The promotion
and use of facilitated communication and other pseudoscientific interventions
for developmental disabilities are on the rise in our state and across
the nation.
Parents,
guardians, teachers, treatment centers, and school systems are
being
pressured to use a communication method that the scientific evidence
shows simply does not work. Ignoring the large bodies of accumulated
scientific evidence against the validity of facilitated communication
(FC), autism advocacy and support groups from the local to national
levels describe facilitated communication as an effective intervention
choice and communication system for children with autism. Time
Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, People Magazine, MTV, ABC
News, MSNBC, PBS,
NPR, and many other media outlets have abandoned journalistic standards
to actively sponsor and promote facilitated communication despite
the overwhelming scientific evidence against its effectiveness.
FC promotion
is well-funded and organized. Teens and young adults watched MTV promote
FC in a mini-documentary broadcast as part of its "True Life"
series. A CNN-sponsored movie about FC, "Autism is a World,"
has been distributed without cost to thousands of public libraries.
Children in our schools are being misled that facilitated communication
is a valid communication method via study materials on the CNN website.
The Autism Society of America (ASA) has given awards for the promotion
of FC. The ASA uses its own magazine, Autism Advocate, to promote
FC and FC users. Under the cover of media and popular advocacy, FC
is being used and promoted in schools and colleges, both public and
private, while courses on facilitated communication are returning
to university curricula. The dangers of facilitated communication,
including its widely documented history of generating false accusations
of sexual abuse, are downplayed,denied, or ignored entirely in this
new promotion effort. Thousands of people whose dignity and independence
could be enhanced by real interventions are instead facing a lifetime
of total dependence on others.
Please show
your support for the development and use of scientific interventions
for developmental disabilities and your opposition to the exploitation
of persons with disabilities by the promoters of this ineffective
and dangerous method.
Please read
the BAAM Resolution
on Facilitated Communication, then submit your name to show you support for
scientific treatment of autism and other developmental disabilities.
Please don't forget to confirm your submission by replying to the
email message you will receive.
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