Did seeing Jenny McCarthy on Oprah make you want to read her new book or boycott it?

Question

If you already read her book,your thoughts?

Answer 1

Boycott it...her veiws skew the public's perception of autism.  Her book, as well as the comments I have heard and her article in People, do not present the reality of autism.  Autism has far more in commong with diabetes and ashtma...there is no cure for these, but finding therapies that work can make the symptoms milder and more manageable.  However, unlike diabetes, the majority of children with autism will never become "symptom free" or "free from the world of autism" as Ms. McCarthy states.  She is correct that intense, early intervention is the key..however few families have access to the services or the ability to pay for them privately as she did.  The diet, which has never been proven in scientific studies, does have anecdotal proof of it helping some children on the spectrum...but only about 10% .  I have not heard one word that any of the profits from the book will be going to support autism research or outreach programs.  And the whole Jim Carrey "autism whisperer" comment makes kinds with on the spectrum sound like pets.

Answer 2

Boycott it.  In one way it is great that she is getting the word out there about autism, but in another way she is seriously misleading the public and giving false hope.  And Jim Carrey is the "Autism Whisperer"?  That makes me ill!

Answer 3

read it. I don't think she claims that her son is completely cured but rather he has made vast improvements.

Answer 4

I was SO excited to see there was HOPE for my son I got on line and ordered it!!  I don't know about you, but her enthusiasm was quite contagious!  What did you think?

Answer 5

Read it. It helps to know the enemy. I think she is full of it, and I seriously doubt her son was ever truly autistic. Some kids are misdiagnosed, but no one ever mentions that.

If the diet she put her son on really worked, we would have heard of its ability to "cure" autism long ago; it's nothing new.

Answer 6

read it

Answer 7

Boycott it!! I wouldn't read it if I received it for free. Overall I was disappointed in the show. I do agree with a couple things...one being that early intervention is important and two that "one size doesn't fit all" when it comes to therapies and treatments. Now I did have a big problem with a few other things that was stated by Holly and her. Both of them stated that the cause of autism was the MMR shot and that their kids were "living science" to prove that and was stating it like it was on the behalf of every mother with a child that has autism. WRONG! My son was diagnosed with autism BEFORE his MMR shot. He has had the shot since and he has not changed at all due to the shot.  I have 2 older sons who have had the shot as well and neither of them have autism. That's my "living science". I think is was a big mistake to make that statement. To someone who is not familiar with autism, they made it seem it was the sole cause of autism. Sad part is now mothers are considering not giving the vaccine to their childern because of their statement.  The "one size doesn't fit all" also applies to the cause of autism. No one can pinpoint the cause of autism on anything. There are many theories, but no concrete evidence to support them. With autism there can be many different contributors to the cause.

Another problem I had was they stated you can "pull your child out of autism" & "put them into remission". BS!! Autism is a life long disease. You can do many things to improve the characteristics of autism but it can never ever be cured. Now with the glutin free/ dairy free diets they made it seem as though  that was the cure for autism..yes some have seen improvements in the characterristics of autism..but it does not cure them from it. Once again the "one size doesn't fit all" applies here as well. What may work for one child may not work for another. It's kinda like diabetes...you take the insulin so certain things don't happen like a seizure..but just because you take that insulin to prevent a seizure doesn't mean that you are cured of the diabetes. Same goes with autism..you can do the glutin/dairy free diets; you can do therapies..it may help prevent/improve certain characteristics, but by all means it does not cure them from it and again what works with one child does not always work with another.

I seen another answerer to a question similiar to this that stated Oprah should of done her homework before this show..I have to agree with that. I think overall it was just bad and gave a lot of misconceptions about autism. It was not a realistic outlook on autism at all.

Answer 8

As the parent of a, now adult, with autism I would not buy it. Her son could not have had autism and been cured. I have seen children who have autism gain the ability to speak but it isn't like one day they can not speak and the next have perfect sentences and so on. Children with autism struggle daily with social skills, life skills, and for most life in general. The child probably likes Jim Carey and has shown his personality. As for having autism and being cured, no way. Yes, you can cut red dyes out of the diet as well as gluten and casein but still the autism remains. Red dyes tend to cause extreme hyperactivity.The spectrum is so varied that children can have very mild extremely high functioning autism such as Asperger syndrome to autism so severe that the child will never do anything but rock and maybe even not that much. I did see her on Primetime live or 20/20 one of them and thought she was so full of BS that it wasn't funny.