Getting a little fed up with 'autism awareness'

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OP, you make very good points, and I agree with you whole heartedly. I am 45, and the only books I find for adults are about how hard it is to be married to someone on the spectrum.
There is a boatload of books about children, and what you point out about the long suffering family - I always shake my head and wonder, you know, that the parents are highly likely to have traits of their own, so raising any child would have been 'more challenging' from that standpoint alone, -- the books seem to assume you have a perfectly NT parent who just was unlucky enough to get landed with a spectrum child. Poor saints that they are, they have to carry on somehow, and read books to cope with it all.

(not saying it wouldn't be a challenge, but seriously, that is ALL the books seem to come from this angle.)

now that I'm an adult, should I offer some formal apology to the people who raised me, for how "difficult" I surely must have been? and was I so much more difficult than any other child they would have raised? you know, some days I just need ANOTHER reason to feel crappy about myself, and the fact that I exist.
{read that last line with sarcasm....}

I hear ya, man. I hear ya. Not every autistic is a burden on the family, incapable of living productive, independant lives.. It seems that most of what you hear on the radio, on TV, on the internet etc. is about how hard it is for the parents of autistic children. How parents and organizations like Autism Speaks want you to know the "warning signs". What kind of irks me is the tone of voice most PSA announcers use. That sad, I'm-sorry-for-your-loss kind of voice. The worst PSA I've heard in a good while (done by Autism Speaks) starts with a kid telling his dad everything he wants to be when he grows up. The kid's voice fades out, replaced by a woman stating the odds of the kid being a pro athlete. She goes to say, "sound far-fetched? Maybe. But the likelihood of a child being diagnosed with autism is 1 in 110. 1 in 110 *in a low sorry-for-your-loss voice*. Learn the warning signs of autism. Go to [Autism Speaks website]. Brought to you by Autism Speaks and the Ad Council".

Loving the hate threads! Way to spread the love and acceptance people.
Sorry, have to clarify... that is not me feeling sorry for myself.

I refuse to watch TV in April, because I know I'll see one of those one-sided Autism Speaks ads. They're like the Nazis of the 30s and 40s. They want to wipe us out. We wouldn't be dealing with this if the Holocaust didn't happen and Rain Man wasn't even filmed.

I dunno I kind of blush at the mention of it.

To be honest i couldn't care less about autism awareness, i mean everyone is different so they shouldn't treat autism like some kind stereotype supermarket product, we're not mass produced like some people seem to think :o Oh by the i wanted to comment on the second post of this thread, its not just parents with kids who have autism, a lot of parents who see their kids as ''damaged'' drown in self pity, my mom used to go to these parent evenings at my therapy group, and she just stopped going, she wanted to share experiences and gain some wisedom out of it, but she told me almost all those parents just kept complaining and crying about how hard it is to be a parent of a ''damaged'' child, i'm so glad my mom isn't like that xD I mean sure parents also need support but they also need to suck it up, self pity gets you nowhere :/

Anyway sorry for the long post, and sorry if i just offended someone.

I stumbled upon this post and actually smiled. You guys are awesome! I have a 3 year old daughter on the spectrum and I hate all of the "poor me" parents. I am completely unable to attend any support groups. It's not about me!
I have always worried and probably always will that we don't treat our daughter "special" enough. We treat her just as we do our other three daughters that aren't on the spectrum. It has given me great hope to read your posts! Perhaps she doesn't want to be treated "special".
I just want to say thank you for possibly giving me a glimpse into what her thoughts may be.

I do feel like a burden sometimes but I don't want the rest of the world to see me that way, too.