The following letter was written to "Big Brother" (the TV 'reality' show) on behalf of the Autism community. Peronally *I* find offense at the letter. Ummmm People, WORDS DON'T HURT!!!! And if that is the WORST thing that you've been called (and no one was really ever "called" this) well, then - consider yourself blessed.
Do I care for the word? NO. But it's a WORD. Not a sword. People who "get it" are going to understand - no matter what the word da jur' is. And people who are ignorant will prob remain that way. We want so much tollerence for our chilren - well, to get you MUST give. Having someone fired and the show taken off the air (not that we ALL wouldn't benifit from some "de-programing of a LOT of things on TV) will NOT make your child better. It will NOT find funding for research, it will NOT teach others about it.
Lord, will we EVER get over ourselves??????
Laurie writes:
I hope this is ok with everyone, I did this on the fly this morning because I'm on the run today. Someone had sent me this A-Champ online letter writing link and so I sent one in on behalf of ACC. I figured we would pretty much all agree that having someone on national television refer to a person with ASD as a 'retard' was unacceptable. Here's the form letter, I didn't take the time to customize it, this was what the A-Champ folks put together and it went to several CBS execs and producers of the show:Laurie Jerue3104 Treesdale CourtNaperville, IL 60564-4609February 19, 2008Sumner RedstoneRe: Demand an apology from CBSDear Mr. Redstone:We are writing to express our dismay and disgust at comments that were made by Adam Jasinski during the broadcast of "Big Brother" program. In episode 2, Jasinsiki describes his plans to open a hair styling business catering to people with autism who he refers to as "retards."Just as we are confident that CBS would not tolerate the use derogatory epithets regarding race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation we hope that the use of derogatory terms for people with disabilities in also unacceptable in your programming.We believe Jasinski's should be terminated immediately, and we believe that the show should be cancelled. Further, we expect an apology to people with autism, developmental disabilities and their families from Jasinski, Big Brother, CBS and National Amusements. While Jasinski's displayed gross ignorance, the producers of the show chose to use his comments to forward the show's storyline. This displays a conscious choice on their part to demean and hurt a large group of people to further their own commercial goals.While a large number of people with autism do have mental retardation, a very large portion do not and they are perfectly capable of understanding that they have been denigrated in an extremely demeaning way by a program broadcast for profit by CBS.Family members of people with autism, especially parents, are constantly challenged by the great deal of misinformation surrounding autism. Broadcasts such as Big Brother makes caring for a family member with autism all that more difficult.It is appropriate I believe to note that the Holocaust began with the extermination of developmentally disabled children in a secret program called Aktion T-4. The techniques, organization and personnel for Aktion T-4 went directly to run the extermination camps at Treblinka, Sobibor and others. All extermination campaigns begin with the de-humanization of the target group. And referring to developmental disabled people and people with autism as "retards" indeed fails to recognize the humanity of people with these disorders.Sincerely,Laurie Jerue, President, Autism Community Connection, a 600+ member parent support group in Naperville Illinois__._,_.___
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