Oh, for fuck's sake.

[rivka]

Ninety-nine percent of the time, when I'm offensive, (a) I know that I'm being offensive, (b) I'm doing it on purpose, and (c) I'm willing to acknowledge it. This may not be much of a virtue, but sometimes it's all I've got.

In another journal to which I shall not link, a commenter presented the opinion that "autism and ADD are 'massively overdiagnosed.' " When I asked if she had any evidence for this claim, she posted a long set of justifications involving lazy teachers, parents with no discipline skills, venal psychologists, and suggestive idiots who see symptom lists on the internet and become convinced that their child is autistic. Here's the money quote:

what is often diagnosed as autism is more likely a lack of parenting skills combined with a therapist's interest in creating a lucrative "treatment" plan - one that involves "specialists" "drugs" and "group therapy" - all of which line someone's pockets.

My response, I acknowledge, was not at all kind or temperate. I regretted, afterwards, not making the same points in slightly more temperate language. But I am not amused, today, to discover that she made a long self-pitying post in her own journal about how victimized she was by my horrible attack. Because she is never one to make a point offensively, herself. She's very gentle.

If the bit I quoted above is not unbelievably offensive to parents of autistic children and to mental health treatment providers, then I need a new definition for the word. Yes, when I fired back, I was harsh. But I'll be damned if I'm going to accept a version of events in which I am supposed to have fired the first shot.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

oh, Pat. *hug* You were one of the reasons why I was so furious.

If it's something you did, then you did something unknown to psychological science. I know you're creative, but I doubt that you're that creative.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bled all over your journal. We're going through a very rough patch right now with my son, so I'm sensitive on the subject. And I know intellectually I did nothing wrong, but as you know, knowing intellectually is not the same as knowing emotionally.

And it's interesting... the poster seems to imply that parents seek out diagnoses to cover thier own inadequacies. I know of at least two cases where parents actively resisted getting help for their kid who might have been autistic. In one case it was a little boy at my son's school who was in the first grade and barely communicative. When I made it a point to talk to the SLT about him, she sighed and said his parents had resisted getting him assessed.