Friday, July 13, 2012

What accommodations will autistic stakeholders suggest?

I just read an interesting post on a blog called harpocrates speaks in which the author criticizes some individuals from the age of autism blog who question the legitimacy of the autistic stakeholders who are public members of the IACC.  This was in response to an individual claiming that autistic people who were dependent on the government for services had no right to refuse a cure should there be one.  This position causes outrage among the neurodiverse autistics who state they would refuse a cure if one is ever found.  This individual was responding to a comparison of wheelchair bound people asking for access rather than a cure.  Left brain right brain blogger and IACC member Matt Carey, who is apparently against curing autism but feels the taxpayers should spend billions of dollars on special education for his offspring as well as other kids,also weighed in

Harpocrates does make a couple of valid points.  There is no cure available and that a number of things the age of autism crowd touts as a cure or at least treatment are likely of questionable value if not outright quackery.

My question is, exactly what accommodations will neurodiversity extremist IACC members Noah Britton and Scott Robertson suggest that is anywhere near analogous to wheelchair access?

One reader, Liv's parents, suggested spending more taxpayer money on living arrangements so low functioning autistics won't bash their parents heads in.  Apparently it's okay for the disabled person to bash a staff member's head on concrete but not their parents' heads. 

In private emailings with Ari Ne'eman, he's suggested vocational training,though has no real proof it would enable the asd person to work in the same manner as wheelchair access would help someone with no or impaired legs get around.  He also suggested eliminating social pleasantry as a hiring criteria in the workplace.  This is certainly not realistic.  ASAN has written on their website that the law requires employers to accommodate persons with autism.  They neglect to mention that the law only requires reasonable accommodations (whatever that means).  The law specifically states that anything that would provide a financial burden to the employer such as having to pay for a job coach out of their own pocket, a proofreader to check for errors, an aide to help control behavior, etc. is something employers don't legally have to provide.  Contrary to what Ne'eman (and by extension likely IACC member Scott Robertson) believe,there is at least one legal precedent that refutes their position.  in one court case, Jakubowsky vs. Christ Hospital, the sixth federal circuit court of appeals ruled that accepting an autistic persons' behavior was not a reasonable accommodation and the claimant lost.  He attempted to appeal to the supreme court, but they refused to hear the case.  So, it would appear there is no way autism could be feasibly accommodated for in the workplace in the same way that giving access to a wheelchair user could.

As far as I know, Ari Ne'eman during his brief tenure as an IACC public member, never suggested any accommodations.  His legacy was of accusing an economist who did a study showing the expense of autism of being a eugenicist.

I realize that Noah Britton and Scott Robertson have been newly appointed to the IACC so in all fairness I should give them time to see if they can suggest any legitimate accommodations for ASDers. that is not an apples versus hurricane comparison to wheelchair users.  There is no evidence that suggests to me that this will be the case--that either Britton or Robertson will have anything constructive to offer.  Noah Britton apparently just wants to compare people who wish to cure their autistic children to the Ku Klux Klan as I've written earlier and that people who wish to cure autism, just want to selectively eliminate autism from the population.  If there are any suggestions a member of the IACC or any other neurodiversity member has for accommodations as an alternative to an nonexistent cure, I'm interested in hearing them and they are welcome to comment in the comments section.   


13 comments:

......I'm Anonymous said...

People are wasting time on accommodations. Accommodations are a luxury for the AS population and its why they think its important. A cure eliminates the need for accommodations.

Socrates said...

The Cure is currently just Resperidone and Abilify - The first step on the road of demanding a cure is simply the widespread prescription of the foul drugs to all autistic kids.

A better future for all said...

"People are wasting time on accommodations. Accommodations are a luxury for the AS population and its why they think its important. A cure eliminates the need for accommodations."

There are a couple of little flies in your ointment. A cure is not coming for a long time even if this is the way to go. Two, even if the cure comes we are not entitled to it. If one can't afford it they will not get it.

If America is a truly a Christain country like it proclaims wouldn't the people provide for those who can't provide for themselves? Huh .....I'm Anonymous.

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/poor.htm

Poor does not only mean lacking in money. America is exactly like Sodom and Gormorah.

John Best said...

I think I can cure Ari Ne'eman. Some military style training should do the trick. Send him to me for a few months. If that doesn't work, I'll drop him at the JRC and see if they can eliminate his aberrant behavior.

Jake Crosby said...

"There is no cure available and that a number of things the age of autism crowd touts as a cure or at least treatment are likely of questionable value if not outright quackery."

Whatever Age of Autism "touts" as a cure or at least treatment is far more safe and effective than anything the FDA has ever approved to treat autism.

Even if autism was untreatable we'd know how to prevent it because we know what made it epidemic - vaccines.

jonathan said...

I wasn't aware there were any FDA approved autism treatments. Not sure i'd want epidemics of measles, pertussis, etcetera either, unless AoA has some idea how to still give vaccines and keep people from becoming autistic. Also, there is the issue of exposing the 99% of children who don't get autism from vaccines to measles, pertussis, etc.

John Best said...

I think the FDA approves of speech therapy and play therapy. Autism Speaks may have also conned them into supporting ABA since they know it can't do anything at all for people with real autism.

AoA supports that stupid diet as a cure which is one reason you know they aren't telling the truth.

It's good for you to get mumps and rubella so you don't get them as an adult.

Vaccines don't cause autism. The mercury that's in them is the cause. The cure is chelation. Energy healing also works, as I've discovered recently.

Jake Crosby said...

@Jonathan:

FDA has approved Abilify and Risperidone to temper specific symptoms of autism, which are not even core symptoms.

Andrew Wakefield has from the beginning endorsed giving the shots for measles, mumps and ruball seperately.

With regards to the current whooping cough epidemic, according to CDC concerning vaccine exemptors:

"However, we don't think those exemptors are driving this current wave."
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/t0719_pertussis_epidemic.html

Jake Crosby said...

*rubella typo

Anonymous said...

Here's a relevant case (Jakubowski v. The Christ Hospital): http://www.ogletreedeakins.com/publications/2010-12-13/plaintiff-must-request-accommodation-allows-him-perform-essential-functions-

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/02/07/prca0207.htm

http://www.kohp.com/News_Stories/Spring11/news_spring11_10.htm

Anonymous said...

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d619181c-6372-4fc5-8e96-13de647641de says

"... In the course of the lawsuit, however, Jakubowski's expert witness proposed a more extensive set of accommodations, including, among other things, assigning an attending physician or a medical faculty member to monitor his interactions with patients..."

If that accommodation had been made, and if I was one of the patients assigned to him and his attending physician, then I'd see that attending physician as my doctor and wonder why a second doctor who can't communicate with patients well was in the room too.

jonathan said...

Anonymous, I've already mentioned Jakubowski v. The Christ Hospital in this post and the previous one. I agree it should have been a no brainer that the accommodations Jakubowski was requesting were unreasonable and the EEOC wasted the taxpayers' money by taking this case to the circuit court of appeal.

This case should be a lesson to ASAN and others who claim accommodations can largely solve our work issues (those of us on the spectrum)

Anonymous said...

"This individual was responding to a comparison of wheelchair bound people asking for access rather than a cure."

This makes the jerks who diagnose themselves with Asperger's or autism to excuse their treating other people badly...

...the equivalent of those people who are perfectly able to walk but want to have a leg or two amputated (like http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=1806125&page=1 ).