Tired of reading jerkface comments on news stories about ADHD and autism from people who scream that one or their other (or both) are "overdiagnosed" or don't exist. I also get tired of people who stomp their feet over the interventions used to help kids learn to cope, focus, and self-regulate. I get so tired of people who chose to remain ignorant.
It can only be by choice at this point. The extensive awareness campaigns for autism and ADHD in the popular media should at least by now have gotten through the thickest skulls that there are people out there who are different, and who may need extra support- therapies, medications, whatever. But no. Idiots and selfish, ignorant numbskulls remain.
Trying to speak reasonably to such people can be an exercise in blood pressure control and deep breathing. After all, the majority of them are not reasonable themselves. They send you to websites that are so obviously hate-mongering snake-oil-selling conspiracy-theory gibberish that you wonder how they are getting through life without a room full of diet pills and turnip twaddlers. Or maybe they haven't.
Here's the truth, folks: ASD and ADHD are both very real, and they affect both children and adults every day. Not everyone who are ASD or ADHD require medication, but some do. Occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy... there are lots of interventions out there, far more than 30 years ago when I was a kid, and I thank God for it. Because seriously, that question, "where were those kids thirty years ago?" is plain annoying. Where were they? ASD kids were labeled weird and mentally retarded (using the term of the time), and all too often locked away, sent to special schools or self-contained rooms, or bullied out of school altogether. ADHD kids were labeled disruptive, often became angry, and as they grew older, often fell to self-medication through illegal substances or alcohol abuse. Growing up believing they were lazy and stupid, many resorted to extremes of behavior, and even suicide. Yeah- those kids.
Today, those kids can be supported and be functioning participants- very valuable participants- of classrooms and communities.
I really wish these people would go volunteer for their local special ed classrooms. They would learn SO MUCH... including some lessons on courage, perseverance, and humility.
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2 comments:
This is one of many issues in our sphere at the moment. Dh and I have come to a conclusion... People must pride themselves in being uninformed and truthfully, ignorant of life in general. I just cannot believe the crap and the rhetoric out there... read the comments on the news sites... not just in disability land but everything... People do not educate themselves... why???
They believe whatever they believe. They can prove it via links on the internet. In they end, they are not interested in someone elses POV.
For the last year or so I've still been around autism-land but more and more I stay out of it. My eldest is going to go from mild non-verbal PDD NOS (at the age of 2.5) to probably ADHD (12.5) in a couple of weeks. A child that has done 2yrs in one for years. A child that has lost the ability to cope at the age of 12. A child that the child psych 4yrs ago when we took him off the Risperdal told us we'd be lucky to last 4 weeks without meds. 4yrs is a lot longer than 4 weeks.
Even the supports are no longer working. The fact with them in he made it 4yrs is amazing. We'll be returning to meds. The Ped offered us meds last Tues but we're trying to hold out to the other appt.
Truth is, I no longer care about those other people. This is my life... I read, I research, I pride myself in knowing all the sides of the issues that impact us. I don't like being made to feel inadequate or uninformed. We're doing amazing on both ends of the spectrum... that's all that matters.
You wouldn't catch me near a comment section of a mainstream publication concerning ADHD or autism or a message board covering those topics with a ten-foot pole. Some people thrive on hate.
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