Trans eligibility rules for girls sports.

[kickingandscreaming]

It's nice to see what the media can do when they focus on providing meaningful information instead of promoting ideologies. This is behind a paywall, but it's a great read.

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.

There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.

www.thefp.com

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.
There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.
By Jamie Reed
February 9, 2023

I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.

For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.

The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.

During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.

Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.

<there's a lot more>

 

[kickingandscreaming]

View attachment 15599

After I beat your ass in the pool, I'll see you in the locker room for shower and dress up time. This is freaking insane. I got EOTL calling me a horrible person to children brother. Dude doesn't even want kids to be born but when they do hatch, he only cares for the .02% of the human race. I'm sure were all following along with all the "cards" this avatar plays with.

Hahaha! Why on earth would you EVER care for EOTL's approval? No one could possibly do more harm to the "cause" they support than EOTL does with his "support". He's an angry, talking point parrot in a frenzied state that renders him incapable of critical thinking - the left's version of the Westboro Baptist Church. If he supports something I say, I check what I said carefully. Of course, even the devil mixes truth with lies .

 

[crush]

Hahaha! Why on earth would you EVER care for EOTL's approval? No one could possibly do more harm to the "cause" they support than EOTL does with his "support". He's an angry, talking point parrot in a frenzied state that renders him incapable of critical thinking - the left's version of the Westboro Baptist Church. If he supports something I say, I check what I said carefully. Of course, even the devil mixes truth with lies .

Now you know what kind of Doc I was dealing with. My God, the things our precious daughters have to do to play soccer for our country is insane!

 

[watfly]

It's nice to see what the media can do when they focus on providing meaningful information instead of promoting ideologies. This is behind a paywall, but it's a great read.

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.

There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.

www.thefp.com

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.
There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.
By Jamie Reed
February 9, 2023

I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.

For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.

The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.

During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.

Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.

<there's a lot more>

Exhibit A as to why we need strict protocols. This sounds like they were attempting a social experiment on at-risk kids

 

[MARsSPEED]

More relevant Bill Mahr

 

[watfly]

It's nice to see what the media can do when they focus on providing meaningful information instead of promoting ideologies. This is behind a paywall, but it's a great read.

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.

There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.

www.thefp.com

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.
There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.
By Jamie Reed
February 9, 2023

I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.

For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.

The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.

During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.

Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.

<there's a lot more>

If we've learned anything the last few years, its that a "one-size, fits all" approach to healthcare leads to abject failure. I believe that doctors need to do a better job at evaluating and treating patients as opposed to just treating symptoms. I hate this word, but its seems a "paradigm" shift in healthcare is needed.

 

[crush]

Exhibit A as to why we need strict protocols. This sounds like they were attempting a social experiment on at-risk kids

Now your getting it watty. WHO could possibly be doing social and physical experiments are the kids?

 

[dad4]

a. The question is in the details. If you phrase it as you did I wouldn't be surprised. If you phrase it "do you support an athlete who is xy playing in the female division who underwent the change due to a psychological condition and not to seek an unfair advantage, and adequate steps have been taken to ensure there is no undo advantage". Again, the question of whether we can get to an undo advantage is a scientific one which has not be fully answered yet and may vary from sport to sport.
b. "none of your examples are generally viewed as cheating". Oh come on. When my kid was younger and a kid that was full adult entered into the field, everyone would yell out "hey that's not fair....that kid is probably playing on false papers....check his papers". Whenever my kid stepped onto the field and there was a team that recruited tall athletes that towered over them, same thing. Whenever there was a team that played physical and the ref didn't blow the whistle, same thing. I've seen the same as a ref. We've heard the same on these forums. There are even recorded fights from such play that belie your position. Your statement is just false.
c. So this is now a mob thing? Rule by the majority? Is it the majority in California or the majority in Texas or the majority in the US?
Because we are getting to the point where there will be a different answer in different places. Guess because the majority thought black kids shouldn't play with white kids in some states that was fine, because the majority decided.
d. Yes, the rules will get fixed but not necessarily in the way you like it. In the short term, there's a split between the red and blue states. The blue states will continue to refine protocols and pursue the science with no limitations on youth sports. The red states will outright ban. We'll have an issue where they'll be a competition in the red state and some red state will overstep its bounds and ban a blue state athlete. The feds will then have to step in. Where the feds end up depend in part on what the science says 10 years from now, but it could be separate leagues for some sports and close enough for others.

It’s an NPR poll. They used the liberal phrasing, treating mtf athletes as a subset of females:

“Do you support allowing transgender female student athletes to compete on women’s and girls’ sports teams?”

They still got 63% opposed and 24% in favor.

This isn’t so much about mob rule as people seeing through the crap. FINA already tried your theoretical “adequate steps that ensure there is no undue advantage”. It didn‘t work. Those “adequate steps” do not exist, and FINA got an unfair competition which made a mockery of their sport.

 

[Grace T.]

It’s an NPR poll. They used the liberal phrasing, treating mtf athletes as a subset of females:

“Do you support allowing transgender female student athletes to compete on women’s and girls’ sports teams?”

They still got 63% opposed and 24% in favor.

This isn’t so much about mob rule as people seeing through the crap. FINA already tried your theoretical “adequate steps that ensure there is no undue advantage”. It didn‘t work. Those “adequate steps” do not exist, and FINA got an unfair competition which made a mockery of their sport.

a. That is not a liberal phrasing of it. It does not present the idea of mitigating steps taken.
b. I wasn't the one who proposed a democratic test for whether something is cheating. You did. Supposedly, that means if people view mixing races in sports as cheating, that's cheating, as they would have in the 1960s. Shall we put crush's giving a Red Bull to an under 12 to a vote? HGH? Whether big kids should be allowed to play with smaller kids (I'm gonna love that one)? Let's put up a poll of a picture at 12 of my son's friend with the back injury and a large somewhat overweight prematurely developed 12 year old boy next to him and ask if the public thinks it's "fair". The issue is once you introduce the concept of fairness as something that's cheating, fairness will always be in the eye of the beholder.
c. "crap". And there we have it folks. Just like the Australia/China lockdowns things he ran away from, eventually it comes out what you truly believe. As I've been suggesting, there is a tint of morality to your arguments. Still no thud at the bottom of that well.
d. You know logically because something has been tried doesn't mean: i) it applies to every sport the same way, and ii) the steps taken to balance were inadequate but that doesn't mean any conceivable step is inadequate. Indeed, FINA rejiggered the competition afterwards. Work in progress. Again, they may never get there. You've been invited to present the data and you have nothing. Reason why is the investigation is ongoing. They may get to the point that no accommodation is possible, but that means you get separate leagues with separate scholarships because one does have to be provided if you view this through the lens of something akin to a disability, as opposed to something moral. They are working on it...we just don't know yet and it's o.k. to say we don't know. That's science.
e. For someone who professes a love of science, I swear I have never met someone who is as bad at it as you. Your entire schtick is to warp math and science to support preconceived views that you have. It is in fact the opposite of science. It's the opposite of how the procedure should go. I wonder what that is and where that has come up before?

 

[crush]

a. That is not a liberal phrasing of it. It does not present the idea of mitigating steps taken.
b. I wasn't the one who proposed a democratic test for whether something is cheating. You did. Supposedly, that means if people view mixing races in sports as cheating, that's cheating, as they would have in the 1960s. Shall we put crush's giving a Red Bull to an under 12 to a vote? HGH? Whether big kids should be allowed to play with smaller kids (I'm gonna love that one)? Let's put up a poll of a picture at 12 of my son's friend with the back injury and a large somewhat overweight prematurely developed 12 year old boy next to him and ask if the public thinks it's "fair". The issue is once you introduce the concept of fairness as something that's cheating, fairness will always be in the eye of the beholder.
c. "crap". And there we have it folks. Just like the Australia/China lockdowns things he ran away from, eventually it comes out what you truly believe. As I've been suggesting, there is a tint of morality to your arguments. Still no thud at the bottom of that well.
d. You know logically because something has been tried doesn't mean: i) it applies to every sport the same way, and ii) the steps taken to balance were inadequate but that doesn't mean any conceivable step is inadequate. Indeed, FINA rejiggered the competition afterwards. Work in progress. Again, they may never get there. You've been invited to present the data and you have nothing. Reason why is the investigation is ongoing. They may get to the point that no accommodation is possible, but that means you get separate leagues with separate scholarships because one does have to be provided if you view this through the lens of something akin to a disability, as opposed to something moral. They are working on it...we just don't know yet and it's o.k. to say we don't know. That's science.
e. For someone who professes a love of science, I swear I have never met someone who is as bad at it as you. Your entire schtick is to warp math and science to support preconceived views that you have. It is in fact the opposite of science. It's the opposite of how the procedure should go. I wonder what that is and where that has come up before?

The problem with EVERYONE, is EVERYONE is trying to make their science theories true. Math does not lie and neither does birth. If your lucky to survive birth, you get assigned to be a male or female. That is it in a nutshell whether you like your body or not. I did not create this game of life and it's just how creation set things up. Big bang and wow, a man and a woman to make more humans. Truth is truth and not any science. It is what it is. If my son comes to me when he's 12 and says, "Papa, I want to be a girl." We would talk about the whys and all that. I'm so loving Grace T. At 12, he needs to develop more his brain and thoughts. What did you want to be when you were 12? I know 100% I wanted to play and chase the girls on the playground and then give Pink Bellies and Melvin's to the boys, like SurfFutbol and those who made fun of me in class. I debated my teachers about three things back in the day. I got the first 2 right and just wait until I unleash my flat earth stuff. I always save the best for last.....lol!

 

[Grace T.]

The problem with EVERYONE, is EVERYONE is trying to make their science theories true. Math does not lie and neither does birth. If your lucky to survive birth, you get assigned to be a male or female. That is it in a nutshell whether you like your body or not. I did not create this game of life and it's just how creation set things up. Big bang and wow, a man and a woman to make more humans. Truth is truth and not any science. It is what it is. If my son comes to me when he's 12 and says, "Papa, I want to be a girl." We would talk about the whys and all that. I'm so loving Grace T. At 12, he needs to develop more his brain and thoughts. What did you want to be when you were 12? I know 100% I wanted to play and chase the girls on the playground and then give Pink Bellies and Melvin's to the boys, like SurfFutbol and those who made fun of me in class. I debated my teachers about three things back in the day. I got the first 2 right and just wait until I unleash my flat earth stuff. I always save the best for last.....lol!

What if at age 12 your kid comes to you and says he’s having trouble concentrating and is making a lot of mistakes (both at school and the soccer field) and you take him to the doctor who diagnoses him with adhd. Doc says some ot, talk and alternative therapies may help but recommends a stimulant which is highly addictive and is basically a chemical compound akin to meth?

do you give it to him knowing it’s addictive, knowing it becomes dependence inducing like a crutch and has been shown long term to impact things like brain chemistry and growth?

do you wait until he’s 18 to make that decision?

what if he’s kicked off the soccer team and starts failing in school for being adhd?

what if he grows really depressed and starts considering himself a failure, even after you try the ot and nothing helps?

what if you don’t give it to him and later on in life comes back at you and says you deprived him of a soccer career or academic success and that’s why he’s a failure?

what if he commits suicide because he has come to view himself as a red hot adhd mess?

what if you give it to him, he’s one of those cases that grows drug dependent and he becomes a meth head?

what if you give it to him and he’s one of those cases that is still a red hot mess?

 

[crush]

What if at age 12 your kid comes to you and says he’s having trouble concentrating and is making a lot of mistakes (both at school and the soccer field) and you take him to the doctor who diagnoses him with adhd. Doc says some ot, talk and alternative therapies may help but recommends a stimulant which is highly addictive and is basically a chemical compound akin to meth?

do you give it to him knowing it’s addictive, knowing it becomes dependence inducing like a crutch and has been shown long term to impact things like brain chemistry and growth?

do you wait until he’s 18 to make that decision?

what if he’s kicked off the soccer team and starts failing in school for being adhd?

what if he grows really depressed and starts considering himself a failure, even after you try the ot and nothing helps?

what if you don’t give it to him and later on in life comes back at you and says you deprived him of a soccer career or academic success and that’s why he’s a failure?

what if he commits suicide because he has come to view himself as a red hot adhd mess?

what if you give it to him, he’s one of those cases that grows drug dependent and he becomes a meth head?

what if you give it to him and he’s one of those cases that is still a red hot mess?

First off, ADHD is not about being a male and wanting to be a female. Plus, ADHD kids and adults are now the smartest we have on the planet and giving them drugs to STFU is stupid, abusive and Doc is just making his quota for selling pills. My wife worked for a shrink and all the pill pushers come in every week to bribe the Doc to push their brand of pills. ADHD folks are going to help lead the country and they have superpowers. It's all coming out Grace. I was ADHD before ADHD came out and thank God my mom knew the truth. My dd is as well. Coaches had a hard time with her because they couldn't control her. My teachers tried to brainwash me but they lost the debates with me. They just used their power to suspend me and make my life hell. Their groomers and drug pushers now, if you haven't figured that out yet.

 

[dad4]

What if at age 12 your kid comes to you and says he’s having trouble concentrating and is making a lot of mistakes (both at school and the soccer field) and you take him to the doctor who diagnoses him with adhd. Doc says some ot, talk and alternative therapies may help but recommends a stimulant which is highly addictive and is basically a chemical compound akin to meth?

do you give it to him knowing it’s addictive, knowing it becomes dependence inducing like a crutch and has been shown long term to impact things like brain chemistry and growth?

do you wait until he’s 18 to make that decision?

what if he’s kicked off the soccer team and starts failing in school for being adhd?

what if he grows really depressed and starts considering himself a failure, even after you try the ot and nothing helps?

what if you don’t give it to him and later on in life comes back at you and says you deprived him of a soccer career or academic success and that’s why he’s a failure?

what if he commits suicide because he has come to view himself as a red hot adhd mess?

what if you give it to him, he’s one of those cases that grows drug dependent and he becomes a meth head?

what if you give it to him and he’s one of those cases that is still a red hot mess?

ADHD is an interesting example. Hugely overdiagnosed. The vast majority of these kids are just normal boys. But schools these days have trouble with normal boys, so they want them medicated.

So, no. I probably don't medicate him. But I would wake up early to play some basketball with him and tire him out so he can think.

Not too different from how I view HRT. Medication should be a last resort, not a first.

 

[Grace T.]

First off, ADHD is not about being a male and wanting to be a female. Plus, ADHD kids and adults are now the smartest we have on the planet and giving them drugs to STFU is stupid, abusive and Doc is just making his quota for selling pills. My wife worked for a shrink and all the pill pushers come in every week to bribe the Doc to push their brand of pills. ADHD folks are going to help lead the country and they have superpowers. It's all coming out Grace. I was ADHD before ADHD came out and thank God my mom knew the truth. My dd is as well. Coaches had a hard time with her because they couldn't control her. My teachers tried to brainwash me but they lost the debates with me. They just used their power to suspend me and make my life hell. Their groomers and drug pushers now, if you haven't figured that out yet.

This is why I love Crush. He is so honestly consistent. I love the purity of heart. It's interesting there is a very heated argument in the ADHD community right now which makes this discussion look relatively tame....there are some purists which say never medicate, and there are the orthodox which says that is outright child abuse. The problem, of course, is that it is becoming more widely accepted that ADHD is just a different type of evolutionary brain. When humans were out hunting animals, they needed brains that were adapted to focus on tracking and killing the mammoth but they also needed brains to yell at them "hey watch out for the saber tooth tiger over there". The problem is our society wants people focused on the machine, not what's going on with the factory floor.

Gender dysphoria is not "about being a male and wanting to be female" either. It's about the brain having certain traits which are not male, which causes (like ADHD) severe discomfort in the world we've built, and what is the best way to resolve said discomfort given that there is no cure.

As to everyone else: I submitted into evidence my Exhibit "B": Crush.

 

[Grace T.]

ADHD is an interesting example. Hugely overdiagnosed. The vast majority of these kids are just normal boys. But schools these days have trouble with normal boys, so they want them medicated.

So, no. I probably don't medicate him. But I would wake up early to play some basketball with him and tire him out so he can think.

Not too different from how I view HRT. Medication should be a last resort, not a first.

A lot of the examples I just listed I've actually lived through. I wrote an article for a soccer magazine that was widely read. "wake up early to play some basketball" did not work....it's a misnomer to think that all ADHD is hyperactive....my kids was anxious distracted while I'm hyperfocused obsessive.

I disagree it's hugely overdiagnosed. It's actually hugely underdiagnosed. The issue which is coming to be revealed over the last several years is that, like autism, it's a spectrum, and like autism, it manifests itself in various different ways. Some people can cope. Some people are hugely debilitated. It's less so much a "disorder" (see that word also associated with trans) but a different way of the brain to be, much like crush has pointed out (and again parallels with trans).

I agree medication should be a last resort, not a first. And my favorite "how dare you" example BTW is the 14 year old declaring he wants to go to Annapolis to pursue a career as a naval aviator and finding out he can't because he's been on ADHD meds.

 

[Happened again]

ADHD is an interesting example. Hugely overdiagnosed. The vast majority of these kids are just normal boys. But schools these days have trouble with normal boys, so they want them medicated.

So, no. I probably don't medicate him. But I would wake up early to play some basketball with him and tire him out so he can think.

Not too different from how I view HRT. Medication should be a last resort, not a first.

ADHD is certainly misdiagnosed all the time - to the detriment of the ulittle, usually as a result of of lazy healthcare, culture, and over tired parents. ADHD is on a spectrum...blasting a ulittle with psycho active stimulant is never a good thing...research indicates that over use can lead to parkinsons. Iceland is an interesting case study

 

[Grace T.]

ADHD is certainly misdiagnosed all the time - to the detriment of the ulittle, usually as a result of of lazy healthcare, culture, and over tired parents. ADHD is on a spectrum...blasting a ulittle with psycho active stimulant is never a good thing...research indicates that over use can lead to parkinsons. Iceland is an interesting case study

Because it's on a spectrum, underdiagnosed, not over. Some people are walking around with ADHD complaining about constantly losing their car keys, anxious, and not being able to get on task, and don't realize they have ADHD. It's also more diagnosable in boys because of the hyperactive types, whereas girls (and they've looked at this...there's no physiological brain reason for it to be less prevalent in girls than boys) it goes hidden longer. Where the laziness comes in is that medicine has come to regard pills as a panacea so they rush to it, but it's also the case that nothing else is really effective either other than just it grows less with age.

As to blasting the u little with psycho active stimulant, like the trans issue, there is no good solution. In some cases, that means you accept an inability to perform in school and sports, along the with resulting consequences. Like a trans persons biological sex, unfortunately there is no way to change their brain.

 

[kickingandscreaming]

If we've learned anything the last few years, its that a "one-size, fits all" approach to healthcare leads to abject failure. I believe that doctors need to do a better job at evaluating and treating patients as opposed to just treating symptoms. I hate this word, but its seems a "paradigm" shift in healthcare is needed.

The process that arrived at the "treatment" described in the article has much broader implications. It represents a tragic failure of any reasonable scientific process to validate the treatment - a treatment that is, by any measure, extreme and can cause irreversible damage. It reminded me of the Frontline documentary "Prisoners of Silence" (1993).

--

Prisoners of Silence : PBS Video. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Facilitated communication (FC), a controversial, new technique which is profoundly altering the lives of people with autism and their families. Heralded by...

archive.org

--
Facilitated communication (FC) has been heralded as a breakthrough technique for nonverbal people with autism. The method uses a helper to control the involuntary movements of an autistic person’s hand, allowing that person to type his or her thoughts on a keyboard. Thousands of people have begun using FC, often to communicate major life decisions like the desire to go to college or to move to a new home. But many scientists reject FC as simply not real and believe that it is the facilitator who is unknowingly controlling the hand of the autistic individual. FRONTLINE presents a comprehensive investigation of this controversial technique, interviewing the leaders of the FC movement, scientists, facilitators, and parents of autistic children and raises tough questions about the implications of its use for people with autism and their families.
--

Quick Summary: The facilitated communication was easily debunked with a simple double-blind test. Not a big deal if done early. However, Syracuse University started a Facilitated Communication Institute (now known as the Institute of Communication and Inclusion). Also, a father was put in jail on charges of sexual abuse of his autistic child based on the child's "testimony" through a facilitator. The documentary indicated the father was not supportive of the therapy and didn't believe it was useful. The facilitator made sure to extract a pound of flesh for his offense.

Interestingly, I found an article from the Atlantic (July 2016 - link follows) when I searched for the "Prisoners of Silence". It discusses and shows a video Apple showed in April 2016 as part of Autism Awareness Month. The autistic child was on an iPad application that allowed him to communicate ... with the assistance of a "communication partner". WTF? It's informative to read. They include an interview with the individual who provided the testimony in 1993 that wrongly put the father in jail, and she discusses her thought process at the time. It gives insight into how the human mind "works" when it wants so badly to help. It comes from a good place. She wasn't an evil person, but the results were evil. I can't help but think those promoting gender-affirming surgery for minors suffer from the same human condition as the facilitator. I believe it is a human condition, and none of us are immune to it. In high-leverage situations, this condition can have irreversible, catastrophic outcomes on the lives of innocent people. In the case of gender-affirming surgery on minors, it's our children. There's a good reason that the saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions", has been around for so long.

Why Hasn't a Controversial Method for Autism Communication Disappeared?

A technique that claims to help people with the condition express themselves with the help of a "facilitator" was scientifically disproven in the '90s.

www.theatlantic.com

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After the allegations were found unproven, and the case dismissed, Boynton was confronted with what she had communicated to authorities. “When I saw some of the stuff I wrote [alleging sexual abuse by the student’s father],” during the student’s interview with investigators, “I didn’t even realize what I’d written at the time,” Boyton said, describing the communication she had facilitated for the student. She now believes that FC is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a rationalization to resolve any cognitive dissonance such as what she experienced when participating in the police interrogation. “You don’t remember, you’re disconnected,” said Boynton as she described her thoughts during the investigative interview—an experience that she said draws parallels with the psychological concept of dissociation.

None of the training or materials Boynton had received in her FC certification course discussed the danger of how the facilitator’s goals or desires could influence the process. “There was an expectation to not doubt the authenticity of the person’s voice,” she said. “We were taught these individuals were so oppressed that we weren’t supposed to doubt their communication; if we doubted FC, we’re doubting the person.”

The expectation of validity, combined with the facilitator’s desire to do good, may be the secret to FC’s longevity, and illustrates the danger it poses. This psychological construction—Boynton likened it to an author creating a dialogue between characters or imagining a conversation with someone you know well—can have disastrous consequences, not just for the nonverbal individual’s own voice, but also for the people around them
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[crush]

ADHD is an interesting example. Hugely overdiagnosed. The vast majority of these kids are just normal boys. But schools these days have trouble with normal boys, so they want them medicated.

So, no. I probably don't medicate him. But I would wake up early to play some basketball with him and tire him out so he can think.

Not too different from how I view HRT. Medication should be a last resort, not a first.

My 6th grade teacher figured me out early on Dad. I got extra play time to run off my adrenaline. "crush, go take your run around the playground and be back in 10 minutes." It worked all year and I was good little boy. I was "high" all day and could not sit still all day in prison chair. I hated most of it except the sports and my good pals I made.

 

[crush]

This is why I love Crush. He is so honestly consistent. I love the purity of heart. It's interesting there is a very heated argument in the ADHD community right now which makes this discussion look relatively tame....there are some purists which say never medicate, and there are the orthodox which says that is outright child abuse. The problem, of course, is that it is becoming more widely accepted that ADHD is just a different type of evolutionary brain. When humans were out hunting animals, they needed brains that were adapted to focus on tracking and killing the mammoth but they also needed brains to yell at them "hey watch out for the saber tooth tiger over there". The problem is our society wants people focused on the machine, not what's going on with the factory floor.

Gender dysphoria is not "about being a male and wanting to be female" either. It's about the brain having certain traits which are not male, which causes (like ADHD) severe discomfort in the world we've built, and what is the best way to resolve said discomfort given that there is no cure.

As to everyone else: I submitted into evidence my Exhibit "B": Crush.

Lia is not a good example of this gender dysphoria. I met some men your talking about and they are not a Lia, trust me Grace.