(from Deer's own blog)
This week Toni Lapp interviewed Deer for an article called "Autism in Journalism." Deer dropped that bomb as if it was a throw away comment:
"When I told him I had a unique interest in the issue – as a journalist, and as the mother of son with Asperger’s) Deer seemed genuinely interested and asked after my son’s “special interests.” I told him how Ryan at one time had memorized the terms of U.S. presidents, and he dryly remarked how that is not exactly a skill one can build a career on. And, he told me he thought he had a touch of Asperger’s himself as an adolescent, and probably outgrew it. (Can one outgrow Asperger’s?)"
No... one cannot outgrow Asperger's.
So by admission, Deer began his assault on Wakefield being supported by Pharma (for up to four years from what I can discern) he has continued this assault, claiming not to be paid by pharma, but has done so for years with no visible means of financial support, and now he might have Aspergers?
He has already demonstrated his ignorance on the basics of environmental causation theory in autism, how compromised does he have to be as a source? Good grief.
3 comments:
While I am as shocked at Brian Deer's calumnious, false attacks on Andrew Wakefield as anyone else, I don't think it's fair to say that knowing he has Asperger's syndrome makes him even worse. Most people with Asperger's (including me) are good, responsible people, and having the condition does not necessarily make us suspect as human beings. Deer should be judged entirely on his actions, and not on the forces that may have shaped his character. We are capable enough to exercise free will in what we choose to do, and he has chosen badly.
I don't think one outgrows Aspergers. But one can outgrow Humaness.
I don't think he was formally diagnosed with Asperger's, so your argument that he should disclose it is null. Furthermore, his research stands on his own. One would only expect him to disclose things that lead to a conflict of interest.
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