I know. I've read all the threads and I agree. Abbie would not be able to complete even a nonverbal intelligence test. I don't know, how much worse her parents have made it with their behaviour though. I do think that Abbie is smarter than some people here give her credit for. In my opinion she has just given up to effectively communicate as their reaction is often unprdictable.I agree with everything you say, the only thing is most of us on here think her main disability is IDD and he just won’t a admit it.
I focused on autism, because this is still the narrative that the channel pushes. I tried not to comment on Abbies behavior that much, it was more about A using autism and his stupid conclusions based on that. He wanted to look good and knowledgable, when he just isn't (and can't be bothered to learn). And I absolutely hate that he uses everything Abbie does as "Autism-am-I-right?"
It always takes time to come to terms about diasabilities. All of them (speaking from experience here as I have another acquired disability). It is basically a grieving process for everyone involved. I constantly talk to parents who try to come to terms with a diagnosis and you are right, the reactions aren't necessarily rational. Anger, resentment, guilt, relief - I've seen it all (and I began to work there less than than three years ago) And that is perfectly fine. As long as there is some development.I can't recall ever hearing them say IDD specifically, but it does not bother me personally. I understand the point some people are trying to make about it, in that their emphasis on autism 99.99% of the time could be considered misleading in multiple, potentially very significant ways. I can think of a truckload of reasons to cut them some slack about the issue, not the least of which is that an IDD diagnosis can be particularly painful to parents (even moreso than autism). The Wee Family have a video where they discuss their daughter's intellectual disability diagnosis (linked here), which shows some of the heartbreak and denial such parents can experience. I know that there are some people here who have special needs children and they are okay with criticizing the way the Maasses present information about their family, but personally I would never criticize the parents of an IDD child for not talking about their child's issues in the way I would prefer.
I honestly believe that people who have no experience with the process of having their child evaluated for or diagnosed with delays have no business criticizing the way the Maasses present the information. If you haven't been through it (or anything even remotely close to it), you simply do not understand. You cannot possibly understand. I have a daughter who has been evaluated multiple times, though never formally diagnosed. (Ultimately she'll almost certainly be placed somewhere "on the spectrum," though it does not so far meet clear criteria for any particular diagnosis.) This has been a source of the most intense and drawn out pain of my entire life by a wide margin. My reaction to this challenge is not rational or logical, and it is not my choice--it is like a primal, biological thing born from the attachment I have for her as well as my own emotional/mental shortcomings. My reaction is nothing like the reaction I would have deemed appropriate when I lacked first-hand experience. If anybody wanted to criticize the way I choose to share information about her, I honestly would tell them to go screw themselves. If my daughter ever receives a diagnosis, I will share it in exactly the way I feel is best for her.
Personally I think the absence of regular references to IDD is nothing more than the product of the Maasses finding the topic painful and potentially being in denial, wanting to believe that there is more to Abbie than can be categorized with tests. These explanations reflect perfectly normal and healthy parenting (whether it's ultimately imperfect or not, helpful for the public or not.)
In case some of you are not aware, it is not unprecedented that a person might be viewed as hopelessly impaired only for it to later be discovered that the person was merely imparied in ways which prevented them from making their full potential immediately and clearly obvious. The movie My Left Foot shows this extremely well.
The thing with the Maasses is their dishonesty. They pretend that they are at peace with who Abbie is and that it is all sunshine and unicorns when they are not. They never worked through their issues, it is just pushed aside. Ultimately at Abbies cost.
Also, they can't openly talk about the whole scope of their daughterss diasbilities, but they can open an entire Youtube channel and talk about that one aspect they find acceptable. And not only that, but they pretend to be some kind of experts or spokespeople and Abbie to be the 'poster girl' for autism. That is just bullshit.
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