Comments on: Autism and the “Blindness Spectrum” - Guest Blogger

By: Do'C

Do'C — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 04:03:23 +0000

“I wouldn’t dispute the 1 in 166 figure when it means ALL of the autism spectrum.”

I think that number may even be on the low side (based on the fact that incoming data often lags behind realtiy). It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the long-term epidemiology shows something more along the lines of twice that for all ASD spectrum definitions. Evidence of epidemic? Hardly. Evidence of increased awareness/recognition, changing criteria, changing requirements for services, diagnositic subsitituion, possibly even changing willingness by parentls to seek diagnosis to facilitate succes in the educational system, etc.

By: Mum to Laura

Mum to Laura — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:56:23 +0000

I wouldn’t dispute the 1 in 166 figure when it means ALL of the autism spectrum. I would certainly dispute that it applied to “autism” or “autistic disorder” or “full-spectrum autism”.

Of course, I am also disputing the horridness of autism. There’s no doubt that ASD - the SPECTRUM - results in disabilities. That’s how it’s defined. But we don’t write off children who need glasses or are blind. We give them glasses, or move them to the front of the class, or teach them braille or give them other accommodations. We don’t pretend that they will “rot” unless they are made into people with normal sight. We don’t discount their other abilities just because they have a vision impairment. We don’t pretend that the world would be a better place if no one needed glasses. And we should do the same for people on the autism spectrum.

By: impatientpatient

impatientpatient — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:42:52 +0000

so….. a question here. are we disputing the 1/166 figure here. i kind of hope so. are we disputing the horridness of autism? again i hope so. i only work with kids with autism-like tendencies and honestly, the biggest problem i have is how mean OTHER people can be. not kids, but adults who are ignorant and rude. sometimes the basic humanity of kids is missed as soon as a diagnosis is reached and other people hear about it. then they are just a problem to soved or dealt with.

loved the post!!

By: Mum to Laura

Mum to Laura — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 01:02:54 +0000

Thank you all. I appreciate all the positive comments. Maybe someday I will get my own blog. However, the blogsphere seems a bit heated at the moment, so I guess I’ll wait a bit

By: mike stanton

mike stanton — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:22:08 +0000

I really enjoyed this, having recently joined the blindness spectrum myself. Reading glasses have made a big difference to my life. Similarly, providing practical help to autistic people makes more sense than expecting them to see the world through our eyes.

By: Soapbox mom

Soapbox mom — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 13:59:34 +0000

Great post by Mum to Laura. Nice analogies all around. And thanks to Do’C for posting it.
Though I don’t think those children in the pic are really blind, I think they are the illegitimate offspring of Austin Powers.
I remember getting my first pair of glasses in 7th grade and being able to actually see leaves on trees and tiny gravel on the street from our living room window. I had previously thought that everyone had to squint to see things that clearly. To me, the best thing about extreme myopia is that if I want my house to look cleaner, I just take off my glasses. All those dust bunnies disappear like magic!

By: Alyric

Alyric — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:57:33 +0000

Thanks MTL - one wonderful post. Very informative.

By: Ms. Clark

Ms. Clark — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:34:43 +0000

Thank-you, Mum to Laura!!

Excellent essay, and made me laugh, too. I love the picture of those poor children whose lives have been destroyed by blindness!

I didn’t discover that I had one really bad eye, and that I only saw in 2 dimensions, basically, until I was 35 years old. I had never been to an eye doctor.

By: Jannalou

Jannalou — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:01:07 +0000

I was in grade 4 when I got my first pair of glasses. I’m near-sighted and only needed them for the blackboard and for reading. The eye doctor gave me an exercise thing I was supposed to do when I was reading - every however many minutes, I was to look away from the book and exercise my eyes.

No way that was going to happen! A nine year old girl with (un-dx’d) ADHD who loved to read was not going to know how many minutes had elapsed or be able to tear herself away from the story.

I loved this analogy - can be applied to any disability, I’m sure.

By: Do'C

Do'C — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:28:45 +0000

but because it allows perspective from people who don’t blog on a regular basis. So nice work, I really enjoyed reading this.

NM, I agree and enjoyed reading it as well. I also appreciate that fact that readers welcome a guest blogger. Thank you for a thought-provoking article Mum to Laura. The article Mum to Laura linked to in her comment is about as typical as they get:

Although I have no proof of my belief, I'm inclined to think that the really big lie was started by some nameless individual deep within the recesses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, being CDC officials never seem to tire of repeating the really big lie.

When faced with the skyrocketing increase in autism from one in 10,000 children, to one in every 166, including one in every 80 males, in just twenty years, coupled with the knowledge that this happened at the very same time that the CDC dramatically increased the number of mercury-containing vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule, CDC officials had to be desperate.

No shortage of Apples and Oranges.