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

[Helen]

Those perpetuating the lue

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

Oh yes it is, very much so - others can understand sign language, and other languages. That is a preposterous statement, Vixen.

 

[Darat]

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.

You are assuming people interacting with you are as ignorant of this as you are. Several of us are not.

 

[Vixen]

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.

I was referring to Stephen Hawking.

Please can you do some research on how autism impacts on people. Woody is NOT 'locked in' like, say, Hawking, he has severe SENSORY issues. For some autistic people, this can mean great fear of going out, being in noisy places, unable to bear certain materials on their skin, avoiding the feeling of water in a shower and great, great shyness. Demanding stop avoiding people and LOOK at them and ANSWER their sceptical mocking questions is cruel and shows a lack of knowledge into the autistic syndrome.

 

[Darat]

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.

A skeptical or scientific approach to the subject of thread would start with the evidence we have - which is that someone who is very fluent in English is saying she is transcribing the text of someone who can only communicate via a letterboard, the proof is up to those that are making that claim - her and her supporters. They do not provide any evidence that she is able to do this, and the evidence that she has provided indicates that she is not transcribing what he points to on the letterboard.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

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?

Once again, nobody is demanding anything, so kindly stop pretending to be outraged that they are. Nobody is determined to deny Woody's abilities. Only his mother is, perhaps without realising it, concealing whatever his real abilities are. You are oddly keen to avoid laying bare the mother's cheating.

You asked what would persuade people that Woody was genuinely communicating through his mother's interpretation. I told you - he could tell her something which she did not know but which can be confirmed. The same sort of test JREF would offer to someone claiming to receive psychic messages. What's wrong with that?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

I was referring to Stephen Hawking.

That seems unlikely in context. What point did you imagine you were making? I already said Hawking communicated perfectly well.

 

[Vixen]

A skeptical or scientific approach to the subject of thread would start with the evidence we have - which is that someone who is very fluent in English is saying she is transcribing the text of someone who can only communicate via a letterboard, the proof is up to those that are making that claim - her and her supporters. They do not provide any evidence that she is able to do this, and the evidence that she has provided indicates that she is not transcribing what he points to on the letterboard.

It's not just her word though, is it? It's the word of his High School that graduated him as satisfactorily educated PLUS UCLA and PLUS Columbia, PLUS Random House Publishing.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

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

Why don't you drop that straw man crap?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

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

"My hovercraft is full of eels."

 

[Darat]

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

Why on earth would I do that? You asked what would convince me of her claim, I would need that level of test to be convinced as the current evidence from various clips shows that she does not transcribe what he spells out.

 

[Vixen]

That seems unlikely in context. What point did you imagine you were making? I already said Hawking communicated perfectly well.

The point being made that someone put Hawking's words into publishable form. It doesn't mean he's not the author.

 

[Helen]

It's not just her word though, is it? It's the word of his High School that graduated him as satisfactorily educated PLUS UCLA and PLUS Columbia, PLUS Random House Publishing.

All based on facilitated communication, which is a scam. It's mulberry bush time, it seems.

 

[Helen]

The point being made that someone put Hawking's words into publishable form. It doesn't mean he's not the author.

He put his words in publishable form all by himself.

 

[Darat]

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?

No one has demanded anything, people have explained what it would take to provide evidence that she is transcribing his words, until such a test did take place we are left with the evidence we have, which is that facilitated communication is not communication by a non-verbal/locked-in person and we have video showing that she does not transcribe what he points at on her letterboard.

.

 

[Vixen]

Why on earth would I do that? You asked what would convince me of her claim, I would need that level of test to be convinced as the current evidence from various clips shows that she does not transcribe what he spells out.

But is she demanding you accept her claim? People are free to be sceptical. It doesn't mean the person on the receiving end of it has to jump through your hoops.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Woody is NOT 'locked in' like, say, Hawking

Woody cannot communicate with anyone (except his mother, claims his mother). Has she made any attempt to show anyone else how to interpret his intentions? If she is lying, then yes he absolutely is locked in. She is acting exactly like somebody who is lying.

Demanding stop avoiding people and LOOK at them and ANSWER their sceptical mocking questions is cruel and shows a lack of knowledge into the autistic syndrome.

"Demanding" "mocking" "cruel" Get a grip. None of that is happening here. Kindly stop pretending it is.

 

[Vixen]

All based on facilitated communication, which is a scam. It's mulberry bush time, it seems.

It's a scam because you read it on Wiki and therefore you believe all disabled people are scammers. Pure dogma.

 

[Darat]

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

It according to her is neither of those things. Her claim is that she transcribes what he points to on her floppy letterboard.

 

[Vixen]

Woody cannot communicate with anyone (except his mother, claims his mother). Has she made any attempt to show anyone else how to interpret his intentions? If she is lying, then yes he absolutely is locked in. She is acting exactly like somebody who is lying.


"Demanding" "mocking" "cruel" Get a grip. None of that is happening here. Kindly stop pretending it is.

Citation please of what you claim his mother claims.

 

[Vixen]

It according to her is neither of those things. Her claim is that she transcribes what he points to on her floppy letterboard.

Sounds reasonable to me.