Dachel Media Update: Daily Show Child Disappears into Autism? Doesn't Bat an Eye.
By Anne Dachel
Read Anne's commentary and view the links after the jump. The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and their OurKidsASD brand.
Suskind talked about Owen: "He was diagnosed at 3 or 3 1/2 with the regressive form of autism. . . . So basically he seems like a typical kid, 'I love you. Let's get ice cream,' and then they regress. It's very similar to the regular autism. It's about a third of the cases are regressive. So, the problem is they feel like, it's like they're vanishing in front of you. They just disappear.
". . .Of course, you say, what happened? Did he hurt himself? Did he bang his head? And then we hear the word 'autism.' And he has at this point somewhat disappeared. You cannot communicate with him, but something happens that unlocks the mystery of it. . . ."
This episode of the Daily Show summed up how the media portrays autism perfectly.
Pulitzer Prize winning author Ron Suskind was interviewed by Jon Stewart about Suskind's son Owen who started out as a normally developing boy, talking and all that, and suddenly he lost it all.
I know that really sucks, but hey, that's autism. Suskind told viewers a third of children with autism regress like his son did. "They just disappear."
Neither Suskind nor Stewart showed any alarm over the reality that children who are just fine can suddenly become seriously disabled for no apparent reason. The audience wasn't told that the rate is one in 68 and one in 42 for boys, or that a quarter of those children ARE CLASSIFIED AS NONVERBAL.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Suskind found a way to connect with his son, but it's insane for two prominent people on a national TV show seen by millions to pretend it's normal and acceptable for this to happen to children. Would they be just as complacent if Owen had suddenly gone blind at the age of three? Would that just be a mystery? Would Suskind or Stewart have asked WHY?
Suskind wrote a book about his son. Stewart called it "phenomenal." I call it scary as hell.
I WANT ALL EXPECTANT AND NEW PARENTS TO KNOW THAT IF THEIR NORMALLY DEVELOPING, HEALTHY BABY SUDDENLY GETS SICK, LOSES LEARNED SKILLS, STOPS TALKING, NO ONE WILL GIVE A DAMN.
Not the doctor, not health officials, and especially not anyone in media. BUT...if your child develops a interesting way of communicating in later years, they'd love to cover it on the Daily Show. You might even write a book about it.
One of the children I work with has severe autism. She basically can't communicate with me verbally, although she has echolalia. I do arts and crafts with her and she gives me a constant stream of radio ads and weather reports. She's 19, and she's still in diapers. She requires constant supervision or she'd walk into traffic. She's on all kinds of drugs to be able to function as well as she does. This is a nightmare. Pretending it's not makes no sense.
The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and their OurKidsASD brand. Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy is one of the largest and most respected compounding pharmacies in the country. They use only the finest quality chemicals and equipment to prepare our patients’ compounded medications and nutritional supplements. Customizing medication and nutritional supplements for our customers allows them to achieve their unique health goals.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism and author of The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public, which goes on sale this Fall from Skyhorse Publishing.
I watched that episode with great interest particularly because my son has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum PDD-NOS. The part of the interview that touched me most was Suskind's reaction to his Owen's response as drawn from his echoing the Lion King narrative. "And so who are you?" "Your son", Owen replied. Suskind's reaction was full of pride, love, relief, joy and just a deep sense of being touched by the fact that Owen showed a momentary sense of cognition about who he was. Do you honestly believe this is a father that his disregarded his son and is resigned to the fact that he has 'disappeared?' The intent of the clip was to show otherwise! I didn't see anything dismissal or blase about the show, Jon Stewart's reaction or Suskind's either. For crying out loud, the whole point of the book is to share his experience with his autistic son and hopefully educate a few about the journey so many of us chosen ones go through. And celebrities and politicians are clambering over themselves to get on this show - Stewart could have had any other guests but chose to share Owen's story. Like he did with David Mitchell in the interview for "The Reason I Jump" Stewart is one of the few who cares enough to raise Autism awareness through his show. These guys aren't it in for themselves. Let's embrace every opportunity to talk about it and save our negative energy for those who should and don't eg find me a balanced Fox News article about the same - good luck.
Posted by: Pete Jansen | August 04, 2014 at 11:43 AM
Jeannette Bishop @12:42 PM
Kind of puts into perspective just how common inherited regressive autism,from mitochondrial or metabolic disease is,doesn't it?
Posted by: Roger Kulp | May 16, 2014 at 11:02 PM
I feel the pain and wonder in this family. I'm very excited for Owen and his outreach program for those that relate to the narrative in Disney films. It reminds me of the social stories my daughter, her educators and I work on a daily basis. It's a blessing that the parents found an "in" with their child so that they could finally communicate with him after regression. Amazing. However, what the national news has not covered (but the family has) is that they were able to afford the Lad School & Ivymount in DC, respectively. income makes the difference, as we all know. My children were lucky enough to attend MPAC in Maryland for a few years until they had to be moved along for other children on the waiting list. My children received some of the best one one one services in ABA the state had to offer. Then they were slowly moved down the line to dedicated professionals that had the will but not the extensive training available at MPAC and programs like it. But I think the media fails this family and others when they neglect to mention the dedicated educators & para educators who help our families make strides in reconnecting with our children. The media portrays Owen's story as Disney therapy but fails to mention the exceptionally qualified educators and devoted loved ones dedicated to recovering him. Inequality strikes again.
Posted by: Christine Thompson | May 16, 2014 at 09:28 PM
babaraj--
I bet they can get him back if they do a careful diet (ie. SCD/GAPS or at least gf/cf/sf) and early intervention.
Have them read the recovery stories here at AoA involving the flu shot in particular.
Posted by: Dana | May 16, 2014 at 08:23 PM
I'm not sure it makes sense to treat something that "occurs in the womb" so different from something that occurs in infancy, particularly in the case of autism, but I'm wondering if the regression rate stated is accurate or if it represents the current trend?
A while back Bernard Rimland, if I remember correctly, was saying they used to see about 90% non-regressive cases of autism or cases with a genetic or other explanation. Only 10% were regressive cases. He said that began to reverse to the point that 90% of autism cases were regressive. I'm pretty sure he said it was that high, at least in what the Autism Research Institute was seeing.
Of course, we have had more prenatal vaccination since then.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | May 16, 2014 at 12:42 PM
I'm watching one right now..slipping away..oh he's in "infants and toddlers",where they are trying to help him speak, but he can't. About a month ago his mom took him in for his vaccines, he missed his last round , so mom dutifully made the appointment. You all know the one, "well child visit", catch up on the vaccines! The doc came into the room and said," I'll have to look into this". On his folder in red, were the words DO NOT VACCINATE. It seems while passing the child off to a neurologist after two separate seizure incidents within a month of two separate flu vaccines, the neurologist was concerned about the connection and forwarded this warning to the pediatrician. The pediatrician had never called the mom, never gave her the warning, had never noticed there was a child in his practice that carried a warning..Do Not Vaccinate. How many of us were told, "those seizures are febrile, they mean nothing"..with no referral to a neurologist. I would say this is one lucky kid, but I can't, he's lost all of his early babbling, dada..mom..dog..juice..no more..nothing but an occasional grunt.With him it was evident, influenza vaccine was the smoking gun.
Posted by: barbaraj | May 16, 2014 at 10:37 AM
This guys is clearly a crank...and Jon Stewart is a crank for giving this guy a voice. How much must this man hate his child to say something like that? His child hasn't "disappeared;" he's right there!!! And how dare he try to help his child...his son is now new and better, and he should accept that his son lost speech and milestones. It's part of the glory of Autism!
Oh, and even more evidence of his crankitude? There's no such thing as regressive autism, at least not according to St. Offit. This guy needs to get a basic science education.
...Ok, head hurts now from trying to act as ignorant and bigoted as the Vaccine Worshippers...
Posted by: False Skeptics Make me Laugh | May 16, 2014 at 07:10 AM
I find it really hard. As a parent you get the feeling that you are not allowed to talk about regression, like you have to act like your child was born this way and nothing big happened. Every time you mention how your child used to talk you get this little eye roll from therapists. When my son first got autism doctors acted like they had never heard of a case of a child regressing that much. Regression is a taboo topic and you have to get along with the people working with your child in order for them to have the best services but it's hard to respect the professionals who are working with your child if you always have to pretend and act dumb around them. If regression was talked about more openly and honestly in the media it might help.
Posted by: AutismGoAway | May 16, 2014 at 06:59 AM
Considering that the Daily Show made anyone who questioned Gardasil to be considered as...lacking in eloquence as Michelle Bachman, I'm not surprised.
What I find strange is that "randomly" occurring autism is so accepted when that shouldn't really be increasing, right? Shouldn't it just stay the same number, rather than the same percentage? Why should something "random" happen with more frequency than in the past? How tragic that this is happening at all, and people just accept this!
Posted by: Beth | May 15, 2014 at 07:17 PM