I had an interview last week with an organization called the Minnesota Autism Center. It was for a position of Behavior Therapist.

The front of their brochure has a picture of a beautiful little boy staring at the camera�

�the caption reads, �Science driven by compassion will lead to new understandings in our efforts to treat autism��OK�I�ll buy that.

But then inside I read this under their guiding principles,

��by preventing and eliminating the signs and symptoms of autism through structured behavioral intervention.�

Ok�I don�t get that. Take away the signs and symptoms of autism and the kid is still�autistic. He won�t look autistic (or should I say �as autistic�) anymore. But he will still think and feel like a child with autism. But hey he�ll fit in and society will accept him so that�s all that matters, right?

That�s such a mega load of bullshit! It�s like saying if you take someone out of their wheelchair and put them in a regular chair then they aren�t handicapped anymore. That�s just obnoxious. It maybe more comfortable for everyone else but not necessarily for the person with the handicap. God forbid someone be different. Being different really puts everyone else out and must be stopped for the good of society!

When I asked during the interview how many hours of therapy each child receives a week they were vague. I told them I have heard stories of kids �working� 10 hours a day to �cure� their autism. I told Mr. Ph.D in Human Development that I thought that was child abuse. I told him and the HR lady that I thought children should be allowed to be children regardless of whether they had autism or not. They both stared at me with vague looks on their faces. Mr. Ph.D said the therapy sessions are 2 -3 hours in length. He failed to mention that the child has 3 sessions a day. They apparently think children should work. They recommend 40 hours a week. And by children I mean little kids, ages roughly 2 - 5 years old.

Their guiding principles also state, �We are committed to ethically sound practices that respect the children with whom we work and the dignity of their families.� I am not sure I believe that. I don�t think making a 3 year old �work� 40 hours a week to look more normal is ethical.

Don�t get me wrong�I believe we need to study autism and work on developing new ways of �treating it� (a term I despise�I have told more than one person that having autism is not like having the flu�you don�t get better!) but I believe more strongly that the autism community needs to spent more time and money learning to accept the reality that is autism. They need to focus their efforts on educating society about Autism Spectrum Disorders and less time trying to hide it. They need to stop trying to �recover� their kids from autism and stop thinking about who they shoulda/coulda/woulda been and love them for who they are�a child with autism not an autistic child.