Huffington Post Article Today

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carrie-ca ... ir=Parents

Um...was anyone else offended by this? As a NT person who lives with an AS person, and has since we were teenagers, I am QUITE aware that my NT "weirdness" gets on his nerves, confuses, and embarrasses him just as much as his AS "weirdness" gets on mine.

I just felt the tone of this article was really condescending to this woman's kid and it made me mad.

From the article:

But discovering you have autism? That's like saying, listen, I know we've been pretending all along that you're just like the rest of us, that it's perfectly normal to ask people when they will die and remember what year Hershey started making chocolate. But it's not. You're not. You are different, diagnosed, identified. You have something called Autism Spectrum Disorder.

and at the end:

That night, I knelt next to his bed once again and whispered to my sleeping boy:
"You are better with it."

I thought for a second more, and whispered:

"We are better with it."

I found it a bit condescending too, but I think her heart's in the right place.

I've seen worse: I was in a row about being a "burden" earlier, and it's now 3am here, and I'm sitting up trying to distract myself from how I'm feeling (borderline suicidal), and generally hating most humans as much as they hate me. I mean, triggering.

Then I ended up talking online to two other aspies (one a complete stranger, one nearly so) who are feeling much the same way. It's that or curl up in the ball I spent half the day in and spend more time crying. In short, there are worse attitudes out there, and it's completely done my head in.

I think this is a woman trying her best to get it, but really not. Talk of "sifting through the flood of information and advice about hyperbaric chambers and gluten-free pretzels and advanced behavior therapy" clued me in that this is a couple who really, really don't get it. You don't sift through this BS - you bin it! It's pseudoscientific twaddle.

Is it condescending? Yes. Is this unusual? Nope. I got this from the local autism services people last week. Does it set a bad example? Definitely.


Your sig says: "I am a NT sociologist. I am studying the sociology of autism: Identity in ASD/AS, "passing" as NT, and causal effects of NT society on people with ASD/AS." Out of little more than idle curiosity, are you involved with this: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3VV36QM ? Not being critical. I need to find the energy to complete it.

That was a sappy article, and I dislike her writing style, but the end made my eyes tear up a bit - not enough to make me cry, though; I'd say maybe .5 ml of tears (.25 ml per eye).

I'm a weird one, I wasn't offended by it. the mother likes her son's autism but yet there were parts of it she didn't like but that can be with any child rather they are autistic or NT. I can't stand when my son whines. I can't bear to listen to it and put up with it but I still love him.

I found it rather offensive at first...just seemed pretty ignorant, but it doesn't seem like this kids mom has any ill intentions, especially once you get more towards the end.

It's not offensive.
A little naive, but not offensive.
It's maybe a little weird to have a kid with a developing brain on anti-anxiety meds though.
Other than that it reads as what it is, nothing more, imho.