To the NYU Child Study Center, re: Ransom Notes advertising campaign

by Kristina Chew, PhD on December 12th, 2007

Many continue to voice their concern and, indeed, outrage at the New York University Child Study Center’s “Ransom Notes” advertisement campaign. A continually update list of blogs by autistic persons and by parents of autistic children can be found here. Following is a letter that several national and local disability rights organizations have signed. The letter is addressed to Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D., of the The NYU Child Study Center, Dr. Robert Grossman, M.D., of the NYU School of Medicine; John Osborn, President and CEO of BBDO of New York; and Richard Schaps, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Van Wagner Communications, LLC..

To the NYU Child Study Center and the supporters of the “Ransom Notes” advertising campaign:

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to you regarding your new ad campaign for the NYU Child Study Center: “Ransom Notes”. Our organizations represent people with a wide range of disabilities, including those portrayed in your campaign, as well as family members, professionals and others whose lives are affected by disabilities. As people who live and work with disability, we cannot help but be concerned by the way your campaign depicts individuals with disabilities. By choosing to portray people on the autism spectrum as well as those living with OCD, ADHD and other disabilities as kidnapped or possessed children, you have inadvertently reinforced many of the worst stereotypes that have prevented children and adults with disabilities from gaining inclusion, equality and full access to the services and supports they require.

While the “Ransom Notes” campaign was no doubt a well-intentioned effort to increase awareness and thus support for the disabilities it describes, the means through which it attempts this have the opposite effect. When a child with ADHD is described as “a detriment to himself and those around him,” it hurts the efforts of individuals, parents and families to ensure inclusion and equal access throughout society for people with disabilities. When individuals with diagnoses of autism and Asperger’s Syndrome are told that their capacities for social interaction and independent living are completely destroyed, it hurts their efforts for respect, inclusion, and necessary supports by spreading misleading and inaccurate information about these neurologies. While it is true that there are many difficulties associated with the disabilities you describe, individuals with those diagnostic categories do succeed – not necessarily by becoming indistinguishable from their non-disabled peers – but by finding ways to maximize their unique abilities and potential on their own terms.

The “Ransom Notes” campaign places a stigma on both parents and children, thus discouraging them from pursuing a diagnosis that might be helpful in gaining access to the appropriate services, supports, and educational tools. The autism spectrum should be recognized for what it is: a lifelong neurological condition – not a kidnapper that steals
children in the dead of the night. The devaluation of the lives of people with disabilities has led to public policies and funding decisions that have forced thousands of people with disabilities into nursing homes and other institutions. The unintended consequences of ad campaigns like yours give legitimacy to the taking away of the civil and human rights of people with disabilities.

It is true that diagnoses of ADHD, autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and OCD often accompany great hardships for families. It is true that depression and bulimia are terrible disorders that require treatment. Yet, the way you choose to convey those messages is inappropriate and counterproductive. Individuals with disabilities are not replacements
for normal children that are stolen away by the disability in question. They are whole people, deserving of the same rights, respect, and dignity afforded their peers. Too often, the idea that children with disabilities are less than human lies at the heart of horrific crimes committed against them. The recent tragic instances of violence against children
and adults on the autism spectrum and with other developmental disabilities are linked to perception that these people are less than human. We – the adults, families, professionals and others affected by these conditions - assert that nothing could be further from the truth.

We are also concerned that the negative stereotypes the “Ransom Notes” campaign depicts could make it harder for the many people with disabilities and their family members who are working to ensure that students with disabilities have the right to be included in their home schools while still receiving all necessary services. Federal law mandates that students with disabilities have the right to a “free and appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment”. Your advertising campaign claims that children with disabilities could be a detriment to those around them and as a result hurts the efforts of parents working to secure the opportunity for their children to be included
with their peers.

While we recognize and applaud the good intentions intended by this effort, we must urge you to withdraw this campaign immediately, as it threatens to harm the very people whom it seeks to benefit: people with disabilities, their families, and their supporters. In the press release announcing this campaign, the Center gave as one of its goals
“eliminating the stigma of being or having a child with a psychiatric disorder”. We are in full agreement with the goal of eliminating stigma against people with disabilities and their families. Yet, this campaign serves to increase that stigma rather than lessen it. We hope that you will heed our concerns and those of many other people with disabilities,
family members, professionals, and countless others and end the “Ransom Notes” advertising campaign.

Please do not to hesitate to contact any of the organizations listed as signatories to this letter in order to better solicit the opinions of the disability community prior to your next advertising campaign. We would be more than glad to help the Center to develop better strategies to achieve its excellent goals. The NYU Child Study Center has the potential to
do enormous good for children and families affected by disability. By showing that the Center respects the views of people with disabilities, families, and professionals, you can make that aspiration a reality.

Sincerely,

Ari Ne’eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Bob Kafka
National Organizer
ADAPT

Diane Autin
Executive Co-Director
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey

Jim Ward
ADA and the National Coalition for Disability Rights

Janette R. Vance
The Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect

Estee Klar-Wolfond
The Autism Acceptance Project

Barbara Trader, MS
Executive Director
TASH

Jim Sinclair
Autism Network International

Stephen Drake
Not Dead Yet

Stanley Soden
Director of Independent Living Services.
MOCEANS Center for Independent Living

Ethan B. Ellis, Executive Director
Executive Director
Alliance for Disabled in Action, Inc.
President
Next Step, Inc.