Autism is not a fraud and asthma isn't a money racket
07/21/2008 11:22 AM Johanna Eubank
On July 16, a conservative radio jock said that autism is a “fraud, a racket. … I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”
I hate to name the guy who said this – or his show – because that will just give him more hits online and I know that can translate to advertising revenue. However, he is widely syndicated and probably falls third behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in number of listeners. He’s had quite a bit of attention from this, which is good for his ratings, and it’s likely that’s why he said something so incendiary. It’s a money racket.
Once again, someone is blaming the parents. Haven’t we moved beyond that? Sure there may be a few wrongly diagnosed cases of autism. Sure there really are some brats out there whose parents don’t attempt to educate on approriate behavior. There may even be parents who don’t try to work on their autistic child’s behavior. But I don’t believe there are a lot of them.
To disparage an entire group of people is bigoted and ignorant. He further demonstrates his bigotry by saying the increased incidents of asthma among minority children in the recent past were because they would get extra welfare if they were disabled with asthma. He called it “a money racket” and said “everyone had asthma in the minority community.” Really. Everyone? Just because he doesn’t name a minority group doesn’t mean the statement isn’t racist or bigoted.
The man is now backpedaling by saying that doctors and drug companies are causing too may children to be diagnosed with autism when they shouldn’t be. He can backpedal all he wants, but I think it’s just because he didn’t expect the backlash from the autism community. Otherwise he could have been more clear on his show.
I don’t believe he really thinks parents would prefer to spend tons of money to get a diagnosis of autism for their children just so they have an excuse not to discipline them. That’s really what he’s saying they do.
I’m not going to say this man should be fired, because I believe in free speech. One of the beauties of this country is that we are free to be ignorant and bigoted. We are also free not to listen to one who is.
If you want to complain to his syndicator, write Talk Radio Network and tell it why there is no chance in heck you ever will listen to this show. The snail mail address is Talk Radio Network, P.O. Box 3755, Central Point, OR 97502. If you really want to e-mail, the address is: info@talkradionetwork.com.
And because your letter or e-mail will have more weight if you name the show you won’t listen to, it’s “The Savage Nation.”
You are Totally right Johanna. Now about this clown…what else could we expect? we can say he is a bigot, we can talk about bias and all that stuff. The only true thing is that he goes for the ratings,taking advantage of those hundreds of thousands of ignorant followers he has. The problem is not him, but “the Savage Nation” as he calls his audience. Thats the real disgrace.
I’m a dad of 4yr old autistic boy and i tell you DR.Savage doesn’t know, what it is like to raise a child with autism. His comments has hurt me and my entire family including my innocent son and i would never listen to The Savage Nation ever again and i’ll make sure everybody knows Dr.savage’s hate filled talkshow.
Maybe if he’d feel what it’s like to not be able to breathe during an asthma attack, he would find it’s nothing you’d want to fake…it’s downright scary not to be able to breathe.
Too much blame the victim being played…except of course for corporate America, who gets bailed out with our taxes at every little trip.
The medical and educational community know very well that Austism, ADD, ADHD and other behavor relatied illnesses are labeled as such in boys by a wide margin to girls.
The most important issue to be discussed which should not be missed is why are our young boys are being medicated at such high rates? Could it be that in some or many young boys if left to their own natural behavioral bents they would be far better off than labeling them as such. We now have labels within the labels such as seriously autistic and mildly autistic….
It is rare to enter any 10 year old classroom and not find multiple young boys going to the nurses office for daily dose of drugs to help them “sit”.
Head to any youth detention facility and the nightly routine includes getting ones drugs from the psychiatrist on duty to help sleep or cope with being locked up
If Tom Sawyer were being written today it would include a drug cabinet as well as a fishing pole.
4, Interesting Observation but thats not what this debate is about. Thats what this lunatic Savage, and others like Glenn Beck talking to him tried to do, diffuse the central point on Savage’s Rant.
On the other hand I do not necessarily see something problematic with boys/girls rates, since there are other diseases that struck harder in a gender that in the other.
What people got to understand is that medication is not administered to cure autism, but, to up to a certain point try to reduce some of its symptoms or characteristics. Some autistic kids might not need it (like in any other medical situation happens all the time) but you can be sure that a lot, I mean a lot of autistic kids need it.
I think a lot of people are angry at parents of those with autism because of the refusal by many of these parents to accept the undisputed truth that vaccines have NOTHING to do with autism. This puts other children at major risk for life-threatening infections disease.
But the parents keep pushing and pushing this absolutely false idea, possibly because they’ve got it in their heads that if it isn’t the vaccine it must be their fault. It’s made a lot of parents resentful that parents of autistic children have caused such a fuss over nothing, and now that the facts are in they still won’t stop.
There could be a hundred reasons why some kids develop autism. A combination of a virus and a genetic disorder (like juvenile diabetes), it could be something environmental that nobody knows about (and therefore is nobody’s fault), it could be a hundred other things. But blaming one possibility when that possibility has been discredited to such an extent does make people wonder if parents of autistic children are wilfully ignorant or just not very bright.
This is the same group of people that declares global warming a deliberate “hoax” or a sloppy mistake. They know nothing whatsoever of science, yet millions of Americans trust them more than suspicious, overeducated lib-u-ruls. It’s ridiculous, and they need to be silenced.
Yes, silenced. Not by assassins, not by government fiat, but by being harshly and publicly corrected whenever they say something stupid. Trash their reputations enough, and who will listen?
Autism has probably existed forever—just not labelled as such. As the diagnoses of autism have skyrocketed, the diagnoses of “mental retardation” have plummeted. The psychiatric diagnosing has become more precise over time, and with that expanding base of knowledge comes a much higher degree of differentiation between disorders. Spectrum disorders are fascinating because of the variety of symptoms.
To label autistic individuals as “brats” in need of discipline is incredibly ignorant. For someone who claims to be well educated, his statement was not based on reality.
I have a friend with an autistic son. His boy will sit and watch the title screen menu for a DVD for 3 hours if you’d let him. Similarly, he likes to sit and stare at the same toy for hours. In need of spanking….? Hardly.
In conclusion, this idiotic rant will actually benefit autism awareness in its backlash, while simultaneously exposing “Dr. Savage” as a fraud of an “educated” person.
PS. He wrote a book called “Liberalism is a mental disorder”… I see irony in that, considering that he doesn’t think autism is!
6, I basically agree with what you said,but remember that each parent/ family makes the decision about vaccines and any other health related issue. What I try to say is that, maybe a lot of parents of autistic kids are wrong, but thats not the only information available for God’s sake!! I think every kid should get his/her shots regardless of what many of my peers in the parents of autistic kids community have to say about it. Remember, desperation always call for somebody or at least something to blame.
Johanna Eubank writes about the joys and trials of raising a child with autism.
About Johanna Eubank
Johanna Eubank is a news and research assistant for the Arizona Daily Star and online content producer for StarNet. She and her husband Dave have two sons, 23-year-old David, who has autism, and 20-year-old Rob, who is studying to be an aerospace engineer.
Email: jeubank@azstarnet.com
You are Totally right Johanna. Now about this clown…what else could we expect? we can say he is a bigot, we can talk about bias and all that stuff. The only true thing is that he goes for the ratings,taking advantage of those hundreds of thousands of ignorant followers he has. The problem is not him, but “the Savage Nation” as he calls his audience. Thats the real disgrace.
— Martin 07/21/2008 10:24 PM #
I’m a dad of 4yr old autistic boy and i tell you DR.Savage doesn’t know, what it is like to raise a child with autism. His comments has hurt me and my entire family including my innocent son and i would never listen to The Savage Nation ever again and i’ll make sure everybody knows Dr.savage’s hate filled talkshow.
— Junaid 07/21/2008 11:42 PM #
Maybe if he’d feel what it’s like to not be able to breathe during an asthma attack, he would find it’s nothing you’d want to fake…it’s downright scary not to be able to breathe.
Too much blame the victim being played…except of course for corporate America, who gets bailed out with our taxes at every little trip.
— Rachel 07/22/2008 05:19 AM #
The medical and educational community know very well that Austism, ADD, ADHD and other behavor relatied illnesses are labeled as such in boys by a wide margin to girls.
The most important issue to be discussed which should not be missed is why are our young boys are being medicated at such high rates? Could it be that in some or many young boys if left to their own natural behavioral bents they would be far better off than labeling them as such. We now have labels within the labels such as seriously autistic and mildly autistic….
It is rare to enter any 10 year old classroom and not find multiple young boys going to the nurses office for daily dose of drugs to help them “sit”.
Head to any youth detention facility and the nightly routine includes getting ones drugs from the psychiatrist on duty to help sleep or cope with being locked up
If Tom Sawyer were being written today it would include a drug cabinet as well as a fishing pole.
— T 07/22/2008 08:33 AM #
4, Interesting Observation but thats not what this debate is about. Thats what this lunatic Savage, and others like Glenn Beck talking to him tried to do, diffuse the central point on Savage’s Rant.
On the other hand I do not necessarily see something problematic with boys/girls rates, since there are other diseases that struck harder in a gender that in the other.
What people got to understand is that medication is not administered to cure autism, but, to up to a certain point try to reduce some of its symptoms or characteristics. Some autistic kids might not need it (like in any other medical situation happens all the time) but you can be sure that a lot, I mean a lot of autistic kids need it.
— Martin 07/22/2008 10:17 AM #
I think a lot of people are angry at parents of those with autism because of the refusal by many of these parents to accept the undisputed truth that vaccines have NOTHING to do with autism. This puts other children at major risk for life-threatening infections disease.
But the parents keep pushing and pushing this absolutely false idea, possibly because they’ve got it in their heads that if it isn’t the vaccine it must be their fault. It’s made a lot of parents resentful that parents of autistic children have caused such a fuss over nothing, and now that the facts are in they still won’t stop.
There could be a hundred reasons why some kids develop autism. A combination of a virus and a genetic disorder (like juvenile diabetes), it could be something environmental that nobody knows about (and therefore is nobody’s fault), it could be a hundred other things. But blaming one possibility when that possibility has been discredited to such an extent does make people wonder if parents of autistic children are wilfully ignorant or just not very bright.
— Charlene 07/22/2008 10:43 AM #
This is the same group of people that declares global warming a deliberate “hoax” or a sloppy mistake. They know nothing whatsoever of science, yet millions of Americans trust them more than suspicious, overeducated lib-u-ruls. It’s ridiculous, and they need to be silenced.
Yes, silenced. Not by assassins, not by government fiat, but by being harshly and publicly corrected whenever they say something stupid. Trash their reputations enough, and who will listen?
— Ben Kalafut 07/22/2008 11:02 AM #
Autism has probably existed forever—just not labelled as such. As the diagnoses of autism have skyrocketed, the diagnoses of “mental retardation” have plummeted. The psychiatric diagnosing has become more precise over time, and with that expanding base of knowledge comes a much higher degree of differentiation between disorders. Spectrum disorders are fascinating because of the variety of symptoms.
To label autistic individuals as “brats” in need of discipline is incredibly ignorant. For someone who claims to be well educated, his statement was not based on reality.
I have a friend with an autistic son. His boy will sit and watch the title screen menu for a DVD for 3 hours if you’d let him. Similarly, he likes to sit and stare at the same toy for hours. In need of spanking….? Hardly.
In conclusion, this idiotic rant will actually benefit autism awareness in its backlash, while simultaneously exposing “Dr. Savage” as a fraud of an “educated” person.
PS. He wrote a book called “Liberalism is a mental disorder”… I see irony in that, considering that he doesn’t think autism is!
— TJ D 07/22/2008 12:18 PM #
6, I basically agree with what you said,but remember that each parent/ family makes the decision about vaccines and any other health related issue. What I try to say is that, maybe a lot of parents of autistic kids are wrong, but thats not the only information available for God’s sake!! I think every kid should get his/her shots regardless of what many of my peers in the parents of autistic kids community have to say about it. Remember, desperation always call for somebody or at least something to blame.
— Martin 07/22/2008 01:56 PM #