Autism Can End Lives: Wandering and Drowning

Those  who don't believe that autism can be a deadly disorder, who believe that wandering from home and drowning  is not a problem that should be associated with autism, will want to skip reports of yet another death by drowning of an autistic child that wandered from the safety of his home.  This time the drowning occurred in Cushing, Oklahoma. As reported on Oklahoma's Own,  NewsOn6.com the child's death has been ruled accidental after investigation by the Department of Human Services and the State Medical Examiner's Office:

"Death Of Autistic Boy In Cushing Ruled Accidental ... criminal charges will not be filed as a result of the death of 4-year-old Blake Murrell.  Murrell drowned in a pond within Memorial Park in Cushing on April 19. His body was found hours after he was reported missing from the family's home nearby.

The D.A.'s office says a thorough investigation was conducted by the Cushing Police Department, the Department of Human Services and the State Medical Examiner's Office. A statement released by Lee's office states "the evidence gathered does not justify the filing of criminal charges. The evidence indicates this was an unfortunate, tragic accident."

Low Functioning Autistic Persons Remain Invisible on CNN and in the DSM-5's New Autism Spectrum Disorder

Elizabeth Landau, a CNN Health writer/producer, mentions briefly the DSM-5's New Autism Spectrum Disorder, in a report on the organizational changes in the DSM-5 in Psychiatry 'bible' structure overhauled. Ms. Landau's discussion of changes in the DSM autism classification focuses exclusively on the impact the formal inclusion of Asperger's syndrome in Autistic Disorder will have on persons with Asperger's and parents of children with Asperger's.  No mention is made of the impact on that the changed definition of autistic disorder will have on the invisible autistics, those with actual autistic disorder, often low functioning, with intellectual disabilities, who are likely to live their adult lives in some level of residential or institutional care:

"This organizational framework is trying to emphasize that we don’t have strict divisions between disorders," Regier said.



For instance, Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, instead of being its own diagnosis, would now fall under the broader “austism spectrum disorders.” This move has some parents unhappy because "autism" sounds scarier than Asperger's, which has taken on its own identity in that community, and because children with Asperger's have specific educational needs that are different from kids with more severe autism.



But the association has heard from other parents frustrated that their children with Asperger's are denied special education benefits reserved for autism, Regier said. And biologically speaking, Asperger's is a form of autism, doctors say.

CNN, of course, is not unique in excluding mention of those with autistic disorder, particularly those severely affected by autism disorders, while discussing changes to the DSM autism diagnostic category.The process started in 1994 with the DSM-IV. The DSM-IV revision included a de facto inclusion of Asperger's with Autism in the Pervasive Developmental Diosrders.  The new revision completes that process and waters down further the requirements for a diagnosis of autism. 

As previously noted by CDC autism expert Dr.  Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp the DSM-IV definition change, amongst other accomplishments, lowered the rate of persons with autism AND intellectual disabilities ... by expanding the definition of autism to include persons who were by diagnostic definition not intellectually disabled.  Autism's "vast majority" to quote Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp became a large minority.  With the new changes more persons without intellectual disability will be diagnosed as autistic under the watered down definition.  The APA will have taken another large step toward lowering the rates of persons with autism and intellectual disability, not by helping to improve the condition of those persons but by redefining them to a  smaller corner once again. 

It will be easier for APA members, and other health professionals,  to ignore low functioning autistic persons as they become a smaller and smaller percentage of the DSM's New Autism Spectrum Diosorder.  It will  also be  easier for Autism Speaks to continue its feel good "autism" fund raising by promoting  the careers of very high functioning persons with Aspergers, like John Elder Robison and Alex Plank, as the faces of autism when their diagnoses are officially changed from Aspergers to Autism Spectrum Disorder. And it will be easier for Autism Speaks to retain its status as Autism Without Intellectual Disability Speaks.

Meanwhile the vast majority of those currently diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, those who also have intellectual disabilities, those with low functioning autism disorders, will become even more invisible to the public eye. 

You Want Some Autism Awareness? Autism Is A Disorder, Autism Can Restrict Lives, Autism Can End Lives

The site where Adam Benhamama's body was found Tuesday, 

several kilometres downstream from where police believe he 

fell  into  the water  in early April. (Elias Abboud/CBC)

Two incidents in recent days have driven home, once again,  for Canadian parents of autistic children the harsher realities of autism. An autistic boy was banned from  school in Etobicoke because of his autistic challenges even though the school  had not provided autism trained assistants and the body of a young autistic boy, Adam Benhamama, was found and identified after he had been missing for several weeks and, as feared, was found to have drowned.  

News of such events may come as a surprise to many in the public for whom autism is seen as just a different personality type, a misconception created by the rhetoric of the persons, some of whom have no actual autism diagnosis who describe autism as a different, even superior, way of life. In Canada, the misrepresentation of autism disorders is so widespread that even a prominent politician like Conservative heavyweight James Moore has stated publicly that autism is not a disability. 

Autism has not always been the autism of Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman, John Elder Robison or Roy Richard Grinker.  At one time, before the word "autism" became a badge for some very high functioning persons who identified with the word autism, it was known for what it was, a neurological disorder that restricts the lives, can even end the lives, of those who suffer from it.  Like many parents of children severely affected by actual Autistic Disorder, I  have watched in dismay as  successful, high functioning persons have appropriated the label autism and misrepresented it to the public, in the process obscuring the harsh realities endured by those with actual, classic low functioning Autistic Disorder.

A number of years ago we almost lost our  son, diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, assessed with profound developmental delays, when he wandered from our home and crossed busy nearby streets, including the bustling parking lot of a nearby drinking establishment while I was distracted by a business call at home.  I can not mention this incident without giving public thanks to the unknown and caring man who got out of his vehicle and took my son, who was blocking traffic in a nearby street, to a local convenience store where the police were called. The gentleman waited until I arrived before turning abruptly, without identifying himself, and without waiting for a thank you, and left the store.



The intense feelings of that day, the  fear, the guilt, the enormous relief on knowing my son was safe ... the gratitude to his unknown benefactor ... will never leave me.  Nor can I ever buy into the dangerous nonsense peddled by those who build careers for themselves portraying autism as anything but what it is .... a disabling disorder which can restrict and even end lives.  

Autism and the Stigma of Intellectual Disability: Some CDC Facts

CDC:  Intelligence quotient (IQ) of children aged 8 years with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for whom psychometric test data were available,* by site and sex (IQ) score-Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2006

Last week some "autism" blog sites on the internet launched more personal attacks against me for daring to again correct the myth that ALL, or MOST, autistic persons are characterized by high intelligence.  I am not going to respond to the silly comments directly.  I will refer anyone who is interested in the subject and who  wishes to look at autism disorders realistically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site which states that:



"A report published by CDC in 2009, shows that 30-51% (41% on average) of the children who had an ASD also had an Intellectual Disability (intelligence quotient <=70)."

The above information from the CDC is referring to ALL persons with ANY Autism Spectrum Disorder including those with Asperger's Disorder.  By definition Asperger's excludes diagnosis where the person has cognitive impairment.  For classic Autistic Disorder the average number of persons with an Intlellectual Disability or Cognitive  Impairment would obviously be much higher than the 41 % average for all persons with ANY Autism Spectrum Disorder.  

Perpetuating the myth that persons with autism disorders tend to be of high intelligence does not help the vast majority of those with classic Autistic Disorder who have Intellectual Disabilities.  It reflects a desire to disassociate autism from intellectual disability. Autism is seen as good or at least acceptable.  Intellectual Disability is seen as bad.

Perpetuating the myth of autism and high intelligence  stigmatizes those with autism and intellectual disability.