I don’t normally react to celebrity controversies, but Rosie O’Donnell’s speculation about Barron Trump hit a nerve with me. O’Donnell shared a video including Barron Trump and speculated that he may have autism. She said it because she thought if it were confirmed, then he would be a great face for the “autism epidemic”.
I was angry for 2 reasons:
1) As a mother, I was outraged that she would voice unfounded accusations about someone else’s child.
How many times have we mothers had to deal with people who looked at our kids and immediately diagnosed what was wrong with them? If my older son is not responding when I speak to him, some self-proclaimed expert claims he’s hearing-impaired. News flash: He’s not responding because he’s 12.
Medical experts are still learning about autism. No doctor would diagnose a child by just watching a short video. If a professional needs more information, then why does a lay person think she knows better? Yes, she has a child on the autism spectrum, but that doesn’t magically make her an expert.
My younger son has a tic disorder, but there is no way I would consider myself an expert on tics just because of his diagnosis. I certainly wouldn’t presume another child has the same disorder just by sight.
Since she’s a mother and a celebrity, she should understand the importance of privacy. Given the prior stories about her child’s health and her parenting, she knows what it’s like to be dissected by the media.
It’s not her decision to make for someone else’s child. Medical professionals are limited on what they can and can’t say about people’s health, and they can be prosecuted for improperly sharing information. But uninformed laypeople like Rosie can speculate about health issues without any supporting information.
Would you want people to speculate about your child’s health based on a video? My answer is definitely not. I understand why the Trumps are angry about the public speculation. And if it were true, it’s not Rosie’s place to decide to make it public knowledge – it’s his parents.
2) As a woman with MS, I’m frustrated by people who gauge illness by appearance.
The National MS Society has a pamphlet called “But You Look So Good!” because so many people misjudge health issues based on what they see. So many illnesses have invisible symptoms. You can’t see fatigue. You can’t see depression. You can’t see anxiety. You can’t see bladder or bowel issues. And so on.
Before my mobility issues, there were no physically obvious signs I had a chronic disease. I was diagnosed when I had optic neuritis. No one could see that I was blind in one eye, or see my pain when I moved my eye. For the next decade, my attacks included double vision, vertigo, and depression – nothing visually obvious. The person on the street couldn’t see my MRI’s with the lesions, and they wouldn’t know what they were looking at even if they could. They didn’t see the blood tests, the self-injections, the solumedrol IV’s.
Wrapping up my rant:
• Don’t assume that you can diagnose someone because you think they look sick.
• Don’t assume that someone isn’t sick because you can’t see the symptoms.
• Don’t publicly diagnose someone else based solely on your opinion.
• Don’t violate anyone’s privacy by announcing health information. Leave that to the person or to the child’s parents to determine what should or shouldn’t be public knowledge.
