It all started with some remarks about
autism comedian Denis Leary has made in his new book, entitled Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide To Staying
Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid. In a paragraph of the book, Lary writes: “There
is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive
dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can't compete
academically, so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks…to get back
diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I
don't give a s--- what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you—yer kid is not
autistic. He's just stupid. Or lazy. Or both.”
The Autism Society of America reacted to
Lary’s comments and said it was “ridiculous” for the comedian to suggest that doctors
and parents are conspiring to falsely diagnose autism in children. The Boston comedian writes
that autism diagnoses “help explain away the deficiencies of (parents’) junior
morons” and blames the disorder on “inattentive mothers.”
The Boston
comedian’s comments have also upset many parents of autistic children. His
comments are disturbing because they play on stereotypes, just like the similar
remarks made by radio host Michael Savage, who said that the disease is the
result of incompetent or absent parents and it is being over-diagnosed. Savage
has not apologized, claiming his words were taking out of context.
Denis Leary did the same; yesterday, he
released a statement claiming his comments were taken out of context. He said
that the chapter about autism deals with adults who wish they could
self-diagnose themselves with the disease in an attempt to explain their “failed
careers and troublesome progeny.”
According to medical experts, autism is
actually under-diagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.
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