight for shock treatment, better known as ECT?
ECT is contraindicated in pediatric patients and not indicated for the treatment of ASDs. ECT is indicated for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression (depression that has resisted 2 or more SSRIs). This lady is very ignorant. No psychiatrist would send the boy to get ECT performed anyways. Ridiculous.

Yes, that *is* a good point: Parents of autistics, and families who are caretakers for disabled people in general, aren't supported nearly enough. They often have to advocate pretty hard to get the assistance they need; and in some cases they may never be able to get it. This problem isn't exclusive to those with kids who need full-time care, though; finding a responsible aide can be very frustrating (or so I have heard, as I've never had to hire one myself but have talked to people who have)... On the other hand, so can trying to convince people that your child needs assistance at school when said child is highly verbal but under severe stress because she doesn't know what's coming up in the school day and nobody makes her a schedule she can read.

It's usually plain that a kid needs help when he's fifteen and not talking; but if he's talking and doing okay in school, he can fall through the cracks just as easily because he's assumed to be "doing fine" and not given the help he needs until he shuts down completely--and he's in just as much distress as if he were very disabled and stuck with an incompetent aide or with a mom so stressed out she had no time to spare to relax.

The entire spectrum has the problem of not being able to access appropriate support services. We can help each other with this. Kids with "mild" autism getting services don't take services away from kids with "severe" autism. For one thing, they often need completely different things. For another, the more kids with autism are in their school systems and in their homes getting the assistance they need, the more the schools and the medical profession will know that they need help and their families need support--all along the spectrum. And the more the need is made known, the more people will be drawn to that field. People want jobs, simple as that. Plus, when you support autistics, you're not just giving them care they need now; you're also helping them learn more independence for later on. The more you help, the less help we need.

Even respite care isn't an exclusively "LFA" thing. Parents of Aspies need relief, too; my mom nearly had a nervous breakdown when I was a toddler because I didn't know how to inhibit myself and had multiple meltdowns a day--and remember, this is a mom who's also either autistic or so close it doesn't matter, with the associated sensory sensitivity. With that on top of the normal toddler tantrums, it was a recipe for one frazzled mom. Could she have used respite care? Oh, yes. But she hadn't any because I wasn't diagnosed, and she had six years of very little sleep instead. She still mentions it sometimes, though she's forgiven me.

Cutting the spectrum down some arbitrary "Not Like My Child" boundary wouldn't help anybody. We need to stick together and advocate for each other, and for each others' kids. Every time anybody, with any kind of autism, wins a victory, it's a victory for us all.

She said that the people of Wrongplanet are a bunch of hypochondriacs and made accusations of the members being sociopaths who were manipulating doctors into getting them a diagnosis of aspergers for ome bizarre reason. What a horrible thing to say about people!

I think maybe we shouldn't be hateful about this; it seems like she has just gotten herself so worked into a mental corner and isn't seeing straight, that when anybody disagrees with her she takes it as though the person were threatening her and her family. Think of all the Aspies who are bitter because they've been bullied for years by NTs... she has probably faced prejudice against her son, herself, and dealt with it in all the wrong ways, that she can't help but get angry instead of thinking. It's like when one of my cats is so frightened of a thunderstorm that he doesn't recognize that I'm his friend and claws me out of fear that the whole world is out to hurt him.

What? You mean [some YouTube commenter] said [some trolly comment]? LET'S GO MAD!

But, seriously, in case you hadn't noticed, YouTube commenters are utter idiots. There's no point paying any sort of attention to them at all.

To prove the point, here are some other YouTube comments I found:

DW, I wouldn't know for sure, but when "shock therapy" comes up re: autism, it's generally NOT ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, a painless shock delivered under sedation meant to snap someone out of depression); instead, "shock therapy" in this context usually refers to using an electric shock for the purpose of causing pain to "teach" an autistic not to perform various behaviors. Look up the Judge Rotenberg Center. Entirely different issue.

Regarding seizures, yes they usually become less scary with time unless the person goes into status epileptics or other life threatening situations. I got to a point where I was having atonic seizures every few minutes or seconds. (Where you lose all muscle tone at once and hit the floor at an astonishing rate, but don't convulse.) And honestly the way my family and I felt was more on the level of aggravating nuisance (especially the bruises and rug burns and scrapes) than scary. Because once you know what it is it becomes a logistical problem more than anything.

Regarding hate, I don't hate this woman or anyone else on the planet. But I do hold her responsible for the consequences of her actions, and taken collectively with others like her the consequences for autistic people are dire. Past a point a person is responsible for the effects of their words and actions even if they experience pressures that drive them to it. Lots and lots of parents face similar pressures and only a tiny minority become hateful and destructive. And that minority is not consisting of parents of children with more severe impairments overall. Many of them have children who by most standards have milder impairments than many people here, but in order to justify themselves pretend otherwise. And pressure or no pressure attitudes like hers result in terrible things. I don't hate her but I will never let people like her off the hook either. Not while I watch the destruction they contribute to.

Oh jeez electroshocks meant to discipline someone with an ASD.. are we living in the Nazi era?

ASPERGERS is ASPERGERS. AUTISM is should be for those individuals for Severe and Low Functioning ONLY. BUT, it seems anyone can now get slapped with the label for not being able to 'socialize or keep employment'. GAH ! ! It's a god damn f,ing joke and an insult to parents who have children who will never be mainstreamed, graduate, get married, drive a car as all you Aspies can do. It's not fair that just ANYONE can call themselves "Autistic" now.
This is so sad, especially on Facebook. I type in search for severe and low functioning pages or groups, and these people have GIVEN UP on thier group, because the Aspies take over like they UNDERSTAND ???? LOL
The DSM needs to change. NOW. Aspergers is exactly what it called. "ASPERGERS". If they have their own name, then why the bloody hell can't they have their own "SPECTRUM" ???
AUTISM is not sitting on a computer all day long typing BIG words with such intelligence. Give me a break ! !! !!
Aspies will go on and on and on about "employment" and boo hoo i cant get a job and keep it??? Well here's a tip Aspies.... Get of the DAMN computer for a start.

Kgaccount is 100% spot on in her comments. I am here to support her now. You have all met your match because something needs to be done about these Bipolar or whatever people getting an Autism/Aspergers label. Misdiagnosis is why the Autism statistics are through the roof ! !! !! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that one out !

I wonder how this woman feels about AS being merged to autism?

About a year and a half ago I exchanged a couple of messages with this woman. She's actually not a bad person at all. Just a little bit misguided.

As I see it, she's unfortunately fallen prey to a mentality that some even here on WP sometimes fall prey to. This includes myself by the way.

It's that, "If things aren't as bad for you as they are for me, you don't have a problem" syndrome.

She does believe Autism is a spectrum. She does believe that AS is real. But that isn't where the problem lies.

She also believes that the vast majority of higher functioning diagnoses are just plain dead wrong. Sadly, she thinks she knows far more than she really does, solely because she has a son with severe Autism.

Probably needless to say, but I managed to close communication with her on a civil, if not friendly note. I feel very badly for her. She has a much tougher life with her son than I am certain most of us could possibly imagine.

I do not though, feel that is an excuse to spread her bitterness our way by insisting that practically none of us has real problems. That is, of course, pure BS.