Autistic genius novelist woos the literary world with novel composed using "Facilitated Communication"

[catsmate]

Those are exactly the sentiments of the crusader - I forget his name - who justifies his takedown of disabled people by stating oh it's just poor mothers desperately sorry for their severely disabled kids and I am so desperately sorry for them and it is all very sad but sorry, I refuse to accept the kid is capable of learning. So there.

But that's just his view. Wheeled out like he's an expert and not just some jumped up hack churning out clickbait.

Probably also misogynistic cos you know, Mums.

What is the rambling nonsense supposed to mean.

 

[catsmate]

And the 'technique' was the Ouija board one. But Woody uses his OWN hand so please stop making out he uses that 'technique'.

And his mother supposedly "interprets" his movements, in a way that demonstrably doesn't match where he's pointing or how many times he gestures.

 

[catsmate]

Simply labelling Woody Brown's achievements as FC doesn't make it so. It is just an assumption based on his autism.

No it isn't. This is yet another strawman.

 

[Helen]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

 

[steenkh]

I am pointing out that watching a video produced by a YouTuber with strong views doesn't make those views true.

Which is not relevant, because nobody has claimed that.

 

[catsmate]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

Exactly.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

The onus is on the person making the claim.

That would be the mother.

If you want to prove he's a fraud ...

I don't. I'm already persuaded the guy is not a locked-in savant and his mother is just wishfully making up these communications.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

Indeed. Stephen Hawking, when almost entirely locked in by his condition, managed to communicate perfectly well using the movement which he had to operate a device which composed text and then spoke it. If Woody was able to indicate what he wanted to say then a computer could be trained to interpret his intentions.

 

[Darat]

You're right, displaying the page number is an option on some Kindles (it is on my Paperwhite, it doesn't seem to be on my Kindle keyboard, which just shows percentage read). And, by itself, doesn't indicate how far you've got as I think unless you go to the last page, you don't know how many pages there are.

It also has to be enabled by the publisher.

 

[Darat]

Simply labelling Woody Brown's achievements as FC doesn't make it so. It is just an assumption based on his autism.

No it is based on observing how what he indicates on a floppy letterboard is not what she reports he has indicated.

 

[Darat]

What is the rambling nonsense supposed to mean.

Perhaps it was produced via facilitated communication?

 

[Darat]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

That's the real tragedy behind her using him like a puppet; he has been denied the opportunity to communicate with the world around him at whatever level of communication he is capable of.

 

[Vixen]

Woody went to an ordinary school in which his communication in class and homework was facilitated by his mother, the same for all his lectures at university and all his essays there and for his novel and it is the same for every single textual communication ever claimed to have originated from him. He has not been able to communicate textually via anyone but his mother.

What is the extent of your research in this issue? Do you always take YouTubers' alarmist alerts at face value, in preference to reputable educational institutions with well-established entry requirements?

 

[Vixen]

And his mother supposedly "interprets" his movements, in a way that demonstrably doesn't match where he's pointing or how many times he gestures.

So you saw a YouTube and instantly believed its premise.

 

[Vixen]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

Do you have a citation other than an angry YouTuber that his mother is the only person who has ever communicated with Woody?

 

[Vixen]

Why not teach him a method of communication that works with people other than his mother? If he is as intelligent as Vixen, and possibly his mother, seem to think, that would have been incredibly easy. He is not that old, there were plenty of ways to do that, back when he was a child.

BTW do you understand or not that Woody's autism, means he suffers extreme anxiety in the presence of people including his mother and this is a well-established and well-accepted symptom of an autistic disability? So why are you demanding he must give up his disability -when obviously he CAN'T or he wouldn't be disabled?

What would it take for you to believe Woody is capable of high intellectual achievement given you refuse to accept he has degrees in English and Creative Writing?

 

[Vixen]

Indeed. Stephen Hawking, when almost entirely locked in by his condition, managed to communicate perfectly well using the movement which he had to operate a device which composed text and then spoke it. If Woody was able to indicate what he wanted to say then a computer could be trained to interpret his intentions.

Hawking had a physical condition that developed over time.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Hawking had a physical condition that developed over time.

Irrelevant. He communicated using limited gestures. Woody allegedly does similarly.

 

[Vixen]

No it is based on observing how what he indicates on a floppy letterboard is not what she reports he has indicated.

So claims angry YouTuber scribbling down her own letters as if that's all it takes to understand autism and years of this type of communication.

 

[Helen]

Facilitated communication is all about biased interpretation. That is not an opinion, that is a fact.

And Darat is right; it's a real tragedy that he hasn't been given a chance to learn a method of communication that would allow him to communicate directly with others, and to interact independently with the world around him.

I would accept whatever level of intelligence he has, if he was taught to communicate, without the "facilitation" of his mother.

Hawking had a physical condition that developed over time.

Yes. So why did you bring him up?