Savage Comments

I live in an area in Illinois that does not carry Michael Savage's syndicated talk show. I consider myself rather fortunate in that regard. I've been hearing the outcries against this shock jock, and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Finally I was able to find a clip of the broadcast, and listened to him spew his offensive opinions about autism. My first instinct was to ignore it. He reminded me of an internet troll, that only tries to stir up trouble to draw attention on themselves. And as a shock jock, that's pretty much his occupation anyway.

But something about his rant was very disturbing to me. It was difficult to dismiss. The more I tried to ignore it, the more it would raise its ugly head in my consciousness. You know that feeling you get when you are driving away from your house, and you start to wonder if you left the stove on? That little fear that builds up in your gut? The Savage rant on autism had that same pending doom feeling for me, that I couldn't quite pinpoint at first.

Then I read an article on About.com, where Lisa Jo Rudy asks, "Can anyone explain why a shock jock can have this much impact on this many people over so much time?' Wonderful question!

After giving this some thought, I realize why I can't let this drop. Common sense tells me, Don't Feed The Troll! That's what they tell you when you encounter an internet troll out to exercise their ability to cyber bully. They say mean and outrageous things to get you riled up, because they feed off of the power they have to get you upset. Don't react, ignore them, and they go away. Don't feed them by reacting, or they won't ever disappear. Don't Feed The Troll. So why am I drawn to react to someone who is so obviously a radio troll?

The answer that first came to mind is that he is voicing what I have been struggling against all along. He is echoing the ignorance and the foolishness I face when I sat there and listened to a teacher inform me that "all he needs is discipline." Or when a principal insisted that "You need to take that boy home and beat the living hell out of him." (Yes, she really said that to me.)

You see, living with Nathan is a gift. He is so different from other kids. He is sweet, and joyful, and giving. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and a unique way of looking at things. He slows us down, and forces us to embrace all elements of our world. He is the light of my life. Autism is not our enemy. I embrace his autism, because Nathan without autism wouldn't be Nathan. I love him exactly as he is. It's living life to its fullest. My life didn't begin until I got married and created a child. (Now, I don't claim my life is easy. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it can be quite challenging. But Nathan is worth it.) And life with Nathan isn't a burden.

What IS a burden is how people react to Nathan. People who don't understand, and stand in judgment. People who shout hateful comments, and see only evil in his differences. People who advocate punishing the autism right out of him.

Those people make my life difficult. They create stress, where no stress existed previously. They fight knowledge about autism, because it doesn't fit their nice and easy response to how to "fix" my child. They suggest drugs, as if there were some magic pill to cure autism, because they expect a drugged child to be easier to deal with. Then they don't have to learn new ways to help my son learn. So even though he is extremely bright, and eager to learn, teachers find him not worth the effort. Daycares would rather send him home, then to give him space when he's feeling overwhelmed. School personnel would rather hold him down in a chair for a half hour, then to give him five minutes or so to collect himself. They would rather tell me that it isn't the autism that is causing my son to melt down, it's just that "laziness" in him that makes him resist. (Funny, he isn't lazy at home.) Oh, and my favorite, that "it's hard to tell when it's the autism we're dealing with, or the boy." As if you can separate the boy from the autism. As if autism doesn't affect the way he IS, the way he acts, the way he functions, the way he thinks... But amazingly, a teacher thinks the autism turns itself on and off, like a switch, and she can tell that it isn't the autism affecting my child, he's just misbehaving.

So what makes the Savage rant so hard to dismiss, is that he embodies all the hate and resistance and stress that we face in our life on the Spectrum. Savage is that teacher, that principal, that daycare provider, that disapproving relative. He is the ignorance. He is the staring and judgmental passer by. He is our frustration. He is what makes life harder. And he's ENCOURAGING his opinion on others.

And for that, I do believe he owes the Autism Community an apology.

I hope very much that the father in Michael Savage's life is still around. And that his father comes forward right now and give him a V8-forehead-thump, and tells him, "Don't be a fool. Don't behave like a fool. Don't sound like an idiot." Because he does. And if his father is no longer around, then I hope an authority figure in his life will come forward and provide that same guidance. Too bad his employer didn't take that step. Somebody certainly should.

To all parents who live with autism, the man is a complete fool. He ought to be ashamed of what he said. I've heard the man has an education, though his radio broadcast certainly belies that fact. Obviously, he has no education in Autism Spectrum Disorders, and he certainly has no right to broadcast to the nation such offensive and hurtful messages about something he has no experience or expertise in. He has embarrassed himself by speaking so horribly about something he knows nothing about. People defend him by saying he has a right to his opinion. Sure he does. But he doesn't have a right to "boldly draw attention" to a problem he is completely ignorant about, in the guise of "helping" the parents of disabled children, in a broadcast to the American public. What's next? Insisting that the paralyzed population is just "lazy?" (Would his employer tolerate his words if he said that? What's the difference?)

One speech was quite laughable, though. The part where he said that autism "is a racket to collect disability payments from the government, from basically poorer families who've found a new -- a new way to -- to be parasites on the government, which is if -- if you want to collect a little money and get free medical care, you want to get the kid to take tests with help where the answers are given to him before he takes it, just say he's got an illness -- ADD, DDD, ASA. To me, there is one disease that they all have; it's called S-T-U-P-I-D. That's the main illness most of these kids have."

Wow, Mr. Savage! You mean all this time there was MONEY to be had, because my child has a disability?? Fascinating. Show me the money! Because I currently receive absolutely no money because my son is autistic. Free insurance? Where?? I have friends in Wisconsin that can't even get dental insurance, let alone prescription insurance, for their child because he is autistic. Please tell us where this free insurance is. I've read that it costs, on average, $70,000 a year more, to raise a child with autism. Considering that many insurance companies won't cover anything related to autism, I know a whole bunch of parents who would gladly accept free insurance if there truly is any to be had. Do tell where we can all find that free insurance! And that free money from the government! Or is it YOU that actually has S-T-U-P-I-D disease?

It's so fascinating to hear that Michael Savage is able to distinguish between autism and fakery. He is able to determine without so much as an exam, what a team of trained professionals has apparently "misdiagnosed." My son must have done some real fakery to pass himself off as autistic to so many people trained in diagnosing autism. Not to mention the half dozen or so autism specialists I've taken him to. Hm, not only must Mr. Savage be exceptionally qualified, to discover what all these specialists have missed, but he must be psychic as well, because he hasn't even examined an autistic child professionally, to make this claim. And boy oh by, my son must be genius, to have fooled so many doctors!

Sigh. Listening to Savage and his savage remarks, just depresses me. It makes me once again afraid of the upcoming school year, because there are a lot of savage-like people in the school district. And now they have a voice on the radio encouraging them on. And encouraging others to feel the same way.

That's the damage that Michael Savage can do. He fires up people by spouting his opinions. But some of the people he fires up, are the people that agree with his ignorant comments. And we're the ones that end up dealing with it. His words were not simply offensive. They were meant to affect the opinions of others. And that will hurt our children. And it will hurt us.

There is a bill stuck right now in the House of Representatives that was written to protect our children. SB 1900, a bill that would require insurance coverage for children with autism. What happens when you have national radio broadcasts that label autism as "fakery" and "a racket"? That autistic children are "misdiagnosed," that the autism epidemic is "bullcrap." What kind of effect will Savage have on that bill? I guess we can only hope that the 8,000,000 listeners that tune into his radio broadcast, aren't as ignorant about autism as Savage is. We can hope that Savage's voice will not influence the public that listens to him. We can hope the Representatives who decide on that bill don't share the Savage viewpoint.

Being a shock jock doesn't mean you can say anything at all, and it's acceptable. It isn't acceptable to broadcast such ignorance about autism because it is irresponsible, and it can hurt families. It can affect public opinion because his listeners could believe it's true, and that public opinion can hurt our children. It can affect the way our children are treated, it can affect how parents are treated, and it can have devastating effects.

If I could say something to Michael Savage, it would be this. "Your dad was right. You need to man up. Be a man and do the right thing. Apologize for what you said. Take responsibility for your actions. You hurt a lot of people. If you had done some personal research, you would realize what a fool you've been. It's wrong to hurt people to gain ratings. It's wrong to judge what you don't know anything about. Now make things right, in the best way you can. Say you were wrong. Say you're sorry. Idiot."