I left the Catholic Church because of Autism Speaks

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So, yesterday I turned 40, and I used that occasion to finally leave the Catholic Church. Already as a teenager I doubted, but I went on to study Roman Catholic theology up to Masters level trying to give them a chance to convince me. I wanted to believe and I'm "envious" of people who get strength from religious belief. At some point during my studies, I even had what I'm sure was a religious "calling". I just never knew what I was called to. As someone who is gay and doesn't belief in almost everything the Catholic Church teaches, I never felt at home. And still I didn'l leave. At some point I told my parents I had left the Church to piss them off, even though I hadn't. Now, at 40, I left without telling them about it.

Why did I finally do it? I was diagnosed with Asperger's last year and have been an autism activist ever since. I became aware of an autism conference the Vatican will be organizing next month, and I contacted them multiple times to make sure that autistic self-advocates would be invited to speak, not just parents or professionals. A week or so ago the conference programme was published - and they invited Autism Speaks, but not a single autistic speaker. That was the last drop.

I will not be a part of this Church when the Wrights get the unavoidable photo op with Pope Francis and his blessing. Not in my name. Enough is enough.

Here's the link to the conference:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ponti ... /hlthwork/

And the conference programme (in Italian and English):

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ponti ... gramma.pdf

Thank you for the links. I hope you are all right. Happy birthday too.
Your post comes at an awkward time for me as I am considering re-joining. In quickly only beginning to peruse the conference link I saw that: It says there will be a Taiwanese artist - who is autistic - present, along with their artwork. Here is a quote:

"On Thursday 20 November 2014 our international conferen- ce will begin with a celebration of the Holy Mass in St. Peter?s Basilica. This will be followed by the papers and contributions in the Hall of the Synod which will follow one another for the whole of Friday. In the morning of Saturday 22 November those taking part in the international conference will join people with autism spectrum disorders and their family relatives, those who accompany them, health-care workers, priests, men and women religious, and voluntary workers, in the Paul VI Hall for a me- eting of testimonies and prayer with the Holy Father Francis, along with a musical moment.
Bearing in mind the notable contribution offered by music for this specific pathology, it was believed advisable that this meeting with the Holy Father should also have the features of a ?party?, thereby making easier the involvement and the participation of the people who will be present at the meeting, as a sign of the care, nearness and solidarity of the Church community.
PONTIFICIUM CONSILIUM PRO VALETUDINIS ADMINISTRIS
....Valuable testimony will also be offered by the exhibition of works by an autistic painter from Taiwan who has managed to become established as an artist on the international scene and who will also be present at our event."?

Organizers of autism conferences are always keen to show art work. Art doesn't contradict them, and art doesn't formulate demands that might clash with the agenda of the organizers and how they view autism. It's not the same as asking autistic self-advocates to speak. There will be a meeting with some autistic people - my guess is mainly children, most of them non-verbal -, but in a non-official frame, outside the formal conference. Message: Here are the experts who know what to do about autism and there are the poor souls they are trying to help. That's the photo opportunity I am speaking of. That meeting with autistic people who are not allowed to speak themselves will be where the photos will be taken that Autism Speaks will afterwards be able to use in furthering their anti-autism agenda.

A photo of the Wrights with Archbishop O'Malley of Boston already exists:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/thank-you-cardinal-o039malley-and-pope-francis

If you know how many hospitals, schools, institutions, and so on the Catholic Church runs all over the world, you can estimate how much damage a conference such as this can do if it is seen as endorsing Autism Speaks.

It's also quite ironic considering the Catholic Churches' strong opposition to abortion and Autism Speaks' research drive for a prenatal genetic test that will allow the abortion of fetuses at risk of autism.

I contacted the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, who is organizing the conference, directly, in July - never received a reply.

I also contacted the Vatican's diplomatic mission to the United Nations and the World Health Organization in Geneva, in September. All they did was forward my e-mail to the Pontifical Council once more. Still no reply.

So many will see the Vatican embrace this hate group, and then the many will see their, views, as being more mainstream and acceptable -- A sickening thought.

The past conferences that the Vatican listed as being relevant, include topics on sickness and caring for the sick, I can guess what's going to happen at this conference.

Unfortunately, it will be impossible to boycott the Catholic Church the same way autistic self-advocates in the US have been boycotting businesses collaborating with or donating to Autism Speaks. People's faith is more robust than their customer loyalty to a brand.

However, due to the high page ranking of Wrong Planet, this thread is already result number 2 if someone googles "Autism Speaks Pope Francis", and it shows up on the first page of search results for "Autism Speaks Pope" and "Autism Speaks Catholic".

I long ago stopped blaming other people and organizations for turning to Autism Speaks. It is the biggest beast out there so, to the NT world, it has credibility. What I do instead is take the opportunity to educate people about what the issues are that the ASD community has with the organization, and point them to organizations I hope they will choose to support either instead of or in addition to the support they have in place for Autism Speaks.

You can't expect anyone outside of our small community to understand what our issue with Autism Speaks is. You just can't. Even parents of ASD kids tend not to know. People don't have time to fully research and understand all the complicated issues in the world, so they tend to turn to the ones with the strongest public face. That is Autism Speaks. They've marketed themselves brilliantly (despite the giant missteps) and have contacts the rest of us don't.

I hope you find a faith community that will meet your needs and not fully turn away from it. Your relationship with God is far more important than membership in any particular church, so if a split is what it takes to make that whole, then you've done the right thing.

I guess I don't sound very Catholic, do I, even though I am most definitely Catholic. But I separate all that from my private faith. It is just a church, a "faith family." It isn't faith itself.

I will think about writing them, myself. As a parent and a current member of the church - and also a pretty effective advocate when I choose to be - I might be able to get heard better. I will think about it. But I might need help with some of the facts against Autism Speaks; I've never held that closely to the issue.

So the Vatican decided to hold an autism conference and no self advocates were invited. Sounds more like the Catholic Church didn't want to or didn't think to include autistic advocates. That seems to be the issue to me. Not sure how that's an autism speaks thing.

I'd like to flush Autism Speaks down the toilet where it belongs.