I knew Autism Speaks was bad, but not this bad...

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I've heard about how Autism Speaks portrays autism, how they want a cure, etc, but I never knew that they make so much money, and spend it... Well, like this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fc_qtWxMes[/youtube]

I don't know how they are able to actually keep going, they're basically con artists taking advange of us for profit... Why are they allowed to get away with this? It's horrible.

Thanks for posting this video... very instructive

It really worries me that Autism Speaks are now active in the UK, and even worse, that the National Autistic Society (who are normally pretty cool) have decided to cosy up with them.

A lot of charities are pretty bad with this kind of stuff, but I've never seen anything like this.... only 3% of what they raised actually got spent on providing services!

We really have to organise ourselves to provide our own services. WP is a good example of this, but we can do a lot more if we have the ambition and motivation.

I hate to say it, but I think they are. The last "Communication" magazine I got from them included a positive article about how ex-Prime Minister John Major had spoken at an Autism Speaks function. I've read another article in an NAS publication recently that states they have "teamed up" with them for some new research project.

I don't know how they are justifying this. I guess they would say that the UK branch of Autism Speaks is autonomous and separate from the US version, but I'm really quite suspicious.

I wrote to the NAS after reading the article, but never got a response. I think it's worth getting on their case about it - I reckon definitely write to them if you feel you'd like to. I'm a member of the NAS and I try and get involved in their campaigns, but I feel like a bit of a traitor if they are going to start bedding up with these guys.

Just thought I'd post this for you, this is from the Winter 2009 edition of "Communication", the NAS magazine:

"A UK-wide ASD research collaboration, involving Research Autism, the NAS, Autism Speaks and clinical academic centres in Edinburgh, London and Newcastle, has already successfully undertaken a series of research studies in preparation for a proposed 'randomised controlled trial' (RCT) to investigate the impact of the GFCF diet in young children with an ASD."

I suppose their argument is that this is all very reasonable... and certainly, the UK Autism Speaks web site (although it's pretty bad) doesn't go as far as the US charity in pushing "cures" and eugenics, but you have to wonder what they're up to.

If Autism Speaks plan is to come over all cuddly in the UK to try and gain acceptance then I'm seriously concerned. A leopard never changes it's spots....

Another thought... if the organisers in UK/Europe genuinely desire to take a different approach, why use the same name? I'd love to know what the connections are between the US and UK charities... worth a bit of looking into, I reckon.

Fair play to you, and I agree, they were pretty emphatic about that video - but judging by the other coverage they are giving the UK branch of Autism Speaks, there's something going on. I guess all we can do is look into it further, and see what we come up with.