Strapples
Supporting Member
Joined: 30 Nov 2007
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,861
Location: Chicago Area IL (FAR FROM AUTISM SPEAKS)
10 Dec 2008, 9:35 pm
I'm not. I have a child with LFA. He's the one in that picture in my avatar. Sure, he's a lot to keep up with, but I wouldn't trade him for anything. You should feel the his tight, squishy hugs, hear his infectious giggle, see his eyes light up at x-mas lights, or when we pull into McDonald's parking lot. I see his right to be here, and to be respected just as much as anyone's. That's the thing with society... where can we, where do we draw the line as to who gets to live? Who gets to decide whose life has potential, and what makes a life worth living? And, what are society's views as to the ones that did slip by the radar, and was born anyways, despite their predetermined disability? Do we see them just as human, or less, because of the practice of weeding out their kind before they're born? There's more to think about then just the parent's feelings here. There's ramifications to this kind of thinking.
There's already an obvious prejudice that I see here often that divides AS from LFA. Some kind of underlying message that AS is just a difference, and should be accepted, but LFA... no that's different. How is it different then NTs assuming that your quality of life must inevitably suck, because you can't do things as they do?
I understand that most of you haven't had much experience with those on the other end of the spectrum, so you believe the rhetoric that's out there. Like I said, it isn't always easy to care for my son, but the rhetoric that many organizations put out there make it much worse then it needs to be. I get people come up to me in public in front of my children, and proclaim how lucky my NT daughter is, and how my HFA son is doing great, then proceed to drone on about how bad off my LFA son is. He isn't deaf, and he isn't stupid. He can hear, but they see him as less than, so it's ok to speak of him that way right in front of his face. That's why I oppose parents "rights" to choose genes that will help decrease the chances of autism. What does that do, and say about public perception of the ones that are already born?
serenity i love how you lsit out the great things in LFA. i have a friend with LFA who i love since i have LFA sensory issues and HFA everything else. her hugs are so tight.
_________________
check out my website at {redacted by admin - domain taken over and points to a porn site}
When in doubt, ask an autistic. Chances are, they're obsessed with what you need to know.
Autism Speaks will NEVER speak for me
CLASSIC AUTISM
10 Dec 2008, 10:18 pm
KBABZ
Veteran
Joined: 20 Sep 2006
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,012
Location: Middle Earth. Er, I mean Wellywood. Wait, Wellington.
10 Dec 2008, 10:51 pm
11 Dec 2008, 4:09 am
11 Dec 2008, 9:51 am
KBABZ
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Joined: 20 Sep 2006
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,012
Location: Middle Earth. Er, I mean Wellywood. Wait, Wellington.
11 Dec 2008, 12:45 pm
gina-ghettoprincess
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Joined: 8 Nov 2008
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,669
Location: The Town That Time Forgot (UK)
11 Dec 2008, 1:25 pm
11 Dec 2008, 8:42 pm
11 Dec 2008, 8:58 pm
Damn it all... was all our activism for naught?
The chance is unlikely that these doctors are reading or will read this, but in case they do...
I, ROXAS XI BRITANNIA, COMMAND YOU... NOW ALL OF YOU...DIE!! !
12 Dec 2008, 4:04 am
Well, in regards to activism- it's been pretty invisible in my opinion. Before I 'joined' the community I'd seen plenty of disability rights activism coming from the Death culture, Cerebal Palsy etc but I had never heard of an autistic culture. I had never heard of HFA either- I knew that Aspergers was distantly related to Kanners but didn't give it another thought. xD
All I knew about autism was that it was a disability; it made you speak funny if at all, it made you flap your hands about; make weird noises and pace (I did that but not to the extant that other people in my family do/did so it got ignored), have pretty nasty toilet habits and made you eat dirt and flowers etc . 
I'm sure if I'd remained oblivious to myself I would be on the side of the parents- because they obviously knew more than me.
12 Dec 2008, 9:17 am
All I knew about autism was that it was a disability; it made you speak funny if at all, it made you flap your hands about; make weird noises and pace (I did that but not to the extant that other people in my family do/did so it got ignored), have pretty nasty toilet habits and made you eat dirt and flowers etc .
I'm sure if I'd remained oblivious to myself I would be on the side of the parents- because they obviously knew more than me.
I never noticed any autism rights/activism either until my youngest son was diagnosed. He was diagnosed before his older brother, because his traits were so glaringly obvious. I remember somebody making an offhanded remark about my middle son once to the affect that he may have autism, and I remember that I was highly offended. To me, those kinds of kids just sat int he corner all day rocking. I couldn't have been more wrong in my perception, but if that's all that's out there, that's all the public knows.
When my youngest son was dxed I didn't get all upset. I just wanted to learn about it, so of course the aspie in me went researching. One of the first things I came across was the Autism Speaks-Autism Everyday video. then I got upset. My life wasn't like that at that point, but I thought for sure it would turn into that. What I didn't realize was that organizations like Autism Speaks overdramatize autism to pull on the public's heartstrings, so they'll donate money to their cause. Despair sells. I was thankful that I found autistics.org and other neurodiversity sites shortly after seeing the doom, and gloom information. Had I not researched with the perseverance of an aspie (looking for facts) and had I not been intensely focused on human rights since I was a child I wouldn't have known any different, either.
That's why I think it's important that autistics stand up to the negative images portrayed, but that we also show the world the positive side of autism. Show people that we do have something to offer the world, just as we are, no matter what functioning label we may have. Unfortunately, people aren't always wanting to listen to the positive. Even on here. I posted a positive video in the autism media board, and not one reply. If the title had read something dramatic it would be a couple pages down by now.
LeKiwi
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Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,444
Location: The murky waters of my mind...
13 Dec 2008, 3:49 pm
lionesss
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Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,305
Location: not anywhere near you
14 Dec 2008, 5:06 pm
