July 2, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Can you imagine having this said to you?
“One family I met took their child to the doctor and the doctor said: ‘If he was a dog you would put him down.’”
As quoted in the February 7 Campbelltown-McArthur Advertiser (Australia).
[...] is a thoughtful call (though some of the references to autism are more than puzzling, as noted here) for the Department of Defense to provide adequate (at the least) services and treatments for [...]
[...] Not a Nice Thing to Say A doctor says “‘If he was a dog you would put him down’”—what the???? [...]
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I have had this said to me more than once, the first time by a Doctor.
That’s a horrible thing to say and I would be pained and shocked to hear it. I am so sorry that anyone thought it was acceptable to be so callous to you Casdok.
Ugh…I think most veterinarians are more sensitive than that.
Such a comment might be met with father’s heel to doctor’s kneecap.
That is a really terrible thing to say, much less think. What’s even more awful is if they find a way to pin down a semi-accurate way of telling a pregnant mother that her child will be born autistic, then she will have the option of terminating the pregnancy based solely on this, just as in so many of the down syndrome pregnancies.
If someone said that to me, I just might say the exact same thing regarding the doctor to their superior, and indicate that said doctor is, in fact, a canine.
As a physician, I can’t believe a fellow physician could say that and ever look themselves in the face again! I am outraged!
Casdok, I hope you reported that doctor to the medical board! That is something that I think should be done, hold them accountable. At the very least force them to take sensitivity classes and force them to be taught about disabilities. If I were in the UK, I would help you make a stink about that statement!
Kassianne, please don’t disparage canines! They are far superior to any person who would say such a thing! ;0)
Sarah, I do believe you are right! My vets have actually made donations when my animals died! They would never say such a thing!
Er, in the mirror, sorry for the typo in my haste and outrage! :0)
That’s horrible.
My sister once told me that (some one in the family) said that the reason my boys have autism is that I should have never gotten together with my husband, they are my “punishment.” I can’t decide who is worse, the person who said this first, or my sister for telling me especially since she seemed to agree.
I have had a few really stupid comments thrown my way, but that one, esp. from a medical professional (shakes head). I think that would justify a letter to the medical board.
wow. I don’t know if I could scrape my jaw off the ground fast enough… I’d probably start my reply with something to the effect of “Speaking of dogs, doctor…
woof.
on the subject of comments that need at least a second look, this from the Driscoll/O’Hanlon article on The Pentagon and Autism:
glad to be the mother of one very human, very lovely boy.
“Humanness” has so many different meanings and connotations. Hitler was “inhuman” in many many ways, but I think people still believe he was human. People who behave in ways that are barbaric or cruel are considered “inhuman,” even though these behaviors are widespread among the species, and those who do them still have “humanness.” To say that someone has been deprived of humanness implies that they are reduced to a state of being non-human, i.e., just another animal, a brute, a dumb beast. The implications of human superiority over other species are disturbing enough, but let’s consider what “being human” means. What is humanness?
What are specifically “human” qualities? Highly social or organized societies? No. See dolphins and other cetaceans, elephants, dogs. Big brains? No, see aforementioned marine mammals and Proboscidea, and studies of corvids indicate that size may not matter so much, anyway. Tool use? Nope, lots of other animals do that, and some better than our younger species representatives (see corvids again). Bipedalism? No. A recent study has found that orangutans, at least among primates, employ it, and certainly “nonhuman” ancestors were thought to have done so. Spoken and/or functional language? Maybe, although see studies of certain Psittaciforme birds that engage in it, and of course, the famous sign-using apes.
So, what is “humanness,” and how does one know when it has been taken away? I think to answer the latter part of that question, we’d have to have an answer to the first part, and we can’t. In sum, that was a stupid thing to say. There is no “humanness” per se that autism “takes away.” Autism or not, we are all still human and legitimate members of the human family, and I think that is a point that people like this quotee completely miss.
Actually, if we could find an alternative for “burdens of the state”, a phrase that for me carries all kinds of psychological in implying uselessness unless a full-fledged card-carrying taxpayer, and historical baggage, that would suit me.
Have blogged and quoted your article. This is more than unacceptable, but I just don’t have words for it other than to say that these physicians are bullies in white coats.
In a society that anthromorphizes almost any animal that has any degree of human-like behavior, to discuss an absence of “humanness” in those with autism seems very odd.
I wish I could say I can’t believe a doctor would say that….but I do believe it. What an awful, awful thing to say. Not to mention ignorant and inaccurate.
Does not surprise me. I wish so much that it did. We have had terrible things said to us as well. Some I will not even repeat. Sigh.
I knew I had seen something like this before–
“I tell you, I would rather she got Polio than Autism. At least her mind would be in tact. At least she could talk to me, experience life with me. No offense, but some of the stories you send me about these kids? Well, if they were horses, they’d be put down just to ease their misery. What parent can watch that, or live with that? What child deserves that?”
From the physician brother of a writer at Age of Autism. It’s in a post called The Family Doctor. The writer is crowing about how she changed her brother’s mind about vaccines causing autism–mainly by relating horror stories about terrible, soulless children. Some doctors may be getting this idea from parents of children with autism. Scary.
Seems like this may be a truly horrible cliche in the making.
In the same line of thinking—Michelle Dawson quotes a man who says that “‘Autism is worse than cancer.’”
Myself, as a high-functioning person with Asperger’s I find this statement totally revolting and despicable. I also have mild C.P., severe myopia, asthma, joint problems and was born with a hole in my heart and Hepatitis C from the heart surgery transfusion. I sure wouldn’t want to be put down. I recently had a doctor who said I didn’t have Asperger’s that I’m schizophrenic. How about that as an insult! Based on lack of eye contact and not much facial expresion!
I am 55 years of a age, and was, in recent months, diagnosed as having Aspergers. Before that, and in 1998, I was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy. At the time, I was working for a large aircraft manufacturer, as I am an FAA-certificed aviation maintenance technician.
It was at that time, I was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy. I was in another hangar, when my co-workers, one of which acted as a witness for my journal of discrminatory treatment: The supervisor bragged that he was a “neo-nazi” admirer of Adolph Hitler, and told my co-workers that “people like me,” and he even said my name, should be “exterminated,” before we foul this planet with our inferior genes.” Then he suddenly realized that what he said was discriminatory, illegal, and might be reported. So he went on to say, “If anyone goes to management and tells them what I just said to you, I will write you up for insubordination.” A comment just as discriminatory as the previous one because he threatened to retaliate against anyone who would take my side in the issue and report his statement. He had nothing to worry about. The Human Resources director, a bigoted jerk, passed around the rumor that I was “retarded,” and a slow learner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of it was mixed with sex discrimination because I proved that I was good at setting up new aircraft engines for mixture and idle, and that the chief pilot told my co-workers, almost all males, that he did not have to redo my work, but he DID have to redo their work, therefore the “punishment” for outperforming the men in a traditional male career, was defamation.
I did end up suing the company for disability discrimination. I could not find an attorney who would help me with my case since most ADA cases end up getting thrown out of court just because the plaintiff has a disability, and bigotry is RAMPANT in the so-called justice system. I went as a pro se litigant after having studied paralegal, and ironically finishing a two-year paralegal course in 8 months with an A-average. So much for being a slow learner. The aircraft manufacturer’s attorney threatened me several times, telling me that I have no rights as a pro se litigant, and that I cannot even choose the sight for my deposition, which I knew was BS, and I told her. She told me that I was to go to the deposition at the site of the aircraft manufacturer, and bring NO one, not even so much as an off-duty law-enforcement officer to protect me. The way she was talking, I was afraid foul play was being planned, and I informed the court. By the way, according to the judge, I proved the merit of my case, but allowed the aircraft manufacturer to settle out of court to save my own life. If I didn’t, they would have been able to force me into a deposition at the aircraft manufacturer’s site, and I would probably have been never seen nor heard from again, another Karen Silkwood. I had blatant evidence, and kept good records, including a journal I kept at home. At work, I just memorized places, times, statements, and witnesses, and wrote myself notes in code so I could copy them into my journal at home. One time, a supervisor went through my toolbox, looking for my journal. When a part of my toolbox was returned to me, I went right out and told him that I knew he was ordered to look for my journal, I let them know I was keeping so it would tempt the aircraft company to do something they would regret short of murdering me on the job. I told him I keep the journal at home, so if they want it that badly, they have to break and enter. I was so fed up with the bigoted sobs at that factory, I was trying to tempt them to do something they would sorely regret. I still feel that I was within my rights. That is not even the worst I have ever been treated by an employer because of my disability. If a person with a disability has a strong ability in something, it seems particularly threatening to nondisabled people, because it violates their ideal of disability and actual capability, and their idea of their own self-conceited sense of superiority.