Ok ok, blame my illness. But I decided to watch the NewsHour Autism Now special, because I have been slacking in responsive blog. I'll be watching part one and two tonight and three and four tomorrow.
Yeah guys pray for me.
Thoughts on Part one
-MacNeil introduced us to his grandson Nick and right away I knew this entire report is going to be biased. Nick is kind of cute, and he makes the same "eeeeee" http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnoise I do! He lists off the symptoms of autism and then explains that his grandson his digestive problems.
-Ok so his mom does the "I know it's those "ebil vaccines" conspiracy and says that her kid cries all the time and has the runs. Ok well let just put another frame of ref. I have bowel issues (TMI I know) and I have issues when I just end up being grumpy and rather pissed off, but the tummy problems could be from diet and emotion regulations though an autistic issue in some cases can also be a bi-polar issue too.
-Nealy the sister sounds honestly too rehearsed. She definitely has Normal Child Syndrome many of the questions he asks his granddaughter feel directed like he is getting certain answers. It makes me uncomfortable.
-Nick has an obsession with buses, so why didn't you warn him when you changed his schedule suddenly? You know auties have issues with change, hell I still do and I'm 24. At least the kid seems to be flexible enough to go with it. Kudos for Nick
over all Part one seems...ok....but I know the worse is yet to come.
Thoughts on Part two
-Right away MacNeil goes on the "More common than AIDS cancer and diabetes" tripe. Why do people keep bring that up I mean c'mon
-The introduction to Julie Perin and Logan showed obviously that autism can show up in many ways (DUH IT'S SPECTRUM) what perked my interest was the something that Sally said. She said Julie many not communicate verbal but non-verbal communication works as well.
-Once again...spectrum with Logan and his brothers. Also omg stop with the "high-mid-low functioning thing"
-Yus duh, wider diagnosis is why we have such a rise in cases. BUT THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. (also <3 Grinker)
Ugh It seems MacNeil keeps pushing for environmental causation instead of "Oh hey maybe it's because we changed the diagnosis crits"
over all it wasn't HORRIBLE but it made me feel icky watching
BIASED MEDIA, UR DOIN IT MACNEIL
I agree with icky. I finished the series this evening and wrote about it. Not a good experience. Todd Drezner thankfully emailed with his answers to questions on his Loving Lampposts, so I was able to get that up immediately after. Much better.
ReplyDeleteI'll read them both. BTW no hard feelings for my snappiness on your other Loving Lamposts post.
ReplyDeleteI followed your blog here from Journeys, and watched the series too.
ReplyDeleteI agree that MacNeil seems to have formed false equivalency between AIDS, cancer and autism. I think I actually said "HUH?!" to the teevee. Even if I accept the disease premise of autism (I don't), this statement, and most like it, seem to have no other purpose other than to shock the audience. That's television, for sure, but it ain't journalism.
And why was there only a single person interviewed that brought up the fact that there are different ways to communicate? Talking is great, but are we really prepared to shove non-verbal people from the 'human' category in to the 'non-human' category?
Also, the interview with his granddaughter did feel, mmm, I dunno, kind of artificial. I can't put my finger on it, and woud never want to deny a little girl her feelings, but not sure this was a good use of the limited time spent on this special. I feel for Nick's sister, really, but wouldn't put too much stock in my feelings from when I was ten years old either.
And why was there only a single person interviewed that brought up the fact that there are different ways to communicate? Talking is great, but are we really prepared to shove non-verbal people from the 'human' category in to the 'non-human' category?
ReplyDeleteWe've been doing it for centuries. Since the days of "changelings" and 'demon possession'. We've always been quick to take the non-verbal, the semi-verbal, those with seizures, tics and so forth and classify them as non-human. It's funny how much we've brag about coming so far from the days when we threw these people into warehouses, when we still keep the mentality that demons took our normal child.
Even in 2011 were still stick in Celtic Ireland.