I hear that Newsweek is going to run another article allowing the sadist, Ari Ne'eman, to lie to the world about autism. Before that comes out, I think it's useful for sane people to ask Newsweek to kill this article, or, at least allow us equal space to tell the truth about the horror of autism. You can send letters to Letters@newsweek.com . Mine is below.
Hi,
I read an article from a few months ago in which you mentioned Ari Ne'eman. I hear you are doing another piece on him soon.
Please reconsider. This young man is not autistic. He has Asperger's syndrome, maybe. Being diagnosed at age 12 means there is virtually nothing wrong with him or it would have been noted at a much younger age.
For Ne'eman to associate the word "autism" with himself is criminal fraud. My son has autism. He is 12 years old, can't speak, isn't toilet trained. smears feces on the walls, bites himself (sometimes drawing blood), can't communicate beyond a few simple signs that he can't always do properly, and is pretty much a wreck. For Ne'eman to pretend he has ANYTHING in common with people like my son and then claim that autism should not be cured is a direct assault against my son and against every person who suffers horribly from autism.
I'd like an equal opportunity to refute every word that Ne'eman says. He claims to want respect and acceptance for people with autism. Do you see the false premise? He is not a person with autism. He has no right to portray himself as such and make the world think that autism is no big deal. Newsweek allows this liar to call himself autistic and everyone who reads your magazine thinks that autistics can attend college and function about the same as everyone else.
The truth of the matter is that every autistic person who is like my son will spend their adult years locked up in an institution and forgotten about. They will be beaten, sexually abused and will never be able to speak for themselves to ask for the cure that they so desperately need. You are allowing Ari Ne'eman to tell the world not to even try to help my son and to just send him to that institution and let him live a life of quiet abuse, neglect and despair.
In essence, Ari Ne'eman might as well be sentencing my son to life in prison without parole. My son has committed no crime. For Newsweek to allow Ari Ne'eman to say one word without allowing me to speak for my son against this sadistic, lying scoundrel is an outrage. As a father of a severely autistic boy, I demand equal time to set the record straight about how incredibly horrible autism is.
John Best
113 Old Derry Rd
Londonderry, NH
(603)434-3928
Here's an email I received today from one of Ne'eman's supporters. It seems that Stephanie Bramson also supports the abuse of severely autistic children.
"Stephanie Lauren Bramson"
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To
Date
Wed, 13 May 2009 00:14:04 -0400 (EDT)
Stop harassing Ari Ne'eman, for God's sake. He is one of the few truly decent people out there. And leave his parents alone, too. They did not abandon him as a kid, nor did they mistreat him. Ari is one of my best friends, and I have known the Ne'emans for years. I knew him from the time when the kids in our English class picked on him to the point where someone had to come into the class to explain Asperger's Syndrome, through to the two years he spent in a special school for people with disabilities, biding his time until he'd be allowed back into the EB school system. Ari saved my life multiple times in high school. When I went through my first real episode of suicidal depression, he was one of my only supports. He definitely has Aspergers (anyone who spends ten minutes with the guy can figure that out), though he has trained himself to function and, incidentally, become a better people reader than anyone born with the ability. But more than that, he is one of the few really good people left in this world, and assholes like you should learn to let people like him live without fearing death threats and stalking attempts on their parents.
So get a fucking life, asshole,
Stephanie Bramson
21 comments:
Good idea john. thanks for posting that email address for newsweek. I think I will write newsweek a letter also asking them for equal time for my point of view, also and I will blog about this. Hopefully this is true and not just an idle rumor about Neeman's newsweek article, but i heard about it also and i think my source is reliable.
John,
As a parent of two kids with problems, I share your frustration that sometimes people on the 'mild' end of a spectrum don't portray what things are really like for our kids or ourselves. But that's not specific to autism and seems to be true for a lot of disorders -- two kids can have the same diagnosis and look drastically different.
I like the idea of getting Newsweek to try to include a fuller picture of what autism can be.
But can I ask you to reconsider your headline for this blog entry? It sounds like you want to kill a person or are trying to incite violence or harassment of him, and it makes me shudder. Can you either change it to "Ask Newsweek to kill article about Ari Ne'eman" or "Ask Newsweek to Tell the Whole Story about Autism" (I like the second one better).
Anon,
I believe that everyone associated with Neurodiversity should be put to death for the propaganda they perpetrate against curing horribly disabled children. They are part of the lies told by vaccine makers and politicians who continue to cause autism intentionally.
I believe that autism is the greatest crime in the history of the planet and that anyone who has been involved with it in any way deserves to die, preferably slowly and with great pain. So, while I don't suggest that anyone should shoot Ari Ne'eman in the head, I do think he deserves a trial for his role in this atrocity. I hope the outcome of that trial would be death.
I notice that some members of Congress are reading this. Why don't you useless pieces of shit get off your asses and end the poisoning of our children?
You all suck, every fucking one of you!!!
I'm writing a letter to them also. Creeps such as Ne'eman must be stopped. I detest the idea of uninformed readers of Newsweek being duped by this guy.
Every time you express your thoughts I have the same question to you, why don't you debate him and then you can expose him for the fraud that you say he is.
Jeff,
As with every other liar from Neuroinsanity, the kid is afraid to answer me. You should talk to him.
Jeff: Neurodiversitites won't debate anyone. They are cowards who know that they would look like fools if they publically debated anyone. Because they have no facts to back up their deluded agenda, they only resort to abuse and personal attacks. David Andrews is one member of club ND who fits that description to a tee. Because he can't back up any of his arguments with facts, he just ends up using profane language and cussing anyone out who disagrees with him.
The problem as I see it with ND is that they are mostly a bunch of Aspies. Aspies have no theory of mind and therefore cannot, and never will, be able to see the point of view of another person.
They all see themselves as victims of bullying and have no concept of the affect they have on others and that they are the worst bullies in the world.
Arguing with ND will never work because of the very nature of their disability.
Autism and Asperger's are different, no question. Your son suffers horribly along with the rest of your family having to cope day in and day out with his extreme limitations.
But I would like to say that those living Aspeger family members also suffer. They suffer from being bullied by the Aspie family member, some suffer physical violence from the Aspie family member. All suffer from not being understood, from having to deal with a person who is rigid, uncompromising and uncaring about anyone but themselves and anything but their own needs.
Families of Aspies suffer also.
Therefore I totally agree with your argument. People like Ne'eman should not only be discouraged by reputable organizations like Newsweek, but they should be given the treatment they so badly need.
The latest trend of pretending that neurological disorders are just 'differen' or are wonderful to have, does a disservice the the disbaled persons involved and their families. Worse, it gives governments and drug companies 'a get out of jail free' card.
a sick group of people enter onto this blog. the world has heard enough of all of you - finally people speak up after being oppressed for ages, stuck in institutions, ignored and treated as if they are "horribly disabled" (as if disability is horrible) and killed for that matter.
Nitwit,
The people in the instoitutions aren't speaking up. Most of them can't speak or communicate in any fashion.
Your psychopath Ne'eman isn't speaking for those people. He's trying to deny their existence.
Nobody should be locked in an institution, beaten, or abused - regardless of how high their support needs are. But too many autistic people (and those with other disabilities) do, and too many others (some labelled "high functioning") are left without support they desperately need:
Joel's story - "You have it so good"
You don't have to be "cured" to have a better life than that.
Neurodiversity advocates believe autism brings strengths as well as disadvantages, and believe that people should be accepted for who they are.
Many are on the frontlines with other disability advocates/activists, fighting against institutionalisation and abuse and for better, more accessible, more individualised support services - for all who need them, including those with high/complex needs.
And while they might speak against "cure" - they're not against finding ways for autistics to communicate. Quite the reverse. They just don't equate the two.
Of course... I'm not a "real" autistic. Just the aunt of one. And an Aspie brain injury survivor with severe epilepsy. Who just spent a year researching restrictive practices in disability services. And in my personal life... in 2001, I was told I should live in a nursing home, then sent onto the streets (literally) with no support services at all.
Purple,
I can tell you have some sort of brain damage trying to sling your ND nonsense here.
Fighting against institutionalization, etc, is a lie when the solution to avoid the asylum does not involve being cured. Using that type of rhetoric is devious propaganda since it doesn't tell the whole story.
The institutions are not the problem. The brain damage is the problem and the asylums manage as well as they can, certainly better than any parent could by themselves when dealing with the strangest behavior you can imagine.
There are no strengths in autism. Autism is a debilitating brain injury from which nobody ever recovered until after Andy Cutler perfected the cure.
I see why you refuse to use your name with the dishonesty you spout. Did you think you had a chance of slipping any of your nonsense past my undamaged brain?
My name is Maria. I live in Melbourne, Australia.
I just looked up Andy Cutler (knew something of the work, but not the name) - his treatment seems to help some autistic people (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot). Other biomedical treatments help some autistic people (again, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot). In many autistic people, there seems to be a genetic link. In others, there is physical brain injury/malformation.
Autism is multifactorial. Nobody has "perfected the cure" for autism. There can't be a single cure for something that doesn't have a single cause.
"The strangest behaviour I can imagine?" Just finished research into restrictive practices, remember? Stories about severe self-injury, constant violent outbursts, trying to jump out of moving cars...
On the more "moderate" part of the spectrum, my 6yo nephew isn't toilet trained, has limited communication, and has been known to scream for an hour because the local shop didn't have the right icecream. My brother still calls him "genius child" (except when "he's been in total fruitloop mode" - then he uses more colorful language!). He's significantly disabled in some ways - in others, he's more able than the average "neurotypical" person.
Lets not talk neurodiversity, tho (the word pushes too many people's buttons - and a lot of what I say applies to people with other significant disabilities too. Other disability groups even have their own "anti-cure" advocates - many in the Deaf community advocate against cochlear implants, and Christopher Reeve's ideas about stem cell research were very divisive). I'm going off on a tangent tho :).
Assuming that not all autistic people can be totally cured, let's talk about making good lives for autistic people.
Let's think about communication, sensory sensitivities, health needs, abuse/neglect, support.
Lets look the work of Jay Nolan Community Services:
http://www.jaynolan.org/
Lets look at Individualised Planning and Support, and Supported Living models:
http://www.supportedliving.org.au/resources/index.html
http://www.inclusion.com/
http://www.allenshea.com/CIRCL/CIRCL.html
http://www.tash.org/
http://www.communityworks.info/
http://www.plan.ca/homepage.php
etc etc etc
I'll continue more later if you'd like.
John,
My son has Aspergers Syndrome and it is very real, just like the
degree of autism your son has. However, no two people with ASD are alike.
It is hard, to live with the idea that our children may never be accepted by their peers, teachers and even some family members. This is the pain we must share. Unless, we fight for their rights.
We need to unite for a common interest of ending discrimination and beginning civil rights for our children regardless of where you stand on the issue of autism as a whole.
Ari is working on something that most are afraid of for that, I have respect for the man. He, like you is very passionate in his work.
Can we please for the sake of our children unite under one cause -civil rights?
You are obviously passionate about your child and love him very much. We need anyone who loves their child with autism to join this battle.
__________________
United we stand, divided we fall.
Aesop Greek slave & fable author
Anon,
Ari Ne'eman only appears to be working for things that are good for some people on the autism spectrum. His primary goal is to obfuscate the truth about low functioning autism while he argues against kids who are severely disabled receiving the medical treatment they need.
I know it's hard to believe that anyone on the autistic spectrum would intentionally try to abuse others who suffer horribly but you have to look at the facts.
We DO cure autism now. There is no excuse for anyone to oppose that. Opposing a cure for autism can only be born out of pure evil.
Ari Ne'eman is engaged in some seriously deranged and professional propaganda and he must be stopped for the good of everyone with autism.
Jon, I do understand what you are trying to say. I dont understand why there is one spectrum for autistics who seem like they have nothing to severely autistic children like ours. I think this man does disgrace autism and anyone who says we should not be lookin for a cure is a total nut who has never seen a severe child. I think you should lose the violence though. You cannot be taken seriously if you are threatening people.
Natalie,
I didn't actually threaten anyone. I just worded it so that Ari Ne'eman's pals would misinterpret it and help me publicize it. They came through with flying colors.
I think that says a lot about their need for a cure themselves, don't you think?
Some autism is caused by vaccines, not all. Your experience is valid and so is that of other families, all along the spectrum.
Hey Johns, I will debate anyone, anytime, anywhere, and I am sure Ari will arrange it for me. So name your terms.
Autism epidemic is out of control, says a video on you tube. I agree. Here is what autism is NOT: It’s not a mentally ill clever person with sociopathic fixations that feigns they are autistic (aka criminal), it’s not the Horse Boy(a boy with ADHD who ended up liking horses), it’s NOT Amanda Baggs (who has a psychogenic case of autism, as in in her mind) It’s not Donna Williams–(a woman who has a multiple personality with one of them thinking she is autistic and being so convinced she’s actually studied the definition and learned to be autistic) It’s not Ari Ne’eman (who has aspergers ) It’s not Jenny McCarthy’s son (who has laundau kleffner never was autistic) If you want to see high functioning autism see Temple Grandin (who has autistic LIKE behaviors with severe aspergers) or the movie Rain Man. If you want to see a raw video coverage of severe autism where the young adult is punching self in head or having seizures go to you tube and type in: “autism self injury” or “reality shows you won’t see on tv about autism” or “severe autism when there is no answer
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