The only autism advocate is another autistic

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I'm starting to see this everywhere lately... Autism Speaks is threatening lawsuits for t-shirts, not properly supporting us the way we want to be supported, and isn't even run or managed by any autistics, like they're studying something that can't communicate with them, the media is demonizing us through a couple serial killers, Temple Grandins own mother barely just published an article on how apparently "ASD men have a sexual preference towards young children instead of adults, and therefore view child porn." which is a joke, especially since it came from her own mother, and now ASDF an autism charity was recently labelled "The worst charity in America" because only 10% of their promised funds were used for what they said they would be used for. Along with that, the organization wants to "Cure autism, or ASD" which is entirelly preferential for the austistic or ASD individual, and if they want to truly represent the autistic community, they should not be acting like the solution to autism is to eliminate it! Any well versed autistic or ASD individual KNOWS that the majority of individuals who speak up about there condition consider there condition a blessing.

This has all led me to realize that the advocation of autism/aspergers in the NT community is sadly a joke.

I appreciate anyones help but...

Why are NT's advocating autism/ASD in there own opinions or ideas? Or better yet...

Why are NT's speaking for those in there own words for those who can already SPEAK IN THER OWN WORDS?!?!?!

Why do NT's speak for low functioning autistics who can't speak for themselves, when the most logical thing to do would to let ASD or high functioning speak for them, they may not know exactly what it's like to be so delayed, but they at least have a pretty good idea, and a much better understanding of what's going on.

The only good advocates I've ever known of for autism/ASD were other autistics either on blogs/youtube/etc... or better yet THIS WEBSITE.

This website is run by autistics/ASD's, and is a perfect example of a good advocation society.

Why don't we take control, and let autism/ASD handle autism/ASD, let the NT's help where they can?

The leading researchers for autism/ASD are either autistic or have aspergers, for obvious reasons.

But the point is we are a very active, thoughtful, intelligent, and vocal sub-culture, enough to the point that it would be ridiculous for one NT to try to continue to advocate someone who knows what they're doing more then the NT.

There are NT parents, there are NT psychologists, and there is nothing wrong with them being involved, but the thinking should REALLY be left to the ones with the actual condition.

Comments on this? Etc...?

Valid points, righteous indignation. Unfortunately, the gatekeeping infrastructure require the very social skills we often lack. It's a hustler's business.

I agree with ya Van. I'd like to take over the world - but noone would listen, so I might stick to research instead.

Ablist privilege, plain and simple. These people think they know better than we do because we're not "normal" like them. It's the same situation that leads to any group with privilege thinking they can speak for/make decisions for marginalized people. The idea that they are somehow better, doing it right, and it's their job to "help" everyone else by making them just them.

LMFAO more like the blind leading the blind off a cliff.

The reason why allistics assume the know best for people on the autistic spectrum is that they are arrogant pure and simple. and BTW that organisation Autism Speaks is really a political party of the far right rather than a charity. The threats of lawsuits over T shirts proves that some members of this Neo Nazi party are professional victims. I have seen some of their propaganda videos absoloutely offensive. This is the sort of stuff that radicalises some autistic people against the allistic. Part of the reason is that if a person on the autistic spectrum tells his or her experiences he or she is not likely to be believed which is not just disempowering but a highly damaging politically conscious act. Fortunately as far as I know Autism speaks have not been here but I think these and any other allistic supremacist political organisation that tries to pass itself of as a charity should be banned from entering the UK.

Never mind asking if a person knows what it is like to be a parent of an autistic child but to ask the person do you know what it is like to be an autistic child? If the answer is no then the person should have no say in what is good for people on the autism spectrum. Also why should we have to be politically correct for the benefit for oversensitive allistic people when allistic people often make offensive remarks about the autism spectrum and make excuses for doing so all this they do not understand or ar ignorant crap does not wash with me. Most allistic people do not know diddly squat about thew autistic spectrum and they do not want to. A good percentage of parents of autistic children live in denial even my mum was in denial of my autistic spectrum condition which could have easily been diagnosed in the late 1960s or early 1970s but was in denial of this fact for over 30 years.

What we need is a complete end to allistic supremacism and if allistics think we should see this issue from their 'point of view' then we should say to these that they do not have a point of view on issues concerning autistic people becuase they are part of the neurotypical spectrum. Yes most allistic parents of autistic childen do think that their offspring is somehow less than human from my own personal experience. We are not the ones that understand body language instinctively or use 93% of it as communication allistics are and also animals like monkeys do. Asperger syndrome people use about 93% of communication is in fact the actual spoken words and those that are non verbal can if they have access make use of a Hawking machine a kind of speech synthesiser software to use for speech and make them to be highly articulate.

Well I didn't know that Temple Grandin's mum was in the process of becoming a propagandist for the far right which is designed to be offnsive to anyone on the autistic spectrum comparing us to nonces is just plain wrong if we said similar about allistics then they would get aggressive and if wrote on here the person would be banned form further posts on this website so it is a bit uneven. Why should we have to take the bile from allistic supremacists because these do not understand it and see our having to take it as a sign of weakness and if one allistic person should not say well I'm not like that that is really annoying and tha in most cases allistic people are a burden on people that have high functioning autism and expect thhose that have high functioning autism/Asperger syndrome to pay for allistic and non allistic people that are not on the autistic spectrum to use services through their council tax what a rip off! I do like the point of this thread and the application of the philosophy of Marcus Garvey here in keeping autism/Asperger syndrome advocacy within the hands of autistic/Asperger syndrome people.

I do think that parents of autistic children are valuable allies. Children too young to understand the politics and complexity of it may be able to advocate for themselves, but not when things get too abstract. A five-year-old can say, "No! I don't like being held down!", but it may take a parent to campaign for a law against unsafe restraints.

But, yes--The best advocates for autistic people are autistic people. The trouble is, they only listen to some of us. If you're articulate, highly verbal, they might listen. If you're non-verbal and you use a VOCA well enough, they might listen (though they could treat you like a zoo exhibit at the same time). But if you can't talk well, if you're not cute enough... forget it. Those of us who can get other people to listen need to be telling them to listen not just to us, but to the people who aren't getting heard yet--the people who are packed away in institutions, or who have been so intimidated that they don't know it's possible to speak up, or who are poor, or who don't make interesting news stories. If you speak up only for yourself, you fail them. If you try to speak for them without including them, you fail them even more. The only approach is to say, "Hey, listen up! We all have something to say."

NT's can speak for autism but they need to listen first, and especially listen to the high functioning autistic people who have knowledge of their own minds and work in psychology and research.

You cannot treat autism like its a illness and act towards it as if the "patients" are too confused to understand the basics of it, you need to listen to those autistic people who understand the autistic mind, just like you need NT's researchers and psychologists for the NT mind.

They can speak for us but have them speak our words and interpretations and those of actual specialists in the field who actively work together with autistic people themselves, and not have them speak their interpretation of what we feel from their perspective, because they couldn't begin to grasp the understanding of what we want to say, and how we think, without asking us about it.

Sure there are plenty of NT's who are very understanding of autism and have the best intentions, but the ones who are that way that I have met are taking the autistic people themselves very serious, and would give anything for having one of them in their organization.

dannyboy,
being in the low functioning spectrum doesnt mean we cant communicate what we think; almost every low functioning autist can communicate points across using alternative communication methods, unfortunately the lowest functioning profound autistics lazily tend to automaticaly have their communication needs met by other people instead of being prompted to type,sign or use PECS so they feel no attachment to ever learning to speak,on top of that many have the ability to communicate but lack the interest in doing so because its changing a part of them they have always had,most people assume every autist who doesnt speak as an adult is automaticaly unable to.
one of the profoundly autistic people am advocate for has a bedroom above mine and though she is completely non verbal during the day, when she is asleep her sub concious has started to reveal full clear sentances-heard it loud and clear and was surprised to find out the next day after making people aware of this discovery that its common because autists are scared of others putting the responsibility and pressure of communication on them after having had parents and others do it for them for so long.
this is why we need to be given intensive speech and language therapy as much as possible when young,parents/carers dont realise just how much they are holding back their kids and it is very wrong to simply assume we lack ability to communicate as an adult.

we were for many years considered to have no ability to think because of our non verbalism side-profoundly deaf people who were born deaf and as such unable to use speech were also considered the same way [aka 'deaf and dumb'] and they also had non disableds appointing themselves as their thoughts by proxy.
parents need to understand there is a mind in the brain of a low functioning autist, regardless of their mental capacity, and speech impairment does not remove the fact theyre thinking thoughts continuously.
everyone on the spectrum shoud be supported to self advocate by any specialist or non specialist means possible,whether this be a TTS program,a AAC device,PECS sentances,sign etc,no one shoud act as someone else by proxy though advocating;ie,sticking up for/defending the person is different because thats using their own opinion without trying to say its ours.

NTs [family/parents for example] shoudnt speak for us because they have a completely different view of autism and are biased.
however just because someone has high functioning autism it doesnt mean they automaticaly know what we want-have a look in all the cure threads; especialy those on the autism politics board, some hf autists think we lack any sense of thought and assume we cannot have good lives because we will always need significant supportive environments.

am a autism activist involved in both autism and intelectual disability [except its called learning disability here] issues; using text and text to speech am personaly advocating for two profoundly autistic people to.
am supported by trafford social services learning disability team to be involved,am also friends with the teams ASD awareness coordinator and we have got some great plans coming up, including an advocacy meet up group for people all over the spectrum-where everyone can get their ideas and issues across and get them listened to by people with authority.
if anyone is interested in joining this,please leave a message,itll be in somewhere in manchester or cheshire/the trafford borough probably.