Autism Speaks and first amendment

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So I know that there is controversy about the autism charity organization Autism Speaks. I am also opposed to their agenda. But what do you think about issues like the first amendment, when trying to get rid of the organization? If we are guaranteed free speech, we unfortunately can't shut them down. What are your arguments for this?

And this mostly is about the US because we don't have many speech laws by western standards, but others are free to give their own arguments.

That is why the Right of Free Speech which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America can be used to expose those who hide their lies behind it. In other words, it cuts both ways.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean people are going to stop believing those lies.

True, but, as with any corporate entity, it isn't necessary to take away every dollar from its financial accounts to close it down. With profit margins (or "executive-compensation affordability" in the language of the non-profit world) as they are, simply convincing three to five percent of customers (or donors) to stop giving their money to the entity, and its black ink turns bright red. Keep it up for a few years, and office doors get shuttered.

It this case, using the First Amendment to convince just three to five percent of the supporters of a group to ignore it is a lot easier to do. Convince just one of the large corporations that funds Autism Speaks, for example, and a few salaries at the top get re-examined.

On the other hand, freedom of speech allows you to freely oppose Autism Speaks and freely want it to shut down.

Having said that, we went to an Autism Speaks walk last year (not going to bother justifying it here, but I don't regret it), and someone slashed my tires and left a menacing note on my car about hating people who walk for Autism Speaks (same for all the cars in the row). I'm not going again, because of that. And I think slashing people's tires and leaving menacing notes is going too far with your freedom of speech. You don't know the family - you don't know their reasons for being there or how they parent. (That's "you" in general - not you in particular).

The First Amendment doesn't include protecting criminal acts.

The idea isn't to get the government to shut them down. If the government had that authority, it would be scary. The idea is to expose their hypocrisy, show how misleading it is when they claim to speak for autistic people, persuade big-time donors to stop funding them, and make them less powerful. Hopefully some other charities such as Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and ASA will have the influence with the media and policymakers that A$ has now.

They can be shut down. Free speech is guaranteed to the individual, not to an organization. However, it would require education of EVERYONE who listens to them currently for them to lose their support and be shut down...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_ ... Commission

This. You can use the amendment to your advantage in some sense. Your best bet is to fight fire with fire

Autism Speaks have used unethical methods to silence dissent.
They have filed lawsuits for $100,000's against autistic people who have spoken out and they have successfully had many dissenting blogs and websites taken down. Is that a violation of the freedom of speech? Yeah. Us dissenting is in no way violating their right to speech. Are they engaging in the unethical act of defamation? Yes.
I don't see the problem. Especially if we aren't asking the government to censor but other private companies. It's how the game works.

I don't live in the USA but the other thing is, it certainly doesn't inspire me to join their cause. Oh you guys damage people's property and are rude and full of yourselves, are you? Well I'll just come right over then, what fun!! NOT. I really think if you want to draw people away from Autism Speaks, the best bet is to provide a BETTER ALTERNATIVE. The problem where we are, is there is NOTHING ELSE. There is a fringe "proud aspie" group (presumably the ones slashing tires...) but they don't suit our needs. We even went to an event run by them and I've never felt so out of place. We were not welcome there at all (my kids are severely autistic). Really all vandalism and degrading the people who have any connection to Autism Speaks does, is make them feel like there truly is no other alternative...which leads them back to Autism Speaks. Maybe if there actually was a group doing something for classically autistic people, fewer people would go to Autism Speaks (I'm actually 99.99999999999% sure about that).

None of that changes, counters or modifies my point. The government wound shut them down, but WE can. By educating EVERYONE to the FACTS about our condition so that people realize how stunningly full of fecal matter they are and stop giving them money. Additionally, autism speaks is none of those things.