The horror films on display at the Sundance Film Festival are nothing compared to every parent’s fear that their child could be diagnosed with the mysterious developmental disability called autism.
Says the January 22nd Hollywood Reporter about yesterday’s debut screening of the film Autism Every Day. As I posted earlier, I have not seen the new, longer version of the video but this description of “an autism diagnosis as worst than a horror movie”—–if that sort of statement does not express hopelessness about autism and raising an autistic child, I do not know what does.
A diagnosis of autism is a beginning—-of a different kind of life than you might have imagined for you and your child, of a journey into the unexpected, of a combination drama/comedy/adventure story whose ending has yet to be written.
what a surprise!! You see, that is the society that we so-called ‘human’ beings have created.
The most devastating thing about Sam’s autism is that for years, I’d been told that an autism diagnosis was the most devastating thing that could happen to a parent.
If only the mindset out there weren’t so negative! I know it’s bad for some, but it doesn’t have to be the worst thing in the world for everyone!
(I have had more than one parent of an autistic child and a child lost to cancer, in one case it was the same child, tell me that it’s much worse to lose a child to cancer than have an autistic child.)
What a slam to autistic people all over. How must they feel to be labelled as the stuff of a horror film?
I was less than horrified when my child was diagnosed. I think the school staff were more upset.
Bob Wright: Worse than Bettleheim, Sets Civil Rights for Autistics Back Fifty Years
Kristina, I just posted about this very same opening line! Learning that your child has autism is difficult. It becomes even more difficult when it is so consistently portrayed by the media in such terms. I go back and forth about the video — I don’t think it is all bad if it starts a much needed dialog about how to help provide resources to families who clearly need additional help (and not just for the child but for the parents). But this opening line is just sensationalistic. And if that is indeed the picture she got watching the film I may have to re-think my opinion.