Tag: ‘hero’ · TangleBones

So very wrong

As men­tioned over on Left Brain/Right Brain, in the intro­duc­tion to Jenny McCarthy’s new book about rais­ing her autis­tic son, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel says:

“Autism, as I see it, steals the soul from a child; then, if allowed, relent­lessly sucks life’s marrow out of the family mem­bers, one by one..”

…which makes my mind boggle. Let’s be clear who we’re talk­ing about. This is what Dr. Kartzinel thinks a soul­less child looks like:

Has this guy ever met an autis­tic? Jared is the hap­pi­est, fun­ni­est, sweet­est bundle of life and joy that you could ever meet. He’s made every­one around him happy for years. Every kid in his school seems to love him, and when they see him, they run to him shout­ing his name as though they were greet­ing a con­quer­ing hero. This kid isn’t suck­ing life’s marrow from anyone. This kid is too busy relent­lessly making life better for every­one who knows him.

So the next time you hear people like Dr. Kartzinel or par­ents like Jenny McCarthy on tele­vi­sion describ­ing autis­tics and autism, think of these pic­tures. Think of that smile. And then give them the finger.

October 7th, 2007 · Category: Autism, Family · Tags: Autism, autistic son, hero, jared, jenny mccarthy · 9 Comments »