What is the truth about Autism Speaks??

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I'm confused here. So far as I have seen, from their tax return, half of the funds raised by Autism Speaks disappears inside Autism Speaks (on funding their funding drives, typically), and the other half goes to fund cure research.

So, the "fair amount" that you are suggesting that Autism Speaks offers, would be what? I can only imagine that you mean Autism Speaks offers hope to parents that they will get a replacement child? I can't manage to fit the word "benefit" in here.

Autism Speaks seems to be more interested in preventing autism through abortions than they are in helping autistics. I think they have received millions of dollars and haven't come up with a single autism treatment. They mostly seem to research autism genes to be used in a prenatal test, similar to the one of Down syndrome, which currently results in 90% choosing abortion when the test is positive. I like the Autism Research Institute at autism.com. They actually do good research on autism that is helpful to those who want it.

I see some good, but I see more harm than good. "It's hopeless" or "they are a burdon" messages about Autism, not alowing Autistics to give speaches, and calling Autism an Epedemic, can greatly cause trouble to the possitives.

That part where the song goes "what kind of world do you want..." kind of creeps me out.

OK... If you go to http://www.autismspeaks.org and find their press release page and look and the amount of money they got from the government for research Dec 20, 2007 (5 million dollars). You will find that they spend most of it on training new researchers. Some of it is going to study autistics, at varying levels, from chemicals in their brains, to 187 autistic children's coping activities, to causes/risk factors of autism during pregnancy, and gene factors.

Then for the same day, they approve just over half a million dollars for 29 service projects throughout the country.

The group's purpose is to cure autism. Whether it is from testing in the womb to give parents "the option." Or from making all autistics behave exactly like NT's, whether we want to or not.

also, go to their page and watch some of the videos in the video glossary. it is a very good example of what parents should look for in children, but if that is what they are doing to the 187 children in their research program someone needs shot. it is like a form of torture.

OK now a good thing they have done... a compilation of different authors into a 100 day kit to help parents with newly Dx'd kids cope.... this is really cool... though there are typos and in the first couple of pages they push the autism speaks doctrine.... but still heres the link http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/family_services/100_day_kit.php

They feel threatened by us, because we can speak for ourselves, and they will do anything that they can, to shut us up.

It is about time more organizations started focusing ON the autistic person rather than the parents. Okay, so it may suck for them that their kid isn't 'normal' (whatever the heck that is) but try BEING us. I feel very alone and unsupported half the time and this site is the only place we really have to be us.

incidentally i don't have the internet at home...

I know. It creeps me out, too. Especially when they get their PSAs played here.

If you want to gauge the worth of this "charity," I think it is telling that those they claim to benefit so overwhelmingly despise them.

I'm talking about the autistics who actually want a cure for their disorder because they are frustrated with their lack of social skills and sensory overloads. I'm sure that to be able to fit in like everyone else is a desperate want of many autistics, even if they're not the ones who post here. It is for those people that Autism Speaks is trying to find a cure.

Personally, just because I am not pro-cure does not mean I am not pro-treatment. I would like something that helps with my social skills, or with sensory overload, but I am not in favor of eradicating Autism like they are.

You know the more I know about this disorder, the more I know low functioning Aspies and HFAs to be articulate, intelligent people, the less I believe that there are autistics who want a cure from the autism. They might certainly require treatment for the depression, drugs to alleviate certain symptoms or sleep to alleviate the psychoses, but Autism Speaks doesn't suggest that there is any hope for treatment, now do they? All they want is a cure. So, why even bother discussing anything else: the only cure for genetic disorders is eugenics and abortion.

And you know what... this could all end up being a moot discussion if the vatican has anything to say about it. They just announced yesterday that one of the new sins is genetic manipulation. That's got to take a bit of wind out of Autism Speaks' sails.

All of those mothers complaining... is almost pathetic....

My Mother as to put up with me every day of my life ((and things were far worse in school than they were before.)) And not once have I heard her complaining, and I am a handful, trust me. These women shouldn't be having kids if they can't expect what could be coming towards them. But that in itself is another issue.

As for Autism Speaks, seeing some of the videos they have done, think of them as a company that wants to, well, "cure" ((AKA destroy)) Aitism in itself. I don't care for them, they should be putting more of their funds towards therapy for Autistics instead of trying to find this :Cure".

I don't think they're really interested in a cure.

They come off as exploitative.

Those b*****s should get their children taken away, by Social Services.

I think Ari Ne'eman put Autism Speaks dead to rights in his letter to the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee.

He said

The current culture of despair and intolerance promoted by groups like Autism Speaks and Generation Rescue does not contribute to positive outcomes for autistic individuals. Statements that devalue autistic life, like those made unapologetically in the fundraising video Autism Every Day by IACC member and Autism Speaks Executive Vice President Alison Tepper Singer, do not benefit people on the spectrum and contribute to an environment of stigma and fear. Ms. Singer's comments, where she states she considered driving her daughter off the George Washington Bridge, refraining "only because of…the fact that I have another child," are of great concern, particularly given the murder of an autistic child by her mother a mere four days after her statement. The inaccurate and incomplete picture of the autism spectrum that Autism Speaks has chosen to promote for fundraising purposes contributes to the environment that makes these atrocities possible. That is why the autistic community continues to be concerned by Ms. Singer's presence on this Committee and the message her selection sends to people on the spectrum, our families and our supporters. You cannot help us by demonizing our neurology and stigmatizing our very existence.

Genetic research promoting a prenatal test for the autism spectrum is also of grave concern. It should be noted that Dr. Joseph Buxbaum, an Autism Speaks-funded researcher, believes that a prenatal test for the autism spectrum could exist as early as 2015 – in fact, genetic testing for some types of the autism spectrum is already available. There is significant evidence that such tests will and are leading to the use of selective abortion to engage in eugenics against the developmentally disabled. It should be noted that approximately 90% of fetuses that test positive for Down Syndrome are aborted. While a prenatal test for the autism spectrum is significantly more complex to develop, once it is in existence the current climate of fear makes a similar result likely. While we do not hold an opinion on the abortion debate in general, we are deeply concerned by any effort to eliminate a particular kind of individual from the gene pool solely on the basis of neurology. Taxpayer funds should not be going to eugenics.