So Michael Savage thinks we're faking it for all those autism perks

My dear friend "J" from New York City alerted me to this story, which is burning up the online autism community. On July 16th, conservative talk radio host Michael Savage ranted about autism, saying that 99% of the children with autism are brats that should just cut it out. Naturally, parents are mostly to blame to this, according to the guy. He manages to disparage asthma and autism as "diseases du jour" that parents use to gather public funds. Right. Just check out this New York Times story, which has an audio clip link.

This LA Times article about the response has a quote that says it better than I can:

"Areva Martin, Los Angeles autism activist and co-founder with Donna Ross-Jones of Special Needs Network, a group whose mission is to educate parents of the rights their children have to an appropriate education, has a lot to say about Savage's comments:

"It would be easy to dismiss Mr. Savage's statements as the antics of a radical, ratings-seeking talk show host. However, Mr. Savage has over 8 million listeners, many of whom rely on his show for reliable information. His insidious and baseless statements give credence to the type of pervasive ignorance that families face on a daily basis. Such statements foster discrimination against not only the disabled, but also against people of color. To suggest that minority families feign a diagnosis of autism to receive welfare benefits is absurd and reflective of the entrenched racism that continues to rear its ugly head.

If good old-fashioned discipline was a cure for autism, families across this nation would pull out their switches and get to work. Unfortunately, autism is real and there is no cure -- yelling, screaming, hitting and even the most archaic forms of discipline cannot cure what renowned scientists from around the world recognize as a complex disorder that now impacts one in every 150 children, that lasts a lifetime and impacts every aspect of an individual's development. As a parent of a child with autism, a children's rights activist and attorney, I know both personally and professionally that no one would feign autism for the sake of collecting some amorphous government benefit -- it simply isn't worth it. Thousands of hours of therapy, lifelong care, isolation, grief and isolation are too high a price to pay.

The rapid response of the autism community hopefully will send a loud and clear message that issues of autism impact people of all socioeconomic groups and that issues involving the disabled are matters of human rights."


Not surprisingly, parents and supporters are protesting the WOR-FM station that sponsor's Savage's show, and others are encouraged to tell local stations their feelings. One station has already cancelled his show - somewhat ironically in Mississippi, not often considered an advocacy front-runner. Also, Aflac insurance company has withdrawn advertising from Savage's "Savage Nation" radio show.


Here is the Media Matters link to protest at your local station.

What do you think of all this?