Children’s Health Defense #ableist #conspiracy #quack childrenshealthdefense.org
Mattel’s launch this week of its autistic Barbie doll triggered a hot debate among advocates for and parents of autistic people.
Those in favor said the doll may be relatable to a growing number of children. Others accused the toymaker of “normalizing” the autism epidemic.
Polly Tommey, CHD.TV program director, said the doll “doesn’t represent my son with autism or the 12,000 signatures on the bus. Normalizing a condition that is debilitating with lifelong suffering is cruel.”
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., CHD’s chief scientific officer and the father of a severely autistic adult male, called the doll “extremely insulting.”
“Autism is a neuroautoimmune disorder and not a people group,” Hooker said. “Most individuals I know with autism identify at their core with their humanity and uniqueness and not their belonging to some type of ‘marginalized people group.’”
Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., CHD’s senior research scientist, said he had a mixed reaction to the new doll. “Autism is an injury, and an injury is not to be celebrated or normalized. But autism affects children, and all children should be celebrated and included.”
“Autistic Barbie is not designed to portray moderate or severe autism, which accounts for roughly 60% of all autism diagnoses. She does not come with a head-banging helmet nor an adult diaper. When they grow up, there are some cold, hard facts that await people who played with autistic Barbie.”
Dr. Peter McCullough said autistic Barbie “raises complex ethical and sociological concerns.” He said it “blurs critical distinctions between acceptance and indifference” and “can dull urgency for researching underlying causes, removing pressure from regulatory agencies and vaccine developers whose negligence may have contributed to the surge in cases.”
“The timing of this release is revealing,” McCullough wrote. “Instead of confronting potential iatrogenic causes of epidemic level neurodevelopmental disorders, corporations and advocacy networks are reframing autism as a benign form of ‘neurodiversity’ to be celebrated.”
