Yeah. Good Times.: My son is an autism hipster

xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' Yeah. Good Times.: My son is an autism hipster

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

My son is an autism hipster

There's an article today on a website called Project Syndicate which claims, among other things, "The most likely cause of the autism epidemic is that autism has become fashionable – a popular fad diagnosis."

This claim is so insane that it should really be met with outrage and a well thought-out response, particularly one which offers the author a chance to come to my house and judge for himself whether or not autism is just a fashionable outfit around here. However, because this idea is just so fucking laughable, I think that the only appropriate way to counter it, really, is with mockery.

Edit: Brandon left me the BEST comment and I had to change the picture to include it; it's the line underneath the title of the pic

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Renee · 717 weeks ago

OMG. Fucking Hilarious and to the point!

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Claire · 717 weeks ago

That line is ludicrous...obviously. It's a stupid thing to write. Having said that, there are some people (as you likely know) who like to imagine that having Aspergers makes them "quirky" and a genius and so, like the idea of the "label". I have had the unfortunate experience of coming across autism frauds who have popular blogs. Crazy stuff...crazy, crazy, crazy.
My recent post Super Wild and Crazy Sophisms

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Katye · 717 weeks ago

This is amazing!! I love every bit of it. I think you should send this to the author, and be done!! Great, great, great! :D

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Brandon · 717 weeks ago

"Where I am on the spectrum... you've probably never heard of..."

Is it bad that I could probably think of a dozen autistic hipster sayings? Each of them are horrible yet hilarious...

My recent post Have you had "The Talk" with your children?

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

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jillsmo 103p · 717 weeks ago

DAMMIT! I should have talked to you first. That's a good one

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Dani G · 716 weeks ago

Can you please share the rest of them with us??
You know, even though they're probably too obscure for anyone to really understand them? :)

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Lady Estrogen · 717 weeks ago

Bahaha - love it.
Facial hair is ok - as long as it's not even and well groomed... age is irrelevant.
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andrea · 717 weeks ago

oh....my....goodness! So vogue, so chic that folks can just get up in the morning and put their autism on. Please, please send it to the author (and then get to work on another voo-doo doll!)
My recent post Me time

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Kelly · 717 weeks ago

You know, I was just thinking to myself (ironically of course) how FUCKING COOL it is that my boys are on the spectrum. I mean, how blase to have those NT kids. We've got wicked echoing, stereotyping, scripting, sensory issues, I can't get Ted to hug me for all the beans in Boston. It's AWESOME! The best thing is (and you really can't understand or appreciate it unless you are in the super cool Autism club) is when Ted bites himself and bangs his head on the wall. I mean, clearly, this shit kicks ass.

Until an even more ironic, angst-filled, too geek to be chic, diagnosis becomes super relavent. Then, I'll just get that pesky ASD diagnosis changed to THAT.

Fuckwits.
My recent post Things You Never Want Your Kid To Say in Public

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Jenny · 717 weeks ago

Ha! I love it.

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Jennifer · 717 weeks ago

Awesome picture. I am at a point where I have no clue what the right label is for my daughter. Right now we are working with multiple sensory processing disorder and gross motor delay. Had she been properly evaluated at the right time, i think it would have been Asperger Syndrome. I would love for you guys to read her (Short) story and tell me what you think from your own experiences. So many times I have to say, "She doesn't like to be touched." "She has sensory issues." "She can't look you in the eye." "She doesn't like dogs." Somtimes I wish I could just say "She has asperger syndrome." Here is her story: http://babyminding.com/2010/10/25/the-special-nee...
My recent post Yet Another Increase in Vitamin D Supplement Dosage Recommendations

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Jennifer · 717 weeks ago

One more thing, here is a great article about brain communication within and between the hemispheres and how improving those neural connections can reduce symptoms. It has certainly been the case for my daughter. She is thriving now. Good luck to all! http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/2011/06/study-...
My recent post Yet Another Increase in Vitamin D Supplement Dosage Recommendations

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LizCoyne · 717 weeks ago

We were handed labels bit by bit: auditory processing disorder, sensory integration disorder, socialization issues. And yeah, eventually I pushed and fought for that final lablel, autism or because the hot I-could-be-the-next-Bill-Gates-ish capital A or all autism labels Aspergers is no longer really available, PDD-NOS...and this guy, this doctor on a council no less to set parameters to define autism, he clearly would think I pushed for this diagnosis because we wanted our child to be COOL? HIP to follow the latest FAD. He's so full of it.
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Vinny C · 717 weeks ago

Awesome pic! A mocking response is really the best way to go.
My recent post It's my Party & I'll Be Creeped Out If I Want To.

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Sharon · 717 weeks ago

Yeah coz nothing says cool, like Autism. FFS! Does the mean more severe the end of the spectrum the groovier you get?
My recent post Something Interesting.

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Amy · 717 weeks ago

I LOVE this response! I mean, is he kidding? He really should come visit a few of our houses, shouldn't he?
My recent post Lives Intertwined

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@LaliQuin · 716 weeks ago

I FREAKING LOOOOOVE THIS! LMAO

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Jasmine · 716 weeks ago

In this case I am going to have to agree, to an extent, with the dude... wait, don't stab me in the face YET. I am a marriage and family therapist and what we see as a "fad" is that families come in with children who are socially awkward or "affective" in some way and gobs and gobs of diagnoses come out that the children are on the spectrum- specifically Aspergers. Even back diagnosing children who have obvious attachment issues (and in my opinion that is ALL) get the spectrum diagnoses. In therapy we DO see "fads" and trends of diagnoses, another one is RAD kids. People want explanations for why their kids do what they do and frequently therapists oblige with a diagnoses that families are "comfortable" with. It is a sad sad truth, that and all the other insurance bullshit that is wrapped up in that. I won't diagnose like that.... it is unethical. And YES it is harder to say, "no your kid doesn't have RAD you just act like an asshole and he mimics YOU" or "Your kid doesn't have autism, he hasn't been allowed to be autonomous in any way and he acts "strange" when you aren't around because he is used to being told what to do every second of his life..."

It is a hard line to tow- Do you mind if I use your Hipster Autism poster for my clients ;)
My recent post ‘Breast Milk Baby’ Causes Controversy

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alexandra · 716 weeks ago

Where's the T shirt that says, "I'm so hipster I make my mama cry."

1 reply · active 716 weeks ago

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adriana · 716 weeks ago

I want that shirt. I would totally make all my kids wear it.
My recent post I Raise My Fist.

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Dani G · 716 weeks ago

Autism is so totally mainstream now. I'm, like, totally over it. Little bird doesn't have it now. But she did. Like, a way long time ago. It was cool back then.

Fuck! Turns out she's still got it.

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kimmiec88 13p · 716 weeks ago

Cute!

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jacqui · 716 weeks ago

You're totally right...mockery was the only way to go. How idiotic! But your response is hilarious and brilliant.
My recent post The P.S. Email…

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Cheryl D. · 716 weeks ago

Too funny!

Isn't great how cool are kids are? They're so weird, they're in!
My recent post Coming Up with a Camp Name

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@glynette · 716 weeks ago

ASD is so cool, I ran out and got two kids labeled with it. At first I was hoping folks would feel sorry for me and make a Movie of the Week about my days -- and nights -- spent preventing my thrill seeker from leaping off of the top of the refrigerator while her brother scratched and head-banged until bloody. Then I noticed how folks would stare at us at the grocery store and in restaurants and started to really dig my celebrity status.

In all seriousness, though, I love, love, love my kids. I shake my head at folks who would accuse me of going out and getting them a diagnosis for the status. However, if it means I get to laugh hysterically at such perfectly put responses as the image above, I suppose I can deal.
My recent post Thinking About “Happiness, Joy and Big Fat Klout Scores”

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nuttydingo 56p · 716 weeks ago

Sometimes I flap just because I want to appear cooler than I really am on the inside. Today I might start head banging, 'cause I'm a playa, yo.

Seriously, I had to leave that moron a comment...I couldn't help myself.

But I like your poster. We should hang it in every school.
My recent post Somebody Asked Me to Guest Post

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Dani G · 716 weeks ago

Oh, yeah. I have my kid's Autism diagnosis on vinyl. It's pretty cool, I guess.
My recent post The bird conquers the world!

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adriana · 716 weeks ago

@ jill saw your post on his article...lol...
what a fuck face (him not you)
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patty · 716 weeks ago

This is awesome! I am appalled at that article, though. People just do not get it.
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Suniverse · 716 weeks ago

I thought autism was so 2009.

This was great - you make me so happy.

[PS Ignorance showing - what's an NT kid?]
My recent post People: Alternately awesome and what the hell?

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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jillsmo 103p · 716 weeks ago

NT stands for Neuro Typical; it means anybody who doesn't have autism

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Rachel · 716 weeks ago

Yo, Jill, I was really bored and havin' a mid-life crisis, so I went and got me a totally stigmatizing diagnosis because, fuck, I was a loser in high school and this was my only chance for glory.

BTW, Allen Frances was one of the people who developed the Asperger's diagnosis in the first place. It's really kind of hilarious to watch him try to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

4 replies · active 716 weeks ago

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jillsmo 103p · 716 weeks ago

Wow! Really? That's really really strange, actually. Of all people to be making this offensive and laughable argument? What do you think his motivations are here?

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Rachel · 716 weeks ago

Maybe he's trying to teach autistic people the meaning of irony?
My recent post The Empathy Conundrum: Ethics, Emotion, and Autistic Cognition

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Rachel · 716 weeks ago

Oops, my bad. My memory of the story wasn't correct. As it turns out, Frances was one of the editors of the DSM-IV and only grudgingly let in the Asperger's diagnosis because a whole lot of professionals said they needed it for kids they were seeing who didn't have classic autism, but who were clearly on the spectrum.

I still don't understand why he makes all these off-the-cuff, unsubstantiated claims.Perhaps there are professional politics involved. I don't know. NTs mystify me. If he were autistic, he'd make a presentation with all kinds of charts and graphs and numbers and cool shit like that, and then we could have a real conversation. :-)
My recent post The Empathy Conundrum: Ethics, Emotion, and Autistic Cognition

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jillsmo 103p · 716 weeks ago

This is how rumors get started, Rachel

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chavisory 70p · 716 weeks ago

Yeah man, I seriously agonized for like 6 years about going to seek a diagnosis with the real potential to make employers think I wasn't capable of doing my job, and about which pretty much everyone else holds a collection of laughably fictional beliefs, because it's so effing hip. Because I have always been so good at being hip.

/total effing sarcasm/

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chavisory 70p · 716 weeks ago

Hang on, wait, do they actually make velcro Converse? Because those effers take a long time to lace up right....

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thoughtyautie 29p · 702 weeks ago

All this time I thought I was so uncool, it turns out I was just too cool to be cool.

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Becky · 676 weeks ago

This has to be one of your best.
My recent post Conversation Between Grandad and Katie

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Tina · 676 weeks ago

Mockery was the only way to go, definitely. But the guy had a point. Remember that post I wrote about a woman telling me that she wanted her daughter to have an autism diagnosis because it was "cool"? That seems to be what that author was trying to say; I've have several other parents begging for an autism diagnosis instead of the uncool ones, like learning disabled. Ultimately, the diagnosis shouldn't dictate the services, which also seems to be what he is advocating. We should just say that the kid needs what he needs, without having to justify it with a label.

Also, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

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Jenny Saul-Avila · 659 weeks ago

Aw yeah, we're so damn cool w/ our Autistic toddler - we're avoiding the papparazzi - this is why we don't go to many public places, like most restaurants, stores, beaches, boardwalks, etc., etc...it has absolutely nothing to do w/ sensory overload induced meltdowns. My kid screams that multi-tonal scream b/c he is just so tired of everyone staring at his coolness. And he totally could talk on NT time & his fine motor skills were juuuust perfect, but we thought it would be so freakin movie star like to spend hours every week so he could prove he can do shape sorters like a wiz & say 4 words pretty well (including Mama & Daddy) and vowel approximations for a bunch of others. Of course, he's also spoiled, like most kids labeled Special Needs, which is why I encourage him to rip my hair out, sometimes in near chunks when things don't go his way.
Deliver me from smacking someone.

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Jenny Saul-Avila · 659 weeks ago

*correction - "hours every week in therapy so he could..."

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akbutler 65p · 652 weeks ago

I can't wait to tell my husband that he's finally hip...
My recent post Wordplay

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Lenore Young Kendall · 652 weeks ago

Awesomeness!!

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aminta · 567 weeks ago

This is amazing!! I really like every bit of it. I think you should deliver this to the writer, and be done!! Excellent, great, great!

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