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 and other
disabilities. Time
Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, People Magazine, MTV, MSNBC, ABC
News, 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 Dan Marino Foundation
has sponsored public service announcements featuring FC. 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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Thank you for
supporting science in autism treatment.
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Once verified, your name and other information will be listed
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BAAM. It is a voluntary show of support for scientific treatment
of autism and other developmental disabilities. Listing as a signatory is a voluntary
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