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Oh I wouldn't go so far as to call it "bad"...after all, they are only dehumanising a load of useless autistics and destroying their chances of any kind of healthy, fulfilling and productive adult life, while usurping their voices and drowning out any attempt they make to speak for themselves and object.

It's not even personal...I mean it's not exactly the fault of Autism Speaks that it is more profitable to do that than to help and support Autistics, or even leave them alone and exploit someone else. There just isn't anything like the same margin in saving the whale, or the rainforests right now.

Nobody is exactly preventing Autistics from pulling themselves together, getting with the program and making up their minds to stop being so awkward and just appreciate and benefit from anything Autism Speaks finds it profitable to offer.

That would, after all, be a "win:win" situation...or even if they could just be a bit more flexible and need and benefit from something *else* just as profitable...I am sure Autism Speaks would be happy to meet them halfway...can't say fairer than that.

But, failing that, well, what happens to a load of useless, burdensome Autistics is hardly THAT big of a deal. It's nice to be nice, but it's not like they are actually PEOPLE or anything...

NB. Some of us really, seriously, did not come down in the last shower

Oh no...please...feel free...breath away...I am really not that fussy.

I'm afraid that this is the picture of standard care and treatment of autism in this country... not just an isolated incident. My daughter's IEP reads exactly the same as do the many other IEP's from other parents I've talked to and compared notes with. The professional community just doesn't 'get it'. I don't know WHY they are listening to you when they discount the opinions of others on the spectrum but for gods sake KEEP TALKING!

Nor are you particularly informative. At least not yet.

You are entitled to your opinion.

Well Aspies have some issues with Autism Speaks due to giving the wrong message, I feel that is what the misunderstanding seems to be linked to is a "Wrong Message" about autism, for example, Autism Speaks sends a message that people with Autism need to be feared on reasons and conditions that would say, match a person with "Mental Retardation" a phycotic type of disablity, and that is where the "Fear" of Autism speaks seems to spark controversy, but normally I would ignore this.

Jeffrey, at this stage "Autism Speaks" have convinced me beyond doubt that there is, very sadly, no "misunderstanding" of any kind, on their part.

At least some of this "fear" is a conflation of rhetoric beyond anything actually disseminated by Autism Speaks. Their emphasis is on the "tragedy" of autism. That word alone invokes huge amounts of emotion (perhaps a problem with their messaging). The problem is that for some autism is not a tragedy at all while for others it is a devastating condition. Where the conversation turns hostile is when those that do not perceive it as a tragedy in their own lives project that attitude on those for whom it is essentially tragic. This works in the other direction as well - anyone that insists all that autism encompasses is "bad" and must be eliminated is asserting their own narrow, and faulty, viewpoint on a population that is actually quite diverse.

Autism Speaks' "crime", as best as I can tell, is that they are just better at what they do. They are focused on the parts of autism that create burden and heartache. Only a fool would suggest that such does not exist within the autistic world. But they are so good at their narrow focus that they suck the air out of the room, leaving large swaths of people on the spectrum feeling neglected and ignored.

ASAN seems to be trying to fill the void left by Autism Speaks. But instead of acknowledging the validity of what Autism Speaks does well, they hyper focus on where Autism Speaks misses the mark and indulge in the type of rhetoric that promotes division instead of understanding. I don't know if this is ASAN policy or just ASAN members being overly enthusiastic, but I rarely see ASAN and Autism Speaks in the same conversation without this overt attack politics in play.

I see this ASAN/Autism Speaks hostility like two football players arguing over who gets to be the quarterback. All the while the opposing team (i.e. an ignorant and harsh world) is crushing us into oblivion.

I really don't give a rats ass about who is "right" or "wrong". I want to see increased understanding of what autism actually is, what can be done to assist autistic people and their families to increase their quality of life, and an increased awareness among the NT population about autism and autistics. Screw the politics and ideology.

If you can only go down a negative road, that is where you will continue to go, on and and on and on. You said you understand the needs and benefits of people with Autism but refuse to state what they are. I understand what my difficulties as an autistic person were, before I was aware in midlife that I even had Autism. However it is way more complicated for some people with Autism that it is was for me.

Through my experience I have found specific measurable devices to cope with Autism that allowed me to graduate at near the top of my class in high school, obtain three degrees, and manage to stay with government employment for 23 continuous years. I'm not afraid to share the coping mechanisms that I came across through trial and error that got me through life and have been researched and suggested as helpful to some autistic people.

A comprehensive exercise program to boost executive function and concentration, raise levels of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins; also helping to burning off stress chemicals, gain better motor control and body awareness, and to help with sensory integration problems.

Playing a musical instrument to enhance personal understanding of emotion to combat alexithymia.

Pushing myself to interact with people, observing what works and doesn't work, but refusing to socially isolate myself.

Eating healthy, avoiding caffeine and sugary foods that aggravate anxiety and reduce ability to maintain homeostatsis.

Taking notes constantly throughout my life in work and school to assist with short term working memory.

Seeking positive people as mentors and role models.

Spending a great deal of time outdoors in nature away from the stimulus of modern society to not become overwhelmed by stimuli; to rest and recover from the stimuli that was unavoidable.

I was also diagnosed with ADHD and never took any drugs or had any intervention throughout the course of my life until age 47.

I wasn't able to talk until age 4, but did manage to learn to communicate without intervention. I was fortunate; not all people are so fortunate. I learned what my needs where and how to cope with Autism through trial and error. I know these mechanisms work for other people with Autism; they have also shared them.

The problem in life that we can't control is how people observe us, treat us, and how that effects our chances of success in social context and employment potential. For those of us that want to adapt to the mainstream world, regardless of what accommodations we can receive, we also have to adapt the best we can, that's a requirement of being human, not just being born with a difference.

I ask myself, what I would have needed in life without the gift of communication that I eventually gained, and I'm sure I would have needed much more assistance and not have been able to figure out life with some similarity as others do.

This is what parents and professionals have to determine, the best way to help autistic children that can't learn to communicate without extensive assistance from others. Could any parent figure that out on their own; I don't know if there aren't a select few that could, but without the help of the knowledge and experience that others have in helping a children with this kind of autism, it would be much harder. Human beings don't have cookie cutter solutions to the kind of problems that the more severely affected autistic people have.

If you know what the needs of all autistic people are; please enlighten us, others don't purport to have all the answers, that's why they continue to look for them.

Do you have anything positive to say that could help Autistics other than you are sure that Autism Speaks is intentionally exploiting autistic children for profit?. At least I gave it a shot.

I've already agreed with others in this topic that Autism Speaks should present awareness of the way that higher functioning Autistic people cope with the world and their unique set of problems.

There are potential pitfalls of many therapies, but Autism Speaks also endorses the therapies that people in this topic have suggested work for their children ,when ABA does not. Awareness is not harmful; it gives people alternatives to choose from.

^^^^^^^^
QFT

"I am autism. I’m visible in your children, but if I can help it, I am invisible to you until it’s too late. I know where you live, and guess what? I live there too. I hover around all of you. I know no color barrier, no religion, no morality, no currency. I speak your language fluently, and with every voice I take away, I acquire yet another language. I work very quickly. I work faster than pediatric AIDS, cancer, and diabetes combined. And if you are happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails. Your money will fall into my hands, and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain. I don’t sleep, so I make sure you don’t either. I will make it virtually impossible for your family to easily attend a temple, a birthday party, a public park, without a struggle, without embarrassment, without pain. You have no cure for me. Your scientists don’t have the resources, and I relish their desperation. Your neighbors are happier to pretend that I don’t exist, of course, until it’s their child. I am autism. I have no interest in right or wrong. I derive great pleasure out of your loneliness. I will fight to take away your hope. I will plot to rob you of your children and your dreams. I will make sure that every day you wake up, you will cry, wondering ‘who will take care of my child after I die?’ And the truth is, I am still winning, and you are scared, and you should be. I am autism. You ignored me. That was a mistake."


This is hate speech.


It's disgusting.


AUTISM SPEAKS is not speaking for A FRACTION OF THE SPECTRUM (cause, ya know, the "Autism" in "Autism Speaks" means..."Autism".)
They are speaking for all of us, and demonizing all of us as well.
It is not the high-falutin Aspergians who are the only ones objecting to this disgusting and frighteningly-influential organization, as has been implied:
it is parents, friends, and families of lower-functioning individuals who deal every day with the struggles and joys of Autism and are horrified to be either shunned like the plague or forced to endure constant expressions of and looks of pity after this campaign had wrought havoc on the public consciousness, who find themselves living in a world where the cherished life of a loved one was considered a "tragedy",
it is Autistic former attendees of Autism Speaks conferences who found themselves deliberately silenced because their contributions would not be "appropriate",
it is people who donated to Autism Speaks in order to help the particularly-challenged individuals and their families and to their alarm, found the organization lists many 6-figure salary employees on their 990's,
and that's not getting into the frightening actuality of what they mean by researching a "cure" for this genetic disease and the fact that this organization has not yet publicly-distanced itself from it's fairly recent strong support of CHEMICAL CHELATION OF CHILDREN.

I literally cannot describe strongly enough how evil and corrupt this organization is.

I am afraid you will have to take that one up with Autism Speaks, not me.

Like every other Autistic, I was given no say in the wholly negative impact they choose to have. Pretending something is positive will never make it positive, and even if I was prepared to lie about that I do not think I would have any moral right to

I'd better not give you too many words again...wouldn't want you straining anything twisting them.

How is this heavy handed Appeal to Emotion any less disingenuous than the over the top rhetoric about Aspies being the next step in human evolution? That is hate speech as well when it espouses the marginalization, subjugation and eventual elimination of NTs.

I re-read my post and couldn't find where I accidentally said Autism Speaks extremism and hate speech is the only or worst example of such in the world.

Could you point it out so I could delete it? I'd like to keep the thread on-topic, that being whether Autism Speaks is an objectionable organization.

Thanks.

You're missing the point. The point is that Autism Speaks is not the only organization that indulges in hyperbole. It is intellectually dishonest to take Autism Speaks to task for using crass, emotionally laden language in their materials while turning a blind eye to similar tactics by the neurodiversity ideologues.

And you ARE all about being intellectually honest, right?

This thread isn't entitled "list all the organizations that are hyperbolic".

This thread is about the objectionable nature of Autism Speaks.

Hyperbole is one bit, outright lies and demonization are quite another (although it is telling you didn't respond to anything else I said of them outside their rhetoric).

"Autism Speaks uses hate speech" is not somehow a negation of "Other groups, including some Autistics, engage in hate speech".

The latter is quite simply not the topic of this thread, nor should every person who makes a criticism of anything have to preface or follow it with "Oh, but the other side does it too!"

Last edited by Bethie on 12 May 2011, 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.