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

[Vixen]

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

Yes and he brought out a book so SOMEONE put his words into publishable form.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

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?

Ridiculous. Nobody is demanding anything. If he was genuinely speaking through gestures a machine could interpret that as his mother currently claims to do.

Once again, it would be convincing if he could communicate something to his mother which she does not already know, such as telling her what was in a picture she had not seen.

 

[Helen]

I am not duscussing the youtube vid, although it seems a fair evaluation to me, I am discussing facilitated communication, which is a pseudoscience, and what belief in it can lead to, in comparison with scientifically evaluated and proven ways of communicating with non-speaking autists, among others.

 

[Darat]

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?

I did not use any of the findings of anyone on Youtube.

 

[Helen]

Yes and he brought out a book so SOMEONE put his words into publishable form.

His mother's words.

 

[Vixen]

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.


Yes. So why did you bring him up?

Woody has not asked for people to patronise him. He has brought out a novel and here's a whole bunch of people saying how very sad for him but he didn't do it himself with no proof whatsoever except prejudice (disguised as pity and concern) because they cannot believe a severely autistic person is intellectually capable of it. But that's not Woody's shame. Good for Woody!

 

[Darat]

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

Why have you not researched this matter prior to forming your conclusions?

 

[Vixen]

His mother's words.

Stephen Hawking's mum transcribed his words into publisher's standards?

 

[Darat]

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?

He appears in public, he appears before cameras a lot, yet his mother always manages to answer the questions he is asked. His anxiety doesn't seem to prevent her using him as a puppet.

 

[Darat]

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

In the end a single twitch of one muscle.

 

[Vixen]

Why have you not researched this matter prior to forming your conclusions?

I am keeping an open mind until I have ALL the information not just a ten minute YouTube video or paragraph from a wiki entry describing someone having their hand moved.

 

[Helen]

Woody has not asked for people to patronise him. He has brought out a novel and here's a whole bunch of people saying how very sad for him but he didn't do it himself with no proof whatsoever except prejudice (disguised as pity and concern) because they cannot believe a severely autistic person is intellectually capable of it. But that's not Woody's shame. Good for Woody!

Woody hasn't asked for anyone not to patronise him either.

 

[Darat]

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?

A simple test, he is asked one thing via headphones at the same time his mother is asked either the same thing or different things via headphones. If the results are always what he heard I would accept that she is transcribing his words.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Yes and he brought out a book so SOMEONE put his words into publishable form.

You're still assuming his mother was writing down Woody's words rather than her own. Why do you assume that?

Consider that Woody may indeed be trying to communicate, at whatever level he is able, but his only outlet is his mother, and what she is doing is ghost writing a novel and pretending it's by him. To the extent that he is indeed locked in, his mother is his jailer.

 

[Helen]

I am keeping an open mind until I have ALL the information not just a ten minute YouTube video or paragraph from a wiki entry describing someone having their hand moved.

So why not gather that information, instead of spouting irrelevant nonsense?

 

[Darat]

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.

No - again I do not form my opinions by what any Youtuber said. I have said this several times perhaps you need someone to facilitate your understanding of what I have posted?

 

[Vixen]

Ridiculous. Nobody is demanding anything. If he was genuinely speaking through gestures a machine could interpret that as his mother currently claims to do.

Once again, it would be convincing if he could communicate something to his mother which she does not already know, such as telling her what was in a picture she had not seen.

These are imaginary criteria demanded by people determined to deny Woody's abilities. Has anyone actually ASKED Woody to participate in your demand he undergoes YOUR tests?

 

[Vixen]

A simple test, he is asked one thing via headphones at the same time his mother is asked either the same thing or different things via headphones. If the results are always what he heard I would accept that she is transcribing his words.

Why don't you contact him and demand he does this for your benefit?

 

[Vixen]

He appears in public, he appears before cameras a lot, yet his mother always manages to answer the questions he is asked. His anxiety doesn't seem to prevent her using him as a puppet.

It's no different from a foreign language interpreter or a sign language expert.

 

[Darat]

Yes and he brought out a book so SOMEONE put his words into publishable form.

Is there any indication that anyone but his mother produced the text of the book?