WTTW show in Chicago wants Bettelheim mother

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

This request comes from Kennedy, who is the Autism Society of

Illinois' legislative chairperson. He is participating next

Thursday in a taping for WTTW's show " Chicago Tonight " which is

focusing on autism. Guests on the panel that he knows of include

himself, Dr. Ed Cook, and we would assume some other parents. The

show's producer has asked to try and locate a 'Bettelheim

mother' or one whose child would probably be a middle-aged adult by

now, who had gone thru the whole 'Refrigerator Mother' philosophy of

what caused autism in their child.

Dr. Bettelheim, for those of you not familiar with him, was a well-

known physician at University of Chicago many decades ago, who made

popular the theory that the reason some children became autistic was

because their MOTHERS were cold and uncaring toward them, and often

were actually....gasp....working, professional mothers. Obviously

this theory was later de-bunked, but not until a generation of

autistic children were pulled from their homes to go live in Dr.

Bettelheim's private school, away from those nasty mothers who had

caused their autism. And a generation of mothers lived thru the

nightmare of believing their actions (or inactions) were the cause

of their child's disability.

If anyone in this group either knows someone or IS someone who lived

thru this experience, and would be interestd in appearing in next

week's show Chicago Tonight, please contact asap. Call 847-

295-0300 or email him at cmk@.... Thanks!

Laurie