Why does everyone hate Autism Speaks?

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I've retained some Aspie traits; mostly positive, though. Problem solving, visual thinking, my ability to calculate things etc.

I have never suggested that Autism Speaks should be able to force a treatment on anyone. I don't care if you don't want a different/better life via effective treatment or not. All I'm saying is that for those that do, organizations like Autism Speaks are a Godsend and who the F are you or anyone else to say they shouldn't be carrying on their research that could benefit those that do want to treat their AS symptoms? No one, that's who.

How's that for Aspie bluntness?

Autism Speaks has exactly zero autistics in their board of directors and their advisory groups.
also: they are called "Autism Speaks", not "Autistics Speak"

*sigh*

It's not the idea of them carrying on research that is bad here. Havent you paid attention to any of the stuff that is constantly said about them ALL THE DAMN TIME?

It's their whole attitude, and the way they treat the people they're supposedly "helping". Everything I've seen of them, EVERYTHING, has been bad. And no, before you say it: I'm NOT against the idea of a cure. Instead, I simply dont give a damn. If someone else wants a cure... hey, that's fine. I know there are plenty of people that do, and that's more than reason enough for scientists to pursue it. That's all fine. Just dont wave it at me all the damn time, is what I'd say, or I absolutely will start throwing things at you, for bothering me too much with things I really dont care about. Which is typically my reaction to most things, essentially "Bah, go away" followed by a locked door, I suppose.

The problem with AS has NOTHING to do with any of that whatsoever. That's not why people hate them. Why in the bloody hell would anyone hate people that simply do research? It's not like they are researching ways to make your face explode.

Yes, it's possible that some benefit might come out of what AS does. But it'll be DRAMATICALLY LESS and DRAMATICALLY SLOWER than it could otherwise be if they werent such asshats. More people might be willing to work with and for them, and support them, if they didnt act like they did, if they didnt parade around certain rather nasty ideas that they do. Like all of those videos and things that insist that all autistics are just people with TONS of problems. Those that do not want a cure (again, that doesnt mean they're AGAINST a cure, it merely means they themselves specifically do not desire to use it if it should appear) dont seem to be filled with nothing but problems. They wouldnt want to keep the condition if they were. It's the same with me. Sure, it creates some issues... but there are few things in life that DONT, and it's part of what makes me who I am. Yet AS would have everyone believe that I, and everyone like me, am unable to talk properly, scream alot and bang my head against walls, and all of that stuff that they just love to show so much.

THAT is why people hate them with such incredible vitriol. And they've rarely strayed from that nasty path they're on.




Dont.... dont do that. Seriously. You assume ALOT about so many people by doing something like that, and that assumption, as with all blanket assumptions, is a screwed up mess. Did it ever occur to you that they might NOT have made that decision out of fear? Or maybe... just MAYBE... it's because they genuinely sat down and thought about it, thinking about their own situation, their own personalities, what autism means TO THEM, and what they know and believe about it, to figure out what a cure would mean for them. Autism tends to force certain things onto the person that has it. Certain personality traits, ways of thinking.... this is a simple fact. Take it away, and yes: There IS change. But wouldnt the people that have big problems with their autism WANT this? There wouldnt be anything to fear there... instead, there'd be an ESCAPE from fear, the fear that all of the sensory problems, for instance, can bring into their lives.

And not all autistics have huge horrible problems with change, either.

Everyone is different, and autism manifests itself in a HUGE number of ways.... and that's EXACTLY what Autism Speaks is trying to pave over with their propaganda. They want everyone to believe instead that we're ALL oh so messed up, that we cant ever operate for ourselves, that we cant even perform very simplistic tasks without major assistance, that we're just a burden on everyone ALL THE TIME. Autistics that grow to be successful while still having the condition? According to AS.... there are none.

Or at least, that's what they'd have everyone believe. And again, that's a huge part of the core of the problem.

Research is fine. It's everything ELSE about them that's so bad.

Also.... that picture? Just.... just dont. I'm very honestly not trying to be mean here, but doing something like that in a conversation makes it VERY hard to take you seriously, as it's something very immature. You dont have to agree with what everyone says. But doing THAT is just silly. An action like that, despite the text in the picture, says that you DO care.... a bit too much. I've a feeling I'm not the only one that perceives it that way. The obvious anger behind it, and in the text you wrote ("Who the F are you?") that seems out of place for you (you've never seemed the angry sort to me, really) isnt helping either. At least try to calm down a bit before posting.

1) As I've explained before, AS' marketing about low functioning autistics being burdens on their families etc is all about soliciting donations to fund research. They utilize the ads to elicit an emotional response from donors in order to get them to take action and make a financial contribution. They're not going to get very many donations by showcasing a high functioning engineer earning multiple six figures and enjoying life. Get over it. It's simply what they have to portray to the public in order to fund the research they're doing. If it doesn't apply to you, then just ignore it and don't take such personal offence to it. I'm not like the low functioning people described in their videos.. but there was a time I was a MAJOR burden and PITA to others when I wasn't functioning well at all, so, I get it. I'm better now for having figured out how to treat my symptoms & thus applaud their work.

2) The picture & text I wrote are the perfect response to someone telling me I've retained the AS trait of being overly blunt.. plus it's funny. Get over that, too.

Congratulations on being the only person ever cured of autism.

It being funny (and sure, it is) doesnt make it appear less childish. There's a time and a place, you know? Besides, it was merely a bit of advice: That actually IS how alot of people perceive something like that, and if you want people to A: take you seriously, and B: actually listen to you, then... it's good advice.

Besides: NONE of what you just said even comes close to being a valid defense against the anger thrown at them. It's not about "soliciting funds". Which, I note, the perception of their usage of it is that they rarely use it to HELP anyone. JUST researching a cure isnt good enough (and neither is paying someone that works there a damn absurd amount of money, as someone else showed in this thread via an article). Understand: One of the biggest, most damaging problems that alot of autistics get is the way people view us. Bullying, for instance. Care to guess why that happens? People hear "autism" and they assume we're stupid, broken, unable to do anything.... and guess who is pushing THAT idea forward even further? I'll answer for you: Autism Speaks. There's no defense against that, either. Their videos of this speak for themselves, and tend to be hyper-blatant. Oh, but it gets worse! Some of their vids go a bit TOO far. Like one that was showing this mother and her young child, and she's talking about how she "is frustrated" all the time, and honestly considered simply taking her kid, getting into the car, and driving off a bridge to end it all. And this lady is portrayed as someone to feel sorry for?!? Guess how much THAT helps? It portrays us as SO bloody horrible that SUICIDE is better than dealing with us. It's SUCH a great idea to give despairing parents the idea that hey, DEATH is a better solution. Yeah. THAT'LL SURE HELP BUSINESS.

And that's just the start. It just keeps going from there.

And yes, they COULD get donations by showing high functioning people, by showing reasons for HOPE.... IF they actually had the smarts to do this. The WRONG way to do things is.... everything they've done. The RIGHT way, is that sure: sometimes you do show the bad end of things. BUT. This is an organization supposedly dedicated towards HELPING, right? The way to show this is very, very simple: You show someone successful, someone that's at least decently happy, someone that's able to function.... and then you go on and show some examples of how you helped them get there. Funds that you gave them. Counselors that you pointed them to. Jobs that you helped them find, jobs that are sympathetic to the disabled and can understand the reality of it instead of the bad perception of it. You point out your available services, show the incredible length that you're willing to go to in order to help, and let them see some of the dedicated people that work on that very sort of thing non-stop (again, not JUST a cure, but also every other aspect). You do this, and you get people thinking: Hey... maybe this really COULD help. Maybe there really IS hope somewhere... and maybe THESE GUYS are that hope. I'll be happy to donate to this cause! Or happy to look into it as a way to get assistance (AND maybe donate, too, for some, and then spread the word about the help they're getting )

Like I said: The way they're doing this? They're only half as effective as they could be... if that. They're ONLY getting money off of the bad side. And the thing about the bad side? Some people just GIVE UP if they see no hope, if they see the bad without it being tempered by the positive. Give up instead of DONATE. But you give people hope instead... and no, JUST hope of a cure isnt remotely close to BEING remotely close to qualifying as "hope" in this situation, since these people need assistance ASAP, not years down the line.... if you give them hope instead, they'll grow more interested, as they see the light at the end of the tunnel, and they see that working with you could actually TAKE them there. It could make everything easier, and put them on the road towards gaining happiness for and with their child. Do this right, and you could have them outright ENTHRALLED.

Seriously, this is BASIC BUSINESS STUFF here. I know *alot* about advertising. Alot about it. Those that taught me about such things are my father and stepmother, and they're the reason why I tend to have so much money to just randomly throw at things, for lack of a better term. Selling product lines is what they do, and they're bloody good at it.
And one thing I've learned, is if you just spray negativity all over the place and scare people, you dont give them any POSITIVE reasons to want to give you money for any goods or services. AND, you misrepresent what you can and cannot do for them. Alot of people very genuinely think that AS *only* looks for a cure. That, though they say otherwise, they do NOTHING else. ALL of their funding going there, instead of ANY of it going towards helping people in need RIGHT NOW. Is that the truth? I cant say for certain. But it IS the perception that their hellish nightmare ads pushes on people. That they cannot see this, that they cannot at all notice what's wrong with it and find a better way, is, frankly, pathetic. That is of course not to say that the negative stuff wont generate SOME money. But it wont generate NEARLY as much as the alternative, which in this case is showing BOTH sides equally, and showing examples of how you're helping actual people, right now, to improve their lives and get on the right track towards success. Showing the bad side, and how maybe, just maybe... with their help, you can go from there to the GOOD side.

But they dont. Instead, they cultivate fear, and ignorance. BOTH of which, in turn.... cultivate despair and hatred.

I for one have gotten bloody tired of being instantlly pitied by people the moment they find out I have this. Hell, they tend to then look very surprised when I then prove to actually be intelligent and fast-thinking, as if it's just utterly baffling as to how that could POSSIBLY be the case. But nobody is teaching them otherwise. Nobody is showing them the other side of the reality of autism. They're only seeing the bad stuff lately... and AS is one of the ones pushing that the hardest.

Also.... "get over it"? Really? I dont even.

In my opinion, they make us look like complete and utter monsters. They show mostly the bad parts of Autism, then they try to show the rest of it as good. This is to make themselves look good and fool people into thinking what we are really like. Here's something I found a while back that someone said on instagram about them:

Yeah, pretty much.

And it's not even JUST that they show only the bad parts. They only show the most DRAMATIC MOMENTS of the bad parts. Even those that are hit hard with all of this can have their good days AND their bad days, which I think is probably a fact for most of us here, high or low functioning. I know it's a fact for me.

But they dont just show you an individual that cannot speak and maybe has some other difficulties. They show that individual at a specific moment when they're completely freaking out, shrieking and bouncing off the walls, for lack of a better way of putting it. I mean, really... people get nervous enough just with the "normal" bad stuff. The dramatic bad stuff can be outright terrifying, particularly if you dont really ever get to see that, hey, this actually ISNT the way it ALWAYS is.

Just.... ugh. I need to just stop thinking about this for a time, it's beginning to get me all agitated, as I just hate seeing such mistreatment of.... anyone. It's like watching those groups of bullies back in highschool all over again... except that this time they're being heralded as "heroes".

AS is also a partner of the Judge Rotenburg center where they use torture to cure autistic kids. One child has died in their care. Google it. It is quite horrific.

There is no way that I can support an organization that wants to eliminate any human population through genetic screening and abortion. I feel that every life has value and that abortion is murder, any way I look at it. I feel that even the most autistic person has value and a unique perspective to offer to the world. That person could be typing a book right now and many people would not know it, because all that most people would notice are the grunts and the stims.

Autism Speaks tends to spew misinformation about autism and the autism community. An example is the definition of autism that they talk about, it makes neurotypicals think of all autistics being the same.

Misery: Autism Speaks knows how to get donations and they do a fine job of it.

I've never claimed to be cured. I've stated that I've found a natural treatment protocol that successfully treats my symptoms to the point that they're subclinical and I function higher than ever - enabling me to work, and live, and be happy.

I can't believe we are actually discussing whether or not they are effective advertisers. History and present is replete with examples of people and organizations who are effective salespeople, marketers etc who do bad by the world or are just plain evil. As I much as I found Misery's basic business lesson interesting and convincing I don't care if they make more money. I care about the harm they are doing for most of the reasons mentioned, therefore I would be interested in wise business methods to at least lesson the harm they do and at best completely discredit them so as to end their position as the "go to " organization for autism information, and end their role as leading Autism policy maker in the USA

There's a video by autism speaks called "autism everyday" I think and in it a mother talks about wanting to kill her autistic daughter. Apparently that's the sort of message they want to send out and be associated with.

Were you even diagnosed autistic in the first place?

I've never heard of that video but I just watched it right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0vCz2KWMM0

I understand that having a child with autism can be difficult and meltdowns are stressful. However, the best solution I see is to let the child do what they want and maybe parental guidance and assistance for hygiene related things.

Instead of focusing on finding a cure, people should focus on making autistic kids be happy and independent. Autism doesn't simply go away.

I can understand the feeling. But I don't get:

1. She openly said it
2. Openly had it recorded
3. Autism speaks kept it in their video and uploaded it

I've wondered if I'd be better off dead before and I wouldn't blame my parents for thinking it either. But recording it and uploaded it is pretty weird.