DENIS Leary should brace himself for hate mail from the parents of
kids diagnosed with autism.
In his new book, "Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat,
Loud, Lazy and Stupid," the joke-slinging "Rescue Me" star writes
about the brain disorder:
"There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers
and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids
can't compete academically, so they throw money into the happy laps
of shrinks . . . to get back diagnoses that help explain away the
deficiencies of their junior morons. I don't give a what
these crackerjack whack jobs tell you - yer kid is NOT autistic. He's
just stupid. Or lazy. Or both."
The Autism Society of America responded: "For Mr. Leary to suggest
that families or doctors conspire to falsely diagnose autism is
ridiculous . . . remarks reflect the same misconceptions of
autism being caused by bad or unemotional parenting that were held
over 50 years ago."