A question for Lenny Schafer
I continue to receive and read the Schafer Autism Report (SAR) though I have yet to pay my 20 cents. The first item of the May 23, 2006 issue of SAR was FAQ Autism and Divorce, from About.com. The next items in the SAR were:
NY[OR] Parents Charged In Autistic Son’s Death- Mother’s Bridge Death Plunge With Her Autistic Son Was Act Of Love, Say Sisters
- Helping Everyone But Herself
- A Question of ‘Tough Love’ vs. Torture [on electric shock at the JRC]
- Study: Aberrant Chromosomes Uncovered In Autistic Children
- Autistic Children Murdered – Outrage vs. Sympathy [editorial by Lenny Schafer]
Many of these stories, such as the one about Dr. Karen McCarron, were about parents of autistic children killing their children, about the “stress” and strain on families in raising an autistic child. Was that why the SAR started with the FAQ Autism and Divorce?
Just wondering if SAR’s grouping of these articles is not a coincidence, but is meant to make some point about what it is like for those (as Mr. Schafer writes) “who are living too close to the edge of autistic hell” so that a cure needs to be found.
For the record: Happily married here, and living very happily with our autistic son, Charlie.
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POSTED IN: Autism Organizations, Media, Rhetoric, Stereotypes
5 opinions for A question for Lenny Schafer
Mothersintuition
May 26, 2006 at 8:59 am
And for the record: I am also happily married, and we are also living happily with our two boys, one NT and one autistic.
Lisa Cohen
May 26, 2006 at 11:54 am
A happy ‘mixed marriage’ here–an aspie and an NT with one aspie child, one ‘cousin’ child (with NLD).
Julia
Jun 1, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Happy here. Unhappy a few months ago, but that was because the daddy’s job was sucking the lifeblood out of him for a few months. Now happy, daddy CAPD and maybe BAP, mommy AS, son autistic, daughter & other son unknown (under 3, not obviously autistic) but wonderful.
Traci
Jun 1, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Hi everyone, I’m the Mother of two with autism weighing in here, and in more recent years, I can say that I’m generally happy. I am captivated by my sons.
But I have to say that learning to live with severe, headbanging, furniture throwing, window shattering autism was a far cry from learning to live with our youngest son, whose autism is much milder. There are absolutely no simliarities between my two sons beyond sharing a diagnositic label.
There was a time I’d have killed myself if it weren’t for my faith. The endless advocacy battles, particulary for my oldest son, have been grueling. So I felt this way, not because David’s life was so hard on me, but imagining what he’d have to face when I was gone…..and having to deal with idiots paid by my tax dollars who can’t blame autism for their problems, lack of manners, and ignorance about autism!
Just another side of the coin. And yes, I think Lenny does go for shock value. He told a friend of mine, who has AS, that to compare aspergers to autism is “identity theft.”
Both of the boys are doing well now, but with autism–ya’ just never know when something is going to go belly up and start taking on water!!
Great board…..don’t know how I found my way here, LOL, and don’t know if I’ll ever find my way back, but…great forum!
Traci
Albert Schafer
Jan 27, 2008 at 12:43 am
The laws of proablity are such that some people are going to be happy and others not. It is not unrealistic that when their is Autism in the family that the bell curve will be scewed towards unhappy. I have yet to hear some jumping for joy that they have an autistic family member. No matter how you spin it, it’s still the loss of an ordinary developed human. SAR in a word is sublimation. Something socially positive coming out of what was not expected.
Uncle Albert Schafer MSW
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