Toys R Us: Anti-Autism?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm sure it's innocent enough. People not in the know think Autism Speaks is so wonderful. I was a little put off when I was placing an order today on the Toys R Us website and saw at checkout that they ask you to donate $1 or an amount of your choice to Autism Speaks to "solve the puzzle". Admittedly, it made me want to buy the item elsewhere, so I'm currently waiting on an ebay auction for the item instead.

That makes me sick. I'm never buying any of their puzzle pieces.

Years before they got into the handicapped market, I stopped going to them. Why? Because I don't like their "Idiot's Guide to Toys" style of marketing. They have their toys segregated into "boys" and "girls" with corresponding colors (blue and pink respectively) and no crossover toys. There is an "educational" section and "electronic" section, but the art stuff, fantasy clothes and dolls are stereotyped to make you "pick a side". I don't like the stuff they sell either, useless stuff to persuade kids to drain their parents' pockebook. I had a couple unpleasant experiences looking for fantasy clothes for my son and art stuff too.

Now they have a catalogue that markets their regular toys to disabled kids, with taglines that show how "therapeutic" they are. Luckily, my son never cared for toystores anyhow. We're not missing much.

Secondhand stores have the best finds anyhow, in my opinion. Only problem there is the cool stuff disappears fast!

It bothers me that a store that';s supposed to bring happiness and fun and comfort to children is doing this to 1 in 150 of them. In my book they're no better than the popular kids who treat all the kids all nice and great and are all supportive of them, except for this one kid that's unpopular, or the scapegoat, or whatever.

The pink/blue thing also bothers me. I hate that!

As an avid toy fanatic, and collector, I can tell you- Toys R Us overall is clueless. They've been showing worse and worse business practices over time, and I really want to see 'em go under.

They went bankrupt, got sold, and went from bad to worse....

My room-mate and I are now working on our own internet e-tail site. Just as Reagan did with the Soviet Union, I want my site to give TRU that little "push" that destroys them. They are a disgrace to the world of toys.

To be fair to Toys R Us and anyone who supports Autism Speaks they give their support because they are a charity and believe they do good work. If they knew about the resistance to Autism Speaks from the Autism Community themselves then I am sure thinkgs would be different. But they are all victims of the advocacy that autism speaks preaches taking advantage of them while ignoring us too.

I was going to buy myself a large scale model bus, there. They only had it in the States, and I would have had to order it, off the Internet, as well. If they're going to have an older person's toy, it should be in all of the stores, in North America, or around the world.

I think they're anti-common sense.