Enough of the euphemisms, and enough of the pretending that psychiatric illnesses and child abuse, that we know are those things, are somehow not those things.
The word Autistic used to describe kids who had certain characteristics that were a lot like OCD, they were rigid, unemotional in a way that is hard to describe. They seemed be cut off from their parents. They were not geniuses until Rain man came along. He was a savant, so he appeared to be very brilliant even though he was not high functioning. He had one area of a kind of useless gift, being able to count objects at a glance. He was stubborn which was a clue to his low IQ. Then there was Asperger’s, which was on a spectrum and had similar features to Autism.
Why is it so hard to diagnose? Because there is no physical test for it. It’s guesswork like all psychiatric diagnoses. When the possibility that vaccines caused it, and it was related to a real physical illness that was caused by the vaccines, MENINGITIS, the drug companies were not happy.
Now the word autism describes a low IQ, but without the stigma.
Personal experiences from my years as a social worker. When I tried to explain it, clients and other professionals would tell me vaccines didn’t cause autism.
When I was little autistic kids were the ones who couldn't speak, needed 24/7 care, and bashed their heads on walls. Now they are 15 year old boys who build semiconductors in their spare time (between writing books) out of discarded toasters, because of "spectrum." Tlaib is using her "autistic" child to grab a hunk of oppression pie. Disgusting.
I have a coworker with 4 children under 12. They’re ALL heavily medicated on SSRIs and amphetamines for ADHD, autism and mood disorders. She had 5, but the eldest killed himself at 13. The teachers can’t tolerate the way they act out, so they’re the ones insisting on the medication. It conveniently removes the blame from the parents if it’s just a condition they were born with. It’s a bunch of lazy and/or evil women drugging kids for convenience and clout by conflating their kids' behavior with genuinely impaired children who were likely damaged by other parental or policy decisions.
When I asked the first grade teacher at the start of summer vacation if there was anything I can do to help my son prepare for the next grade and she said "have you ever thought about medication" was the day I pulled him out of school at home schooled him. He's never had any and he's a productive member of society.
She and the father aren't on the same page about anything, but rather than fostering complementary virtues, they both seem to permit the other's complementary vices. It's really sad. She's a "nice" coworker, but man. It's rough. Her MIL is a classic borderline, too, and it's a strain on the marriage because the husband is a mommy's boy.
I don't know, man. A kid killing himself at 13 is so unimaginable. I know from experience that SSRI's can make you want to kill yourself, but he/she must have been suffering a hell of a lot as well. It takes a lot of guts and grit to go through with it. I also know from experience that evil women usually seem "nice" in public. Abusive mothers often care more about what strangers think than the feelings of their own children.
SSRIs did a number on me, too. I made an attempt at 16 after being on them since I was 9, and I’m still suffering from the side effects of the drugs 20 years later.
Absolutely. And that is the result of an exponential increase in diagnosing ASD. You a little awkward socially? ASD! You a bit tongue-tied around other people (especially girls): ASD! It’s the top Eagle Scouts badge of 2025! What an achievement!
Josh, I have worn my poor old arthritic fingers to the bone on X, FB, and other places trying to explain what you have just explained, specifically about autism. At least these “good and empathic” people calling for “The Head of RFKJ” and not using the “neurodivergent” argument. Correct me if you’ve seen that. But, really, they seem to think that ALL autistic kids are like Elon Musk or Temple Grandin, brilliant but just a bit weird socially. And so if they just keep propping up THEIR kid who is socially awkward and never looks you in the eye despite seeming to be of “above average” intelligence, well, they are the true saviors of the “neurodivergent”. They refuse to acknowledge what many of us know: the majority of autistic kids are have serious neurological conditions and co-morbidities that make normal communication nearly impossible, make them so over sensitive to stimuli of any kind that they are prone to meltdowns and actual physical rages, and will probably never be able to be independent on their own. The parents of such children I know personally (Boomer age) worry everyday about what will happen to their now adult sons once their die and the resources they have left, if they have any to leave, are gone? In the next comment, I’ll quote from a FB post a good friend shared from a friend of hers who is the mother of one such autistic child. Sadly, it is no longer popular among the chattering classes to share stories like these.
I thought I was the worst mother for having a mid to high functioning autistic son. I thought it was my personal genetic betrayal.
Later, I became overwhelmingly jealous of parents with "neurotypical" children. It wasn't fair!
Then, almost overnight (and Josh you'll remember this), those "neurotypical" children became fashionably autistic. It was the disorder du jour. I was furious.
Then, the trans movement took over and nobody paid any attention to autism.
Now, trans ain't cool anymore so we're moving back to autism.
Oh crap, thanks for the “retard” epiphany. I knew it was just another new term concocted to obscure negative connotations and associations, like bum to homeless to unhoused, but I didn’t put together that it was a lie instead of just another synonym in vogue.
Enough to make me feel, well, retarded. I got there, but it took Josh’s help!
This post was shared by a woman who wrote about what life has been like with her autistic son and why she is truly happy that RFKJ is picking up this battle for families like hers. This is the text only, but as illustration she included a photo from 4 years ago of her face after one of the frequent rage battles she has had dealing with her autistic son. It is not pretty; not pretty at all.
“This was taken 4 years ago. We were in the midst of the worst crisis we'd ever been in with our son.
I don't recall what he was raging about that day. [My husband] was at work. I was home waiting on a large delivery. Just as the driver showed up, [my son] started his daily violent meltdown. Normally I'd lock myself out in the garage apartment for safety, but this always drove him outside into the yard and that day the delivery driver was a woman.
I ran outside to warn her and to get her to come back later. [My son] chased me outside, grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to the ground. He got one hand in my mouth and tried to rip my cheek open. He went for my eyes to gouge them out. As I fought him off, I felt a great peace. I thought "I'm gonna lose my eye but it's ok." I was able to sweep his legs out from under him and he went down. As I sat in the safety of the delivery truck with the gracious, understanding driver, I watched my son rip the front door off our house.
I don't dwell on this or any of the other times like this. They are not who my son is. He's a wonderful, loving, funny person. I adore him with all my heart. He has severe autism. He is verbal but he can't have a normal conversation. He can't tie his shoes, make his own dinner, or hold a job. He will never live independently. When [My husband] and I are gone, he will likely live in some type of institutionalized care facility. It breaks my heart just thinking about it.
When he is on any type of anti-inflammatory type drug, he gets better. This is because one of his diagnoses is encephalopathy. He has extensive brain damage from the shots he was given when he was 3 years old, including his first MMR and Varicella. He began showing signs of brain swelling and seizures two days later.
I don't like anyone to know the extreme struggles we've had with him over the years. I've talked here and there about it but don't share the worst of it. I'm a pretty private person, so talking about this is very hard for me. And I don't want people to get the wrong impression of my precious son.
The reason I'm sharing this now is because I hope that when you see people talking bad about RFKjr (who has long been a hero in our house), you will know that he was referring to cases like my son's. This type of autism absolutely devastates families with the financial, emotional, physical, and psychological toll it takes on you. It isolates you. The stress undoes you and shortens your life expectancy. When [my husband] had a heart attack two years ago, it drove home how difficult this would be without him.
I love each of you and take a lot of comfort in knowing that you care about our family and [our son]. Thank you for that! ❤️”
Your son tries to tear your face off, then rips the door off of the house, and you say that is "not who my son is"? You, and others like that delivery driver, are in danger.
I am so, so sorry, Sandra, and thank you for writing that very, very brave post here - for the benefit of people who have no idea what - dare I say it - 'real' autism is like.
I have no doubt - zero - that what you've written is true, and very likely not an exaggeration.
Many years ago I had a roommate who cared for a little autistic girl - 7 years old who I'll call 'N'. She - my roommate - was young and healthy and very strong, and only was there a few days a week - but there were days when even she just couldn't cope and would bring N over to our condo so that we (our other roommate and I) could spell her off for a few moments. It was truly mind-boggling just how much damage (literal damage) that little girl could do in the space of mere seconds. The head-banging and punching - although that was so hard to witness and harder still to intervene - were the least of it.
I've often thought back to that time when I hear the recent talk about autism as just another type of personality trait, equated to shyness or being a geek. This little girl was like a tornado, in pretty much every sense of the word. It was sometimes more than our combined capabilities to hold her down long enough to keep her from badly hurting herself, or smashing through a window or glass door. She could go from being meek as a lamb eating a cracker or piece of fruit to turning over the table and chairs and throwing dishes at the wall - in the blink of an eye - and then back again. I've often wondered if somethinhg like that isn't what inspired the transformation in 'The Hulk' - it looked exactly the same to me. She was that strong - at 7 years old - and that aggressive.
I'm sure it must cost you to try swimming upstream against the current autism narrative (not to mention the hysterical 'all vaccine's are safe' narrative), let alone what your family's life is like. But your story needs to get out there, for the benefit of everyone - both those who are living it, and those who don't know about this but need to. Thank you so much for telling us.
I'll say a prayer for you, your husband, your son, and anyone else in your orbit who is helping out. Bless you.
My apologies, I didn't read this closely enough and missed that you were quoting someone else. No matter - I send prayers for her and her family, and to anyone else going through this. Thank you for sharing it.
An amusing, I hope, aside. Upon all the stupid back-and-forth drama over the “debate” of Douglas Murray, Dave Smith, and Joe Rogan, I have now realized that the latest “trigger” word that makes everyone on every side go crazy is “expert”. That is the only thing I will say about this subject that you asked us not to discuss. But this is now hilarious to me.
To that point, there's a funny meme that I saw a day or two ago that has two frames. In the first frame it says "Experts say that if you buy cheese, do not store in the refrigerator, but on the counter."
And in the second frame it shows a dog who's official title is "Expert"
Great comment! As I’ve been contemplating this debate over “experts” and “expertise” (which are not always correlated) and how Smith and Rogan basically scoffed at “experts” in general because of how we were all misled during the Covid panic, I realized they were reasoning on a “throw out the baby with the bathwater” level. We had many true experts in medicine/immunology/virology who were loudly criticizing the government’s “experts” but were quickly silenced and even cancelled due to their expert views that contradicted the government experts. Two of them, Jay Batacharia and Marty Makary are now heading up the NIH and FDA respectively. There are quite a few others like them. They were experts then and they remain experts. But now we are “allowed” to listen to what they have to say, whereas under Biden they were silenced.
Indeed. You got the effect right on the first topic "autism". My reaction was absolutely like you intended. I thought: "Oh my fucking god. He is right."
I have seen these women with kids that are "autistic" or otherwise "neurodivergent". Where mom's are more interested in expanding the medical diagnoses. Because they like their mother-pity-parties thrown by all the other like minded parents.
Not what you're referring to, clearly, but associated with the steep rise in diagnoses, is the funding issue that attends formal diagnosis - especially of autism. No one is being paid to appropriately cope with and direct your rambunctious young boy in an overcrowded classroom where half the kids arrive not speaking English, especially not in an environment dominated by women with certain expectations. A normal young boy exhibiting normal male behaviors and energy levels rapidly becomes the problem that must be solved or quashed.
But get a diagnosis, and the funding faucet turns on. The greater the percentage of students with IEPs, the greater the funding (my son's middle school is at 25% "special education" students - none of whom are clearly retarded - and 60% English language learners).
This process was also actively milked by outside agencies, paid through state medicare services, after Covid. Parents were repeatedly and strongly "educated" about the benefits of clinical counseling and encouraged to sign up for in-school evaluations. Everyone with public healthcare seemed to somehow pass the screening, while the privately insured did not. The funding, however, requires a formal diagnosis, so ADHD, ASD, and conduct disorder diagnoses bloomed in the public schools between 2021, when most reopened, and 2024, when the supplemental Covid funds ran out. The numbers of diagnoses, however, will remain inflated.
Similar issues are operative in foster care and public adoption, where services that are actively or aggressively marketed to parents as "aftercare" and "wrap-around services" are only available with a formal diagnosis. This is always mentioned as a very minor afterthought, a tiny formal hurdle, rather than a lie with lasting and long-term consequences.
I grew up with an identical twin sister who began having epilepsy when we were about 7 years old. 7 years later my half-brother came along. His intellectual capacity stalled at the age of about 6, supposedly due to prolonged high fever from the measles at the age of 2. He was progressing normally until the fever, but after that his milestones were significantly delayed. Both of my siblings were victims of a devouring mother, who appeared to devote her life to them, but actually used them to cover her lack of self-esteem and personal drive. She robbed my twin of having a meaningful life with smothering over-protection and constantly warning her that she couldn't do things I did. My brother had it easier because of his perpetual immaturity and child-like intellect. I had it easiest of all because I was left alone to take care of my own needs, learn to be self-reliant and to take responsibility for myself.
Because my mother refused to make any advanced plans for the care of my sister and brother after her death I knew that their care would be my responsibility one day. To prepare myself, I took a job as a staff supervisor for a young 20 year old profoundly autistic woman who needed 24/7 care. She wasn't toilet trained. She was non-verbal. She needed constant prompting and help with dressing, bathing and toileting. In many respects she was like a pet. Mostly, this job helped me a little with navigating state services for the developmentally delayed.
My mother wasn't Munchausen by Proxy, but she severely limited both my siblings lives, and bequeathed a burden on me that I shouldn't have had to carry. I shouldered the burden, and after my mother's death I slowly began the process of undoing some of the damage my mother had done, but it wasn't easy.
Women who abuse their children out of a narcissistic and pathological need for attention, and to receive accolades of praise from the pathologically altruistic deserve a level of hell all their own, right along with the spineless men who allow them to do it.
What’s really sad and equally troubling are the increasing number of adults that cannot cope and act as an adult. Part of this is the rise in autism as well as modern parenting, our culture and our failed education system. Once the Boomers and Generation Xs are no longer able to provide for their 35 year old living in the basement the future for these individuals is dark.
lol, my aspie had a caregiver who kept tryin' ta convince her she wuz gay or trans to gain a few steps on the intersectionality ladder... it's a "trend" fer sure...yikes
You're right. The "Actually Autistic" movement made it okay for anyone to declare themselves autistic out of "inclusion".
They didn’t make it *okay* so much as they made it *mandatory*.
For the last 10 years I was “being an asshole” if I said I *wasn’t* autistic; now all of a sudden I’m “being an asshole” if I say I *am*.
I wish everyone would just make up their minds once and for all about whether I’m autistic, because this is getting to be a giant pain in the ass.
I deeply wish Talib was a representative for Minnesota. Unfortunately, she hails from the state of Michigan.
Thank you.
The word Autistic used to describe kids who had certain characteristics that were a lot like OCD, they were rigid, unemotional in a way that is hard to describe. They seemed be cut off from their parents. They were not geniuses until Rain man came along. He was a savant, so he appeared to be very brilliant even though he was not high functioning. He had one area of a kind of useless gift, being able to count objects at a glance. He was stubborn which was a clue to his low IQ. Then there was Asperger’s, which was on a spectrum and had similar features to Autism.
Why is it so hard to diagnose? Because there is no physical test for it. It’s guesswork like all psychiatric diagnoses. When the possibility that vaccines caused it, and it was related to a real physical illness that was caused by the vaccines, MENINGITIS, the drug companies were not happy.
Now the word autism describes a low IQ, but without the stigma.
Interested in the idea that meningitis is vaccine-related. Do you have any articles on it or just a summary of the thinking around it?
Personal experiences from my years as a social worker. When I tried to explain it, clients and other professionals would tell me vaccines didn’t cause autism.
The mother on one of my classmates, who was a child psychologist, referred to me as an "unadjusted child." She was right, I was. Still am.
I have no idea what the book says, but if he's such a good writer, then why does her name to have to appear on the book?
I liken this to all the trans kids in Hollywood. Your kid just has to be trans to fit in.
When I was little autistic kids were the ones who couldn't speak, needed 24/7 care, and bashed their heads on walls. Now they are 15 year old boys who build semiconductors in their spare time (between writing books) out of discarded toasters, because of "spectrum." Tlaib is using her "autistic" child to grab a hunk of oppression pie. Disgusting.
I have a coworker with 4 children under 12. They’re ALL heavily medicated on SSRIs and amphetamines for ADHD, autism and mood disorders. She had 5, but the eldest killed himself at 13. The teachers can’t tolerate the way they act out, so they’re the ones insisting on the medication. It conveniently removes the blame from the parents if it’s just a condition they were born with. It’s a bunch of lazy and/or evil women drugging kids for convenience and clout by conflating their kids' behavior with genuinely impaired children who were likely damaged by other parental or policy decisions.
When I asked the first grade teacher at the start of summer vacation if there was anything I can do to help my son prepare for the next grade and she said "have you ever thought about medication" was the day I pulled him out of school at home schooled him. He's never had any and he's a productive member of society.
Excellent
Thank you for being an actual parent. Your son is lucky to have you.
You might appreciate this woman's story of getting off her meds. She's truly inspiring. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0WAlL3uCD1DfR6EgiMvRV2?si=2LvB9hW4SXCTPpfDk8sAig
Thank you. I’ll give it a listen
Holy shit. Suicide at 13 years old. That woman should be arrested. Some very fucked up shit is going on in that home.
A little med for Mom and a little for the kid. 90's mom's did it all the time. They ARE amphetamines.
She and the father aren't on the same page about anything, but rather than fostering complementary virtues, they both seem to permit the other's complementary vices. It's really sad. She's a "nice" coworker, but man. It's rough. Her MIL is a classic borderline, too, and it's a strain on the marriage because the husband is a mommy's boy.
I don't know, man. A kid killing himself at 13 is so unimaginable. I know from experience that SSRI's can make you want to kill yourself, but he/she must have been suffering a hell of a lot as well. It takes a lot of guts and grit to go through with it. I also know from experience that evil women usually seem "nice" in public. Abusive mothers often care more about what strangers think than the feelings of their own children.
SSRIs did a number on me, too. I made an attempt at 16 after being on them since I was 9, and I’m still suffering from the side effects of the drugs 20 years later.
That would be my guess as well.
Absolutely. And that is the result of an exponential increase in diagnosing ASD. You a little awkward socially? ASD! You a bit tongue-tied around other people (especially girls): ASD! It’s the top Eagle Scouts badge of 2025! What an achievement!
Josh, I have worn my poor old arthritic fingers to the bone on X, FB, and other places trying to explain what you have just explained, specifically about autism. At least these “good and empathic” people calling for “The Head of RFKJ” and not using the “neurodivergent” argument. Correct me if you’ve seen that. But, really, they seem to think that ALL autistic kids are like Elon Musk or Temple Grandin, brilliant but just a bit weird socially. And so if they just keep propping up THEIR kid who is socially awkward and never looks you in the eye despite seeming to be of “above average” intelligence, well, they are the true saviors of the “neurodivergent”. They refuse to acknowledge what many of us know: the majority of autistic kids are have serious neurological conditions and co-morbidities that make normal communication nearly impossible, make them so over sensitive to stimuli of any kind that they are prone to meltdowns and actual physical rages, and will probably never be able to be independent on their own. The parents of such children I know personally (Boomer age) worry everyday about what will happen to their now adult sons once their die and the resources they have left, if they have any to leave, are gone? In the next comment, I’ll quote from a FB post a good friend shared from a friend of hers who is the mother of one such autistic child. Sadly, it is no longer popular among the chattering classes to share stories like these.
I thought I was the worst mother for having a mid to high functioning autistic son. I thought it was my personal genetic betrayal.
Later, I became overwhelmingly jealous of parents with "neurotypical" children. It wasn't fair!
Then, almost overnight (and Josh you'll remember this), those "neurotypical" children became fashionably autistic. It was the disorder du jour. I was furious.
Then, the trans movement took over and nobody paid any attention to autism.
Now, trans ain't cool anymore so we're moving back to autism.
It is breaking my heart.
When pathology goes woke, diversity fosters ’neurodivergent,’ and parental Munchausen’s-by-proxy signals virtue.
Oh crap, thanks for the “retard” epiphany. I knew it was just another new term concocted to obscure negative connotations and associations, like bum to homeless to unhoused, but I didn’t put together that it was a lie instead of just another synonym in vogue.
Enough to make me feel, well, retarded. I got there, but it took Josh’s help!
This post was shared by a woman who wrote about what life has been like with her autistic son and why she is truly happy that RFKJ is picking up this battle for families like hers. This is the text only, but as illustration she included a photo from 4 years ago of her face after one of the frequent rage battles she has had dealing with her autistic son. It is not pretty; not pretty at all.
“This was taken 4 years ago. We were in the midst of the worst crisis we'd ever been in with our son.
I don't recall what he was raging about that day. [My husband] was at work. I was home waiting on a large delivery. Just as the driver showed up, [my son] started his daily violent meltdown. Normally I'd lock myself out in the garage apartment for safety, but this always drove him outside into the yard and that day the delivery driver was a woman.
I ran outside to warn her and to get her to come back later. [My son] chased me outside, grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to the ground. He got one hand in my mouth and tried to rip my cheek open. He went for my eyes to gouge them out. As I fought him off, I felt a great peace. I thought "I'm gonna lose my eye but it's ok." I was able to sweep his legs out from under him and he went down. As I sat in the safety of the delivery truck with the gracious, understanding driver, I watched my son rip the front door off our house.
I don't dwell on this or any of the other times like this. They are not who my son is. He's a wonderful, loving, funny person. I adore him with all my heart. He has severe autism. He is verbal but he can't have a normal conversation. He can't tie his shoes, make his own dinner, or hold a job. He will never live independently. When [My husband] and I are gone, he will likely live in some type of institutionalized care facility. It breaks my heart just thinking about it.
When he is on any type of anti-inflammatory type drug, he gets better. This is because one of his diagnoses is encephalopathy. He has extensive brain damage from the shots he was given when he was 3 years old, including his first MMR and Varicella. He began showing signs of brain swelling and seizures two days later.
I don't like anyone to know the extreme struggles we've had with him over the years. I've talked here and there about it but don't share the worst of it. I'm a pretty private person, so talking about this is very hard for me. And I don't want people to get the wrong impression of my precious son.
The reason I'm sharing this now is because I hope that when you see people talking bad about RFKjr (who has long been a hero in our house), you will know that he was referring to cases like my son's. This type of autism absolutely devastates families with the financial, emotional, physical, and psychological toll it takes on you. It isolates you. The stress undoes you and shortens your life expectancy. When [my husband] had a heart attack two years ago, it drove home how difficult this would be without him.
I love each of you and take a lot of comfort in knowing that you care about our family and [our son]. Thank you for that! ❤️”
Your son tries to tear your face off, then rips the door off of the house, and you say that is "not who my son is"? You, and others like that delivery driver, are in danger.
I am so, so sorry, Sandra, and thank you for writing that very, very brave post here - for the benefit of people who have no idea what - dare I say it - 'real' autism is like.
I have no doubt - zero - that what you've written is true, and very likely not an exaggeration.
Many years ago I had a roommate who cared for a little autistic girl - 7 years old who I'll call 'N'. She - my roommate - was young and healthy and very strong, and only was there a few days a week - but there were days when even she just couldn't cope and would bring N over to our condo so that we (our other roommate and I) could spell her off for a few moments. It was truly mind-boggling just how much damage (literal damage) that little girl could do in the space of mere seconds. The head-banging and punching - although that was so hard to witness and harder still to intervene - were the least of it.
I've often thought back to that time when I hear the recent talk about autism as just another type of personality trait, equated to shyness or being a geek. This little girl was like a tornado, in pretty much every sense of the word. It was sometimes more than our combined capabilities to hold her down long enough to keep her from badly hurting herself, or smashing through a window or glass door. She could go from being meek as a lamb eating a cracker or piece of fruit to turning over the table and chairs and throwing dishes at the wall - in the blink of an eye - and then back again. I've often wondered if somethinhg like that isn't what inspired the transformation in 'The Hulk' - it looked exactly the same to me. She was that strong - at 7 years old - and that aggressive.
I'm sure it must cost you to try swimming upstream against the current autism narrative (not to mention the hysterical 'all vaccine's are safe' narrative), let alone what your family's life is like. But your story needs to get out there, for the benefit of everyone - both those who are living it, and those who don't know about this but need to. Thank you so much for telling us.
I'll say a prayer for you, your husband, your son, and anyone else in your orbit who is helping out. Bless you.
My apologies, I didn't read this closely enough and missed that you were quoting someone else. No matter - I send prayers for her and her family, and to anyone else going through this. Thank you for sharing it.
Thanks for making the correction. This woman and her family and all those like her need all the prayers we can muster.
An amusing, I hope, aside. Upon all the stupid back-and-forth drama over the “debate” of Douglas Murray, Dave Smith, and Joe Rogan, I have now realized that the latest “trigger” word that makes everyone on every side go crazy is “expert”. That is the only thing I will say about this subject that you asked us not to discuss. But this is now hilarious to me.
To that point, there's a funny meme that I saw a day or two ago that has two frames. In the first frame it says "Experts say that if you buy cheese, do not store in the refrigerator, but on the counter."
And in the second frame it shows a dog who's official title is "Expert"
Great comment! As I’ve been contemplating this debate over “experts” and “expertise” (which are not always correlated) and how Smith and Rogan basically scoffed at “experts” in general because of how we were all misled during the Covid panic, I realized they were reasoning on a “throw out the baby with the bathwater” level. We had many true experts in medicine/immunology/virology who were loudly criticizing the government’s “experts” but were quickly silenced and even cancelled due to their expert views that contradicted the government experts. Two of them, Jay Batacharia and Marty Makary are now heading up the NIH and FDA respectively. There are quite a few others like them. They were experts then and they remain experts. But now we are “allowed” to listen to what they have to say, whereas under Biden they were silenced.
Indeed. You got the effect right on the first topic "autism". My reaction was absolutely like you intended. I thought: "Oh my fucking god. He is right."
I have seen these women with kids that are "autistic" or otherwise "neurodivergent". Where mom's are more interested in expanding the medical diagnoses. Because they like their mother-pity-parties thrown by all the other like minded parents.
Not what you're referring to, clearly, but associated with the steep rise in diagnoses, is the funding issue that attends formal diagnosis - especially of autism. No one is being paid to appropriately cope with and direct your rambunctious young boy in an overcrowded classroom where half the kids arrive not speaking English, especially not in an environment dominated by women with certain expectations. A normal young boy exhibiting normal male behaviors and energy levels rapidly becomes the problem that must be solved or quashed.
But get a diagnosis, and the funding faucet turns on. The greater the percentage of students with IEPs, the greater the funding (my son's middle school is at 25% "special education" students - none of whom are clearly retarded - and 60% English language learners).
This process was also actively milked by outside agencies, paid through state medicare services, after Covid. Parents were repeatedly and strongly "educated" about the benefits of clinical counseling and encouraged to sign up for in-school evaluations. Everyone with public healthcare seemed to somehow pass the screening, while the privately insured did not. The funding, however, requires a formal diagnosis, so ADHD, ASD, and conduct disorder diagnoses bloomed in the public schools between 2021, when most reopened, and 2024, when the supplemental Covid funds ran out. The numbers of diagnoses, however, will remain inflated.
Similar issues are operative in foster care and public adoption, where services that are actively or aggressively marketed to parents as "aftercare" and "wrap-around services" are only available with a formal diagnosis. This is always mentioned as a very minor afterthought, a tiny formal hurdle, rather than a lie with lasting and long-term consequences.
This is shocking and outrageous. Yes, I believe you. Also, this really pisses me off.
I grew up with an identical twin sister who began having epilepsy when we were about 7 years old. 7 years later my half-brother came along. His intellectual capacity stalled at the age of about 6, supposedly due to prolonged high fever from the measles at the age of 2. He was progressing normally until the fever, but after that his milestones were significantly delayed. Both of my siblings were victims of a devouring mother, who appeared to devote her life to them, but actually used them to cover her lack of self-esteem and personal drive. She robbed my twin of having a meaningful life with smothering over-protection and constantly warning her that she couldn't do things I did. My brother had it easier because of his perpetual immaturity and child-like intellect. I had it easiest of all because I was left alone to take care of my own needs, learn to be self-reliant and to take responsibility for myself.
Because my mother refused to make any advanced plans for the care of my sister and brother after her death I knew that their care would be my responsibility one day. To prepare myself, I took a job as a staff supervisor for a young 20 year old profoundly autistic woman who needed 24/7 care. She wasn't toilet trained. She was non-verbal. She needed constant prompting and help with dressing, bathing and toileting. In many respects she was like a pet. Mostly, this job helped me a little with navigating state services for the developmentally delayed.
My mother wasn't Munchausen by Proxy, but she severely limited both my siblings lives, and bequeathed a burden on me that I shouldn't have had to carry. I shouldered the burden, and after my mother's death I slowly began the process of undoing some of the damage my mother had done, but it wasn't easy.
Women who abuse their children out of a narcissistic and pathological need for attention, and to receive accolades of praise from the pathologically altruistic deserve a level of hell all their own, right along with the spineless men who allow them to do it.
Jesus honey, that is such a heavy burden. Wow
Wow. Just wow.
What’s really sad and equally troubling are the increasing number of adults that cannot cope and act as an adult. Part of this is the rise in autism as well as modern parenting, our culture and our failed education system. Once the Boomers and Generation Xs are no longer able to provide for their 35 year old living in the basement the future for these individuals is dark.
Having trans, autistic, or trans-autistic children is the hottest accessory right now among the rich and famous for all the reasons you stated.
lol, my aspie had a caregiver who kept tryin' ta convince her she wuz gay or trans to gain a few steps on the intersectionality ladder... it's a "trend" fer sure...yikes
https://thcsofdaisymoses.substack.com/p/when-a-wokester-grooms-a-youngster?