Why is Autism Speaks so popular?

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So why is this evil organisation so popular?

I find this especially interesting because in this day and age it's accepted that, for instance, gays and transgender people have the right to be themselves; and the still recent times when such people were made to have 'treatment' for their 'condition' are now generally regarded upon as horrible and dehumanising (and rightfully so).

I mean, just look at these lists of famous people on the spectrum, thanks to whom the world has become so much better in ways that were previously unimaginable:
http://www.asperger-syndrome.me.uk/people.htm
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.co.n ... rtant.html

List of positive AS traits, making it quite clear that the world would be a much more horrific place if it wasn't for AS people in it: http://theotherside.wordpress.com/my-ra ... dvantages/

I am genuinely confused as to what motivates the people behind Autism Speaks. Why would anyone want to eradicate a condition that produced so many wonders for humankind? Alan Turing being just one example -- according to historians his contributions to cracking the Nazi enigma saved the lives of approx. 2-5 MILLION PEOPLE. And this wouldn't have been possible without his autism.

Now, I personally believe that even if no celebrity/super-achiever ever was autistic, us on the spectrum still have the right to be ourselves and not be 'cured' of our 'condition' -- that's almost like trying to 'cure' people from understanding language properly and taking honesty seriously. What an awful world that would be. Just like gays have the right to be gay and not be 'cured' even if their 'gayness' cannot be justified to produce any benefits for society, so do autistics.

BUT. What I would like to understand is what motivates Autism Speaks in their endeavours to eradicate AS and everything that is special about the people who have it. Because I genuinely cannot understand why some people would like to envisage a world without all these people (on those lists), and also, out of sheer self-preservation, are they not realising that without the spectrum, the technological world as we know it would totally fall apart?

Autism Speaks aims at working in an extremely self-defeating way. Where do those people who hate autism think their computers and fancy iPads and suchlike even come from in the first place.

Mostly because they don't know any better.

Autism Speaks act as if they actually represent people with autism, and their marketing budget overshadows any smaller but legit charity which helps support people with autism. People who do not know any better blindly trust Autism Speaks because their big budget campaigns make it seem like they are the end-all charity for everyone with autism.

Autism Speaks gets money by showcasing people suffering and making autism look like a disease, especially appealing to family members of people with autism. Their tactics are very vicious and are mostly aimed at giving themselves maximum profit. A sad story about a horrible condition and them promising they are working towards a cure will in the end bring them in more cash than them advocating acceptance and informing people properly.

They sell a product that desperate people want to buy. Hope. The hope that this condition can be "cured". People are credulous when they're desperate and they're easy to exploit. This is how consumer capitalism works. You convince people they need something and then sell it to them. Charities do the same thing but some of them genuinely do some good, not as much as they'd like to think but more than regular companies.

As to what motivates the people who run Autism Speaks, just follow the money...

http://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/ ... _Flyer.pdf:

44% = Unspecified "Research" projects
22% = Fundraising "Expenses"
​21% = Advertising & Marketing to "Increase Autism Awareness"
5% = Administrative costs and salaries
4% = Miscellaneous expenditures
4% = Family Services (Alleged actual payout to people with Autism)

I wonder what those top three categories really are (87%), and who gets paid how much to run them...

I think Autism Speaks own commercial explains how they see things.

That video is just too creepy.

I had to stop watching after the first minute, it's simply too disturbing. And I enjoy Eli Roth's movies so that says something.

But I still don't get where these people get their weird ideas from that Autism is comparable to aids or whatever they compare it to on the video?

Extreme hatred-by-conventional-NTs? That's how I see it. It's like bullying. You stand out in any way, positive or negative or just different, it seems to provoke a lot of hatred in some neurotypicals.

It's a good question. Best guess, it's because there are a lot of gullible people around who don't bother to test what they're told. May as well ask why do people tolerate ads?

That video is full to the brim with alarmist, emotive propaganda. There isn't a scrap of real information in there, and I can't understand why anybody would be swayed by its content. That's before I even mention the actual policies of Autism Speaks, it's just based on the style of the ad. I guess it's a testament to poor educational standards if the ad increases Autism Speaks' revenue. We had a similar campaign over here for cancer - "look out cancer, we're coming to get you." I guess this childish personification of inanimate things is a new fashion in advertising. The public seems to have a strange tolerance for being treated like small children.

As for the content, they clearly see autism simplistically as a filthy disease which they think they're going to eradicate. It doesn't take much knowledge of Aspergers and HFA to see that it can't be done and shouldn't be attempted. But I can see how an uneducated person could fall into the trap of imagining that all disorders are completely negative and potentially curable.