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They're not the only ones. http://www.autismspeaks.org/inthenews/vh1_classic_awareness.php

I won't donate a single cent to them.

the people i'm refferring to, who are getting these Autism Speak grants for research, are not considered neurologists (you would NEVER go to these people for a DX; they have no waiting rooms, just incubators and freezers and shakers and molecular things)... i think you are just confusing the actual role of a neurologist (who is a pyschological researcher) versus a biological researcher... which is what i'm talking about.

the scientists im tlaking about research many things... their labs do not soley research autism

autism speaks is just one of many grants that funds their labs

they take governmnet money anywhere they can get it there's nothing personal attatched to it. like i said, "some" aren't even aware of the media perspective.... these biologists are much more removed from the media aspect than are neurologists.

it's more functional research not "cure research" or patient treatment... im talkin running rats through mazes and slicing brains... rats are the only patients these scientists see.

attatching your personal views is ok (and is certainly valid when choosing a pyschologist or w/e) but doing that won't be in the best interests of understanding the biological impact of autism on a molecular/physiological level....

edit: keep finding all sorts of errors!

I hate Dr NT but at least he uses his own millions* he made in the Internet
bubble economy to fund his aspie extermination program.

*money he made stealing IT from mostly aspies computer geeks.

I'm afraid you'll have to look up "neurologist" in the dictionary. To some extent, the term has been hijacked for the diagnostician:However, it certainly also the only word you can use for the reasearcher into the nervous system:Note that in neither case is there the slightest hint of psychology.

If they are not aware of where their funding is coming from, they should be ashamed of themselves.
If they are aware of where their funding is coming from, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Yes, so "I'm only doing this to rats - my research will never be applied to humans" is a valid cop-out?
Also, the people who designed and built the gas chambers for the Holocaust were acting perfectly acceptably?
From the same period, the "research" into euthanasia... and eugenics? All fine by you?
(And here, I shoot myself in my own foot, because although I'm fully in agreement with the fact that the Manhattan Project resulted in an horrendous event, unfortunately, the research involved had to happen. If not then, then later. Atomic/nuclear bombs are a phase we've had to get through. Hopefully we have.)

I'm assuming that this is a mistake: "the biological impact of autism on a molecular/physiological level".
Stated that way round, I can only interpret it as describing self-harm? I hope you are not implying that "autism" is some sort of "infection" that attacks the nervous system.
Reverse it, and it makes some more sense in context. However, there is little or no evidence of any such effect ("the biological impact from a molecular/physiological level on autism"). It is an organisational effect, according to what I've read/heard/seen evidence for. I'm different. I'm not broken. Quite the contrary.

Tirade over. Sorry Sedaka... I'm just being me, and I've given up not being blunt.

Yes, Neurologists also work on accident victims, stroke victims and people with Migraines, none of which are treated by Psychologists or Psychiatrists unless the person becomes depressed as a result, then it's treated as two separate things. They treat anything to do with the nervous system as well.

What's unfortunate is that so many Neurologists now feel they must also have the designation of Psychiatry in order to study the brain because Psychiatry has hijacked so many neurological conditions that have nothing to do with Psychiatry except as a side effect of the dpression induced by an ignorant society. Not all Neurologists do this and in fact many don't.

My brother is a researcher and I've worked with his bosses on grants at different jobs and different universities (for diseases of the eye, HIV and plant genetics). I'm fully aware of the politcal nonsense that goes on and the agendas they follow. They are there to prove out theories and those theories must match the agenda of the funder or they will not get the money. That's why grant writing is like marketing writing and you need to give it the right spin. This is true of all research including plant research. He also only works with rats and mice, makes no difference. They are funded by people with agenda who won't give them another cent if they start going off down a different path other than the one the funder (government and otherwise) wants to see. Private funding is even more this way, but government funding is like this as well. The parameters are spelled out in the rules for the grant request. If you can't fit an agenda, you better be bringing your own money to the table.

So my opinion is based on my work with them and it stands as it is.

And Autsim Speaks still gets nothing but my derision and they should be thankful that's all they get from me.

no idea where you get self harm from... 1/2 of what you said makes no sense.

ppl are too uppity! guess this is what happens when you have more of an associative thinking pattern

why don't you start your own campaign to raise non-tainted money for autism research

fact is... it does bring in lots of money for honest research... "not cure" research...

and until some better fundings come along... this is pretty much what you have to work with.... and it's not even one of the major providers.

sometimes you just gotta suck it up and not take things so personally


and i think they go by neuroscientist as it encompasses way more biological aspects than just neurology...

edit: when you apply for a grant... you look for stuff available to your field... you write a proposal of your intentions and you send it out to however many grants there are for that genre... you can cater some, but for this kind of research... it's all about anatomy and development ect... there's no way to "bend" your ideas to support baby drowning or w/e... i bet if i sent you an actual proposal sent to _____ grant such as autism speaks without you knowing where it would go... that you would have absolutely no problem with it.

you just send your stuff to all available grants... it's not like they cross their fingers and pray to win the autism speaks grant.... it's just on the mailing list, so to speak.... if they accept your proposal... heck yah you take their money...

every year scientific funding is under cut.... beggars cant be choosey. don't blame scientists for having to work with the ignorant views of the masses.

Last edited by Sedaka on 10 Apr 2007, 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't think they have a snowball's chance in hell of finding a cure. I'm still waiting for my "cure" of juvenile-onset diabetes, a simple auto-immune disorder. No one even knows what autism really is, much less any idea of how to "cure" it!

I stopped being involved with the parental autistic community for many years because of the irrational rants of curbie parents. I hae learned to ignore them.

However, I'm concerned about those nasty old ladies who want to make living with an aspie a psychological disorder. The "Cassandra Syndrome" group at FAAAS.

The following was your expression:

What were you saying? I certainly don't think autism has such an impact, other than as I suggested.


Well, at least I got through with the other half of it. Which half did you have problems understanding?

It can't have been the dictionary definitions.

I would guess that the immorality of accepting "hidden agenda" funding cannot be at issue.

Research whose eventual aim is genocide... surely you would agree that that's less than desirable.

Talking of autism as some sort of "thing" that attacks "on a molecular/physiological level". I just assumed that was a mistype.



Ouch! Please! Someone slap my wrists.

I think Sedaka refers to brain differences of a structural and chemical nature. I don't think any real scientist actually believes it can be reversed.

As I said, I help write grant aps for these and we do spin them. We don't send the same ap to everyone. Autism Speaks is not going to fund anything off agenda. They all list exactly what they will fund and you apply accordingly. That isn't just true of research grant money, it's true of all grant money for any project.


And yes, we should do our own fund raising to get what we want looked at.

I will not contribute money. I will, however, contribute the following thought:

F*CK OFF YOU BIGOTED NARCISSISTIC NT ARSES WHO TORTURE YOUR PERFECTLY WONDERFUL AUTISTIC CHILDREN IN FRONT OF CAMERAS TO GET PEOPLE TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOU. PLEASE, REMOVE YOUR CHILDREN FROM YOUR CARS AND DRIVE YOUR NARCISSISTIC SELVES OFF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE - IT WILL MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

I certainly can't speak for all scientists or any particular institute that unknowingly receive funding from Autism Speaks. However, it is a well known fact that Autism Speaks and Cure Autism Now (they have merged) fund their own research. Autism Speaks is now sponsoring the Interactive Autism Network-a collaboration of researchers and parents with its principal goal of curing autism. Their words, not mine.
They are not collaborating with autistics.
I don't know if Autism Speaks grants monies to uninvolved parties that conduct independent research. But I do know they grant monies to researchers, institutes that have overlapping interests.

The overlapping interests is where you see them funding independent researchers. I've seen these. That's where you'll see the funding coming from different sources, one of which could be Autism Speaks. Say Autism Speaks gives $150,000 to some German Neurologist (which was one I saw) to help fund his research. It overlaps with what they want to see.

Curebies try to "prove" the mercury/autism hypothesis by using research funded from groups with this agenda. They often use this information to those who have little awareness about autism and it all sounds good because they do not know that there are researchers who regularly get PAID by these groups. If they do not support the theory then the grant money is gone.

So there may be some independent researchers out there - but there is also problematic research being done that is being presented as independent. One person who claimed they wanted a grant for lyme/autism research by one of these curebie groups was denied because it had nothing to do with mercury or vaccines. So these groups who are doling out the money are only going to support their own agenda. And now the researchers get to become almost instant celebrities among the curebies too.