Life gets better Campaign

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There was a youtube campaign "life gets better" for gay people. Should we start a "Life gets better" Campaign for Aspies?

That's a great idea. Can you use a web cam to film videos, or do you have to have a cam corder? If you can use a web cam to make a video, I'd like to do it right away.

Because it's totally the same thing.

I remember seeing "It gets better" campaign on youtube, by gay people who worked at Google. That's what makes me think this.
yes webcam would be great.

I really want to hear from the people who went through this and have been able to build a successful/productive work and/or personal life tell their stories. I wonder how many of us work at Google, Microsoft, 3M, Boeing, Intel etc...

i was actually thinking the exact same thing the other day! A campaign like this would help a lot of aspie kids out there, give them some hope for the future. But how do you start a campaign like this? I have no idea, but i would really like to help.

I just created a survey and a youtube channel. I'm sure a lot of people on this board has successful stories to share:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ASitgetsbetter?feature=mhum

It is a nice idea but I'm thinking it might be too soon. People will just accuse us of trying to divert attention away from the gay discrimination issue or they'll think that we're parodying/mocking/ridiculing it somehow. Either way people will get mad at us and I really dont that to happen.

Will they indeed be that narrow? Possibly, I don't know. When I watch the google video, It just struck me that what they talked about could easily be about AS as much as their sexuality. It's that similar, the ostracism, the loneliness, the stuffed up feeling, and the need for hope.

Ah yes, because governments actively discriminate against autistics, being autistic alone is seen as good enough reason to kill someone by a frighteningly high number of people, and autistics are frequently beat up and murdered for being autistic, right?

Actually... yes.

Not with the frequency that it happens to people in the gay community, but this sort of thing actually does happen. I'd rather not try and dig through the websites that I went through, though. What's particularly scary about these crimes, though, is that the people that commit them (see: Murder autistics) tend to get off very leniently. A woman that locked her autistic son in a closet and set her house on fire got two years (I also remember an individual getting a few years without any actual jail time... that might have been her).

Aside from that, though, the autistic pride movement is based off the gay pride movement. Because, you see, instead of basing it off of a movement that's actually worked, the people that began organizing it thought it would be a good idea to base it off something that has failed time and time again (see: Anti-gay marriage laws as an example).

Edit: Here is a case from July. I don't know how it's turned out so far.

Edit2: Couple of things: First, I found the site that used to keep track of autistic murder cases. They've closed down, though. Second, I'm not a big supporter of "Life gets better" for autistics. I feel that a lot of it is more of a state of mind than actual issues with life.

Last edited by MrLoony on 13 Jan 2011, 2:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I don't recall denying that those things happen.

Any time I read online about a case where an autistic is murdered by a parent, the comment section is always full of people saying how terrible it must have been on the parent.

In the minds of the people, the murders are justified. In cases of gay individuals being killed, you never see that sort of thing. There are people that think that such murders are justified, most certainly, but there's no societal acceptance of it.

Actually the child may be noncommunicative or lacks the means to communicate. It's the worse than for some gays. ok, i take it back, it can be worse and it can be better. That's why it's important to do something about it.

maybe what we need is a "there is hope" campaign. A lot of those parents don't understand what is causing the behaviors maybe if there was a list of some sort that explained what causes some of those reactions. All they see is I've been up 12 times with this kid and I want to sleep and he's screaming and there is poop smeared on his bed.

The first thing most parents want is to find and talk to adults with Autism/AS because they are grasping at straws to find some sort of hope. We should make a video with descriptions of what causes certain behaviors.......they are absolutely desperate.
in some cases

Yes do! The story lines can be:
1. what were you like as a kid
2. what you felt like growing up
3. what tips you would give to other ASD kids or parents
4. what help made a difference
5. are you happier now? personally or professionally? what fulfills you

Does it have to be this formula, but anything you or your parents feel like sharing

Yes I agree, the parents really need help and the kids growing up too. Another thing is i firmly believe that in 10 years medical ppl will be able to tell us a lot more on how to fix us. It may be too late for me, but the hope needs to be there for the kids today.

My facebook id is renexu.