Boycott Autism Speaks

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A heart breaking message, Callista/. It is necessary for me to think a long time in order to even try to respond to something like this. It's obvious you have suffered and are still suffering and trying in your own way to work things through, and this is not to discount this suffering you have experienced and you attempts to transform this suffering, not only for your own personal sake but also for the sake of others in a similar situation for whom you feel compassion.

Ditto for parents of autistic children.

But it can turn people into sissies as such an experience can create a person with so much inner pain and so many psychological buffers that he cannot completely come to terms with reality. Not speaking about you, as I don't know, but generally speaking. In fact the parents are probably in many instances sissies who tend in one way of other to replicate themselves in the psychological makeup of their own children.. And there is an unwholesome tendency in this kind of pattern to blame other people for ones own present time behavior. Which is what it seems to me many people here are doing in the case of Autism Speaks. This is in no way to imply that that organization us perfect, but get this clear: They are not your parents, and imo you do not understand autism any better than they do. It is something we all need to be enquiring into together, rather than acting like Don Quixote fighting windmills.

Callista, to me this is fantasy stuff you are writing and is of little if any productive value except for letting off steam. I understand your intention is to help people, but how could this do it? The way I see it the thinking of many (but not all) autistic people is their biggest problem, not the thinking of other people..

Yeah, it does mess, and it messed up your parents up, too. I will give you and others the code right now. Feel whatever uncomfortable feelings you are feeling in you are feeling in any given moment and do not deflect the Work of feeling these feelings into thinking about and blaming others. Again, this does not mean you should not fight injustice..

now it has 1,946 likes. https://www.facebook.com/boycottautismspeaksnow

has anyone ever thought about physically protesting against $peaks at a $peaks event?

why would you waste your time and energy?

If you don't want what they have to offer, don't accept it or seek out their services. It's really that simple. That's what a boycott is.

why protest them doing what they do for those who want their services? That doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. Live and let live. To each their own and all that.

Um, specifically, what services?

From what little I know about them, the service of seeking treatments & cures for Autism and then making them available to people. I have no idea if they offer support services or counselling of any kind. I've never really looked into what they do besides all the chatter here about them and a couple of articles I read on their website. Financing research into treatments/cures is a service to the Autism community. (It's not a product, after all.)

Here is the 2012 Annual Report from the Autism Speaks organization..detailing the mission and goals accomplished for 2012..

http://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/defau ... report.pdf

It is impressive by any standard of a charitable organization..in the United States..

Strictly from a scientific perspective...

Without any subjective feelings about the overall message of the organization..per remediation of the serious symptoms associated with autism..otherwise fitting under the modern medical definition of CURE..

Per the Merriam Webster Dictionary as linked and quoted here:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/cure

cure and prevent is all they are.

I have a feeling that low-functioning autism is genetically distinct from higher-functioning autism, such as the high number of de novo CNVs (changes in the genetic structure in utero) in autism with intellectual disability (IQ < 70) vs those with no intellectual disability.

I suspect though, completely eliminating genes associated with higher-functioning autism will get rid of much of Silicon Valley, and many others in STEM fields, similar to how getting rid of genes with bipolar will eliminate much of Hollywood. Once we get rid of all the analytical or creative people who do we have left? The world will turn as conventional as possible, obsessed with status quo, obsessions about sports, social jokeying at others expense, obessessions about making wealth without innovation (which is why so many love MBAs and other business majors, where they can learn to take over startups or invest in monopolies rather than actually create something), obsessions about popularity, and religion. I'm not saying those that those who carry genes with autism or mood disorders don't express this, but it seems much more pronounced in the general population, and thus very conservative and boring.

I'm mean, just look at the photo of the Autism Speaks founders. Looks like a bunch of stuffy bores to me. I guess purifying the gene pool will turn everyone into them.

Yeah, no thanks Autism Speaks.

Well..quite frankly the founder is likely on the Broader Autism Phenotype..given all of his characteristics..

And this not unusual at all considering that his grandson is on the spectrum...

And well..quite frankly too..there are plenty of folks on the autism spectrum ..on the so called higher functioning end..that are a bunch of 'stuffy' bores too..

Just listen to some of the talks from the ASAN organization..for documented evidence of this..

It kinda comes through loud and muffled if ya know what i mean...

NOt a personal judgement it's just a fact that a substantial # but NO.. NOT ALL folks on the so called higher end of the spectrum..are that creative..in the classic sense...cold and aloof and all of that...instead..sometimes...

IT
s a spectrum after all..and 'trust me' creativity ain't too welcome ..or anything else that ventures to0 far out of the box on this site...at times..it's almost like it's scary to folks..to view any thing out of the box of expectations..

But that too.. should be expected as many folks on the spectrum don't like change and all of that...

But any way.. truly..the folks on this site..are seriously not much of Autism Speaks focus..they are here to FUND RESEARCH AND EVENTUALLY INDIRECTLY TO HELP cure the severe associated symptoms of Autism including serious and YES LIFE THREATENING CO-MORBID CONDITIONS..LIKE THE AUTO-IMMUNE RELATED GENETIC DISEASE..THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTISM..THAT KILLED MY SON..DEAD..YES VERY DEAD.....

AND TO BE CLEAR I AM PROFESSIONALLY DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER..
2
KIND OF MY SPECIALITY..AUTISM AND ALL OF THAT...
3
AND YES NOW EVEN CREATIVITY...4 'THIS'!
Give it time and some one on the spectrum will complain about that 2...
AS yes change or deviation out of the box..does seem to scare the pants..off of some folks on the spectrum..3..2..

The documented evidence for th@is abundant on this site...

First my response was to that offensive video on page 1 or 2 more than implying that autistics themselves destroy families and causes divorce, you know, as opposed to the people actually filing for divorce to begin with. Blaming others is easy after all. If the director of Autism Speaks approved of that and is indeed of the broader phenotype, then he sure has an amount of self-hatred. The entire tone was fear-mongering trite, reminiscent more of a political ad rather than a vehicle of change.

It is clear that a lot of cases of autism may have its origins in autoimmune disease and seems to happen more often than by chance, but based on the present research the majority of those with high-functioning autism do not have autoimmunities or a family history. It is also clear that based on the survey many , if not the majority, people who use this forum are descendants of engineers or some other technical profession, so I am certainly troubled about completely eliminating the genes.

My response on creativity was related to mood disorders and what will happen if we decide to purge other "undesirable" genes. To date most contributors to this world clearly have diverged from the genetic norm, although that divergence does not have to relate to the genes that cause autism, one has to admit that they were surely eccentric and different compared to your average citizen. A common theme in fiction is to attack conventional society at large, not surprising since most writers suffer from mood disorders and probably don't relate to the average person similar to how we do.

And yes, my rant on NTs still stands. Normalizing the gene pool will cause the world to be much more boring or simply not advance pass where we are at right now. NTs also have a host of other self-destructive tendencies that I'd rather not delve into right now.

Well friend I am autistic and I am creative...and i do my best to get along with everyone...

Visiting this site..for those that are so called higher functioning..

Is the greatest challenge of my life..in being patient..with some people who obviously have no respect for their fellow human beings and greater humanity as whole...

I've knowN literally tens of thousands of so called neurotypicals and broader autism phenotype leaning folks...in working with the public for decades...

And what truly matters in the end for whole dam survival of this thing called the human race is common human decency..compassion..and fully expressed and demonstrated empathy for the fellow man...

Hard enough challenge for me...

The world needs all type of minds...

And it is completely ridiculous..IN MY OPINION.. to suggest that any organization..any scientific effort..could rid the world of the broader autism phenotype leaning folks..that YES AS RESEARCH INDICATES..ARE PREVALENT..AMONG..10 TO 15 PERCENT OF THE GENERAL POPUALATION..AS DETAILED IN MY RESEARCH LINKED HERE...

http://katiemiaaghogday.blogspot.com/20 ... ho-is.html

THE LARGEST PROBLEM AS CLEARLY DOCUMENTED ALL OVER THIS INTERNET..SITE in real documented attempts at reciprocal social communication...IN GENERAL ..not with everyone..WITH THE CONDITION..OF THE FULLER BROADER AUTISM PHENOTYPE OVERALL...

IS A DEFICIT IN THE ABILITY TO DEMONSTRATE..AND EXPRESS HUMAN EMPATHY FOR OTHERS...YES ALL PEOPLE...

YEAH..FEELING IT AND ALL OF THAT IS GREAT...

BUT SHOWING IT..IN THE LONG RUN FOR HUMAN COOPERATION..AND SURVIVAL IS ALL THAT TRULY COUNTS..

ALL IN JUST MY OPINION..friend...

I am passionate about this..but nothing personal against any comment you made..

Certain..triggers just fire me up...haha..and all of that...

NTs do have "self-destructive tendencies" (read any psychology book and it's obvious that humans aren't perfect), but so do autistics. For every bunch of NTs who engage in groupthink and mess up the project, there's an autistic person whose black-and-white thinking limits them from using their talents.

I don't think it's that NTs are flawed that's the problem. After all, autistics are flawed too. It's more that they are flawed in roughly the same ways. With the same weaknesses in a population of people, they fall to the same dangers and there's no one to warn them or pick up when things fall apart. With a diverse population--culturally, neurologically, and in terms of age and gender--some people's strengths cover for others' weaknesses. Now there's an Aspie to play devil's advocate in a group, and an NT to remind the Aspie that there are grays in between black and white.

What we should be working toward is cooperation and integration. Anything that treats autistic people as a problem to be solved and a population to be eradicated isn't beneficial to the human race as a whole. Autism is a disability and that is something we need to address, because it means that autistics need help that most people don't need. However, any viewpoint that segregates autistic people from others and establishes NT as the ideal way of thinking would also result in losing the autistic person's unique contribution to society.

I AGREE with most of what you are saying here..but OH MY GOD..IT IS ALSO WORTH NOTING.. that the so called people on the spectrum..at least on this internet...site... none of them i know in real life..

Are just as guilty of group think..or more so that anyone i have met in my entire life..and YES DEALING WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AVERAGE JOES..BROADER AUTISM PHENOTYPE..YES AUTISTIC PEOPLE WHO ARE DIAGNOSED AND ALL OF THAT...

THIS AUTISM SPEAKS CONTROVERSY IS TRULY THE GOLD STANDARD OF THAT...

IT IS CLEAR AND 100 PERCENT DOCUMENTED AND EVIDENT..IN THE LINK I PROVIDED IN THE AUTISM SPEAKS 2012 annual report..THAT THE ORGANIZATION IS DOING REAL AND MEASURED BENEFICIAL EFFORTS TO ACTUALLY HELP MANY PEOPLE ON THE SPECTRUM..MIND YOU NOT EVERYONE OF COURSE AS NO one ORGANIZATION COULD POSSIBLy DO THAT WITH A SPECTRUM AS LARGE AND VARIED AS THE FULL AUTISM SPECTRUM...

But never the less.. close mind herd oriented folks WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT LISTEN TO ANY REASON OF THIS..IF IT MEANS VARYING EVEN ONE MI..NUTE IOTA FROM THE WAY THE CLEARLY MEASURED AND EVIDENCEd...GROUP THINK PHENOMENON WHICH IS A SCIENTIFICALLY MEASURED PHENOMENON IS CURRENTLY SPECIFICALLY DIRECTLY OCCURRING ON SEVERAL GROUP THINK ORIENTED SITES..THAT CATER TO THIS SPECIFIC AUTISM SPEAKS OH GOD EVIL EMPIRE GROUP THINK..CRAP..YES CRAP..IN JUST MY OPINON..

I PERSONALLY ABHOR GROUP THINK..makes my skin crawl....and all of that...

but i understand it..as the New England Journal of Medicine does indicate in peer reviewed research that a certain percentage of folks in the general population are more susceptible to conspiracy theories..YAH LIKE AUTISM SPEAKS IS ON SOME EUGENICS MISSION AGAINST..OH MY GOD..ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE AUTISM..WHICH IS COMPLETE AND TOTAL BS..PER THE DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE THAT CURRENTLY EXISTS..

WHICH IS FACT..REASON..BUT NO CONSPIRACY THEORIES..AND ALL THAT BS..THAT KEEP FOLKS LIKE ALEX JONES..IN BUSINESS..

AND THE JOY OF HATING AUTISM SPEAKS..ON THIS WEBSITE...

again in just my opinion..with the facts and figures as such above..considered2.....

Autism Speaks isn't consciously on "some eugenics mission". It's more like, they think they're improving their lives by eradicating autism, but they don't think about what that implies for the world. They're still working on the fallacy that disability is a universal negative with no good aspects, and that the absence of disability never causes any harm and automatically improves everything. They see autism as the enemy instead of as a trait possessed by fellow humans. The net result is eugenics, but not conscious genocide.

Back to the actual title of this topic, though: I don't buy from anyone who I know to have supported Autism Speaks. One person can't do much when it comes to boycotts, but that's not really the point for me; it's more that I just don't want to be a party to their kind of hate.

DEAR you simply do not seem to understand..it is technically and literally impossible to eradicate autism or the associated symptoms that do exist in most of the mammalian animal kingdom...

Eradicated autism is at most a myth...

But scientifically speaking IT IS IMPOSSIBLE AND SIMPLY A NON ISSUE..TO EVEN DISCUSS...

SO WHEN IT COMES TO ERADICATING AUTISM..IT SIMPLY CANNOT HAPPEN IN ANY ANIMAL SPECIES PER THE SYMPTOMS OR BROADER AUTISM PHENOTYPE LEANING ISSUES...

AUTISM speaks is gonna continue funding research..

Per the last Interagency Coordinating Committee for Autism..REPORT AS SUCH..Autism Speaks only funds 4 percent of Autism Research in the US...

THE SIMON'S FOUNDATION FUNDS MORE DOLLARS FOR THIS..BUT NO ONE KNOWS THEY EXIST HERE IN GENERAL..SO THEY DON'T GET ANY HATE POINTS..YA SEE...

If they (AUTISM SPEAKS) dropped off the map tomorrow..the funding dollars would still be there from concerned citizens..

They would simply donate the money to someone else...

Some researcheRs get private donations of at least one million dollars from just one concerned family with kids on the spectrum..that YES LIKE MY SON ARE SERIOUSLY IN JEOPARDY OR HAVE ALREADY DIED FROM A CO-MORBID ASSOCIATED CONDITION..OR COMMITTED SUICIDE..AS THEY COULD NOT MAKE FRIENDS..OR ANY HORRIFYING...ASSOCIATED ISSUE WITH AUTISM THAT CAUSES ANY HUMAN SUFFERING..THAT IS REAL LIFE STUFF..MY DEAR CALLISTA...

AND NO I'M NOT BELITTLING YOU BY CALLING YOU DEAR..I AM MUCH OLDER AND LIKELY WISER THAN YOU..THAT'S JUST A FACT.....STATISTICS AND ALL OF THAT...

EXTENDED EXPERIENCE DOES THAT TO YA..