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

[Pixel42]

Kindle informed me I had read 12% of the book after barely half hour's reading. So I am expecting it to be short.

You do know that if you tap the bottom left hand corner of your Kindle it cycles through several pieces of information, one of which is 'Time left in book'?

 

[arthwollipot]

Isaac Newton is thought to have been autistic - had no friends, rarely spoke.

Get ◊◊◊◊◊◊. I am autistic.

 

[Darat]

Yeah, doesn't mean she's right.

Did you see the clips of the mother and son using a letter board?

 

[Vixen]

Again, autism is a spectrum. I find it very strange that you don't understand this - whether Newton was autistic or not has nothing to do with facilitated communication.

And the youtuber, if that is what you want to call her in an effort to denigrate her, very obviously knows far more about autism than you.

I had better return my degree then.

 

[Vixen]

She's pointing out that the letters pointed to don't correspond, either specifically or in number, to the supposed letters his mother is claiming he's signing.
Give it up, it's at best wishful thinking.

Look, the YouTuber saying "Oh look, he only tapped X times but she's spelt out a word with X numbers. So she is writing off years of practice in communication. It is hardly proof of anything.

Imagine you have lost your voice owing to some infection and you feel too weak to do anything but lie there. A friend comes along and offers to write an urgent message you needed to send, so she or he holds up an enlarged keyboard for you to point to. Within days it becomes apparent you don't need to spell out every 'the', 'and', 'or', 'at' or 'but'. Why waste time and effort? If you've ever learnt shorthand or written minutes for a meeting, would it be reasonable for an indignant YouTuber to complain you haven't spelt it out in full and therefore your friend or you are a pair of scammers?

 

[Vixen]

Did you see the clips of the mother and son using a letter board?

Yes, and he was using his own arm, hand and finger. It is very rapid. Something he has been doing with her since he was a kid. He speaks four languages so he clearly has intellectual faculties.

 

[Helen]

Look, the YouTuber saying "Oh look, he only tapped X times but she's spelt out a word with X numbers. So she is writing off years of practice in communication. It is hardly proof of anything.

Imagine you have lost your voice owing to some infection and you feel too weak to do anything but lie there. A friend comes along and offers to write an urgent message you needed to send, so she or he holds up an enlarged keyboard for you to point to. Within days it becomes apparent you don't need to spell out every 'the', 'and', 'or', 'at' or 'but'. Why waste time and effort? If you've ever learnt shorthand or written minutes for a meeting, would it be reasonable for an indignant YouTuber to complain you haven't spelt it out in full and therefore your friend or you are a pair of scammers?

FC is a scam, and nothing in your post has anything to do with Woody Brown.

Your lack of knowledge about autism is very apparent.

 

[Vixen]

You do know that if you tap the bottom left hand corner of your Kindle it cycles through several pieces of information, one of which is 'Time left in book'?

Yes, it informed me at the start it was a three hour something minutes read.

 

[Vixen]

FC is a scam, and nothing in your post has anything to do with Woody Brown.

Your lack of knowledge about autism is very apparent.

It might well be true FC is pseudoscience and a scam but it doesn't follow that because Woody communicates via an intermediary that that is what is happening here.

 

[Darat]

Yes, and he was using his own arm, hand and finger. It is very rapid. Something he has been doing with her since he was a kid. He speaks four languages so he clearly has intellectual faculties.

That you are so easily fooled explains your earlier comment: I am trying to understand how he got accepted by Columbia.

 

[catsmate]

Look, the YouTuber saying "Oh look, he only tapped X times but she's spelt out a word with X numbers. So she is writing off years of practice in communication. It is hardly proof of anything.

 

[catsmate]

FC is a scam, and nothing in your post has anything to do with Woody Brown.

Exactly

Your lack of knowledge about autism is very apparent.

And deeply insulting.

 

[Olmstead]

Imagine you have lost your voice owing to some infection and you feel too weak to do anything but lie there. A friend comes along and offers to write an urgent message you needed to send, so she or he holds up an enlarged keyboard for you to point to.

I imagine spelling "Bring computer keyboard dimwit".

 

[Helen]

It might well be true FC is pseudoscience and a scam but it doesn't follow that because Woody communicates via an intermediary that that is what is happening here.

Yes, it does. If fc is a scam, which it is, and they use it to "communicate", which they do, then that is what is happening here.

What is not happening, and this is tragic, is working with real communication methods, to allow Woody to express his needs and thoughts, as far as it is possible for him.

 

[Vixen]

That you are so easily fooled explains your earlier comment: I am trying to understand how he got accepted by Columbia.

...if he is as intellectually challenged as is being claimed. He speaks four languages including Hungarian. You try learning Hungarian. The YouTuber thinks because Woody's autism is severe, he must be a hopeless case, but autism isn't brain damage, it is a neurological syndrome.

 

[Vixen]

Yes, it does. If fc is a scam, which it is, and they use it to "communicate", which they do, then that is what is happening here.

What is not happening, and this is tragic, is working with real communication methods, to allow Woody to express his needs and thoughts, as far as it is possible for him.

Yes it might be a scam if telepathy is being claimed but it is not in this case.

 

[Vixen]

I imagine spelling "Bring computer keyboard dimwit".

Woody AIUI is in a constant state of extreme high anxiety, which he alleviates by watching up to four screens at once of loud animations.

 

[Vixen]

Yes, it does. If fc is a scam, which it is, and they use it to "communicate", which they do, then that is what is happening here.

What is not happening, and this is tragic, is working with real communication methods, to allow Woody to express his needs and thoughts, as far as it is possible for him.

No it has not been proven to be a scam. That is just the opinion of a YouTuber who probably thinks being severely disabled means you're a vegetable.

 

[Darat]

N

...if he is as intellectually challenged as is being claimed. He speaks four languages including Hungarian. You try learning Hungarian. The YouTuber thinks because Woody's autism is severe, he must be a hopeless case, but autism isn't brain damage, it is a neurological syndrome.

I'm not going from what the YouTube video said, I can see for myself from the interview clip that the mother is supplying the answer.

Plus of course the video creator is very careful to not make the argument you strawman her with.

 

[Helen]

No it has not been proven to be a scam. That is just the opinion of a YouTuber who probably thinks being severely disabled means you're a vegetable.

Yes it has. Read up on facilitated communication, you are woefully ill-informed. Start with wiki, for instance (I linked to it above), and mayfollow a few of the links. Seek out specialist opinions via ASHA, or any ofta the similar organisations in Europe.

No one is saying Woody is a vegetable (a word I would not use about any human, btw). But  he is not speaking through his mother, so we do not know anything about his intellectual capabilities. That is why a reliable method of communication should be used. Not FC. Never FC. And the communication method should not be something that he can only ever use with one other person. Do you really not see how inherently unreliable such a method is?