Autism Speaks

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Hey everybody,

I'm putting together a report for a class on the problems of the Autism Speaks organization and how they poorly represent/don't represent us (people with Autism). Does anyone have any sources where I can find good news stories, etc. on the harsh actions they have taken in the past? I know they sued a 14-year-old girl and produced a video that distorts and creates a terrible view of what Autism is (Autism Is A World).
If you could post links, that would be great. Thanks for your help!!

- Johnny

Check Youtube (they have a lot of vids there) and view their message very carefully and you'll have all you need.

I have, but I need something written - more like reference material, news stories, etc.

I think there's at least one article on the main page. Just scroll down and see what's there. Also if you're struggling with getting enough written articles perhaps broaden your report by looking at these types of groups world wide?

You could look at their site and see about written articles that you find there. It's a stretch but there may be stuff there? I don't know apart from these suggestions.

Just read the tone of the advice they give for parents on the website. Apparently, having a kid with Autism is the worst thing in the world.

They have a ways to go when it comes to PR and trying to draw in the people who actually are on the spectrum.

They have the influence and the money. Why not use it to change the DSM to include biological dysfunction as part of ASDs, instead of keeping it purely a thing of the mind?

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... 23#2323823
This thread has some links that may help too.

I'd rather ride an ugly bendy bus through London, than give Autism Speaks the time of day.

With Autism Speaks, when their opinions are countered by those they claim to advocate for, they take the SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) approach.This is an attack on free speech and should not be allowed.I thought some states in the US had anti-SLAPP laws.

There is a radio station near me and every year they partner with Autisim Speaks for a fundraiser. AS does not accept the person witrh autism, they see the condition, not the person and try to "cure" them.

That is VERY dangerous thinking.

Maybe a bunch of people with aspergers can go to a fund raiser and tell everyone there. "I'm on the spetcrum, I'm autisitc, you guys want to cure me? How about accepting the child for who he is and not trying to change him and putting a negitiave label on them like you are?"

You know what's ironic: the organization's name is Autism Speaks, yet all we heard from them is a bunch of xenophobes slandering and distorting Autism for what it is. That shows how stupid they are.

If they really wanted it to be called Autism Speaks, we would've heard postive aspects of it spoken by autistics and supporters of it.

But--and I mean but--how can they speak the positive aspects of Autism if there aren't any autistics in the organization much less the organization excludes them, not only thinking they can add no contribution to society, but also claiming that autistics are defective and cause burdens to NTs' lives?

It's starting to go back to the early days of the United States all over again. As a heterogeneous society, how can we appreciate our diversity and solve one another's problems if we exclude each of our groups to a certain border and let the majority keep the power? Without the African-American speaking his perspective of slavery, without women breeching the the roles of men, without a mix of people interacting with one another, prejudice expands, cultures aren't adopted, subcultures never form, genocide spreads. The United States probably could've have ethnic cleansing decades ago if not for diversity mingling into one.

That's why, to me, people are human no matter what. NTs shouldn't slander autism, and autistics shouldn't slander Neurotypicality. We need each other like ants and aphids. Autism is a gift form God, and without it, less originality would occur. Even Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner supported autistic people with Hans Asperger saying, "It seems that for success in science nd art a dash of Autism is essential." Now if the men who discovered ASD supported autistic people, what does that say about how the world should act. Genociding one group would destroy a culture and language much needed in society, a culture and language as unique as their counterparts, a culture and language appreciated throughout the world.

Catholics persecuted Muslims, witches, and Portestants; Europeans tried to assimilate everyone else into their culture(s); Romans and Hitler oppressed the Jews; Americans accused and deported communists in fear of America's freedom would disintegrate, but guess what: these cultures, these people, these suppressed religions survive today, still craving for appreciation and affection from foreign people. And so shall Autism Speaks fall and autistics survive, the truth gripping people's consciousness and seeing what an atrocity, and enormity they caused to once more another group of human beings. It's when we stop being xenophobes do we appreciate diversity.

Autism Speaks is a joke that never had a punch line, yet only kindergarteners laugh when someone tell the joke to them.

Sorry for the rant.

That's all I have to say.

Watch this video. Hopefully it'll give you some clues:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUFcpG8DS0c&feature=channel_page[/youtube]

That video is not entirely factual. The t-shirt thing was a miscommunication. Autism Speaks never said anything to the person that made the t-shirt, I believe (though I'm not absolutely certain) that it was the site that actually prints the shirts that refused to make the shirt. Undoubtedly, the reason is because they don't want to have to deal with the repercussions that may come from Autism Speaks, but in the end it never got that far anyway.

Alison Singer does not own AS. I believe she was only the president, or something to that effect, but she never owned the organization. She is no longer a part of AS anyway, as she has resigned, because they will not give up their silly search for proof about how vaccines cause autism.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... if there is any hope in exposing them for what they are you are going to have to find more people that have classic autism to say why they don't want to be cured, and why they find the organization offensive. Using people with AS as an example isn't very convincing, because most of the targeted population of autism speaks is parents of children with severe autism. These parents are not evil people. They're desperate people that buy into the rhetoric that autism speaks sells. They just want their kid to have a decent life. We need to show that those with severe autism can live a happy productive life in their own way, without being cured. Without that, there's always going to be organizations that will prey on the parent's desperation.

Not a regular poster here anymore, but I found this post via my Google Reader search for posts regarding Autism Speaks. I've written several blog posts on the controversy, which you can find here:

http://aut.zone38.net/category/controve ... sm-speaks/

Hope this is at least somewhat helpful.

Didn't Autism Speaks have a video where one mother said that she thought about driving off a bridge with her child in the car, or something like that?