No Excuse for Denigration: Letter to the Lexington Herald-Leader · 2005-08-07 11:44

The July 24 Lexington Herald-Leader featured an extensive profile of University of Kentucky Professor Boyd Haley, UK chemist tilts at autism’s origins. The article describes “his research and propensity for ‘colorful southern sound bites,’” and mentioned The Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens:

Not all parents of autistic children agree with Haley, and hundreds signed a petition against him when it was reported that, in a speech last year at a meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, he referred to autism as “mad child disease.”

Haley’s explanation: The speaker before him, a veterinarian, had gotten everyone’s attention with a report on the one cow that had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Haley said he wondered how much attention would be paid, and money spent on research for, a condition called “Mercury Afflicted Disease of children.”

To my knowledge, Professor Haley hasn’t publicly described autism as “mad child disease” since that fateful day last year. Unfortunately, however, the articles reporting on that speech have continued to proliferate online. Professor Haley’s continued justification of such a degrading characterization of autism and autistic people—in spite of the objections registered by hundreds of concerned citizens from around the world, including many adults on the autistic spectrum—inspired me to submit the following letter to the editors of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

July 25, 2005

To the Editors,

Thanks for mentioning The Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens in your article about Boyd Haley. It now contains 700+ signatures, representing not only parents, but also siblings, extended family, friends, professionals studying autism and caring for autistic individuals, and adults on the autistic spectrum. Professor Haley diminishes this last category of humanity with inaccurate references to autism as a “childhood disease.” In fact, autism is a pervasive, atypical, lifelong pattern of development, and an enduring aspect of the human condition.

The petition gained over 300 signatures after publication of Haley’s responses. He could have admitted that by coining “mad child disease” he exercised very bad judgment, not anticipating the harm that might come from such a “colorful sound bite.” His response was accurately described by one signer, who wrote, “I did not see an apology; I saw nothing but excuse, rationalization and justification.” Now, nine months and hundreds of signatures later, he continues to defend his indulgence in stigma-perpetuating lecture-circuit showmanship. He seems to care less about the impact of his attention-getting techniques upon real people, than about promoting his theories and furthering the legislative agenda of the coalition of parents, litigants, lawyers, professional witnesses, chelation doctors, supplement salesmen, testing laboratories, anti-vaccinationists, and other crusaders with whom he associates.

Whether “mad child disease” was a premeditated acronym or a moment’s inspiration, whether Professor Haley’s concerns might be legitimate or his intentions noble, there is no excuse for his dissemination of degrading terms to describe autistic citizens.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Seidel
neurodiversity.com | honoring the variety of human wiring
http://www.neurodiversity.com

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