Autism Talk TV Ep. 5 Geraldine Dawson of Autism Speaks

Post Reply New Topic

Jack Robison and Alex Plank of WrongPlanet.net sat down with Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer at Autism Speaks. She talks about Autism research and the science of Autism.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3e8uE38Jqw[/youtube]

Last edited by alex on 29 Aug 2010, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If I didn't know better, I'd approve of what she says. I would like to know about how autistics differ from the general population with regard to our medical needs, as well as how we differ in other ways unrelated to the diagnostic criteria.

One thing I'd like to ask is that a transcript be provided. There are all sorts of reasons why a video would be difficult for someone. Maybe they don't have a flash player, or maybe they share space with someone who's picky about noise. Or maybe they have auditory processing issues (rather likely here) which make listening to the interviews difficult. I've experienced all of these problems, actually.

Talk about it topic

For someone with her expertise, Dawson could be working with other organizations that include Autisitics in order to eliminate the patronizing attitude/agenda of Autism Speaks.

autism speaks does have at least one board member who is on the spectrum now.

Hey Alex, adding captioning would be extremely helpful, especially those who have trouble interpreting speech or are deaf.

Here is some that I have already transcribed for you.

Hi and welcome to the fifth episode of Autism Talk TV.
The online autism television show produced by WrongPlanet.net
I'm Alex Plank
and I'm Jack Robison
What is your connection to autism?
Well, I'm an Aspergian and my father wrote "Look Me in the Eye"
and, uh, I've also been involved at the TMS program at Harvard Medical in Bethesrial (spelling).
Excellent, Jack and I recently met at the Infar conference in Philadelphia
where we talked to a lot of scientists about the future of autism research
and the current breakthroughs.

unfortunately, youtube automatically adds captions to videos if they're uploaded. So the captions play by default when you add them. But I agree, it would be nice to have that option but only if they don't play by default.

As I read their accounts, Autism Speaks spend next to nothing on the areas that Geraldine describes. Have they suddenly changed, now that John is the token autistic on their board, or is this just another free, misleading advert for them?

Over here in the UK, Autism Speaks changed their name to Autistica and seem to be DAN (or rather, CAN) reborn.

No, they don't. They have one autistic member on the funding board, but the board of directors is all NT.

This Geraldine person needs to take herself and her massive salary and jump into hell.

I was surprised about the medical conditions she speaks about. I have great difficulty sleeping. I have to take medication or I won't sleep at all. I suspect it is a separate issue from Aspergers, but wouldn't it be a nice and neat if it was all one package.

If I don't take my sleep meds, I will NOT sleep. I cannot take Benadryl because the diphenhydramine causes my legs and arms to be wildly restless. I have restless-legs syndome anyway, so I take 2 Clonapin in order to sleep. However, though they may cause me to fall asleep rather quickly, I often have trouble STAYING asleep. Tonight I fell asleep around 8pm but woke up again at 2am, hence my late-night writings at present. VERY frustrating!

When did Geraldine Dawson join up with Autism Speaks?

She's from my neck of the woods--Seattle. She used to be involved with the Autism Center at University of Washington (I think).

Does Autism Speaks have tons of money or something?

Alex, while you were interviewing her did you talk about the need for more autistic adults to be involved with Autism Speaks?

I'm just assuming that you share that opinion.

She speaks of diversity and enrichment of the "wider society" through people having interactions with those with autism. But the problem is that autism speaks has a very bad history of trampling the feelings and views of adults with autism. My two biggest worries about autism speaks are

1. Autism speaks has used scare and terror adverts about children with autism to raise money in the past.

2. Autism speaks has done something which has a great potential for misuse. It has been trying to find the genes for autism, this is not something which should be undertaken lightly. The identification of the genes responsible for autism could lead to a genocide of autists through a prenatal test and the abortion of autists.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/res ... roject.php

So I am very wary of the organisation. I think that autism speaks can not be cleaned up, I hold the view that autism speaks is a house of strife (trouble) which should be avoided. It does not matter if you are religious or not, I think that Proverbs chapter 17 verse 1 is still true. To my mind "Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble" (Good News Bible).

Even if autism speaks offers money or worldly goods, it may still be a bad idea to dine at their table. Another way of understanding this bible verse or idea is "choose your friends and those you associate with with great care"

this is a very impressive and entertaining web site which is creating the site positive.

this is a very information and informative web site.

the people wants to like the sources of that which is very interested

Added bold to the key part - the answer is a simple, "yes." For a non-profit, they have an astounding depth of resources.

I am very nervous about the relationship this site is developing with them*, because they have spread so much misinformation, but there is also the possibility that things actually are becoming more of a 2 way street, and they are learning and evolving . Slowly, obviously, or we'd see a lot more funding for things our members care about, and a lot less funding for what is really PR, and a lot lower salaries for all their key players. They don't control the membership here and you all are free to continue to be a voice for the things you believe in, and I don't doubt for moment that you all will continue to do so.

* For the record, even though I'm a moderator, I have no more information than the rest of you on what that relationship may be or how it came about.