A series of catastrophic failures Media Watch - Autism in the news This post discusses verbal abuse. If this may upset you, please don't read further. Gregg Wallace, the former MasterChef presenter, has been let go from the show after 50 new allegations were reported on the BBC website on July 8. Out of 83 …
Continue reading MasterChef Controversy: Autism and Accountability
Media Watch I'm autistic, psychologists say,So I can't be a poet today?I've taken the timeTo compose a rhymeSo, what do you think, RFK? I shouldn't have to write this. The myth that there is a link between vaccines and autism has been thoroughly debunked. There is no connection between vaccination and autism. None at all. …
Continue reading Understanding Autism: Misinformation vs. Reality
MEDIA WATCH From mid-April in the USA comes a story of 19-year-old autistic identical twins who couldn't be more different. Both are autistic, both have the same DNA, both look similar and are of similar height. There the similarity ends: Sam Fetters is at college, wants to double major in history and political science, and …
Continue reading Debunking Autism Myths: The Case of Identical Twins
Autistic people are being held back in job interviews. According to an item on BBC News yesterday, 28th February 2024, ambiguous questions in interviews and on application forms are partly to blame for the low employment rates of autistic people. Only 30% of autistic people are in work, it says, compared with 53.6% of all …
MEDIA WATCH There are more of us than you thought Is there an autism epidemic? Some say so, but the opinion of experts in the autism field is that it is not so. There is no evidence that there are any more autistic people as a proportion of society, but changes in diagnostic criteria, a …
MEDIA WATCH Dyslexia should be considered a difference, not a disorder says a new report from Cambridge University. Dyslexia - source Wikipedia Commons Please note this post is about dyslexia, and while there is no evidence that it could apply to to autistics as well, there is absolutely zero evidence so far that it could …
Continue reading Neurodivergence may not be a disability say scientists
MEDIA WATCH More bad news I'm afraid, again about how badly autistic people are treated in society. Sky News has reported that a 12 year old autistic girl, Semina Halliwell, took her own life shortly after being interviewd by Merseyside Police. Semina Halliwell, who had autism, alleged she was raped by an older boy who …
MEDIA WATCH Autism is in the news again and it isn't good. It rarely is. Yesterday, 18th February 2022, a couple were jailed for 6 years each for keeping their son locked in a filthy attic. Matthew Langley, 22, who has learning difficulties and suffers from irritable bowel syndrome, double-incontinence and arthritis, was found severely …
Media Watch First the bad news: A story has hit the media in the last few weeks which is bad news for autistic people. Tony Hickmott The BBC has been able to overturn a reporting ban on reporting that an autistic man, Tony Hickmott, has been kept in an institution without anything to stimulate him …
Continue reading A bad news story and a positive spin on autism
Making an ass of myself 