Do you support Autism Speaks?

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No, I don't

I do not support Autism Speaks.
They are an organization that always takes pride in discriminating against people with ASDs.

They attack autism as a curable disease that makes those of us on the spectrum less than human. Seeing as how autism is a physical change in the structure of the brain, the only "cure" would be extreme surgery that would leave us as nothing more than vegetables.

Indirectly they advocate the bullet to the head method of curing mental diseases, and I can never support that. I would die before supporting those things.

Wikipedia Link on 'Autism Speaks' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Speaks

If you mean support by "donate", I would be suprised by ANYONE here to say yes to that.

There are some you tube videos from scientists at conventions thay are pritty interesting.

It is a twisted group of NT's. They don't have it, so I'm not suprised at all if they get the wrong ideas, and waste alot of money.

If I think they fall into some guidelines of narcissistic corporate unethical behavior, I would say yes, most definately.

I like the root for the winning team, and they are not it.

No, because I don't have an inferiority complex

As far as ABA, it's supposed to be about rewarding positive behaviors. Of course, it's the question of who decides what behaviors are positive, the person or the authority.

At a lecture at a local university which included videotapes clips of ABA seasons:

And the adult loomed in the child's face during the give-me-five phase. And they did repeat this sequence about three times.

The ABA person was a young grad student really trying to do it "perfectly" and put a lot of energy into it. And that really is part of the problem. The thing's almost pursued like it's a cure-all and religion, rather than simply one tool which can be useful in some contexts.

And regards the face looming and the over expressive give-me-five, I asked about sensory issues. The lady said, not all autistic persons have sensory issues.

I'd say, most persons on the spectrum have sensory issues to one degree on another. And it's an aspect someone who endeavors to work with autistic kids should certainly be aware of.

PS If we teach a kid to make a big deal about introductions, that's going to stick out more than a kid who's just a little different throughout. Or, if the kid has tremendously good introduction skills --- as good as a presidential candidate in New Hampshire! --- but patchy skills after that, well, that's going to be more confusing to other kids, than if the kid just has patchy skills throughout.

The problem is, many autistic people are not "just a little different throughout". Some don't have any discernible means of communication (I'm not talking non-speaking, I'm talking no sign-language, no tts, etc.). Some have self-injurious behaviors. I'm full-spectrum anti-cure, but I still think they need to be taught skills to cope with life. ABA, when done with that goal, is an effective means of teaching.

My mom did once, and I did at the time... but that was because I was in high school. They came to our school with through the best buddies program. At the time, I didn't know how deadly and unsupportive they were towards people like me. The reason I don't support them is because they think of us as broken and diseased. They think that autism should be wiped off the face of the earth.

I was extremely disappointed when I discovered Sesame Street decided to support them. I grew up with this show, and I think that with Autism Speaks... kids are going to learn the bad sides. Autistic children are smart enough to know that this company is going to promote their propaganda and make them think they aren't wanted in this world. Is that what we want to teach autistic kids? Do we want to have non-autistic kids bullying the ones with autism? Hell no!

Welp. I needed more reason to be paranoid. I hope these f***ers don't come near my school. God, Autism Speaks AND the leadership... an ungodly mixing of the roots of evil against the autistic community.


Again, thank you for giving me reason to be paranoid.

To answer the OP's question: no. I'll never support an organization that is actively promoting a genocide against my people and advocating the continued suppression, bullying, slandering, stigmatizing, and disadvancement of my people.

Someone needs to make a rap song or something against Autism Speaks. To me they're like the Klan without lynches and crosses.

No, for pretty much the same reasons as everyone else here.

Something that is especially frustrating for me is the way in which they use data to push their message and agenda onto all people on the spectrum. One counter argument that I frequently see to anti-AS sentiment is that it's all well and good for us "high functioners" to not want a cure, but "low functioners" who are really suffering still need their services.

Now I know there are problems with that statement in and of itself, but let's for a moment just play Devil's advocate and assume that it's correct. If that's the case, and AS is voice for "low functioning" individuals, they still don't get to use diagnosis rates for high functioning individuals, who they've acknowledged they're not representing, to push the importance of their agenda. You can't say you don't care about "high functioning" individuals, then turn around and use them to support the legitimacy of your cause.

The services for "LFA" individuals argument would be a lot more convincing if they spent more than 4% of their budget on services and if they didn't fight efforts to spend more federal funds on services instead of research.

I have a friend who has a seriously autistic son. He swears by Autism Speaks, and does a lot of fund raising for them. It has been such a blessing for him, who am I to question his judgement? I support Autism Speaks because of the help it's given him.

Maybe run the "only 4% on services" issue past your friend and see what he says about that?

PS and we need at least two or three independent sources on this issue.

http://loveexplosions.net/2014/10/31/oo ... -released/

http://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/ ... _Flyer.pdf

Thank you PlainsAspie.

And I guess we should point out that even the 4% spent on services is going to include some overhead!

Now, there is a chance some patient people can help to reform Autism $peaks, but I don't think we should count on it.

I think we need to form our own organizations, embracing our mistakes along the way. And eventually we will have a quiltwork of organizations run by and for persons on the spectrum and that's a pretty good place to be.

And yes, goodhearted professionals, including CPAs (Chartered Accountants in the UK) can help out, but they don't get to run the show. And in particular, in our own organizations mental health professionals do not get to run the show.