Spotlight on Autism

Rhetoric? Pandering to the sympathy vote? Who knows, since my initial, dumbfounded reaction was that McCain didn't lmpw tje differemce between Down Syndrome and Autism.

Rhetoric or not? Pandering to the sympathy vote? Who knows, since my initial, dumbfounded reaction was that McCain didn't know the difference between Down Syndrome and Autisim.

JerseyNonny

I agree with the comments of "davissally." We cannot expect politicians to be experts in every area. What is important here is that they can bring more awareness to the problems faced by individuals and their parents/educators. How else can you begin getting more support? As a special educator, I'd like to comment that although Down Syndrome and Autism are two very distinguishable disabilities, they do share some of the same challenges such as behavior and communication issues. To criticize McCain for not making the distinction is very petty criticism. It seems it has become the American passtime to first criticize before offering any complements. Did anyone notice that Newsweek only offered a response from an individual that was critical of McCain's comments and did not balance that out with a supportive commentary? I did.

That's why I think it is a joke that Obama is getting a boost from this whole economic crisis. This guy is more slippery than Teflon Don! Nothing sticks! When you have unlimited resources from multi Billionaires like George soros that can buy the media for you, you can get away with murder because nobody will ever know about it! George Soros finally found a candidate that could be bought. A guy with no qualifications but with an excessive ego who actually thinks it's all about him when he is only a pawn in Soro's game to play God with the whole world and shape it to his whim! Do you know how the Obama camp is going to get more votes on election day? His task force is going to go into poor neighborhoods offering cigarettes, money and maybe even drugs to street thugs in exchange for their votes. Colin Powell is talking about his endorsement of Obama because of his "steadiness". When you are confident that the election is bought and payed for of course you are going to be "steady", whatever that means. He does not have to prove himself or do much work like he demonstrated in the last debate!

I am appreciative of any light that is shined on special needs kids and their unique issues. I feel fortunate to have a parent on the ticket who is (or who will become) aware of the challenges that having a child with any issue brings into a home. I am also disheartened by the criticism she is enduring by being a working mom (I assure you we are around enough to watch them develop), and by the fact that her experience with her special kid is only a few months old (believe me, you learn VERY quickly how different your child is). My son has cerebral palsy and I work full time. The special needs issue is one of many reasons I'm supporting McCain/Palin on election day. I am thrilled that McCain isn't afraid to discuss the issue and his failure to delineate between one condition (autism) and another (down's) doesn't concern me in the least, I just appreciate the discussion.

Thank you, Newsweek, for this enlightening article. I, too, was wondering what John McCain was getting at when he injected the quote, "Sarah Palin knows more about special needs children than anyone else." Was he using the fact that her son, Trig, was born with Down syndrome to prove that she is now a "special needs expert?" One has to wonder if Senator McCain has any sense of the complexities and demands of special needs children or whether he was pandering to this constituency. In fact, I have watched this campaign closely since the introduction of Ms. Palin, and the debate of October 15th was the first time Senator McCain raised this purported expertise on Governor Palin's part. As is typical of the McCain rhetoric, this comment belies any sense of understanding and indeed seems somewhat flip. And, last but not least, I will say this, although it is very politically incorrect: Governor Palin has an INFANT with special needs--not a teenager or even an adolescent. This is a critical time in the life of a child, an essential element of the mother-child bonding experience. That she chooses to pursue her ambitions as a politician may seem extraordinary to some, but to me it speaks volumes about her commitment to her special needs child. Sorry!

1 of 2: Let's review an excerpt of what was said during the debate about autism:

In a reference to his running mate Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain said: ???She???ll be my partner. She understands reform. And, by the way, she also understands special-needs families. She understands that autism is on the rise, that we???ve got to find out what???s causing it, and we???ve got to reach out to these families, and help them, and give them the help they need as they raise these very special needs children.???

Replying to McCain, Barack Obama said: ???I think it???s very commendable the work she???s done on behalf of special needs. I agree with that, John. I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we???re going to get serious in terms of research. That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talk about. And if we have an across-the-board spending freeze, we???re not going to be able to do it.???

How can Palin say SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE!?!?!? How arrogant of McCain who has no clue himself.

So out of touch as usual.

I agree with the "davissally" comment. As a special educator, I feel like many of the comments were unfair. You can't expect political candidates to have extensive knowledge on every topic. The important thing here is the fact that they are interested in increasing awareness of the challenges facing all individuals and their parents/educators. Downs kids and autistic kids share some of the behavioral and communication challenges. Criticizing John McCain's failure to discriminate between them, I think, was petty criticism. I think a big problem in America today is everyone's first impulse to criticize, rather than present positive attitudes.

I entirely agree with everything Kristina said. My son is 13 (and on the very high functioning side of the spectrum) and I have expressed almost identical concerns - the apparent equating of Down's Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders really concerned me. The degree to which Governaor Palin is directly concerned with her son's special needs considering all the other demands on her time and resources available to her (especially as he is so young and many of his challenges are yet to be faced) is also something I have wondered about.

There is and never will be any easy answer to the problems of caring for our challenged children. The mandate to to teach and care for the majority will always conflict with our concerns that our children get the chance to reach their ultimate potential - whatever that may be. Balancing the predictable needs of the many neurotypical children with the needs of a relatively few children facing a wide array of challenges is always going to be a difficult and highly emotional issue.

I appreciate the "press". I do not want to see my son's needs and the needs of all the other challenged kids and adults and parents and families become a political issue - an emotionally charged bargaining chip for any campaign, candidate, or party. My child is NOT a photo-op. The timing and context of Senator McCain and Governor Palin's expressions of support make me doubt their genuine understanding of this issue and make their support somewhat dubious, as well.

It seems like McCain is damned if does and damned if he doesn't--constantly. He mentions that he wants to help a certain group of the population (autistic children) and he is criticized for it. After the second debate, a group of college students said they were more likely to vote for Obama because he mentioned that he wanted to help students pay for college and McCain didn't mention anything about it. Why wasn't Obama criticized for just "playing the sympathy card" and pandering for votes from college students? Talk about a double standard!

Listened to the debate and was very confused by the association. All I could figure at the time was that Senator McCain was having a "senior moment", confusing Gov Palin's son's Down's Syndrome with autism.

I am so tired of these self righteous parents thumbing their nose at anyone who isn't a special needs / autism expert. The man said he wants to help and yet he is still criticized! Get off your high horse and realize that most people who do not have personal experience with the issues you deal with on a daily basis are not the enemy. I am sure you have a lot of stress in your life due to the challenges you and your child(ren) face, but stop making those of us with limited exposure feel like we are morons. That is not the way to garner support.

My son Ian is 11 yrs old and coming along nicely. It would have been nice to have this kind of concern 8 FRAKIN YEARS AGO! I don't believe anything any politician says about how much they are 'concerned' about special needs kids. They're all full of hot air.

His call to increase resources for special needs children seems to be in direct conflict to his promise to freeze ALL federal spending if he takes office. Or was he simply referring to MORAL support?

If you hold them accountable your "a left-wing special interest group" expecting them to "spead the wealth".

I applaud Sen. McCain for speaking out about autism. You people should be thankful that autism is in a spotlight. Many other people have different problems. And worse than having a kid with autism. Epileptic kids. Is it mentioned anywhere as much as autism is? I have a son with epilepsy. And i fear for his life every minute. He is a student now and away. I wait for the phone call every day. I don't hear epilepsy mentioned and i would love to. So bringing this into the open is a very good thing. Way to go Senator Mc Cain!!!

I actually sit on both sides of the table when it comes to autism. My son is autistic, and I also teach children with special needs that includes autism. No one knows what it is like to have and raise a special needs child until they are faced with that challenge. Governor Palin is just at the beginning of her journey with a special needs child, and raising a child with Down's Syndrome is very different than raising a child with autism. Down's Syndrome children are viewed more often with sympathy and people loving them and wanting to care for them. If someone sees an autistic child on the street having a melt down, the parent is looked at as being a bad parent, and if they would discipline the child, the child would come out of it.

I know that my child could have been much worse off, and would have if I didn't know what I was dealing with when he was very young. Changing his routine, loud noises, simple things that you and I take for granted are terrifying to children with autism.

I think it is very callous of politicians to use anyone with a disability as a pawn in an election when so much is at stake. They need to run based on their issues and follow through on the issues they stand on. If they are going to use Autism as a card in this election, fine, but they need to follow through on it and see that money is making it down to the classroom level and state level to help pay to educate these children. Politicians need to see to it that insurance companies are forced to pay for services to help all children including developmental delays. If developmental delays were addressed early, then there would be more hope for these children. My own son was not speaking at 2 years of age. I had to pay 700 dollars for a 1 1/2 hour speech therapy evaluation because my insurance said it was a developmental delay. The schools would not have had to spend so much money in therapy if it would have been addressed at two. I could go on....If it brings awareness and funds to those that need it, I say all the more for it, but do not use these children as pawns in a national election.

I wrote a blog titled The Political Pawn of Autism (http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/resilientmom/the-political-pawn-of-15825?ipc=HP0321) There is money in autism these days. Everyone from snake oil salesmen to politicians are getting on to the bandwagon. My response is as follows: "Is this a case of I'll show you mine if you show me yours as we scroll the issues of special needs debates. Are we talking about hypothetics, promises, or real action? My case is simple. We have come full circle. Our children have





become fodder for the political machine, ???party pawns??? if you will. It is our turn to be tenacious and hold our politicians accountable, for our children.