Petition calls to dismantle Queen’s Autism Speaks Canada

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Vera Aube, ArtSci ’23, was diagnosed with autism over the winter break. After three and a half years at Queen’s, they now feel “validated” to speak out on behalf of the neurodivergent community.

Aube is petitioning(link is external) to stop the Autism Speaks Canada (ASC) branch at Queen’s, alongside three neurodivergent friends. Almost 500 people have signed the petition since it opened around two weeks ago. The petition requests that the AMS “dismantle” Queen’s branch of ASC and replace it with another organization or support service.

ASC at Queen’s is a club that allegedly seeks to educate people about autism but, according to the petition, perpetuates “harmful mindsets.”

“It's scary to have [ASC] as the biggest representation [of people who are neurodivergent] because it presents us as an issue to society,” Aube said in an interview with The Journal. “[Autism] is just a different way the brain works, and I don't think there's a need to fix that.”

The Stop Autism Speaks Instagram account(link is external) is sharing the petition and has an anonymous form that shares anecdotes from people who are or have close family members who are autistic.

Aube reached out to the AMS to investigate ASC two years ago and said they were ignored.

“Being neurodivergent, it's hard to build up the courage to email about those things and talk about them,” they said.

The “I Am Autism(link is external)” commercial released by ASC in 2009 sparked controversy in its depiction of neurodiversity, according to Aube. The commercial(link is external) spoke from the point of view of “autism” and describes how the presence of an autistic person could cause family issues.

“It depicts autism as this raging scary disease that will tear apart your families and make sure you never have another happy moment in your life.”

At the time of publication, a part of ASC’s mission is to research further the “causes” and “interventions” of autism. In Aube’s experience, autism is not a problem that needs to be “solved,” but something “we need different understandings [of] and help for.”

ASC rebranded in 2016 to “better serve the autism community,” they said in a statement to The Journal. The organization has autistic employees, family members, and professionals specializing in autism.

“It is obvious [ASC] is trying to rebrand and put as many asterisks to their history, but it’s far too late. Their damage has been done,” Clara Toth, ArtSci ’24 and a member of Stop Autism Speaks, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Stop Autism Speaks wants to create a space where people who are neurodivergent can get support, like weekly meetings where neurodivergent peers can listen to one another.

Do you know how to access the petition?
I opened your link but it seems it's only on Insta?

In my experience QSAS is negligent in its accommodation of neurodivergence.

I've never heard of Autistics for Autistics so I'll check that out.

I think they would be better served if instead of trying to ban the entire branch they petition the branch to disavow specific bad things such as ABA that Autism Speaks supports.

They said they liked Autistics for Autistics Ontario. Why don’t they set up a branch of that organization on campus?

I really think critiques should focus more on what Autism $peaks is doing NOW, and why (at least some of) those things are harmful to autistic people, rather than on continuing to call A$ a "hate group" based on videos they produced 12 to 15 years ago. To make an up-to-date critique would require a little more work: Looking at A$'s actual budget for the past few years.