Spotlight on Autism

Autism, once unknown to most Americans, is now a media sensation, attracting the attention of celebrities and politicians alike. Last week, GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain shined a national spotlight on the brain-development disorder while answering a question about his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, during the final presidential debate. Palin, whose son, Trig, has Down syndrome, "understands special-needs families," said McCain. "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. She understands that better than almost any American that I know."

But McCain's comments and his Palin pick have not been viewed positively by everyone in the autism community. His discussion of autism has even backfired among some parents who believe he is pandering for their vote. NEWSWEEK's Claudia Kalb talked to Kristina Chew, an assistant professor of classics at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J. Chew writes a blog called AutsimVox. Her son, Charlie, 11, has autism. Excerpts:

What did you think of Senator McCain's debate comments?
Kristina Chew: Very puzzling. It seemed that he was conflating autism and Down syndrome. Certainly, parents of kids with autism and Down syndrome have tons of overlap in our concerns, but they're very different conditions. I found that troubling. And the comments he made about autism, they seem to betray a lack of knowledge or understanding about the kinds of things that autistic children need. It almost seemed to be a rhetorical statement. To be really cynical, it's as if he's playing a sympathy card. He's sentimentalizing the children, but not looking at how we can help them, how we can teach them, how we can make things better.

But Palin does have a special-needs child.
His statement that Sarah Palin understands the challenges better than anyone else, I thought that was very unfortunate for him to say. It's just incredibly presumptive. I don't think we really have a sense yet of how Palin understands special-needs children.

Why not?
I think every parent of a special-needs child, we all want to feel that we're experts, that we all do know better about our child. But I think in reality often we don't. What I knew about autism when Charlie was an infant, a toddler, is nothing like what I know about it now. We're all looking for answers, for solutions, for better therapies and schools for our children.

What do you need? And would Senator McCain's plan to institute an across-the-board spending freeze affect the autism community?
Every family with special-needs children feels like they need more support and services. They need another aide in their child's classroom, they need more therapy for early intervention, they need sick care, after-school care. I know my own son costs our school district a great deal more than a typical child. Any kind of spending freeze is either going to cancel out the creation of new services or make it harder for a school district to keep on providing the things it has been providing.