Rod Liddle dismisses dyslexia/ADHD/Coeliacs/ME/asthama etc. etc. as middle-class affectations

[Paleodad]

Has anybody seen this very odd article by Liddle, where he essentially dismisses all the above as "character flaw[s], and one which could be stamped out given the necessary willpower from the parents" and "crutch upon which middle-class parents support themselves" rather than accept their kids are thick or just generally crap.

Very, very odd. I read through the whole thing believing it was a piss-take, but no, he seems to really believe it.

How was this bloke ever an editor of Today.....and how can he be seen as a serious journalist?

In my experience most middle class people would be horrifies at having their child labelled as ADHD as they think it is a reflection on their perceived poor parenting.

All the parents with ADHD kids I know are not middle class. And most have diets high in additives and e numbers. I suspect lots more middle class kids woudl be labelled if they had a similar diet and lifestyle.

I make home cooked meals, Dd's are both g&t and also excel at sports, my eldest has asthma, sometimes its so severe she wakes in the night wheezing because she can't breathe.
I hope Liddl wakes in the night feeling like he's suffocating and can't breathe of course it will all be in his mind and I hope his friends tell him to get over himself it's all in his teeny tiny thick mind.

As for the poor coleac child who attended his childs party, I cannot believe an adult can be so irresponsible and cruel to another child.

He is an arsewipe.

He is also looks spookishly like Miranda Hart.

What a wanker. I will sound the klaxon and let my poor absolutely banjoed immune system know that all is well.

Oh no, wait.

I sort of think he should be treated like all other trolls and ignored.

Have any of you outraged lot actually read the article?

It is obviously completely tongue in cheek, you could even call it a piss-take.

He said the lactose-intolerant coeliac boy he gave a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk to "...was wheezing a bit when he left the party, and hell, might well have died later that day."

To spell it out:

Obviously he never gave any kid this food!

He also says, everywhere: "You and I know this, of course", he is making the reader complicit in this article. As indeed, the average Spectator reader would be a middle class, middle aged Tory, a demographic who is most likely to believe that ADHD, dyslexia and stuff are balderdash.

He is actually slightly mocking his reader.

Spectator articles are amusing (or can be), they are not to be taken too seriously guys.

I am not a fan of Rod Liddle at all, but to take this article serious is a bit like that time Jeremy Clarkson caused outrage with a ridiculous statement he clearly did not mean (can't even remember what it was now).

Got as far as the first two sentences and found 'oh do fuck off' coming out of my mouth.

For starters, that is not what the Durham team are getting at, although they do have form for being deliberately provocative.

but why comment on an article that you refuse to read?
(I don't blame anyone for not wanting to read it!)

Oh, I have read it.

I'm just saying, it was at the second sentence point that the 'do fuck off' came out.

I have had people tell me to my face that my sons dyslexia and asthma' hay fever and excema are simply not real/can be overcome by positive thinking (they seemed very real to his teachers, and paramedics who used to have to come our at night at give him a nebuliser....)
Bottom line is there is no cure for being a cunt.

But seriously, why give these vile people the publicity they crave? If we all ignored them then no one would pay them any money to spout this hateful nonsense.

No use us ignoring them if other people read and listen, though, is there? And people do. He may be a troll, but these are real opinions people hold. There are a lot of people who completely honestly do not understand some of this stuff. Especially with asthma. I remember that awful story about the teacher who told a child having an attack to go away, and the child died.

Ignoring people like this gives them publicity too, just in a different way.

ME is real. I am sure of it. I once had 6 weeks after a very nasty virus of feeling unable to do much. I could just about get downstairs to work. I had huge internal desire to get on with things. I was not remotely depressed. I am 100% sure it was not in the mind. It was a genuine post viral condition and as I eat and sleep well and can look after myself it passed much more quickly than many people. I was lucky but it gave me huge insight into viral conditions like that. It must be so frustrating to have people saying it is in all in the mind when it isn't.

Is the article online?
What a tosser...one to add to the list along with Gove.

Oh, I read it. I couldn't care less if it's tongue in cheek. It isn't funny to joke about and dismiss real problems (dyslexia etc) that make people's lives really difficult or real illnesses that can be life threatening.
Many of these are commonly held opinions, 'Shall we continue with this trope? We are getting into dangerous territory, believe me. Asthma? Doctors these days hand out the inhalers in the manner of a paedo with a bag of lemon bonbons.' for example that have no basis in reality but are bandied around.
30 years ago my mum had a massive battle with doctors to diagnose me as asthmatic they eventually did when I ended up in hospital and nearly died, likewise, 25 years later I had the same issues with DS1 plus a GP who wouldn't test for nut allergies. We didn't get to see an allergy specialist until he was blue-lighted to hospital. He's anaphylactic as it transpires...the idea of one of his friend's parents giving him a 'bread and peanut butter and a glass of milk' in an ignorant attempt to prove a point terrifies me.

He did not really do that, it is all hyperbole

Then why say he did? Other than a pathetic attempt to 'prove' his idiotic little theories. Some people really think like this - nice way to encourage them too . It's not funny and doesn't come across as 'tongue in cheek. It comes across as narrow minded idiocy.

In fact, wasn't there a poster on here a while back who found that a family member (mad aunt? sister?) had tried to feed her child a walnut whip because she thought the nut allergy was attention-seeking nonsense?

There was definitely a set of grandparents who did, yes.

'All the parents with ADHD kids I know are not middle class. And most have diets high in additives and e numbers. I suspect lots more middle class kids would be labelled if they had a similar diet and lifestyle.'

Conditions such as ADHD are bound to be more prevalent in deprived areas because there are negative outcomes for individuals who have ADHD. It can impact on educational outcomes, personal and working life without appropriate support.

I wasn't aware that there was any conclusive evidence that additives and ADHD were linked but would be very interested in reading the research if there is.

DS has ADHD along with his ASD and I'm more middle class than a Boden outlet in Waitrose.

I'm sure the Boden and Waitrose are a great help to you with his ASD. It's well know it's a problem primary-school age kids put on when they just want more of the venison steaks and the organic cotton.

Yes, him chewing the furniture is his middle class way of telling me he wanted quinoa instead of super noodles.

Ahh, you have furniture for him to chew.

You were lucky.