Do they call them patients because you have to be, very?

Wouldn’t you hate to be sitting in the patients chair with this man across from you. I would. It’s a scary thought that someone like that can make life and death decisions for his patients. All the more reason to keep kids as far away from the NYU Child Study Center as possible. Attitudes like that are probably common place there.

Mental health professionals are not just NOT required to have an awareness of the impact of their words, they are taught to see the people that they work with as not having a valid view and even worse, that it would be dangerous for us to start believing that we do. They are terrified of us so they will do anything can to do what they see as win the war against their patience. If our voice is heard, they are afraid it will start a revolution, put them out of a job, and this would threaten all of socitey.

“Scare people badly enough, make them feel they need you badly enough, and they’ll come running for your for help I guess.” That’s a great line from your post. It is very rare that the mental health professionals have to take much responsibility for what they do or say on their jobs that hurt the people they work with. When they are put in an new and awkward situation where this responsibilty is being asked of them by the empowered public (that they don’t know and never knew existed) and they will squirm and squawk to do anything to get out of it.

Dunno about that doctor, I think he has a bad case of either 1. Not being able to put himself in someone else’s shoes or 2. Not giving a flying *@#$& how other people feel, as long as he (and his business) come out ahead of the game in the end.

I don’t think ignorance is really the problem here, though, so I’m leaning towards the second explanation.

But hey! at least I didn’t underestimate *his* intelligence, that’s more than he did for us.

Ed, you’re sweet, thank you. Glad to see your blog on the Hub, btw, I always wished you’d join. Good that you did

Hi Morgan…yeah, that quote about the ‘patients’ who should have been ‘people’ really got to me. Sheesh…

Hi Kassianne…I’m good at matching socks, too, it’s just that I hate doing it

I bet a lot of us are ANGRY, it was demeaning for the doctor to trivialize the reaction to ‘hurt feelings’. I wonder if he wouldn’t benefit from sensitivity training.

Oh, but wait, he’s a mental health professional, doesn’t that mean he should have a greater awareness of the effect of his words than the average person?

I can only assume that he DOES, and that he is simply underestimating the intelligence of those who read his words and/or that he is trying to twist the situation into something more trivial than it is.

For someone who doesn’t like writing you sure did a good job.

Fighting ignorance? or propogating it?

My son is not a patient.

My feelings have nothing to do with this.

Autism is not a disease. It is a condition which makes it difficult to communicate with and understand other people. My son is learning how to deal with it.

Dr. K apparently is not.

Mum Is Thinking,
I know you are always thinking. Whenever you are up to sharing what you think, I sure appreciate it. It helps me think and I know it helps others think as well. I really like what you think and what you write.
“How stupid does this man think we are?” I guess he didn’t factor that in. Weather he listens or not, you’re helping to make sure other people listen to what’s really going on. Thanks. Great Post!

That says it all.

Ignorance like that may be hopeless, but here’s a suggestion for what you can do about the socks: Buy hubby plenty of new IDENTICAL black socks for Christmas, and throw away the old ones.