Simple reasons not to support Autism Speaks

Post Reply New Topic

Like most autistic adults I do not support Autism Speaks. However, when people ask me why, I have trouble communicating reasons. "They don't support the interests of Autistic people" is too subjective, and people ask for examples. And I need short, simple statements to convey my point without boring the listener.

I also tend to get responses like "Well you should call them up and ask how to get started working with them. "

How about. They are not autistic. It would be helpful if they were.

It is alot like a duck teaching a chicken how to fly.

You cannot put bones in a jellyfish... and I'm not the jellyfish.

There is no cure. There are only solutions. The solution is autism. This reason makes them unwise.

I'm just throwing stuff out there.

Try this: Autism speaks sees you as inferior and diseased. Instead of trying to help you work with your condition, they want to 'solve' it and eliminate it from you. They want to rid the world of people who are autistic instead of helping them cope. They pour research into the wrong things and place misinformation down the public's throat.

I don't think they'll ever find a "cure" for autism. The governments probably have had the cure for cancer for years but don't want the public to know to know about it because the doctors and nurses and pharmacists and even wig designers would lose a lot of money.

I would show them

This
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7NTfZzS9b8

And this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mycxSJ3-_Q

And This
http://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-i ... all-action

I've looked at their website and they have put emphasize on autism being a negative thing. They extensively use words like: "Disorder", "Disability", "Cure" and even "Disease". They do not support the interests of autistic people. They are greedy and money grabbing.
If you want a specific examples, on their page about what autism is, they put Aspergers last in a list of conditions. Aspergers is towards the higher end of the spectrum and being put last make people think that it is least like what the list is about, as it is last and so least important. It's an association thing that most people have. This all means that people will view higher functioning conditions as less like autism and so they will associate it more with lower functioning conditions.
I might be wrong, but that just what I think.

I have hardly heard of Autism Speaks but treating autism as a disease is like treating homosexuality as if it were abnormal. You can't cure both of them. People who are on the ASD or are from the LGBT community are able to make decisions on their own.

Apparently, as far as language goes, it is a disease. Since it comes from having an over abundance of synaptic connectivity, using the term cure is probably vastly overstated.

That article was so bad that even skimming it was grating my nerves. Man, I hate it when they blame Autism and Asperger's for families breaking up and kidnappings. They are so blind. I don't understand why they even think that load of junk up.

They think autism is a life sentence, we ruin life for our families and we're better off dead and that's a bad thing. They want to keep people on the spectrum from being born and that's also a bad thing.

Well, that's how the NTs feel about us.

Guess what, guys-- we feel that way about you, too.

I wish I was dead.

Say: "Autism speaks is less a charity dedicated to helping Autistic people and more of a eugenics advocacy group for parents who think they're martyrs because thier kids were born a little weird."

While I'm very selective where my money goes and to what charities i donate to I will say that I have found some general info about Autism/Aspergers from Autism Speaks and found it to be informative which has helped me to get a more firm idea on what this is.

However I think they are over stepping by saying when they blame Autism and Asperger's for breaking up families it's not just Autism but any child(ren) that has a special need does put more stress on a marriage.

There is a fund raiser here in the metro Atlanta from Autism Speaks-GA which will benefit the Marcus autism center I'm for donating to ensure the future generation(s) are able to get the proper treatment for Autism however I'm starting to wonder if the money raised on the local front will actually to local Autism centers or if the funds will be diverted by to Autism Speaks main office any suggestions?