Autism In The News
April 3 ,2008
Jenny McCarthy is on a crusade to help parents with autistic children. She's even recruited her new beau Jim Carrey. Recently, Jenny has been all over the talk show circuit; timed to coincide with the first World Autism Awareness Day. Her young son Evan has been diagnosed with autism and she's claimed to have cured him. I've watched several of Jenny's interviews and she does indeed use the word "cure" and the word "fix" when referring to her son's autism. I must say that Jenny's repeated use of these words doesn't sit very well with me. I wish she would use the term recovery instead. I know what she means to portray but I feel it comes off the wrong way especially to people dealing with everyday autism struggles. Jenny has managed to control some of her son's behaviors with ABA therapy and a special diet to control food allergies so his symptoms have subsided. The real truth is that Evan will always be autistic. Autism is not cancer. It can't be cured and people with autism don't need to be fixed. The word cure is misleading and the word fix is insulting. Autism exists for a person's lifetime and the best we can do is help the autistic person develop skills to cope and manage in the world. If the medical community developed a pill to cure autism and I gave it to my autistic son then I imagine he would become a totally different person wouldn't he? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Evan, Jenny and Jim but I think her miracle claims of a cure are doing the autistic community a major disservice. Should we all be searching for a miraculous combination of therapies and services in order to cure our loved ones of autism? What if we don't succeed? Are we all not doing the best that we can with our limited resources? Evan is one lucky boy. Jenny is a very devoted mother but she needs to act responsibly and edit herself if she's putting herself out there as an autism advocate.
April 3 ,2008
Jenny McCarthy is on a crusade to help parents with autistic children. She's even recruited her new beau Jim Carrey. Recently, Jenny has been all over the talk show circuit; timed to coincide with the first World Autism Awareness Day. Her young son Evan has been diagnosed with autism and she's claimed to have cured him. I've watched several of Jenny's interviews and she does indeed use the word "cure" and the word "fix" when referring to her son's autism. I must say that Jenny's repeated use of these words doesn't sit very well with me. I wish she would use the term recovery instead. I know what she means to portray but I feel it comes off the wrong way especially to people dealing with everyday autism struggles. Jenny has managed to control some of her son's behaviors with ABA therapy and a special diet to control food allergies so his symptoms have subsided. The real truth is that Evan will always be autistic. Autism is not cancer. It can't be cured and people with autism don't need to be fixed. The word cure is misleading and the word fix is insulting. Autism exists for a person's lifetime and the best we can do is help the autistic person develop skills to cope and manage in the world. If the medical community developed a pill to cure autism and I gave it to my autistic son then I imagine he would become a totally different person wouldn't he? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Evan, Jenny and Jim but I think her miracle claims of a cure are doing the autistic community a major disservice. Should we all be searching for a miraculous combination of therapies and services in order to cure our loved ones of autism? What if we don't succeed? Are we all not doing the best that we can with our limited resources? Evan is one lucky boy. Jenny is a very devoted mother but she needs to act responsibly and edit herself if she's putting herself out there as an autism advocate.
Above is a recent picture taken at the movie premiere of Horton Hears A Who with Evan, Jim, Jenny and Jim's daughter Jane
See recent news on Evan, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey below.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/?iref=hpmostpop#cnnSTCVideo
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/?iref=hpmostpop
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