SHUT DOWN AUTISM SPEAKS

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See
http://www.wrongplanet.net/article371.html

Anyone else want to completely boycott and shutdown Autism Speaks through any legal methods possible? eg by broadcasting evidence of intimidation of autistics, showing that they achieve nothing useful, working to remove their charitable status [if they are a charitable organisation], have their assets sold and given to a real charitable body eg National Autistic Society in the UK

Send me a PM or post on here

AspergianSuperstar

It sounds like they just need to give their in-house counsel the boot. Hire a new counsel and a serious PR miracle worker.

The militancy of the pro-autism side reveals it thuggish nature yet again.

Not only do you want to stop people from fighting a horrible disease that has utterly destroyed many lives, you want to strike at heart of our freedom of speech.

The funny thing is that so many of you "proud aspies" are so crippled by AS that there aren't enough of you functioning at a high enough level to organize effectively and force your views on anyone else.

All you can do is impotently post angry messages to internet forums from anonymous accounts.

Last edited by Molecular_Biologist on 16 Mar 2011, 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i tend to think that autism speaks is focused on Autistic Disorder, rather than the broader Autism Spectrum Disorder. this idea is supported by the website itself, which lists the diagnostic criteria for only 299.00 Autistic Disorder. they also say the following in different parts of the website:
"Some children who no longer meet the criteria for an autism diagnosis are later diagnosed as having ADHD, Anxiety or even Asperger Syndrome."
"Autism is a general term used to describe a group of complex developmental brain disorders known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). The other pervasive developmental disorders are PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified), Asperger's Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder."

so they seem to draw a distinction between AD and the other ASDs which include AS. in that case, no they dont speak for most of the members of this website, since most here are AS, and i dont think they are even claiming to speak for those here.

a lot of people get upset at autism speaks' portrayal of autistics and declaration of autism as a disability. my son has AD, not AS, and it is indeed a disability for him. my SO has AD as well, and he too is disabled in certain ways by it. it is not merely a difference in how they think, it does not just make them "quirky". it can be a fundamental inability to effectively communicate with and relate to other people. considering the number of people who post here about failures in the workplace and lack of social/romantic success, directly contributing these things to their autism, i dont see how people can continue to claim that autism, whether AD or AS or otherwise, is not a disability.

my family has benefited from autism speaks, so i guess that belies the idea they have done nothing useful =) when we were first pursuing a diagnosis for my youngest, the website and its resources were very valuable. autism speaks works in a lot of different areas that benefit families with autism, such as genetic research, insurance reform, etc. NAS from the UK, on the other hand, has never achieved anything useful for my family.

mine is not a popular opinion on these forums, but i am not afraid to state it. autism speaks is not the devil, it has helped a lot of families, mine included. no, they dont speak for my family or any of the autistics in it, but neither do any of the autistic-founded organizations or the people on this forum.

There is no free speech in the UK, however we only gag the stupids and haters.

We can thank the autistic celebrities for that.

The most well known people with autism tend to be savants will extraordinary abilities or in the top 1% of functional ability like Temple Grandin.

Although it is helpful to point out that it is possible for people with autism to achieve success, the life experiences and accomplishments of those celebrities are not in any way typical for people with ASDs.

Most of us are far worse off for our autism.

I don't think it's the 'autism is a disability' stuff is what has people upset, I think it's the 'kids trapped in autism' and 'autism is a horrific nightmare for all involved' stuff that does it.

Many people here are angry with the negative ads that show a mother wanting to kill her autistic child, and the almost 100% awefulness that it's implied to be for the child.

And the feeling Autism Speaks seems to give off is that we are not wanted, that who we are is an epidemic, and that we should ultimately be eradicated.

Now granted, autism and AS does make life more difficult, but it doesn't make it easier either when Autism Speaks likes to imply that you are 'defective,' and the world is better off without you.

The desired outcome is "cured", not "eradicated".

Those who oppose Autism Speaks only make themselves look more ridiculous by using the straw man argument that Autism Speaks wants to kill people.

You are dangerously close to satisfying Goodwin's Law and thus making your argument foolish.

We should hace a court hearing against them, demanding that they give all their money to all the people on the spectrum around the world. We also need to convince them that autism spectrum disorders aren't horrible diseases that need to be cured. That autism is not a life sentence and that there are a lot of people on the spectrum who are happy and successful. We also need to show Auti$m $peak$ that many people who are on the spectrum have accepted themselves over the course of their lives anf they don't wish to be cured. We must also stop them from developing genetic testing that would lead to the aborting of unborn autistic children. We must also hammer into their heads that people who need to wear diapers do not always grow up to be defectives who ruin lives for their families. We need to get them to change their mission statement. We need them to give us that money for extras like college and university or medical supplies, instead of using that money for genetic research. We don't need any more research to be done. We need that money for ourselves.

^^THIS^^

Give me the cure please!! !

Cure? No cure? I don't care much.


Understanding? That's something that intrigues me.

I don't think anyone here is claiming that Autism isn't a disability.. It IS disabling. What people are saying is that just because it can be disabling in many ways doesn't mean that it's a "disease" that needs a cure, because it's a very big part of who we are. Finding a "cure" for autism is like finding a "cure" for any difference in thinking anyone has that makes life difficult for them. That's scary. Let's cure giftedness while we're at it(hey, they're smart but it usually causes some issues)... And people who have uneven skills in math and reading.. And introverts... And people who aren't supposedly as smart as others think they should be.. Let's "cure" every deficit and abnormality anyone has and make everyone equally good at everything(sarcasm)... Differences, even those differences that make it hard to deal with the rest of the world, are important to human society.

There are plenty of examples of people like Mozart or Jim Hensen who are highly successful. What the Civil Rights / ordinary human treatment / consideration and support for people on the Asperger's / Autism Spectrum needs are abundant examples of people who are medium successful.

Now, here's the tricky part. Coming out is a personal decision. And it's normal to come out in stages, disclosing in some situations, not others. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't, and a lot of times you can't really tell how it went. Not an obligation, that's dry as dust. More like an open green field, and then feel and texture.

Uh... I am HIGHLY succesful.

I have looked high and low in the Portland area and there are not others like me around here.

A very, VERY high percentage are on SSI or suffering from other comorbid conditions that keep them for even begining to go where I am.

...just saying...

It is pretty preposterous, Autism Speaks bringing out the big guns against a teenager who made a T-shirt (?) (?) (?) And it's not even that outrageous a T-shirt!

Look, psychology and the "helping professions" are imbued with the idea that 'normal' is good and non-'normal' is bad. Even when they say they're not, it kind of circles back to this.

Then parents are hurt very much to find out their child is way different from expected. Yes, the parent is going to initially look for the doctor or helping professional to 'fix' the child. In time the parent can come round, the child's not going to have the life I was envisioning, a different kind of life still worth while. See part with Jim Hensen, etc, above.

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Psychologists and other "professionals" can help out, but they can't run the show. Realistically, maybe 30% of the work can be done by professionals. The other 70% needs to be self-advocacy. A combination of group and individual self-advocacy, and we can learn from different civil rights movements.

ASDs are recognized as diseases by the medical establishment due to the observed and documented impairments it places on our lives.

Your post as well as others on this thread are good examples of the type of bullying and distortion that the "proud autistics" like to commit on this forum and at autism meetings.

Who are you to say that it shouldn't be cured for those who want it?

What authority gives you the right to arbitrarily say that this disease isn't a disease and then attempt to shut down scientific research for a cure?

Your own private definition of the word "disease" is meaningless.

The emotional argument that the word "disease" offends some of us doesn't change the medical definition of the word.

Just because you have autism doesn't give your opinions a trump card over the work, research, and findings of medical professionals.

Last edited by Molecular_Biologist on 16 Mar 2011, 9:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.