In Which I Agree With Wendy Fournier (about the Travoltas)

In memorium: Jett Travolta April 13, 1992- Jan. 2, 2009 (Img. "candle without wind" by topher 76/CC-by-nd via Flickr)

I am not a fan of the National Autism Association, as regular readers know. Nevertheless, this morning I found myself in enthusiastic agreement with the organization’s president, Wendy Fournier when I read her take on the recent revelation that John Travolta acknowledged his late son Jett’s autism during his testimony in an extortion trial.

Fournier was quoted by ABC News on reactions to the revelation:

“…I’ve read some things that really bother me — basically that they should have come forward sooner.… Everybody handles autism in the best way that they can and for whatever personal reasons they had, they chose not to make it public.”

I agree completely.

There has been a great deal of speculation about why the Travolta family did not choose to publicly acknowledge Jett’s autism, including the suggestion that their belief in Scientology (which denies the existence of psychiatric illness) was the reason for their silence.

If that’s the case, it’s a shame, and I hope it leads followers of Scientology to question their beliefs. And it is a tragedy if their beliefs caused the Travolta family to withhold any therapies that might have helped their son remain healthy and reach his full potential (and it is far from clear that this is the case), but it is a personal tragedy.

As Fournier told ABC News:

“”Just because you have a child with autism and you’re a celebrity, it does not automatically mandate you to be a spokesperson for the disorder…”

As celebrities, John Travolta and Kelly Preston have a responsibility to exercise their right to free speech with careful attention to the extra weight it carries (rightly or wrongly) with the general public. That responsibility does not include the necessity to publicly discuss their children’s health issues.

While Travolta and Preston have tacitly agreed to sacrifice some of their privacy in return for the benefits afforded by celebrity, that agreement does not extend to their children.

Moreover, neither being a celebrity nor having a child with autism necessarily makes one a credible spokesperson. Celebrity spokespeople must recognize that their role is to bring attention to a cause, and, in the case of autism and other disorders, help combat stigma associated with it.

This is the heart of much of the criticism of the Travolta family. The charge that, in failing to disclose (or even actively hiding) Jett’s autism helps to perpetuate stigma is unfair, and beside the point.

Whether or not their silence on the subject was due to embarrassment or even denial, is nobody’s business but theirs. It would be a different story if the Travoltas had pulled a Tom Cruise, making unfounded and ridiculous pronouncements about autism, but they chose instead to remain silent.

Every family dealing with autism is different; and every family is just that: a family first. I can’t fault the Travoltas for recognizing that.