Dr Oz: Real Housewife Jacqueline Laurita
Dr Oz was celebrating mothers everywhere with a special Mother’s Day episode. His audience was filled with mothers and daughters, and he explained that he was going to welcome another courageous mother to his show. Real Housewives star Jacqueline Laurita is on a mission to protect her autistic son from bullying. Jacqueline came across a shocking cruel Facebook post that read “Why do people give birth to autistic kids? Waste of society’s resources.”
The post hit especially close to home for Jacqueline because her youngest son Nicholas was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old. He’s now 5 years old and he’s come a long way with the help of diet and therapy.
Dr Oz: Jacqueline Laurita Defending Autistic Son
Jacqueline Laurita joined Dr Oz to talk about coming to the defense of her autistic son against bullies. (walkadog / flickr)
Jacqueline joined Dr Oz and said anytime a parent sees their child hurting or struggling, they hurt as well. She said people need to understand that kids with autism face many challenges every single day, and every day they work really hard to overcome those challenges. The last thing they need is for someone to make mean spirited comments because they don’t understand differences of others.
When Jacqueline first saw the post, she was incredibly angry and couldn’t believe someone could be so cruel. She said she felt sad because there are people out there like that, that her son is going to have to face some day.
Dr Oz: Letter To Autism Bullies
Dr Oz said the big thing is that Jacqueline actually did something about it. She wrote a letter, and it’s a letter that is getting a lot of attention. Jacqueline shared part of that letter with Dr Oz. “Why do people give birth to autistic kids? Let me educate you. There is no medical detection or prenatal test to tell you that your child will be born with autism. Even if I had known about my son’s autism prior to his birth, I still would have chosen to give him life. I went through five miscarriages to finally give birth to what I consider my miracle child. I couldn’t wait to hold him in my arms, look him in the eyes, and love him forever. He is worth every resource that will help bring out the best individual he can be. He is worth every skill we can teach him so that we may make his life a little easier in the future.”
Jacqueline said one in 68 children is diagnosed with autism today and that number is rapidly growing. She said these children cannot control the way their brain is functioning. She said instead of bullying, try to have some compassion. If you don’t understand something, educate yourself. She said, “If you’re not going to help, at least don’t hurt.”
Dr Oz: Cyber-Bullying & Understanding Autism
Dr Oz explained that the Facebook post was deleted shortly after it first appeared. After doing some digging, Dr Oz and his team believe they found the woman who posted it. They didn’t want to give her name because she claims her account was hacked and the post was made by someone else. She said, “I do not have any dislike of people with disabilities. I’m just an ordinary citizen trying to live my life in peace.”
Jacqueline hopes that when you see a child having a meltdown in public, because autistic kids become very frustrated over a lack of communication, she hopes that people are more understanding and can even share a look like “I understand.” Dr Oz said the millions of kids with autism deserve our love, understanding, and respect. He said to always keep in mind that your words matter.
Would you say you’re more understanding of autism now after hearing from Jacqueline? Do you think she did the right thing by responding with her letter?
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