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McCarthy's Son May Not Have Had Autism After All

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lau
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11 Apr 2010, 5:12 pm

flyingkittycat wrote:
I am getting better with autism as an adult. Does that mean I never had autism either?

See: Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome by Liane Holliday Willey.


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sartresue
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28 Apr 2010, 10:30 am

murasaki_ahiru wrote:
Jenny was wrong. Ha ha! Karma's a b***h huh? This link may make you lol! McCartney Carrey spilt.


Site Unsafe topic

My Norton Programme just advised me that the site link above is not a safe one. This is in itself laughable. And then the link is no longer available. OOOkay.

Have you called Jenny yet?


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lau
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28 Apr 2010, 12:47 pm

sartresue wrote:
murasaki_ahiru wrote:
Jenny was wrong. Ha ha! Karma's a b***h huh? This link may make you lol! McCartney Carrey spilt.


Site Unsafe topic

My Norton Programme just advised me that the site link above is not a safe one. This is in itself laughable. And then the link is no longer available. OOOkay.

...


I have corrected both the original and your quote, sartresue. There was an extra "http://" in the link. I'm not at all surprised that Norton panicked, and could not report anything sensible.


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15 May 2010, 4:04 am

Yes, they were taking advice from a woman who shows the same level of competency in real life as she showed on Singled Out.

May I remind you these were the same geniuses that praised Dustin Hoffman for his "amazingly accurate" portrayal of Autism in Rain Man....even after he studied a kid for two weeks, and somehow still managed to get all the characteristics wrong....



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19 May 2010, 2:00 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
Yes, they were taking advice from a woman who shows the same level of competency in real life as she showed on Singled Out.

May I remind you these were the same geniuses that praised Dustin Hoffman for his "amazingly accurate" portrayal of Autism in Rain Man....even after he studied a kid for two weeks, and somehow still managed to get all the characteristics wrong....

I thought Dustin Hoffman was pretty damn great in Rain Man, myself...


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lau
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19 May 2010, 6:33 am

beau99 wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
Yes, they were taking advice from a woman who shows the same level of competency in real life as she showed on Singled Out.

May I remind you these were the same geniuses that praised Dustin Hoffman for his "amazingly accurate" portrayal of Autism in Rain Man....even after he studied a kid for two weeks, and somehow still managed to get all the characteristics wrong....

I thought Dustin Hoffman was pretty damn great in Rain Man, myself...

Me too.

I find it hard to understand people who dismiss Rain Man out of hand. I'd quite like to hear exactly which specific "characteristics" TheDoctor82 thinks were "wrong".

Note that, amongst the people Dustin Hoffman met, he did spend time with Kim Peek. At the time, I believe Kim was diagnosed as autistic - even though that was eventually changed to "probably had FG syndrome". However, judging from their meeting, Daniel Tammet seemed to feel Kim was a fellow mind.


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TheDoctor82
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19 May 2010, 6:51 am

lau wrote:
beau99 wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
Yes, they were taking advice from a woman who shows the same level of competency in real life as she showed on Singled Out.

May I remind you these were the same geniuses that praised Dustin Hoffman for his "amazingly accurate" portrayal of Autism in Rain Man....even after he studied a kid for two weeks, and somehow still managed to get all the characteristics wrong....

I thought Dustin Hoffman was pretty damn great in Rain Man, myself...

Me too.

I find it hard to understand people who dismiss Rain Man out of hand. I'd quite like to hear exactly which specific "characteristics" TheDoctor82 thinks were "wrong".

Note that, amongst the people Dustin Hoffman met, he did spend time with Kim Peek. At the time, I believe Kim was diagnosed as autistic - even though that was eventually changed to "probably had FG syndrome". However, judging from their meeting, Daniel Tammet seemed to feel Kim was a fellow mind.


Tell me this: that scene where they're about to get on the plane, and Raymond starts screaming due to sensory overload; is that in fact accurate? I won't lie....I'm not severely on the spectrum, definitely on the mild end....but I'm under the belief that scene was really, really over the top.



lau
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19 May 2010, 7:34 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
...

Tell me this: that scene where they're about to get on the plane, and Raymond starts screaming due to sensory overload; is that in fact accurate? I won't lie....I'm not severely on the spectrum, definitely on the mild end....but I'm under the belief that scene was really, really over the top.

By even saying the above, I take it you have not been present when someone has had a meltdown of any sort.

It's a while since I last watched the film. I vaguely recall the scene you describe. If I recall correctly, Raymond merely stands still (while screaming). That seems quite mild.


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sinsboldly
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19 May 2010, 8:39 am

lau wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
...

Tell me this: that scene where they're about to get on the plane, and Raymond starts screaming due to sensory overload; is that in fact accurate? I won't lie....I'm not severely on the spectrum, definitely on the mild end....but I'm under the belief that scene was really, really over the top.

By even saying the above, I take it you have not been present when someone has had a meltdown of any sort.

It's a while since I last watched the film. I vaguely recall the scene you describe. If I recall correctly, Raymond merely stands still (while screaming). That seems quite mild.


I must say I have admired Raymond for knowing what he can do and what he cannot do. The scene at the airport made me cringe, for I knew I could be bullied to go onto the plane that would have such a profound affect on me. I cheered for Raymond that he refused to be bullied by any means necessary, but I was embarrassed, too, for not having his either courage to rebel so selfishly or his single mindedness to refuse so utterly.

Merle



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19 May 2010, 9:12 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
Tell me this: that scene where they're about to get on the plane, and Raymond starts screaming due to sensory overload; is that in fact accurate? I won't lie....I'm not severely on the spectrum, definitely on the mild end....but I'm under the belief that scene was really, really over the top.


I didn't think it was over the top. There are plenty of autistic children who have been kicked off of planes (during boarding) for just such a thing. Raymond was an adult, but he was an adult who had been raised in an institution so what he did was consistent within the story.

1)Insitutions are far less motivated to teach coping skills than families are. (Hopefully I'm wrong. But still...). The autistic children who regularly pop up in the news for being kicked off a plane for meltdowns aren't terribly likely to do that as adults. Either they will have learned coping skills (I really think a family is a better teacher of this than an institution),

or

2)their family will realize that this person really just will not ever get on a plane and that is a line not to cross. A younger brother who was raised with an autistic older brother is pretty unlikely to push push push the way the Tom Cruise character did because he knows where his older brother's limits are and what lines are not going to be crossed. It is consistent with the story that the Tom Cruise character pushed inappropriately because he didn't actually know anything about his older brother, having not been raised with him.



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20 May 2010, 12:24 am

Ok, now I admit I'm confused: half the time I'm told that it's an inaccurate representation, and when I see where those people are coming from, I'm told it's a very accurate representation.

To quote Timon from the Lion King: "WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?! !! !! !! !! !"



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20 May 2010, 5:29 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
Ok, now I admit I'm confused: half the time I'm told that it's an inaccurate representation, and when I see where those people are coming from, I'm told it's a very accurate representation.

To quote Timon from the Lion King: "WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?! !! !! !! !! !"


It's inaccurate if it's taken as a representation of what every single autistic person will do in a given situation. Some people on seeing the movie came up with the inaccurate conclusion of autism=Rainman. It's accurate (or rather, plausible, since it's not meant to be a biography of Kim Peek) if taken as the story of one particular man who could certainly be just like that.



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20 May 2010, 6:29 am

Janissy wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
Ok, now I admit I'm confused: half the time I'm told that it's an inaccurate representation, and when I see where those people are coming from, I'm told it's a very accurate representation.

To quote Timon from the Lion King: "WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?! !! !! !! !! !"


It's inaccurate if it's taken as a representation of what every single autistic person will do in a given situation. Some people on seeing the movie came up with the inaccurate conclusion of autism=Rainman. It's accurate (or rather, plausible, since it's not meant to be a biography of Kim Peek) if taken as the story of one particular man who could certainly be just like that.


Well...of course one particular man could be just like that. One particular man could be like almost anything.

If it's an inaccurate conclusion of Autism, then it's an inaccurate portrayal of Autism.



lau
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20 May 2010, 8:58 am

TheDoctor82 wrote:
Janissy wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
Ok, now I admit I'm confused: half the time I'm told that it's an inaccurate representation, and when I see where those people are coming from, I'm told it's a very accurate representation.

To quote Timon from the Lion King: "WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?! !! !! !! !! !"


It's inaccurate if it's taken as a representation of what every single autistic person will do in a given situation. Some people on seeing the movie came up with the inaccurate conclusion of autism=Rainman. It's accurate (or rather, plausible, since it's not meant to be a biography of Kim Peek) if taken as the story of one particular man who could certainly be just like that.


Well...of course one particular man could be just like that. One particular man could be like almost anything.

If it's an inaccurate conclusion of Autism, then it's an inaccurate portrayal of Autism.

I've no idea what "If it's an inaccurate conclusion of Autism, ..." means.

I've also no idea what you mean by "... then it's an inaccurate portrayal of Autism."

The film depicts one fictional case of an individual diagnosed quite accurately as autistic.

As Janissy observes, this can result in some people - whose only awareness of autism is having watched Rainman - drawing the erroneous conclusion that every autistic is identical to Raymond.

I can see no possible way for any film to give an accurate portrayal of autism, as a whole. (Notwithstanding that Autism Speaks certainly feels they can, with their portrayal of autism as some demonic force.)

However, progressively, there are more and more media representations - via both fiction and documentary, showing more clearly how broad, wide, long, deep and high, the spectrum can be.


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23 May 2010, 3:25 pm

TheDoctor82 wrote:
lau wrote:
beau99 wrote:
TheDoctor82 wrote:
Yes, they were taking advice from a woman who shows the same level of competency in real life as she showed on Singled Out.

May I remind you these were the same geniuses that praised Dustin Hoffman for his "amazingly accurate" portrayal of Autism in Rain Man....even after he studied a kid for two weeks, and somehow still managed to get all the characteristics wrong....

I thought Dustin Hoffman was pretty damn great in Rain Man, myself...

Me too.

I find it hard to understand people who dismiss Rain Man out of hand. I'd quite like to hear exactly which specific "characteristics" TheDoctor82 thinks were "wrong".

Note that, amongst the people Dustin Hoffman met, he did spend time with Kim Peek. At the time, I believe Kim was diagnosed as autistic - even though that was eventually changed to "probably had FG syndrome". However, judging from their meeting, Daniel Tammet seemed to feel Kim was a fellow mind.


Tell me this: that scene where they're about to get on the plane, and Raymond starts screaming due to sensory overload; is that in fact accurate? I won't lie....I'm not severely on the spectrum, definitely on the mild end....but I'm under the belief that scene was really, really over the top.


It was really really over the top. And I can tell you this someone who is out right has the fear of flying would do the same thing. Only it would be much much worse then the screaming. There break down would make them look like the have autism which real they don't. They just for the life of them can't get over there fear.

I used to think I had a fear of flying so much as it's the lack of contorl and the fact that after going for ever thing about aspergers it's the sound that of the plane that gives me the overload. I don't start screaming though. What happens is that my mind starts racing and think about ever thing that could happen with the plane. I have to close my eyes and listen to music so as not to hear in the sounds.

If I had a real fear of flying though. Yeah I would be runing up and down the plane wanting to get off.

To put it a better way. I don't like getting water in my ears. In fact I don't like getting my head wet much at all. Now some people do have a fear of water. Me I don't have a fear of water so much as part of the senory thing is I don't like getting water in my ears. In fact out side of Heavy metal music most things really bother my ears.



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23 May 2010, 3:40 pm

If you had a fear of flying, you'd react to flying with fear, which doesn't mean the same thing for everyone.

Anyway, coming in from the Asperger's end, it seems reasonable to me, depending on several things. Like the rest of the person's actions. I'd believe that someone would start screaming from the noise in that situation, but only if he consistently showed hypersensitivity to noise and only if screaming were in his repetoire of responses to such situations. Sounds childish, in the sense that with age come other, better, coping mechanisms.