Blaming mothers for autism: REFRIGERATOR MOTHERS

It is America of the 1950s and 1960s, when a woman's most important contribution to society is generally considered to be her ability to raise happy, well-adjusted children. But for the mother whose child is diagnosed with autism, her life's purpose will soon become a twisted nightmare. Looking for help and support, she encounters instead a medical establishment that pins the blame for her child's bizarre behaviors on her supposedly frigid and detached mothering. Along with a heartbreaking label for her child, she receives a devastating label of her own. She is a "refrigerator mother".
Refrigerator Mothers paints an intimate portrait of an entire generation of mothers, already laden with the challenge of raising profoundly disordered children, who lived for years under the dehumanizing shadow of professionally promoted "mother blame."
Once isolated and unheard, these mothers have emerged with strong, resilient voices to share the details of their personal journeys. Through their poignant stories, Refrigerator Mothers puts a human face on what can happen when authority goes unquestioned and humanity is removed from the search for scientific answers.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Autism
• children
• neurological
• John
• Lennon
• refrigerator
• mother

[TalogaGirl]

Eric Schopler, a psychologist who researched autism and founded a treatment and education program that is now used throuout the world wrote a paper in 1971 entitled "Parents of Psychotic Children as Scapegoats." I have a copy of the paper. It is very good.

[jelinto]

Realizing that the authorities tried to pin responsibility on the mothers, makes me believe, even more than I did before, that autism is the result of a conspiracy.

I don't know if the vaccine theory is true, but I do know something caused rates of autism to skyrocket. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

[GIJOEY777]

At first, I thought this was going to talk about how autism is possibly linked to the mother's genetics. This kind of made me eat my words. I've worked with autistic children and their parents are exceptional people for choosing to love their child no matter what.

[drtgreatwhites]

That 's Old!!

[glasspurse]

This video reminded me of how society and authorities isolates individuals when there is great misunderstanding or something is unknown. What I noticed was that despite this isolation these mothers tapped into an inner strength that lit their way to helping their children. The Refrigerator Mothers is a must see, because you are not alone and yes do follow your intuition.

[NuMom2J]

i've watched this entire documentary in two of my classes and it's very stirring and disturbing at the same time. such strong women and so wrongly jaded by the medical community and what was the authority in their day...this is definitely a documentary everyone should see.