Autism speaks?

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11 Feb 2010, 1:30 am

I just had a 'literal' moment and it occurred to me that Autism does NOT speak.

People WITH Autism (some of them anyway) speak, but the Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) of Autism does NOT and can NOT speak.

So leaving out what they actually do or don't DO, the name would appear to be oxymoron.

What do you think :?:

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Callista
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11 Feb 2010, 4:11 am

It's personification--the literary device. For example, if you were to say, "America speaks," it would be understood to mean, "the people of America speak."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification

The organization named themselves that because they believed that people with autism did not speak. They thought that they would be somehow providing a voice for people with autism in the same way that providing a "voice" for any group means representing them, as in the metaphor, "the voice of [a group]".

The oversight was that, of course, people with autism can and do speak, and do not care for what Autism Speaks is pretending they're saying. Even when autistics themselves can't use words, they do communicate; and so do their families. Autism Speaks is incorrectly named because it does not represent autistic people; it slanders autistic people by claiming we are saying things that we are not actually saying.

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Blindspot149
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11 Feb 2010, 4:36 am

Callista wrote:

Reminds me of the term 'Moral Majority'

I think it was Gore Vidal who retorted that;

'The Moral Majority is NEITHER'

If it wasn't him, it was certainly written in his precision surgical style

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Last edited by Blindspot149 on 11 Feb 2010, 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

CockneyRebel
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11 Feb 2010, 7:51 am

Autism Speaks speak for themselves. They don't speak for me, and they never will.

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PlatedDrake
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11 Feb 2010, 9:45 am

Blindspot149 wrote:

Actually, PDD-NOS can speak (and is in the HFA category with AS) . . . there are some PDDs that might not be able to, but not all (admittedly, i have an AS dx from one doctor, and a PDD-NOS from another. Then went to a specialist who says that PDD-NOS, AS, and a few others are all HFA/Mild Autism).

Technicalities aside, Autism Speaks is, from what i can tell, something like one of those groups that protest something, yet have no real clue why they are.

BrooxBroox
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11 Feb 2010, 10:17 am

Autism Speaks.... personally I can't stand them.

But, at the same time, I don't get the vibe that they're trying to "speak" for Asperger's people. They seem to be trying to "speak" for the type of kids who are in their notorious "Autism Every Day" video. In fact, although they have Asperger's symptoms on their site, I hardly ever hear them acknowledge it. It's all about the severe end. Whether or not they should be able to speak for the more severely impaired-- I don't think they should. I personally view them as the Hitler of autism.... trying to eradicate those with the disorder.

Hermier
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11 Feb 2010, 10:29 am

I've only just found out about Autism Speaks since coming to WP - I had just possibly heard the name before.

Knowing the little I've learned so far, I am fully & whole-heartedly against their whole philosophy and direction.

I think the name is ironic for sure. I do not like the name at all.

I didn't answer the poll - didn't see the right choice for me..... Because, I don't like the organization, but that isn't why I don't like their name - that is totally separate, on the merits of the name itself, not anything to do with how I feel about what the organization is up to.

I will choose a poll option, though, if someone tells me which one of them matches that what I think......

Blindspot149
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11 Feb 2010, 10:38 am

Last edited by Blindspot149 on 11 Feb 2010, 11:01 am, edited 2 times in total.

Blindspot149
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11 Feb 2010, 10:43 am

Hermier wrote:

I think the name is ironic for sure. I do not like the name at all.
I don't like the organization, but that isn't why I don't like their name - that is totally separate,
I will choose a poll option, though, if someone tells me which one of them matches that what I think......

Well, unless I have misunderstood:

1. The name is ironic and you don't like the name
2. You don't hold this opinion because you hate them so......

I think the following option seems to fit:

Yes but without the baggage in the above option (without the baggage meaning that your feelings and opinions about the organization don't figure in your opinion of the NAME, which is why that option was included)

Hope that means you can now vote :!:

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BoringAaron
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11 Feb 2010, 11:24 am

I don't know what they do.

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TPE2
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11 Feb 2010, 12:17 pm

PlatedDrake wrote:

Blindspot149 wrote:

People with PDD-NOD could speak, but PDD-NOS itself can speak (tip to uderstand better - replace "PDD-NOS" with "red hair")

Asp-Z
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11 Feb 2010, 12:22 pm

Autism Speaks does not hire any autistic people. How they can claim to speak for us, especially when most of us hate them, I don't know.

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11 Feb 2010, 12:59 pm

BrooxBroox wrote:

They deliberately use the most "pathetic" and negative images of autism as a method for getting more people to donate. Maximal pity is their goal. Showing some passable Asperger's computer programmer isn't going to accomplish that, so they'll never do it.

Feces smearing, meltdowns, and people talking about killing their annoying kids is so much more effective (apparently).

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11 Feb 2010, 1:05 pm

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:

BrooxBroox wrote:

So is the woman who runs it saying she wants to drive her autistic daughter off of a bridge, apparently...

Blindspot149
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11 Feb 2010, 1:09 pm

TPE2 wrote:

People with PDD-NOD could speak, but PDD-NOS itself can speak (tip to uderstand better - replace "PDD-NOS" with "red hair")

Glorious

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Blindspot149
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11 Feb 2010, 1:11 pm

Asp-Z wrote:

Autism Speaks does not hire any autistic people. How they can claim to speak for us.

Hire

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Now then, tell me. What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?

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