Disney World Therapy

June 30, 2006 12:57 PM

Thread on Disney World deaths reveals a member's experience with Disney theme parks as creative autism therapy for his son. Pretty cool. More here.
posted by brownpau to MetaFilter-related at 12:57 PM (20 comments total)

And more here.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:01 PM on June 30, 2006

It's interesting.
posted by cellphone at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2006

Thanks for posting this. Made my day.
posted by yerfatma at 1:30 PM on June 30, 2006

Fantastic contribution, Lokheed.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:34 PM on June 30, 2006

A definate sidebar candidate. Really interesting story. Actually, most of that Disney thread is well worth a read.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:06 PM on June 30, 2006

Wasn't this on ask mefi a long time ago? I could have sworn reading someone asking what to do with an autistic relative and someone saying they should take them to Disneyland...
posted by mathowie at 2:11 PM on June 30, 2006

Matt, Lokheed's profile is broken (scroll down...).
posted by matthewr at 2:39 PM on June 30, 2006

Wow, that's neat.
posted by arcticwoman at 2:43 PM on June 30, 2006

Very moving. Thanks.
posted by mattbucher at 2:52 PM on June 30, 2006

Thanks for passing that on. That's great. It makes me sad, too, because my SO had an autistic uncle who died recently and he was also obsessed with Disney. When I met him, I knew to talk to him about the subject and he talked about his wish for a TV show that was half House of Mouse and half singles meeting place town hall. I don't think he ever visited one of the theme parks, but he probably would have been equally overjoyed.

At the funeral, we met the bus driver on a public bus line that he frequented a lot and the driver mentioned that, if Jerry was being too pesky, the easiest way to resolve the issue was to get Jerry engaged with other passengers talking about Disney history and cartoons.
posted by Skwirl at 2:54 PM on June 30, 2006

Thanks, brownpau!
posted by shoepal at 3:39 PM on June 30, 2006

Interesting, I think there might even be posts about this further back than the 2004 one. I am getting a very old deja-vu about this. Interesting content. I find autism quite intriguing.

There's a woman on Epinions who wrote a ton about raising her austistic son (alone). If you're interested, more here.
posted by scarabic at 3:59 PM on June 30, 2006

Thank you for pointing that out, brownpau. Fantastic and educational comments. And thank you Lokheed, for sharing them.
posted by LeeJay at 6:18 PM on June 30, 2006

Yeah, that was awesome. I hope the Disney folks have heard about this and have given Lokheed and his son as many rides with Snow White as they want.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:11 PM on June 30, 2006

Another thanks for highlighting this -- great reading. (And more good wishes for your son, Lokheed!)
posted by scody at 9:33 PM on June 30, 2006

wow
posted by shmegegge at 10:03 PM on June 30, 2006

I have at least 3 autistic cousins - ranging from Aspergers to severely autistic, and seeing the difference in them since they started treatment is incredible.

Indiana is 8 years old now, and was diagnosed at around 97 or so in the autistic spectrum, and, since another cousin of mine had had success with the behavioral therapy, Indiana started on it too, so, for six hours a day, six days a week, he was in therapy. He started kindergarten with a helper, and repeated his prep (first year) at school, but now is able to talk and converse, he can read at the state level for his year at school, he can write, is very good at maths, and is able to perceive unspoken things, such as, that the bad men are coming to do tests on ET, not to kill him.

My aunt has had her kids on a very restrictive diet, which she believes has helped them unbelievably. She also has them on a collection of nutrients, and is "cullating" (sp?) them - getting rid of the poisonous metals in their bodies.

I really have no idea how this kid has gotten so much better when so many others don't, hard work and sheer bloody-mindedness has certainly paid off in this case. But it has certainly been interesting to watch him improve over the years!
posted by jonathanstrange at 11:35 PM on June 30, 2006

She ... is "cullating" (sp?) them - getting rid of the poisonous metals in their bodies.

"Chelating" ... it's chelation therapy. And tell her it's not doing what she thinks it's doing.
posted by frogan at 1:20 AM on July 1, 2006

My Aunt is very closed minded at the moment about these ideas, she's right, everyone who disagrees is in the pay of the drug companies. I have no idea what the truth is, I just know that the changes in her child are remarkable, although seeing her so completely obsessed by these ideas that she hardly talks about anything else is quite difficult.

You can't mention any kind of physical complaint around her, from a headache to period pain to even being quiet and withdrawn without her telling you that you've got mercury poisoning.
posted by jonathanstrange at 5:37 AM on July 1, 2006

Lokheed, thanks for sharing your experiences. They're fascinating and heartwarming. My best wishes to you and your family.

And, brownpau, thanks for posting this in MeTa--I would have missed it otherwise.
posted by yankeefog at 6:32 AM on July 3, 2006