ASAN-Ohio Protests Autism Speaks in Columbus Tomorrow

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Protest against Autism Speaks' walk for autism

http://asancentralohio.blogspot.com/200 ... k-for.html

Please join us as we protest the Autism Speaks walk for autism this Sunday, October 11 from 8:00am to 12:00pm. We'll be meeting at the corner of Fred Taylor Drive and Borror Drive, right by the 4-H Center, and this is where we'll carry out our protest. We are actively looking for volunteers and fellow protesters. Our protest has been sparked by, among other things, Autism Speaks' recent PSA, titled "I Am Autism," which presents autistic individuals as kidnap victims, burdens, and inhuman. In the video, autism is presented as a soul-stealing entity that ruins marriages, causes bankruptcy, triggers embarrassment, and erodes morality. Please join us (even if only for a short while) as we speak back to Autism Speaks and the discrimination that such a campaign perpetuates.

Campus map & driving directions: http://www.osu.edu/map/building.php?area=&building=191

Note on parking: The OSU Event Parking Coordinator is advising ASAN to park behind the 4H Center building in their parking lot. There are about 55-60 spaces available. Fred Taylor Drive (the road in front of the parking lot) will be blocked off at 10 a.m. to prepare for the walk, so everyone will need to be there before that time if they choose to park there. Getting dropped off near by or walking from main campus are the other options for coming later than 10am. Thanks!

Note on signs: We will have some signs on hand, but please feel free to bring your own. Slogans we've suggested include:

* Nothing about us without us!
* Autism Speaks does not speak for me
* I am not a puzzle. I am a person.
* Learn to listen, Autism Speaks

Please contact us at [email protected] with questions.

Here are a few photos from the protest:


Tim Jensen holds out a flyer toward the walkers



Jeffrey Strasser, Stephanie Ballam, Melanie Yergeau, Justin Rooney, Erika Strandjord, and Meg Evans
hold signs on a street corner near the parking lot



The Anderson family displays a colorful sign that reads "Autism is not a disease"



Jeffrey Strasser, Jason Smith, and Stephanie Ballam hold signs that read "'Autism Speaks' against us,"
"Autism Speaks does not speak for me," and "First class autistic, second class citizen."

And here is a video from the protest:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUBfyfjIccA[/youtube]

A report about the protest can be read at ASAN Central Ohio's blog:
http://asancentralohio.blogspot.com/200 ... utism.html

It seems like all those recent ASAN protests are finally turning us into a real civil rights movement.