David Andrews, Revisiting Autism Fraud

As is typical of those who wish to obfuscate the truth about autism, Andrews seems to be on the fence about conjuring up a valid reply to Watson. Isn't it interesting how neurodiverse nitwits start hanging around someplace else when their insanity is exposed?

In response to John:

At Tue Aug 21, 03:13:00 PM EDT, David N. Andrews MEd (Distinction) said...

“Your trouble is that you never grew up.

Sad state of being, that is.

Poor Sam, with a role model like you.”


At Wed Aug 22, 12:35:00 AM EDT, watson said...

“David N. Andrews MEd (Distinction),

You say that the trouble with John is that he never grew up.

I'd say that the biggest difference between you and John is that you have never lived with Autism and he has - for almost a decade.

While activists such as yourself have been living in the comfort zone, believing that vaccines can't damage children, and that autism is a healthy neurological difference shared by all the great historical figures - a gift from the gods almost - and basking in the prestige of your new diagnosis, he has been trying to cope with the daily challenges of living with autism 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year - for 10 years. And I imagine John grew up a long, long time ago.

He and I, and many other parents living with autism, are not living in a fantasy world. We don't get our information about autism by reading textbooks, or autobiographies written by phoney "autistics" celebrating the beauty of their "autism" - we live with it. And it is far from beautiful.

When did you start calling yourself "a higher being" and believing that you were superior to what you refer to as "normals", and when did you start disseminating nonsense about autism, David?

Was it in your thirties after your switch in diagnosis from dyslexia to Aspergers? I know it was a struggle for you to get your diagnosis changed but I presume you did eventually get an Aspergers diagnosis. What year was that?

Or was it after you met Simon Baron-Cohen in, what was it, 1999 and discussed with him whether Aspergers was necessarily a disability? I'd love to hear about that."


At Wed Aug 22, 12:37:00 PM EDT, David N. Andrews MEd (Distinction) said...

“Watson: "I'd say that the biggest difference between you and John is that you have never lived with Autism and he has - for almost a decade."

“Wrong. My daughter's 8 yrs old and autistic. I HAVE lived with it. Learn to live with being wrong."


At Thu Aug 23, 01:09:00 AM EDT, watson said...

“David, I see you avoided answering the important questions in my message.

Here they are again:

""When did you start calling yourself "a higher being" and believing that you were superior to what you refer to as "normals", and when did you start disseminating nonsense about autism, David? Was it in your thirties after your switch in diagnosis from dyslexia to Aspergers? I know it was a struggle for you to get your diagnosis changed but I presume you did eventually get an Aspergers diagnosis. What year was that? Or was it after you met Simon Baron-Cohen in, what was it, 1999 and discussed with him whether Aspergers was necessarily a disability?"

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would like some answers.

David N. Andrews MEd (Distinction) said...

“"Watson: "I'd say that the biggest difference between you and John is that you have never lived with Autism and he has - for almost a decade."

Wrong. My daughter's 8 yrs old and autistic. I HAVE lived with it. Learn to live with being wrong.”

Wrong?

Am I, David?

About what exactly?

You are as careful with your wording as Amanda Baggs.

You do not say that your daughter has Autism, you say she is "autistic". You say she is 8 1/2 years old, giving the impression that you have lived continuously with Autism for almost as long as John has, and therefore you are claiming to know what living with Autism is like.

I say you have never lived with the type of autism that John has to deal with every day; you have not lived with an "autistic" child continuously for 8 1/2 years, and therefore you can not know from personal experience what living with autism is like.

What makes me say that?

Well, although at times you refer to your daughter as "an autie", and call her "autistic", she's not really "an autie", is she David? She's "an Aspie".

Your daughter was the very first toddler ever to be diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of 26 months. And she was diagnosed by your friend "Simon", autism expert Dr Simon Baron-Cohen, and his team, in 2001.

Baron-Cohen wanted to find out if Aspergers could be identified in a young child, and if Aspergers could be shown to be a genetic disorder, so you and your wife volunteered for his prospective single case study. A child with Aspergers born to a couple with Aspergers would support the hypothesis of a genetic heritability of the disorder.

Baron-Cohen chose you and your wife because you were both diagnosed by experts, and your Aspergers diagnoses were confirmed by Baron-Cohen's own AQ test which is a self-report test. (How many teenagers and adults do you reckon have self-diagnosed and joined the Aspie club since this test first appeared online in 2001?)

Tell me, David, which expert gave you your Aspergers diagnosis? Was it Simon Baron-Cohen himself? It wasn't Professor Digby Tantam another world leading autism expert and author of several books on Aspergers, was it? Because he wouldn't give you one.

There are two things that I find curious about this study. The assumption that Aspergers, a behavioural disorder, is genetic. And the timing.

I cannot believe that Simon Baron-Cohen is unaware that 'on the spectrum' behaviours can be caused by environmental factors, such as emotional trauma in childhood, traumatic head injury, encephalitis, and drugs. Why then did he assume that you and your wife's diagnoses of Asperger's Syndrome were a) accurate, and not related to other factors, b) genetic?

The timing is interesting because before this study appeared, the average age for an Aspergers diagnosis was 11 years.

In the late 1990s, Australasian expert Dr Tony Attwood said that it was impossible to diagnose a child under 7 years with Aspergers, the clinical picture had to became clearer - and that necessitated time.

Since the appearance of Baron-Cohen's study, toddlers have been given the Aspergers diagnosis and Atypical Aspergers diagnosis. And because of the myth , "Once autistic, forever autistic. There is no cure" disseminated by Neurodiversity, parents now believe that their Aspie children are "autistic" and will "have autism" for life.

So then, it's not really surprising that so many parents of Aspie children are against a cure for autism. Their kids don't have autism, and I dare say, many kids diagnosed today don't even have Asperger's Syndrome.

David, Your daughter as a toddler was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome by your friend, autism expert Dr Simon Baron-Cohen, and his team in 2001. Did he take into account that your daughter was living in a bi-lingual environment? I see no mention of this important fact in the study. Or, that a child raised by parents with relationship difficulties might have some impact on a normal child's development. Was this even considered?

You give the impression above that you have lived with Autism for 8 1/2 years. You haven't.

You have never lived with Autism, and you certainly haven't lived with your daughter for 8 1/2 years, have you? You and your wife have been divorced for some years and Tuula only lives with you part time.

You lecture parents on your personal experience of living with autism, and yet you have no personal experience because you haven't lived with it. You give the impression that living with autism is almost a breeze, and yet when your daughter was a tiny infant and she cried you went to pieces, "things went weird" and you say you were "a complete mess".

Babies cry, David. And you couldn't even cope with that.

How on earth would you manage with a non-verbal child who screeches every three minutes of every day, year, after year, after year?

You are against any form of intervention and yet, face it David, if you really had a child with autism, and you were coping with a growing, non-compliant, non-verbal, violent child, and regularly scrubbing shit out of the carpet, I think you would be first in line for treatment and therapy.

You would, wouldn't you?

Be completely honest - for once."


At Thu Aug 23, 08:45:00 PM EDT, watson said...

“I guess if David Andrews doesn't come back to refute any of the points I've made, we can safely assume that they are all correct.

If he does, perhaps he could tell us more about his involvement in this which appeared to change the focus of Baron-Cohen's autism research from studying dysfunction of the amygdala and other abnormal regions of the brain and damage to the amygdala to devising tests for finding adults 'on the spectrum', and espousing absurd theories like "Have the airplane and the computer changed the architecture of the mind? And is that why autism is on the increase?"

Baron-Cohen is supportive of the Neurodiversity Movement, so I think it's very likely he believes in their philosophy, that autism is a healthy variation in neurological hardwiring which should be accepted and celebrated - and not treated or cured.

If that is so, why is he bothering to do autism research? Is there any point