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Writer defends Savage's autism remarks

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Smallpotatoes, Jul 21, 2008.

  1. Lester Bangs

    Lester Bangs Active Member

    It's absolutely the right approach and the one I tend to take with some of the idiots of the sports world ... Cowherd, Screamin' A ... whoever. They talk about sports, which is so pointless in the big scheme of things, and they don't hold themselves up as some sort of moral compass.

    For one reason or another I have this burning desire to run Savage down with a truck and then write a column about how people who get run down by trucks are really overstating their injuries.
     
  2. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Yes, you are right, I have no idea about ADHD, ADD, Autism and any issues related to them..... ::)

    The fact that you weighed in with that post tells me you are either naive or clueless on these issues or both.....
     
  3. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I'm not going to comment o the autism part, because I am ill-informed. However, what was ADHD for me in middle school, turned into a lot of creativity in high school, turned into a solid career in writing. Glad my parents didn't take me down the medication road, otherwise I may have been very different.
     
  4. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    The reason these threads always turn into pissing contests is that people don't read or refuse to comprehend and they make these conversations personal -- then react with emotional responses.

    You are being emotional, not rational on this one -- I never once said you are on welfare or that you are getting rich off an autistic diagnosis for your child or that autism doesn't exist or isn't a real problem.

    What I said was simply that certain groups of people have learned how to work the system in order to get certain extra benefits for their children who were mis-diagnosed as having some disorder. And Savage isn't wrong when he said (admittedly a day late and a dollar short) that there is a whole cottage industry of people within the medical community and in pharmaceutical community who have gotten rich off the ADHD/ADD/Conduct Disorder/ODD "scare" that had a whole bunch of kids walking around like drugged-up drones in the 90's.

    Now to be clear - I never said ADHD does not exist. I am skeptical but I have seen kids who I would say are clearly more hyper and unable to control themselves than normal kids, but it does not exist at the level it was diagnosed in the 1990's.
     
  5. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    Autism is a serious issue that needs to be diagnosed and treated. Savage's remarks were beyond stupid.

    As a public schoolteacher, I see the effects of overdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD. A lot of kids come to classroom total zombies because of their medication cycle -- they're either sleepy or buzzed -- and they are almost incapable of learning, even with Ritalin or stuff that's supposed to help. Kids are also taught to rely on a special ed teacher holding their hand. There are a LOT of kids that need -- and use -- special ed services. I have a lot of kids who have some pretty strong learning disabilities, and we can find a way to accommodate them and they usually work hard and succeed. And there are quite a few that use their IEPs as an excuse to not do anything, ever. A lot of those kids are on Ritalin. A colleague once said the IEP for some of those kids stood for "Individualized Excuse Plan." (for the uninitiated, an IEP is an individualized plan for special ed students that include the accommodations we must follow ... usually, they involve adjusting tests by removing multiple choice answer choices or giving word banks for fill-in-the-blank questions, giving students extra time, reading tests to students orally, sometimes giving alternative assignments, having students read their lit books to them).

    Had I been 20 years younger, I probably would've been diagnosed ADD and had more drugs pumped into me than the peloton at the Tour. I had a lot of the signs -- severe organizational issues, passive-aggressive, easily distracted, socially inept, poor reading/lit grades, et al. I'm grateful that I wasn't diagnosed and medicated -- I managed to overcome a lot of that stuff, get through high school with honors, graduate from college, get a 4.0 in grad school, have two successful careers -- one as an SE, one as a teacher/coach.

    Are things overdiagnosed? Absolutely. Are there some kids with ADD that can benefit from the system? Absolutely. Are there parents that doctor-shop so they can find a way to get their kid "labeled" so they can have an easier skate through school? Definitely.

    ADD/ADHD is one thing. Autism is another. Autism needs to be taken care of, and needs special accommodations in school. ADD/ADHD can be serious, but a lot of kids who are just being boys That can be dealt with and managed with a little bit of coaching and mentoring and a lot less drugs.
     
  6. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure I'd stick my neck out on this one.

    This is a body building website---hell, maybe it's JDV's for all we know. He's just become an expert on psychological disorders. :)

    Dr. Fred Baughman, in the so-called interview (it was nothing of the kind) also maintained that most psychiatric disorders are fraudulent. Don't think I'd check into his clinic any time soom.

    That said, is ADHD over diagnosed and over medicated? Yup.
     
  7. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Why are ADD/ADHD and autism being discussed in the same breath?
     
  8. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Again -- emotional, not rational and not factual either. You took something way too personal and you are way too emotional and defensive about this to have a rational discussion about it.

    You stated in blue - meaning you were being sarcastic --- that you were happy your child was diagnosed as autistic because he is getting so many benefits.

    My questions were rhetorical -- meaning I didn't think you were on welfare and trying to work the system -- thus I wasn't putting you on the defensive or accusing you of working the system for special benefits.

    Again, this doesn't have to be a pissing contest but people need to check their emotions at the door and stop trying to make this a referendum on their personal lives.

    We're all for the most part on the same side of this one.
     
  9. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Ask Zag. He's the new SportsJournalists.com medical expert
     
  10. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Because the thread is about the idiotic comments made by Michael Savage and he said in his explanation on his web-site that he was comparing the autism scare to the ADHD/ADD scare of the 1990's.

    I think most people on this thread agree on two points (1) that Savage is an idiot who was trying to be shocking and (2) there is some validity to the idea that there was indeed some over-diagnosis of ADHD going on in the 1990's and the same thing could be happening again with respect to Autism in recent years.
     
  11. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    I'm happy for you.
     
  12. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    I think a better question is what has caused the sudden spike in cases of Autism?

    Has it been a matter of over-diagnosis? Is the mercury-in-vaccines conspiracy at all valid?

    This is one that, to me, is an important question because it might shed some light on some issues related to this disorder.
     
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