Not a Catastrophe
Journalist David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy, says this in an interview with the News-Times of Connecticut:
“People don’t treat autism as the catastrophe it is. I’ve never seen such complacency in a health crisis, especially (one) in children……If one in 150 kids (the current autism rate) were getting cancer or going blind or dropping dead on the street, you can bet we’d be mobilizing every resource we had.”
Why treat something—autism—as a catastrophe when it is not? Sure, like many/all families with autistic children, we have some really difficult moments (days, weeks……). My son Charlie does seem to have what is called “catastrophic thinking,” when some sort of fear and worry grips him so suddenly and so thoroughly that he seems to think all will be over if he does not have another piece of bread or if he has to put on his coat. He is learning—a very slow process, it is true—to work his way through these thoughts and to understand that things are okay. He has been on edge these past two weeks, smiling one moment and—-at us saying a mere routine phrase—-casting his body to the ground. We’ve been slowing down the pace of things, sitting quietly by Charlie and standing by and listening, listening, carefully. His home coordinator is coming by today and I’ve scheduled a visit with the pediatric neurologist. I’m printing out lots of photos and drawings and making picture schedules so Charlie clearly know what is going on. I’m reminding myself, sometimes anxiety just has to ebb and flow in Charlie, and as his mother I have to let him know we’re always there to walk beside him and to wait.
I don’t feel I’m being “complacent,” but thoroughly pro-active about teaching Charlie to handle what he is feeling and to communicate it as best he can. Whoever says that autism is a “catastrophe” seems to be having some catastrophic thinking himself (and, as I noted in regard to the conspiratorial imagining in some autism circles, there is quite enough hysteria, mercury-”induced” and otherwise, in discussions about the causes of autism and autism research).
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POSTED IN: Charlisms, Epidemic, Health, Stereotypes
27 opinions for Not a Catastrophe
ange
Jan 18, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I get so angry when people equate autism with cancer, or aids, or death. I feel for any parent who has lost a child to death or facing the possibility of death, as it is a pain I cannot even fathom. I can’t imagine what they feel hearing Kirby’s trivalizing comments.
Emily
Jan 18, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Same here, ange. 100% agreement.
Cliff
Jan 18, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I must admit that, at this point, I’ve been used to having my life called a catastrophe (by me, when I didn’t know about autism, from others, when they had that knowledge), so I have to admit that Kirby is just another of those. And he’s certainly not the most convincing of the bunch.
Cliff
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 5:02 pm
And one also hears the words “crisis” and “tragedy” used in the same way.
Ms. Clark
Jan 18, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I think Kirby is the catastrophe.
Sarah
Jan 18, 2008 at 5:31 pm
So, so true. I think my own parents have always been relatively nonplussed by my ASD tendencies because they once had to deal with my sister’s far worse neurological issues (a stroke). I wish Kirby would actually show some interest in talking with ASD people before writing our lives off as catastrophic. It’s offensive.
MJ
Jan 18, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I think you are misconstruing Kirby’s statement. He is calling the rate of autism (1 in 150) a catastrophe. He is not calling any one specific individual with autism a catastrophe.
His point seems to be that if there was another serious disability that affected children at the same rate there would be large response. Think about it, if you woke up tomorrow in a world in which 1 in 150 children were blind, do you think it would be noticed?
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 5:56 pm
David Kirby: “People don’t treat autism as the catastrophe it is.”
“As” is a correlative conjunction and signals an equating of the two words it joins, “autism” and “catastrophe.” Autism is “in the manner of” a catastrophe.
Club 166
Jan 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm
…Think about it, if you woke up tomorrow in a world in which 1 in 150 children were blind, do you think it would be noticed?
But if you woke up tomorrow and blindness was redefined as anyone who’s uncorrected vision was not 20/20, and the rate suddenly jumped to over 50%, would you call that a catastrophe?
I think people have a number of issues with Kirby using the word ‘catastrophe’. One is the total medicalization of autism, making it totally a medical disease, and not acknowledging that a significant portion of being autistic is simply a neurological difference.
Another (which flows from the first) is the notion that all autistics need to be ‘fixed’, rather than all autistics are full citizens with civil rights, and need to be fully supported. If Kirby said it was a catastrophe that autistics were not being supported, I suspect that there would be much less of an outcry.
ange
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:10 pm
club 166, i’m addicted to your way of thinking. you make sense in such a concise way. ange
Autismville
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I agree with you that our life currently is not what you would call “catastrophic.” We are family of love and laughter. Jack does struggle incredibly, but somehow I know he feels our love and is a happy kid.
“Catastrophic” for me comes in when I think about the time when I am no longer here to “walk beside him and to wait.” I will gladly love and care for him until the day I die.
He is a joy.
He is also nonverbal and extremely disabled. Only time will tell how he will be able to function in the world. The way things are right now, the thought of him functioning in it without me …
feels very catastrophic…
Kev
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:36 pm
What happened to Katie McCarron was catastrophic. Before that she was autistic.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:46 pm
@Kev, catastrophic and tragic in ways that I will always struggle to fathom.
Regan
Jan 18, 2008 at 7:56 pm
The simple existence of the children and adults is not “catastrophic”, and neither are they as individuals. Certainly my daughter Eleanor is not.
But if the point is that families may need more health support, rather than less on a diagnosis of autism, that IDEA could be completely funded as originally mandated, that IEPs could be more often implemented in spirit and not just pro forma, that considerably more teachers and parapros be trained in effective teaching practice and behavior management (rather than misinterpret and punish ASD student behavior) that there is a cohort of students eventually coming to transition to adult supports, services, employment and housing situations that traditionally are inadequate, and often restrictive or undignified…I would say that the pace could stand to be considerably be picked up.
Having some idea of Mr. Kirby’s point of view though, I suspect that he and I might be thinking of different things.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:13 pm
@Regan, yes!
@Autismville,
Despair, hopeless, sorrow, worry, fear, deep anxiety: In life with Charlie, I have surely felt all of these, and even that “things can’t any worse.” When I think about how far Charlie has come, relative to himself—how much he communicates (not so much with words, often) and how much he tries to communicate, how hard he tries to do what we ask even if he can’t quite understand it—–worrisome feelings subside. I try to try as hard as Charlie.
Marla
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:17 pm
“catastrophic thinking,”
M is similar with ‘catastrophic thinking’.
Emily
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Kev, a point well made.
MJ
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:37 pm
““As” is a correlative conjunction and signals an equating of the two words it joins, “autism” and “catastrophe.” Autism is “in the manner of” a catastrophe.”
And if there were only one sentence that would be a valid way to break down the meaning. Considering that the next sentence attributed to him makes reference to the current rate of autism in children I think the more valid way to read what he is saying is the context of the rest of his statement.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Ah, but a close reading of Kirby can reveal so much!
Linda
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I can’t compete with the thoughtful and eloquent words expressed here; just want to make the observation that parenting is always about change and new challenges as we negotiate the developmental and hormonal paths.
Sounds to me like your 10 year old is becoming more and more adolescent-like which is not a catastrophe! As fun and fulfilling as before, just a different phase. You guys were made to parent him along the way.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 18, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Yes, Charlie has a thin shadow on his upper lip. His coordinator recalled that, after not seeing Charlie for a few weeks, she was convinced he was bigger and I keep asking myself, did I shrink this shirt or is it just that his arms keep getting longer…….
Phil Schwarz
Jan 19, 2008 at 1:50 am
Re. autism, catastrophic thinking, and its alternatives –
Grover the monster from Sesame Street says it best:
“If your mirror has a monster in it, do not shout
This kind of situation does not call for freaking out
And do nothing that you would not like to see him do
‘Cause that monster in the mirror he just might be you ”
And to David Kirby and his followers:
“Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo
Everytime you wubba us we’ll wubba you “
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 19, 2008 at 1:55 am
And then so much wubba-ing is going on that the mirror falls off the wall behind Grover………
It’s not easy being green?
Phil Schwarz
Jan 19, 2008 at 2:02 am
No, it’s not easy being green :-).
And the only sock puppet worth listening to (eyeing the many infesting the blogosphere) is, of course, the Cookie Monster :-).
Many years ago, Dick Cavett invited Jim Henson and Frank Oz onto his late-night talk show. They came along with several Muppets. At one point, Cavett interviewed the Cookie Monster. The Cookie Monster proceeded to lure a boom microphone down to within grabbing range, and promptly ate it. After which, he announced that “microphone taste better here than on Carson show!”
Ms. Clark
Jan 19, 2008 at 2:19 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maYnqbdo2jw
wubba wubba video (no real woo in it)
Autismville
Jan 19, 2008 at 9:27 am
Thank you for the genuine laugh!
We have Kermit’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green” on the CD I made for Jack that we listen to in the car every day driving back and forth to school…
It’s beautiful. And I think that’s what I want to be… :)
Stealth Autism
Jan 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm
[…] happen slowly, stealthily, and then (for me at least) one day you realize, it’s not a catastrophe, not at all. ASD, Aspergers, autism, autistic, children, computers, Education, family, […]
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