Why Asperger's should be separated from Autism

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In short, EVERYTHING!

KoS... a couple things. First, you do not know more about autism than any of the members here ever will. You may know more in some aspects, you may know what it is like to live with those on the spectrum better than those on the spectrum themselves realize, but it is rather offensive to me to read your assertion that you understand it better than someone on the spectrum themselves. Secondly, you are speaking for yourself here - nowhere have I read anything that evidences that your desires and those of your siblings are the same. Therefore, you should take your own advice regarding speaking for others, in my opinion. If your intent is to inflame others, I would ask that you take on that goal elsewhere as that sort of behavior is not accepted here.


M.

I think you be happier at Autism Speaks.

Read the original topic post, that is my intent. The rest is response.

Ok I might not know more about Autism than everyone heh, that was a rash statement, obvoiusly. But honestly, the level of ignorance around here is stunning, and I don't deny that I have had more experiences with LFAs which has led to a greater understanding of them than the majority of people here. I think that should count for something, and it should count for more than loosely sharing a spot on a spectrum. Or at the very least, should not be dismissed.

About my siblings desires, you can rest assured that I would not want anyhting for them that they do not want for themselves. That's the whole POINT!! !! Aspies are pretending that LFAs have no desire to overcome their disabilities and they're happy the way they are. I happen to KNOW different.

I've been pretty careful not to flame anybody, I've only responded to things in the same manner as the were put to me. If you're going to have a go at me, then please do the same for anyone else harbouring a similar attitude.

Oh yeh? I'm guessing that was supposed to be offensive considering the popular opinion of the organization around here, I actually support them. But what about what I said made you say that? And what are your suggestions....?

Please enlighten me then, how do I care for my family? What do I do? How do I care for my brothers? How can I make sure they will always be safe? Please, share with me your wisdom on the inner workings on the LFA mind...please....

Seriously, I'd love to know what Aspies know about my family that I don't....

No. Just my suggestion since this place seems to upset you so much. They are for a cure there and also hate neurodiversity and dislike people on the spectrum not wanting a cure and are frustrated about them making videos on HFAs and AS but leaving out the LFAs.

And I don't have any suggestions about what you asked.

There's at least 3 posts in this thread pointing out that there is a difference between being anti-cure and anti-treatment or anti-education. It seems like you're doing a Don Quioxte, fighting arguments that people aren't making.

Anti-cure is not anti-HELP, anti-education, anti-improvement, anti-learning, anti-AAC.

Geeze some things never change.

To most NTs about autism, a cure means treatment, education, and improvement.

Every portrayal of "cure" that I have seen in the NT world is of an autistic child who, whether due to therapy or medication or exorcism, whether quickly or slowly, becomes exactly like an NT child. I have never seen a capable, skilled autistic adult--who is still autistic and still called autistic--referred to as "cured".

...I honestly don't think KoS is ever going to listen to us. S/he is just too angry.

Since coming to this place I have read into Autism Speaks ALOT, and I have spoken to people from Autism Speaks and their supporters. Apparently the problem is from your end of things, not the other way around. They have no problem with anything you said they do. It's the other way around, and from all the evidence I've see, I'm going to have to agree with them. They have no issue with HFAs or Aspies not wanting to be cured at all. That's a blatant lie!

They are on a mission to raise awareness and understanding and finding help for people with Autism. The people against Autism Speaks seem to have a vendetta with a far less noble motive. If you want people to talk about how special Aspies are and how they should be revered in society, then no Autism Speaks is not for you, but if you're genuinely interested in making the lives of Autistics better, then it's all good. Deal with it.

Treatments become cures.

Education IS the treatment.

As much as many people would like to believe it, it is higly unlikely that there will ever be a miracle pill that cures Autism.

"Cures" to Autism come in the form of long term education or treatment programs.

Anti-Treatment IS Anti-cure because the treatment can be the cure.

Anti-Treatment is Anti-Education because that treatment is an EDUCATION for the Autistic person.

SUCCESSFUL treatment of Autism does not involve medical style poking and prodding or pills, it is a learning program and process. An education on functioning. (how do you guys not know this?? It's basic stuff!!).

These are the cures. Anti-cure is anti-treatment which is anti-education which is anti-help.

That's funny because when I went to the forum, I saw angry posts about it. I'm Kit there BTW.

Calling me a liar, you lost my respect. You were one of my favorite members but not anymore.

Autism Speaks wants to be helpful?...

I've been to their site. When they still had forums that didn't exclude autistic people, I spent several months posting on their forums and talking to the parents who posted there.

And boy, are you naive. They do not want to help. They want to eradicate us. If we cannot speak, they speak for us. If we can, they say we are too high-functioning for our opinions to matter.

And then they tell the world that autism is like pediatric AIDS, and that it's perfectly understandable for parents to want to murder their autistic children, and that autism is a monster that breaks apart marriages.

The parents on Autism Speaks are mostly sincere, and most of the time, the worst I could call them is misguided. They tend to have mental pictures of their hypothetical children without autism; and they love those children rather than the ones they have; but I haven't often seen any malice in it. It's just that they've been told so often that autism is an illness and their "real child" is not autistic, that they believe it; they think that autism is something that isn't really part of their child, that they can love him and reject his autism at the same time.

And then they are heartbroken when their child does not magically recover; and they find that Autism Speaks's big words have not made a place for him in the world, because they were too busy trying to find ways to abort children like him before they were born.

Mate, I'm not here to try and impress you! I don't go to their forum and never have so I have no clue who you or anyone else is there. Though, very interesting that you choose to participate in that community. Why would you bother? I get the vibe that Autism Forums are more of a hobby/obsession/special interest for you than just something you do every now and then....yes?

Last edited by KoS on 14 Apr 2010, 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have not experienced anything like that so far in my exploration of Autism Speaks. I will say that all organizations have individial members within them that are misguided or have different ideas, the same thing goes on here in this community, why not hold it against wrong planet? With this kind of thing, what matters is the action taken. Autism Speaks DOES stuff, they DO raise awareness. And they do it well. They don't paint rainbows over reality and they let people talk about Autism genuinely, and when people do that, the primary emotion is fear. Maybe you can't handle that, but it is the truth.

I have not seen them offering false hope anywhere either, the kind of cure/treatment propaganda on their pages can be found here and any Autism epicentre online or offline.

The abortion stance is none of my business, if you're going to have a problem with that issue then I sincerely hope it is not limited to the abortion of Autistic babies and you support not aborting all children. I don't see why an Autistic child should get preferential treatment when it comes to existing.

What do you guys achive by trying to take them down anyway? Nothing. What are you (this community) doing to raise awareness and help Autistics? Nothing, just talking crap! Actions speak louder than words.

Yes, I'm pro-life. I also think that mainstream pro-life isn't thinking nearly enough about supporting women and their children, or about how to make birth control easy to access, or about how to make career/education and motherhood compatible, or how to get child-care available to low-income people, or how to make adoptions easier and less painful (open adoptions... yes?)... It's a complex subject. But I studied the development of the fetus as a teenager, and came to the conclusion that depending on somebody else for life-support doesn't make you any less human... I've always thought autistic fetuses shouldn't be aborted; it's just recently that I've become annoyed at the way Autism Speaks is pushing eugenic abortion.

Pretty simple... I wanted to represent autistic people to a group of folks who were trying to run our lives without asking our advice about how they were going to do it. You have to remember that Autism Speaks isn't an organization with a single mind; it's an organization that attracts a lot of rather diverse people, and then repels the ones that don't agree with it. There were, for example, often parents with newly diagnosed children, who were scared out of their wits that autism meant their kids were everything that Autism Speaks threatens in their "awareness" campaigns. I got to tell them about what it was like for me and for the autistic people I met. I often referred people to the Autism Hub, and to other related web sites that talk about what everyday life is like for autistic people and their families (including non-verbal children and adults). Getting a realistic picture--mostly composed of "Yeah, it's tough, and yeah, it may be you versus the world for your kid; but happiness is possible"--tended to help these people. At least, that's what they told me.

It just eventually began to wear on me... Constantly being told I was a disease (they said "had a disease" but well, autism's fundamental to who I am...), having to be exposed to the constant idea that autistic people are to be pitied, or almost as bad, being admired for doing everyday things... Eventually, it just got harder and harder to keep it up; and one day when one mom started talking about giving her nine-year-old up for adoption because he was autistic, I just got too tired and I left.

Yes, autism forums are a major interest; I learn a lot more here than I could ever learn from books. I post on here pretty much every day; I also write down my thoughts in a blog. Autism advocacy is a main interest for me, along with psychology, philosophy, rehabilitation technology, and sociology.

At the moment, lots of letter-writing; also the blog, and a recent related project with NPR. I attend autism meetings in my state to talk about the issues and compare ideas, as well as a disability group in my school. And I'm going to become a rehabilitation engineer, to design better technology to fill in the gap between weird brains and society's expectations.

Last edited by Callista on 14 Apr 2010, 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.