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As people already mentioned, the diagnostic criteria is more broad. Back in the day they would have been classified differently.
Also, many have mental retardation AND autism. It used to be that the MR diagnosis was "good enough" but now both are applied. As a parent, which label would you chose to identify your kid with?
I agree with you, however I'm not just comparing "back in the day" to now, but more recent increases. I don't think increases from 10-15 years ago are only due to more diagnoses being called Autism, I do think there are other factors at play that we don't understand yet (I'm thinking along the lines of environmental toxins, pesticides, something in the environment). When I worked in schools with autistic kids 10 years ago, it was a very well known diagnosis, but it still seems like the rates have risen since then. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would bet we will find something environmental that is triggering the disease in certain people.
There are already studies linking ADHD rates to pesticide use as well.
You should see what happens to people with Tourettes, this is nothing compared.
My son has tourettes, we don't go out because other people can't tolerate people with disorders that disrupt them. You can't fly, eat out, go shopping without it being a hassle for others.
This mom might have made a mistake, forgot the food, it happens. She will pay a larger price than a mother of a normal kid because we as a society don't tolerate disruption well, we are so afraid of terrorists and criminals we freak out if someone looks or acts different than the norm. It signals danger, and reaction. Weird person, isle 5, get rid of them pronto!!
This is how I see this mom, worrying because she knows if her daughter does abnormal behavior someone might hog tie her or shoot her because of terrorists. So she begged the flight attendant, tried to let her know what could happen and why it was more urgent than just a brat needing food. You can't make mistakes if your child has a disease seems to be the answer here.
Yes, she should get use to driving and packing food. Schooling at home and hiding from the country because everyone is so afraid of abnormal behavior they will kick you out of life. I would never fly with my son, I would be afraid that his tics would get us kicked off or worse arrested, shot. Not worth it. We drive.
Believe me, we all wish our children came out "normal" and we aren't trying to irritate you by attempting to do normal things. I guess we should know better, we aren't normal, right?
Her biggest mistake, thinking someone else would understand. I try not to make that one.
Next time she should stick her in a wheel chair, society deals better with clear markers of people with a handicap. Look, wheel chair = abnormal safe person. It's ok Charles, they are handicapped, don't stare.
Or better yet, just stay off planes, out of schools, and eat in your car. Because no, the answer is no, people don't understand.
Thanks for sharing that. Many of the posts below show me what you have to deal with every day.
1) Feed the kid during the layover.
2) Bring hot food, or food that the crew could easily heat up, on to the plane for the kid.
3) Kid and mom fly 1st class so that hot food would be available for the kid.
Three perfectly good solutions that were available, and the mother did none of them. Massive fail on the mom's part. This is all 100% her responsibility.
You should see what happens to people with Tourettes, this is nothing compared.
My son has tourettes, we don't go out because other people can't tolerate people with disorders that disrupt them. You can't fly, eat out, go shopping without it being a hassle for others.
This mom might have made a mistake, forgot the food, it happens. She will pay a larger price than a mother of a normal kid because we as a society don't tolerate disruption well, we are so afraid of terrorists and criminals we freak out if someone looks or acts different than the norm. It signals danger, and reaction. Weird person, isle 5, get rid of them pronto!!
This is how I see this mom, worrying because she knows if her daughter does abnormal behavior someone might hog tie her or shoot her because of terrorists. So she begged the flight attendant, tried to let her know what could happen and why it was more urgent than just a brat needing food. You can't make mistakes if your child has a disease seems to be the answer here.
Yes, she should get use to driving and packing food. Schooling at home and hiding from the country because everyone is so afraid of abnormal behavior they will kick you out of life. I would never fly with my son, I would be afraid that his tics would get us kicked off or worse arrested, shot. Not worth it. We drive.
Believe me, we all wish our children came out "normal" and we aren't trying to irritate you by attempting to do normal things. I guess we should know better, we aren't normal, right?
Her biggest mistake, thinking someone else would understand. I try not to make that one.
Next time she should stick her in a wheel chair, society deals better with clear markers of people with a handicap. Look, wheel chair = abnormal safe person. It's ok Charles, they are handicapped, don't stare.
Or better yet, just stay off planes, out of schools, and eat in your car. Because no, the answer is no, people don't understand.
I am sad that this is your experience. I encourage all the families that have special needs children to increase the amount of socialization for their child. Even though it's not a part of the IEPs, i actively foster friendships and basic socialization of my students. All of these children will grow up and be part of the greater community as adults.
I suggest shorter and more frequent public outings to get used to different environments. One mom took her child to the grocery store everyday after school for ten to fifteen minutes. He learned how the store functioned and where items were. She had to start getting only one item, and progressed to filling her cart.
Going to a certain restaurant at the same time once a week can help too. You can even call ahead to pre order
the meal, and streamline the process. Eventually the child can have longer and longer meals. Then you can try a different place that has similar food. Repeated exposure is great.
Having a set group of friends that rotate through a specific day for play dates can help. They know that every Monday a friend will come play for an hour. (This is effective in the kinder, first, and second grade years.) planning games and practicing social interaction can help too.
Planning a trip can be more stressful, and parents do make mistakes. However, if you threaten a flight crew or passengers you will have to leave a plane. It's upsetting for everyone involved and every precaution should be taken by the parents to set the child up for success. It's not fair and it sucks, but that is how it is.
Would it have been easier if the meal was hot and steaming? yes. Would it have been better if the mom had not threatened the staff? Yes. Both had consequences.
She said her daughter Juliette became agitated because she was hungry during a layover in Houston.
I wonder why the mother would not feed her daughter hot food where it was easiest and she had a better selection available with it probably being able to be made as hot as her daughter wanted?
Why was the mother treating this person with a disability so poorly? Does she not understand the special needs this person has?
Also, and I like these:
"Juliette has flown since she was six months," Beegle said in a long account of the incident that she posted to Facebook. "She has been to five countries, 24 states and we have never experienced anything like this."
"Beegle called the incident "a sheer case of ignorance," adding: "Prejudice, ignorance and mistreatment are all too common toward people facing poverty," she added. "The parallels between special needs and poverty are striking in that both are causes for judgement, misunderstanding and mistreatment."
Yeah, because people facing poverty fly to other countries and Disney all the time. LOL
She's a speaker who specializes in speaking about poverty. Big shock that she decides to tie this in with "poverty" when it's apples and oranges. And she's a Dr., so she's either a PhD or a medical doctor. So this woman should know better. And flying her daughter all over the world shows me she knows nothing about true "poverty".
This woman is nothing but a self-centered, entitled elitist. She's flown her daughter in 5 countries, but hasn't quite figured out how to manage the logistics of providing food for her daughter? In all those years she didn't have a routine? I think this was all a self-serving setup to bring "awareness" to her daughters handicap and her poverty lecture series. If it wasn't, then this woman is the dumbest mother to walk the earth.
No. You give 1 person food in a typical plane stuffed to the gills with coach travelers who are already mad at airline for small seats, and the rest will want "their" food too. I completely understand why that flight crew didn't want to do it.
And I can guarantee you that nobody else would be able to purchase a first class meal, no matter how hangry they became. But they wouldn't have threatened the attendants with violence if they were refused.
Of course every parent makes mistakes. However, the parent knew this was an issue before boarding the plane, was not a new flier, had a five hour layover in Houston with access to many restaurants, and she threatened the flight attendants.
In this day and age, if you make a stink on a plane you will leave it.
I have taught about 40 special needs students in my teaching career, and only two have assaulted me. One was autistic and one had ODD. They had to face consequences for the assault and later for threatening to do so again. They learned not to do that and functioned much better.
This child is fifteen and she needs to address any out of control behavior before she becomes an adult. You don't see autistic adults threatening to scratch other passengers or the flight crew.
This may come across as sarcasm but I'm saying this in a nice way.
If you are in a position where you teach autistic children you may want to attend some refresher classes.
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Weird person, isle 5, get rid of them pronto!! 
Because no, the answer is no, people don't understand. 
