Autism squeaks, but it's better than Autism Squeaks speaking

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The intent of what the metaphor "autism speaks" means is expressed on the internet site of autism speaks, by the founder, whom created the organization. Whether one agrees that it is sincere intent or not is a different matter. But as expressed, it was not an intention to speak for individuals with autism whom can speak for themselves, which is a literal interpretation, not the meaning expressed by the founder.

The organization nor any other organization has ever promised a cure for autism, nor do other organizations that seeks cures into disorders or diseases. They indicate that they are searching for a cure through research, as what is indicated in autism speaks mission.

Research into a cure for congenital muscular dystrophy continues but they are no closer to finding a cure for that disorder, than they were decades ago. It is not a lie that organizations continue to research a cure, even though there is no evidence that a cure is possible at present.

Individuals donate because they care, whether it is over a concern of their child, another child, or a future child with congenital muscular dystrophy.

It is certainly not a lie that autism speaks has been researching a cure for disabling aspects of autism spectrum disorders since it's inception through funding those efforts; nor the potential that an environmental factor might have been removed that causes symptoms associated with subgroups of autism. Autism speaks is only one of many potential sources for much of the research that they have funded, including the government.

The fact that research that Autism Speaks has funded is indicating that a definitive cure does not appear on the horizon as a result of that research is not part of a lie.

Their current efforts to fund research cannot possibly reach a goal of curing symptoms unless definitive causes are found for those symptoms; research continues in that general direction, but as in the case of congenital muscular dystrophy, cures are nowhere yet on the horizon.

http://curecmd.org/

so...I'm obviously too stupid to understand what autism speaks says because i have autism? lol.

Autism Squeaks...I thought this was going to be a hilarious satire of Autism Speaks. I am disappointed in this post.

i still thought my " Autism Lies" post was funny

I have no idea if you have a problem with metaphor or not but you presented a literal interpretation of the phrase autism speaks, that many people in autistic online communities understand it as, that is not presented as an issue anywhere else. There are individuals with PH d.s that have problems understanding metaphor, but that doesn't mean they are stupid.

Reading things in literal intent rather than metaphorical intent is a clinical feature of autism spectrum disorders. And it is part of the semantic miscommunication associated with Autism Speaks public service announcements, that are high in metaphorical content as are most public service announcements associated with charities.

The founder presents the meaning of the metaphor, in a public avenue; it is up to you whether or not to accept his metaphorical intent, but he created the phrase and has a trademark on it through the organization, so his opinion on what it means is relevant to the issue.

well you still made the argument that because i have autism my point must not be valid. which is always how you and autism speaks think. thats why they always exclude us.

The founder of the organization made it clear what was behind the idea of autism speaks. He created that idea, and he evidences what he originated the idea for on the website as I provided a link and a quote to.

I didn't claim you presented a literal interpretation, I stated it appeared it was a literal interpretation as only you can define how you interpret it as an individual.

I didn't say you as an individual have a problem understanding metaphor, I said it is a clinical feature of autism, in case that was the reason why you didn't seem to think it was possible that the idea behind the phrase evidenced by the founder could mean what he says it means.

Autism Speaks is his trademarked phrase for the organization so he gets the final decision on what he means by it. That part of it is not even debatable no more than what it is you thought it meant to you before I provided evidence of what was actually intended by the founder of the organization.

If you want to continue to think it means something other than what is evidenced that the founder of the organization says it means, that's up to you, but it's not reasonable to complain about what you thought the organization's trademarked name means, when it is defined by the organization as meaning something different than you thought it meant.

To provide an analogy if you come up with a trademark name for a website tomorrow called (sports speaks) and you put on your website that you founded the organization "sports speaks" so sports fans can get online and talk about their favorite sports teams on your website and I see an advertisement somewhere and determine for myself that the internet website sports speaks means that professional sports players talk about sports, and someone points it out to me that no, on the sports speaks website it says it is a site meant for fans to talk about sports not professional sports players, I could continue to insist that I was correct and the website is for professional sports figures to talk about sports, but that isn't going to change the reality that your trademark name for your website "sports speaks" is going to mean what I say it means, instead of what you the owner of the website says it means, a site for designed for fans to talk about sports teams instead of professional sports figures to talk about sports.

Now there is the potential that sports professionals will get on your site and also give their point of view about their favorite teams too, but that still doesn't change the fact that your trademark "sports speaks" was originated as an idea for sports fans to get online to talk about sports.

As you well know it is mostly families that talk about autism on autism speaks support sites, but there still is some individuals that report they have an autism spectrum disorder that get on the site and talk too.

They are as welcome as the professional sports players would be on your sports speaks website talking about sports. But there is the potential that the professional sports player is going to get in an argument with a fan, over their respective favorite sports teams and players, just as there would be between the fans.

One sees these kind of arguments on the Autism Speaks website as well among fans of autism speaks when they don't agree about vaccine policies, etc. and when individuals come to the site and state they have no right to talk about them because they are the individuals with autism not the family members of individuals with autism whom are supporters of Autism Speaks.

It's not likely that it would go over well with the sports fans on your described website if the Sports Professionals told the fans they had no right to talk about the Sports Professionals because they aren't playing the sports, particularly since the fans are there in part, in support of the sports figures as well as the teams.

I have personally had problems understanding metaphorical language in my life, but the analogies are easier to me because they are like a math equation. It was the way I adapted to understand metaphor, through analogy, instead. Eventually I figured out more of the metaphorical equations, through trial and error.

Smoke and mirrors yet again Aghogday. Your post is BS for those who don't understand metaphor.

The quote you have provided was clearly made in 2012. For an organisation that has a habit of telling lies its easy for them to reinvent what they were founded for whenever it suits them to do so.

Unfortunately for you there were many press releases at the time they were founded that are on record and cannot be altered.

So for an accurate portrayal of what Autism Speaks were founded for try this.

"In a 2006 press release, Autism Speaks stated as its goal "to accelerate and fund biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism spectrum disorders; to increase awareness of the disorder; and to improve the quality of life of affected individuals and their families"."

I don't see the humour but you are right in that it would be more truthful.

However an organisation that tells lies isn't going to be truthful with its name.

Perhaps more realistically they could have called themselves Autism Research or AR.

Nowadays they are also claiming to offer support so they could add an S.

That would make them an ARS.

I think that is funny.

A case of premature posting. I would also add that whereas you claim that they were, "founded to give a voice to the families of effected individuals with severely incapacitating forms of autism" my quote clearly shows that they were gunning for a cure for all on the spectrum.

You can't change history.

You also claim that they were founded to, "give a voice to the families of effected individuals"

Strange then that they then proceeded to take over CAN, NAAR and ACRE. Three autism research organisations. If there was any element of truth in your claim one would think that they would have taken over some support or advocacy organisations.

You know, that sounds an awful lot like how it literally reads. Considering it's the same goal as the founder, I really would stop defending things for the sake of defending them. It claims to speak for families, and maybe it does for some. Accept it doesn't for others without flipflopping on the semantics and outright aim of AS. This isn't politics where we say whatever we want the people to hear.

It is exactly what the founder said on the website, which is why I put it in quotes. The founder is not suggesting that the organization provides a voice for all families with autism spectrum disorders.

The founder only asserts the phrase was an idea to provide a voice to the millions of disenfranchised families around the nation. Obviously not all families feel disenfranchised or are even aware that the organization exists. Are their millions of disenfranchised families? That's questionable, but never the less, the phrase was clearly not designed as one to speaks for those individuals with autism that can speaks for themselves, which is how many others view it that don't get an opportunity to hear the definition of the founder who created the phrase.

he could be lying. don't take things so literally.

I would be taking the quote literally if I thought he was talking about literally every family with an individual with an autism spectrum disorder, even the ones, that don't know the organization exists.

To use another analogy, if you were to start an organization called sports speaks to provide a voice for the millions of fans that love sports, not all sports fans are going to participate, nor are all of them going to be be aware the new organization exists; there is too much other stuff going on in the world.

However that doesn't make you a liar because you still provide that opportunity regardless if all the sports fans figure out it exists, or if only 2000 are interested in your organization. One could estimate how many sports fans there are, but one cannot provide an exact figure, so it could be questionable how many sports fans actually exist. The statistics on autism are currently extremely restricted as they measure only individuals whom are 8 years of age, in the US, so any estimate associated with autism is currently questionable in the US.

You left out the second quote I provided from that statement where the founder related those cases of autism to cases just like his grandson who had regressive autism, which is definitely an incapacitating disorder.

Again the founder is speaking to the origin and idea of Autism Speaks, not the mission goals that include much more than what he states was the origin and meaning of the idea "Autism Speaks"
to give a voice to millions of affected families across the nation.

This is not my claim it is what the founder says on the website per the quotes I provided. It makes more sense to listen to his definition of what the idea Autism Speaks was founded as than to try to guess what he meant.

I'm not sure why you think it is strange that they absorbed those organizations. They had 25 million dollars to start a research organization; it makes more sense to involve those with research expertise, than to attempt to start from scratch in a technical area like that.

As far as awareness efforts, fundraising, and advocacy efforts, they had the ability to hire the best in the field associated with these elements, that do not require nearly the technical expertise, as research science.

That seems like common sense to me, but that is my opinion, I don't have actual quotes are evidence for the specific intent of the organization, in regard to absorbing the research organizations. But again that really has nothing to do with the ideology of the phrase autism speaks, as defined by the founder.

His explanation of giving a voice to millions of families affected, per his second quote in the statement specific to children like his grandson makes logical sense, as he and his daughter were looking at the issue from the perspective of family members that felt like no one could provide answers to them, why their family member suddenly lost the ability to speak and withdrew from attempts at communication.

That is a pretty scary thing, when a person has no idea why, and has no one to provide an answer. It doesn't seem strange that a person with the resources to take action, would take that action, and he had a great deal more resources per expertise, and financial influence than most people would have in a similar situation.

And there are reports that have been provided there was a concern in the beginning that vaccines might have been related to the grandson's condition, so at that point there potentially more hope for a definitive cure, than there is now, in regard specifically to the subgroup of autism that the grandson had, as science has refuted vaccines as a causal factor for autism.

Organizations and missions of organization do change through time, particularly ones associated with research as negative and positive answers are a potential as time goes on.