Anyone who likes/supports Autism Speaks?

Post Reply New Topic

I know a lot of people on the spectrum that don't support Autism Speaks. If there's any of you who do, I'd love to hear why. People who don't support it please participate too :]

I don't know much about it to be honest....I am actually on the website right now and so far just about everything I've read on it makes me want to vomit so I think its safe to say I do not like this organization.

Why are people so vehemently against Autism Speaks?

It makes me feel like a cow. That is Autism speaks makes me feel like a cow.

Being herded into a pen searching for a cure and being called abnormal and suffering.

what is Autism Speaks? please provide more information.

Before I knew about AS, I didn't hate autism speaks. I didn't really care.

I thought of autism as mental retardation. Videos of children kicking and screaming constantly with seemingly no reason were all I knew about it. I was subdued by their propaganda.

Then I found out about AS. My initial thought was "WHAT!?!?! Autism? There's no way I'm autistic, I'm not like that." Then I did some research, and found that everything I previously knew about autism was completely wrong.

So yea. That's why I hate them now. All they do is go around spreading lies and misconceptions just to gain support. Pathetic.

Even if I'm not autistic, I can't ever look at their organization in the same light again. Learning that I probably have AS has completely changed my point of view on autism, and I think I've learned an important life lesson as a result.

Autism Speaks is an organization whose goal is to educate the general public about Autism. Many aspies/auties don't care for them because they have no board members on the spectrum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Speaks
http://www.autismspeaks.org/

Well so far to me it looks like their main goal is to try and force people to be 'normal' so that they can be happy like all the 'normal' people because if they don't suceed these people will face a life of torment because people will treat them like crap for being different and that's ok. I just don't like the attitude they seem to have so far based on what ive read.

Well, it's a bit more than the fact they don't have ASD people on their board.

Sheldrake, Autism Speaks is also an issue for many because they use propaganda implying autism is some terrible disease or affliction on the world, it even goes so far as to imply it's okay to want to wipe us out - that it's okay to kill your severely autistic child because dealing with an autistic child is such a strain, approving the idea of screening so the pregnancy can be terminated, and supporting the idea of autistic people needing a cure. It claims to help those on the spectrum but most of the money it raises doesn't go to help autistic people or their families, it doesn't promote awareness of autism to help people on the spectrum, it promotes awareness to show people how horrible an affliction autism is and why it should be eradicated. They bring in a lot of money that goes primarily to the board members and secondarily towards getting rid of autistic people, and so being profitable they prevent anyone saying anything bad about them.

It's politics - Autism Speaks doesn't really speak for autistic people, it speaks against us.

Last edited by Bloodheart on 19 May 2011, 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I really, really would not recommend Autism Speaks as an autism charity. They really don't speak for autistic people, either adults or kids or their families.

Most of us are actually pretty mad at them.

Reasons why:
--They pay their directors six-figure salaries... while claiming to be a "non-profit" organization. They spend a lot of money on "awareness", which can include paying huge sums to celebrities at fundraisers and paying for top-of-the-line catering. They're basically using donations made in good faith to have high-class parties.
--Their portrayal of autism is unrealistic, designed to make people fear and pity autism. They have been known to claim that autistic children are "empty shells", that we can't love our parents, that we break apart marriages and drain bank accounts, and that we are better off not existing at all. One famous example has an Autism Speaks director claiming that she has wished she could drive off a bridge and kill her autistic child, but was stopped because her non-autistic child was also in the car with them. The recent "I am Autism" video was nearly as offensive. They have also compared autism to pediatric AIDS or death in car accidents. If you don't see why this kind of thing is a problem, imagine having a child newly diagnosed, or being a child newly informed of his diagnosis, and knowing only what Autism Speaks tells you about autism. That is absolutely devastating.
--They don't support real autistic people in the world. Most of the money that doesn't go to "awareness" will go toward research aimed at finding a prenatal test that can abort autistic people before they are born. It's a very strong message: "We don't want people like you to be born." Eugenic abortion, in other words.
--They refuse to have autistic people have a real say in their organization. Their board of directors is entirely non-autistic. No autistic person has a decision-making role at Autism Speaks.

Case in point:
[url=http://www.google.com/search?q=%22autism+speaks%22+%22autistic+people"]Google search using the terms "Autism Speaks" and "Autistic people"[/url]
So yeah, this isn't just a fringe group getting annoyed at Autism Speaks; it's a huge chunk of the autistic community. We're frankly sick and tired of having Autism Speaks tell everybody we're walking blobs of autism who deserve only pity rather than inclusion, acceptance, jobs, education, and general equality with everybody else. It's hard enough to convince people you can contribute to the world just like anybody else can, without people like Autism Speaks to insist that you're fundamentally incapable and have to sit around waiting for a cure before you can live your life.

Autism Speaks has many things going against it. The organization has come off as very arrogant. And I know this. I have been trying to start an Autism Speaks U chapter at my college and they act like God's gift to the world.

And there is someone on one of Autism Speaks's advisory board who is an Aspie (or as he calls it "Aspergian") - John Elder Robison. But yes, I agree, Autism Speaks does need some serious change.

He doesn't have a decision-making role. He's a token autistic that they took on precisely because they wanted to look like they were listening to us.

I suggest you try starting an ASAN chapter instead.

It sounds like a money making organization to me.

I read online once that one of the dirrectors of Autism speaks actualy did kill her child and was let off easy by whining about there were no services for her child and how her child suffered as a result of autism...and then later on got on the board of dirrectors for autism speaks. Dolar General is now collecting money for autism speaks, but the one here quit doing so after I told them about the prenatal testing as their idea of a "cure". I am not totally agianst abortions, some situations warrent it, but just as means to cure a "diease" is really fraud of people's goodwill.

EVERYTHING that Callista said.

It's a hate-mongering organization aimed for profit and elimination of an entire people.

Thanks for the replies. I'm personally not a supporter of Autism Speaks, but I wanted to hear other people's opinions.