This is a common idea, that working life is so much harder and more stressful than school/college, and I'm sure for some people, it is, but for myself, I've never had a job that was nearly as stressful as school was to me.

Well, anyone, autistic or not, is going to be calmer and better able to learn when they aren't sick. If an autistic child is suffering from a physical medical condition, like a food allergy/sensitivity or a vitamin deficiency, of course that should be treated. And it's very likely that as a result of that treatment,…

A hyperbaric chamber may not be a death machine, physically, but what does it do emotionally to that child to grow up knowing that his parents see him as broken and will go to ever-more-extreme lengths to "fix" him?

Their good intentions are irrelevant to the fact that they are causing physical, intellectual, and emotional harm to their children.

True, but pathologizing autistic children and physically and emotionally abusing them in order to "fix" them makes the not-fitting-in problem worse, not better. It's a bit strange that the same people/organizations who perpetuate the most hateful stereotypes claim to worry about their kids' fitting in. Fitting in…

Because they think we're subhuman, literally — that we lack the necessary features of humanity. There's plenty of stigma and hatred and bigotry and oppression against individuals with Down Syndrome too, of course, but the short answer to your question is, because people with Down Syndrome are popularly perceived as…

Autism isn't a disease; it's a neurodevelopmental disability (and yes, genetic). Also, most autistic people are adamant about not wanting to be "cured" in any form. Other than that, I agree with you.

The videos are a good thing, actually. I learned a lot from videos, and they aren't stressful like one-on-one interaction.

You are better off having your kid just be who he or she is regardless.

Please don't. I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but... please don't. I could not disagree more strongly.

Major organizations like Age of Autism and Generation Rescue espouse this belief. That's why they also believe it can be "cured" by elimination diets.

It stems from the (utterly false and baseless) belief that autism is caused by a gastrointestinal disorder. It's the same logic used to justify the (utterly baseless) autism treatments like elimination diets, probiotics, and laxative regimens, but... taken even further.

Exhaustion and mild dissociation. It happens to neurotypical people too, sometimes. They get sick and feverish and they sort of start babbling.

While seriously abusive methods of Pavlovian training are commonly used on autistic children, the purpose of bleach enemas actually isn't a behavior modification method. It's based on the (utterly baseless) idea that autistic cognition is caused by a gastrointestinal disorder. A lot of harmful autism "treatments"…

I don't get the baby-picture-hate. I'm a non-parent who loves my parent-friends' baby pictures. Babies are cute, and if you're not into babies for some reason, they're easy to scroll past. I'd gladly take a wall full of babies over a string of "inspirational" posts, Biblical quotations in pastel scripts…

I don't know about the world, but the sheer number of articles and other media spinning out now on the general theme of "18 year olds aren't real adults" makes me want to get a bunker and hide. I dislike infantilization and paternalism quite intensely.

It definitely would. However, colleges threatening to expel students with disabilities or health issues is sadly common.

I'm not a lawyer. I do know, however, that the only reason parents would have the grounds to make such a case is because the university is assuming a duty of care of their students. Universities should never be assuming that responsibility in the first place.

They shouldn't be in a position to know about it. They have no legal obligation to weigh their students in the first place and set themselves up as arbiters of "healthy" or "unhealthy" weights.

Yes, it's disturbing and medically inaccurate to assume this woman had a medical problem — medical professionals really need to be aware that falling outside the standard BMI range, whether by being "overweight" or "underweight," is not in itself indicative of a medical problem.