Communication Shutdown campaign for autism charities

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This seems kind of weird to me. Wont it just annoy people?

this link
HOW will Queensland's serial tweeters survive? Autism charities in more than 40 countries are joining forces to launch a global campaign challenging the world's 4.5 billion social media users to shut down their networks for one day.
The "Communication Shutdown" campaign, conceived by the minds behind Queensland Tourism's "Best Job In The World", encourages social media users to make a donation and receive a charity app that will signal their support and intention to opt out of Facebook and Twitter on November, 1.
Australia has more than 12 million social network users and globally more than two-thirds of the world's population stays connected through networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Hi there,

It's a totally voluntary shutdown so it's up to the individual to join in.

Dr Temple Grandin is supporting the cause and she explained the idea well when she said:

“I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream. People will have some idea of what this feels like when they take part in Communication Shutdown.”

More info on this will be up on the Communication Shutdown site when it goes live on October 1.

Thanks for your interest!
The Communication Shutdown Team

No, they won't. They know they just have to wait a day and they know they chose to do it. Everyone knows what they're doing.

This is like saying that blindfolding yourself for a day lets you know what blindness is like. This is a dangerous publicity stunt that will not do us any good.

Sounds like a dumb idea to me.

I never liked Temple Grandin much anyway. Or mixed feelings, at least.
(She has a lot of good things to say. And you can't deny that she's intelligent and knowledgeable. But using intimate knowledge to lure your friends into a slaughter house just bugs me.)

Best quote ever.

Won't this have a negative impact on the global economy, or something?

Not likely. Even if every family with an autistic member participated (they won't) it'll probably have less impact than the SuperBowl half-time flush.

I'm all for awareness, but I'm pessimistic about any change that would occur.

What we really need is a facebook app that swaps around all the characters on the keyboard, so you press a Q and it comes out as a P. Then, once you've worked it out, a couple of them change. Oh, and it restricts you to basic "I am sad" "I like cake" language. Occasionally, a character limit appears, that makes you write between 50 and 150 characters. No more, no less.

It'd be interesting to see people try to last a week with something like that.

Oh, and links:

facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/CommShutdown

Website:
https://communicationshutdown.org/?view=home

No, the opposite. Facebook and other such things are time wasters, and actually decrease productivity. People who participate in the internet shutdown will actually get more work done.

It seems counterproductive to me, and even counterintuitive. I'm concerned that this will generate pity instead of empathy...and the last thing I think our community needs is more pity.

Someone has suggested an alternative to this, called Autistics Speaking Day. More info about it here:

http://bit.ly/cUXHNv

And there's another discussion about it here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt140744.html

The first I heard about this someone posted this on twitter.

Hamish and Andy
Won’t be on twitter Nov 1 to raise funds for autism at http://bit.ly/csnov01. We've had days without before but that's laziness not charity.

Or like all good NT's they'll probably sleep in, or go hang out with their friends and you know...actually talk. So what was the point of Communication Shutdown?

I also couldn't speak when I was a kid. I also had less anxiety.

I don't like the idea all that much.

If you aren't using Facebook, you can still e-mail people., call them or talk them face-to-face. Some people actually find it much easier to communicate face-to-face. Some people don't even USE social networking sites.

Also, social networking sites didn't even exist until recently and I don't think NTs had much trouble communicating before they existed.

I don't think this fund raising drive will make much difference . it will not tell people participating what it is like to have autism, it just implys that austistics don't talk or use social networking sites. People that have donated the 5 quid or whatever can still use Facebook or it does is inform everyone else that you are taking part.

She's a hypocryte and says things I disagree with. I NEED to stim whenever I feel the urge and video games help me decompress. Temple Grandin is a a curbie and I personaly can't stand her. My parents want her to be my idol but she isn't. I can't really think of anyone who is my idol other than Saint Francis of Assici and people involved in the ALF but she will NEVER be one of my idols.

Wait, how is she a curebie? o_O