Radio host attacks autistic children

July 28—During his three-hour radio show on July 16, host Michael Savage claimed that “Autism is a fraud, a racket” and that most children with autistic traits are “brats who haven’t been told to cut out the act.” He specifically blamed mothers, saying that the children “don’t have a father around to tell them” things like, “Don’t sit there screaming and crying, you idiot.” The implication was that special services should not be granted to children designated as autistic.

Delegation at NYC Walk Now for Autism, June 2008. Far left is Sara Catalinotto holding banner. Photo: L. Mateo

Organizations across the U.S. that link autism families, advocates and educators sprang into action. Radio station WOR-NY was picketed on July 21; an online petition, Fire Michael Savage, is near its goal of 10,000 names. Autism United rallied on July 25 on Wall Street and on July 27 at Savage’s base station in San Francisco. Stations throughout three states have dropped Savage’s show, and eight big advertisers have pulled out.

Autism is a brain disorder that affects one in 150 people in the U.S. The exact symptoms and severity vary widely. For instance, some children struggle to speak words while others speak clearly but inappropriately about the social situation at hand.

One common trait is that autistic people can perceive certain everyday sensory input, sensations or changes in routine as intensely as non-autistic (neurotypical) people hear fingernails on a chalkboard, feel being held upside down or react to finding their front door wide open. An autistic child’s screaming is like a fight-or-flight response to these perceptions. Disciplining the child will not change the way he or she is wired.

Children who experience the autism spectrum do respond well to long-term intervention which develops language and social skills, while helping them build tolerance through gradual exposure to challenging situations and stimuli. As these issues are minimized, the ability to succeed in school is maximized.

Behind Savage is a wealthy industry, Talk Radio Network, which subjects 10 million listeners at 350 stations to his tirades. Its CEO, Mark Master, has not disciplined Savage for his inappropriate behavior. In a statement on its website TRN says the “phrasing was inartful” but that Savage means well when taken in context.

TRN extended Savage’s lucrative contract, even though he brought anger upon them before. In August 2007 San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors condemned him in a resolution for his vicious remarks against students on a hunger strike for immigration rights. In November 2007 the Council on American-Islamic Relations convinced some advertisers to boycott Savage after a series of anti-Muslim rants. Savage was fired from MSNBC in July 2003 after wishing death on gay male callers.

He is also vocal against the Obama campaign, saying, “We should vote in blocs against him. ... You know who I mean by we.” In the past Savage belittled the high rates of asthma in the African-American community as a hoax to get “more welfare.”

Savage plays on the natural distrust many people have for the medical establishment and drug companies, but cutting benefits for an autism diagnosis would mean cutting educational therapies, not freeing children from overprescribed drugs. Even if the terminology needs to be refined, that does not mean that the children in question do not need help.

Savage’s hateful “free speech” is subsidized by a corporate class which does not want to be forced to subsidize human needs. It is in their interest to promote the false argument that most social spending is a giveaway to those who don’t deserve it. However, this view loses credibility when applied to learning-disabled children. As Joanna Jaeger of Parents Helping Parents told Newsday, “People are not rushing to join this club because it is so much fun or because you get a big gift bag on your child’s diagnosis.”

Taking time and resources to meet students where they are at and guide them to their potential goes against the capitalist ideal of speedy productivity. Thus the disabled community has enemies in high places. Also, research on the growth of autism is casting suspicion on the prevalence of wireless devices, plastic toys and baby bottles, and childhood vaccines formerly preserved with mercury. The last is the subject of a current class-action suit.

Ruling-class forces prefer to have people divided rather than find out what they have in common (the way autism support networks work) and realize who is really responsible for the crises of recession and war. Savage and other on-the-air hatemongers try to distract the people with scapegoats; this time it may backfire. The sentiment of thousands of parents of autistic children is that Michael Savage is the real brat.

Go to www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/486739008 to sign the petition to fire Michael Savage.