Less Leary of the Quote - Petrified by the Comments
The lead story on today’s Page Six included an ignorant, hateful quote from Dennis Leary on Autism. It is angry, absurd and full of venom. And really in bad form (especially considering Karma - why go there?) Here is the excerpt they shared from his latest rant book:
“There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can’t compete academically, so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks . . . to get back diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I don’t give a [bleep] what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you - yer kid is NOT autistic. He’s just stupid. Or lazy. Or both.”
What is most upsetting to me is not the (quite expected) flow of fact-free fury rolling of his tongue, but rather the comments that have found their way onto Page Six. With a few exceptions, there appears to be a widespread mistrust and misunderstanding of the facts. A great resource, for those interested in gaining better understanding rather than simply dismissing a very real and penetrating issue (complex neurobiological disorder) affecting families, check out Autism Speaks. According to Austism Speaks - “Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined”. Leaving me wondering why there is so much anger and hatred directed towards parents who seek out quality care, and a much improved quality of life for their children and their families.
The comments communicate a deep hatred today’s parents - placing full focus (blame) on their vanity and overzealous desire to have perfect children. There seems to be a clear consensus that parents simply seek out a reason to explain away their less than perfect children — for convenience and for ego. This overarching and negative view of parents rears it’s ugly head way too often. Leaving me to wonder, what is the real problem at hand? Here are a few (typo-laden) gems:
And dont get me wrong, there are lots of genuine cases of autism. and yes, they just weren’t catching it before, and simply calling it out as “lazy” and “stupid”. But, there are some parents who are overreacting to normal personality traits that they dont like or cant imporove on. and there are doctors who are enabling them.
and
In the current “me” climate, everyone thinks they are the smartest, or their kid is the smartest. And if thats not the case, there has to be a reason.
So this boils down to the basic breeder v. non-breeder hostility…really?