On July 16 this year a conservative radio commentator named Michael Savage went on a rant about Autism. Basically saying that autism is the parents fault. The mediamatters.com link is here. Apparently it has caused quite a ruckus nationally with parents of autistic children really getting angry.

I don’t listen to him personally even though he is carried by a local radio station. Apparently, the insurance company, AFLAC, has dropped their sponsorship and a company in Mississippi who owns 7 talk radio stations are dropping him.

His rant is very ill informed and has provoked a lot of response from parents of autistic children and autism advocacy groups. I’m afraid that that type of response falls right into the hands of Mr. Savage. These guys thrive on controversy. I think that a low key response is best such as by the organization Autism Speaks.

There appears to be some “overspray” on this matter by supporters of Mr. Strange such as this guy. He thinks that autism is over diagnossed and that this is done by a conspiracy between big government and something called ‘big pharma” which I guess is drug companies. I don’t know. Last I heard there were no drugs that could cure autism. If there were the Yogi family would be at the front of the line. So would a whole bunch of other families we know. That same guy also says a lot of other outrageous things.

The tone of his post though seems to be that autism is turning into a political disability. Out there on the right is the good folks whose children don’t have autism because their parents discipline their kids. On the left, that is where all the liberals, who don’t discipline their kids, are blaming autism.

Mr. Savage is starting to backtrack and weasel word. His employer “Talk Radio Network” made a statement. In the statement they say, in part:

“In the context of his broader concerns, it is clear that Dr. Savage’s comments were intended to suggest his opinion that, in the vast majority of cases, most children throwing tantrums, or refusing to communicate, are not autistic. Unfortunately, by condensing his multifaceted concerns into 84 seconds of commentary, the necessary context for his remarks was not apparent, and the few words he used to express his concerns were, in this instance, inartfully phrased.”

That is just great. If all there were to autism was tantrums, life would be a lot better for the parents. I’ve seen all sorts of kids throw many tantrums at stores, restaurants, schools, churches, playgrounds. I guess the thought that only autistic kids throw tantrums never occurred to me

I used to have a boss who always told me, “Never argue with an idiot.” I think this applies in this instance.