Just for the sake of clarity and you know, actual facts… Autism is only part of something called Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. ASD also includes ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s, and PDD-NOS, which stands for Pervasive Developmental Delay – Not Otherwise Specified.
Even with a diagnosis of true (or classic) autism, there are varying degrees of functioning and development. Autism was only added to the DSM in 1980, hence a huge increase in diagnoses. (Hard to diagnose something that has no defined diagnostic criteria, I guess.)
Regardless of what some moron thinks, bad parenting does not cause children to flap their hands or line up their toys or spin the wheels on their toy cars or rock back and forth or spin in circles or pound their head against the floor or wall. Bad parenting does not cause children to have uncontrollable tics, or to refuse to make or maintain eye contact.
As EJsGirl said so concisely, nobody wants their kid to have autism or ASD. I would give anything in the world for my son not to have it; I hate it. He can’t talk to me, and he can barely stand to let me hug him, let alone pick him up. He’s a happy kid, but he is locked away in his own little world and doesn’t know how to get out or how to let me in.
But without a diagnosis, he couldn’t receive any services, like speech, occupational, and physical therapy. He would be in a class for mentally retarded students (and was, last year), which is inappropriate for him. He’s quite intelligent, but lacks the interpersonal, social and communication skills that come more naturally to most people.
According to the DSM-IV, there are specific criteria for ADD/ADHD, PDD-NOS, and autism (possibly Asperger’s, also, but I know less about it). I suppose there are some people who disbelieve the DSM-IV, too.
I don’t know who this Savage guy is; when I first read about this, I thought it was that guy who writes some relationship advice column, but it obviously isn’t. Either this clown is a complete idiot, or he’s being deliberately inflammatory and offensive.