Autism Vox

15 opinions for The New Black (for now)

• VAB
  Oct 5, 2007 at 5:55 pm

  They say:
  America’s Next Top Model features a 21-year-old stunner, college student Heather, with Asperger’s syndrome. As host Tyra Banks chirped in one episode, “She’s making a whole lot of autistic kids go, ‘Wow.’ ” Well, not necessarily the kids, but definitely some of their families and friends.

  Why not the kids? I guess the writer thinks autistic kids are incapable of being impressed. What a dufus.

• Cliff
  Oct 5, 2007 at 6:09 pm

  Maybe the writer is in the line of thinking that all autistic kids manage to “die” off before becoming near adult age, as Larry King suggested, if my memory serves.

  Cliff

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Oct 5, 2007 at 6:19 pm

  Perhaps that’s what results after the candida dies off…….

• Joseph
  Oct 5, 2007 at 6:20 pm

  Are they outraged about this in EOHarm yet? She’s too beautiful to be autistic!

• Caroline L.
  Oct 5, 2007 at 7:06 pm

  I say “YEY” to Tyra Banks for rightly assuming that children with autism and other disabilities look for role models…

  many little girls, whether its politically correct or not, are into the whole princess fairytale…and boys often identify with sports icons. How great that the stigma seems to be receding, at least in this case…

  I share three things with Jenny McCarthy:
  1. I have dyed blond hair
  2. My child has yeast which has been helped by a product that a good friend told me about
  3.my child has epilepsy which causes ‘behaviors’ and loss of speech.

  Larry King is from another generation and has been rather offensive in discussing children with issues. examples: “is he slow?” “do you feel comfortable being around him?”

• long day's journey into acceptance
  Oct 5, 2007 at 7:35 pm

  Good point about Larry King. He’s actually intolerable in person, I understand, and he has certain routines (among them a daily morning deli ritual w/ his buds) which he won’t break even [supposedly] for a family emergency. He also [supposedly] can be a tad verbally abusive to his partners. Shouldn’t he know about autism from his long-time relationship with Angie Dickinson? Oh, it doesn’t matter, the guy has no manners regardless.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Oct 5, 2007 at 7:38 pm

  I’m generally all right with the old black!

• julie anna
  Oct 6, 2007 at 1:52 am

  Ah yes, the mental health issue du jour, an honor that often falls upon eating disorders. And though the attention may raise awareness, it always seems to be in the most simplistic, misunderstood, even insulting ways. So hold on, stay strong, the celebrities will get bored soon enough.

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Oct 6, 2007 at 1:56 am

  And guess who will still be advocating and more once the it/in crowd has moved on!

• Liz
  Oct 6, 2007 at 2:55 pm

  Cliff
  Just wanted to clarify that….
  Larry King didn’t say that ASD kids die off. That’s taken out of context. He said it within the context of asking JM what exactly happens to ASD kids when they grow up.
  To which JM couldn’t give an answer. In fact, she said she didn’t know and that she didn’t know any adults with ASD. It would be ideal if adults on the spectrum contacted her- to educate her. She’s only been at this for 2 yrs. and her knowledge of ASD is minimal, only having heard the negatives from drs. and other parents. She doesn’t know how ASD manifests in adults, for if she did, she realize she DOES know at least 1 adult on the spectrum.

• Cliff
  Oct 6, 2007 at 3:07 pm

  I had remembered he said something like “I haven’t seen any adult autistics. Are there adult autisics?” I would have interpreted that as not what happens when they grow up, but as a denial to their existance in a rhetorical form. On the other hand, I heard the comment in passing, so I may be mistaken (sorry for any typos; I’m actually typing from an airport-computer thing, flying out to New Orleans to meet my Mom for my birthday, which just happens to conicide with break).

  Cliff

• Kristina Chew, PhD
  Oct 6, 2007 at 3:24 pm

  Happy Birthday, Cliff!

  One has to hope that McCarthy can continue her education about autism, as she is certainly in the public eye and given that her “celebrity status is likely to lend credence” to what she says about autism.

• Cliff
  Oct 7, 2007 at 9:32 am

  Indeed, I do hope she continues to learn about autism. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes, all considered, if she does have a change in opinion.

  Cliff

• This Week’s Top Posts
  Oct 7, 2007 at 5:05 pm

  […] The New Black (for now)Autism is the “new black” according to EOnline. ASD, Aspergers, autism, autism lit, Books, children, Education, family, health, jenny jenny mccarthy, literature, Massachusetts, memoir, money, PDD NOS, schools, special educationASD Aspergers autism autism lit Books children Education family health jenny jenny mccarthy literature Massachusetts memoir money PDD NOS schools special educationShare This Related StoriesThis Week’s Top PostsThis Week’s Top PostsReversing Bad Attitudes, Not AutismThe Subject is Children: Pediatric Grand Rounds on b5media.com Science and Health Channel’s July Theme DayAutismly Correct (A.C.) […]

• Regan
  Oct 7, 2007 at 9:13 pm

  Well,
  I’m not sure which way it’ll go…see the red and pink ribbon campaigns which are celebrity and publicity heavy. The difference is that in those cases the celebrities confine themselves to raising money, not prescribing treatments on national television.

  I missed Larry King, so that was interesting to hear a little about the show. I don’t hold it against him (giving a pass for some inappropriate framing) to ask about what happens in adulthood–that’s actually a realistic question to ask, and one that we thought about pretty soon after the diagnosis. For an organizational spokesperson, aka JMc, not to have a clue, is somewhat disturbing since it defines the level of her understanding of the big picture and why she might exercise a little restraint when representing the “autism community”, or extrapolating experience.

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