Attack, Scramble, Wreck: Metaphors of Autism
Not sure I can agree with much in this description of autism from a story in the January 6th Washington Times about two hockey players, Olie Kolzig and Byron Dafoe, who are both fathers of children with autism.
Autism is a disease that attacks children, mostly males, scrambling the brain waves in such a way that victims can’t always interact socially, have marked repetitive behavior patterns and suffer language dysfunction. The cause is not known nor is there a cure, although treatment has progressed dramatically in recent years.
Along with another hockey player and autism father, Scott Mellanby, Kolzig and Dafoe founded Athletes Against Autism which is an initiative of Cure Autism Now, i.e., of Autism Speaks.
As I posted back in April:
This would necessitate a domain name change, but I’d like to think the many athletic teams–the Atlanta Thrashers, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Trenton Thunder–are for autism, pulling for autistic kids and adults all across the spectrum.
And that is what I still think—–and that to describe autism as “attacking” children and “scrambling” their brain waves is the same as saying that autism is “like a train wreck” as Rick Rollens was quoted a few years ago (September 2, 2002) in the BBC news. These are not the metaphors I prefer to use in describing my son Charlie, or that I think contribute positively to our understanding about autism.
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POSTED IN: Fundraising, Money, Sports, Stereotypes
4 opinions for Attack, Scramble, Wreck: Metaphors of Autism
Gerard Petillo
Jan 6, 2007 at 11:39 am
Kristina
I think that is “their” way of describing Autism. As parents I’m sure we are all on the same side no matter how we describe it.
Gerard Petillo
Parents of ANGELS
Bronx N.Y.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 6, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Thanks, Gerard—-I like to think we’re all together too.
mcewen
Jan 6, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Gracious - such purple prose - I think maybe Dave Fay, the writer might need to do a tad more research. Still, as Gerard says, as long as we’re still on the same page….
electronic greetings
Kassiane
Jan 6, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Gosh, are they sure they’re talking about autism and not Landau-Kleffner Syndrome? LKS is a seizure disorder that scrambles speech sounds something awful via epileptiform brainwaves…and is also found predominantly in boys.
Such ridiculous language, otherwise. Didn’t David Kirby, every hysterical mother’s best friend, write that such descriptions lead to violence? Oh yeah. He did. But it only counts when it’s a minority group HE’S part of. Duh…
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