You may have been aware of PETA’s ad campaign (well, at least a billboard) that claimed milk causes autism.
Here is the comment I left on PETA’s blog today, under the entry where they bemoan the fact that the outcry from the autistic advocacy community managed to get the billboard removed. My comment on their blog hasn’t been approved yet, but I’m going to assume PETA will let me have my say.
[The removal of your billboard] is a good thing. The campaign, though probably well meant, was not thought out completely. It was based on one shabby little study that saw some autistic children get “better” after cutting down their milk intake and then concluded that the milk must be the cause of their autism.
It’s amazing that those doing the study managed to miss the overwhelming evidence that autism is a genetic occurance. I can only hope they take a moment to read up before they do any more make-shift experiments on children.
Autistic children tend to be more sensitive to some things than non-autistic children. So, if there is a sensitivity to casein, for instance, the autistic child may show the symptoms - and improvements - more dramatically than the non-autistic child. This doesn’t mean autism has ANY relationship to the milk. It just means you can’t draw scientific conclusions about the affects of milk by trying to determine if the autistic child seems to feel better without it.
If you want to try your anti-dairy campaign again, you can make a good case that some children (autistic AND non-autistic) are sensitive to milk. You canNOT make the case that milk makes children autistic. Genetics does that long before children start drinking cow milk.
How about: “If you have an autistic child, and they happen to be sensitive to casein, then you may see a dramatic improvement in their digestive health if you stop giving them dairy products. They may be a lot happier as a result. It might be a good idea if you see if your NON-autistic child improves, too.”
Doesn’t have the same punch, I know. But it isn’t false and misleading, at least.
I’m going to assume that PETA did not deliberately decide to use autistic children to frighten people. That would show a truly unexpected heartlessness. I will also assume PETA would prefer not to be thought of as intentionally cruel - even to young humans.
As an autistic, and father to autistics, I appreciate any amount of time you dedicate to reconsidering this kind of message in the future.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about autistic children, or adults, feel free to contact me.
Jeff Gitchel
Autistic Self Advocacy Network - Iowa
jeff@perseveration.org
http://perseveration.org
Great letter, Jeff. Do you mind if I post it on the ASAN Virginia sites? I like how you offered a constructive solution.
Thanks, Paula.
You’re welcome to use anything you find here, though I see PETA didn’t post my comment. Oh, well. So it goes.
Jeff,
I oversee PETA’s online marketing department and stumbled across your blog. I looked into why your comment might not have been posted on our blog, The PETA Files. The person who coordinates our blog, including its comments, doesn’t recall not approving it. Our only guess as to why we didn’t approve it is that perhaps your comment went to the junk filter and was missed. It is our policy to post comments that don’t agree with us so long as they are written tastefully (similarly we won’t post comments from supporters that are mean-spirited).
- Joel Bartlett
Assistant Director of Marketing
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
501 Front Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
http://www.PETA.org
Joel
Thanks for the comment.
Those things happen, I guess. Blogging can be tricky sometimes. :-)
Jeff
[…] Perseveration.org tried to post a comment to the PETA blog, but it didn’t appear. The comment was very good, and Perseveration.org posted it here. […]
On a related note, one thing that personally bothered me about PETA’s whole campaign is that there seemed to be a conflation of autistic behaviors with actual autism.
Put me in a crowded, noisy, rambunctious bar and my autistic behaviors are sure to increase. Does this mean that being in a loud bar makes me more autistic? Hardly!