Autism Speaks 2012 Audited Financial Report:
36% for salaries, benefits, payroll taxes ($22,861,019)
25% for science grants/awards ($15,790,797)
5% for travel, meals, lodging, entertainment, catering ($3,034,109)
4% for advertising & marketing ($2,827,316)
3% for family services grants & awards ($2,048,552)
(Percentages are based on the total reported expenditures of $64,127,886 for FY 2012)
a. Autism Speaks collects money to fund research for a cure for Autism.
b. Autism cannot be cured.
: : Autism Speaks collects money.
Autism Speaks is dominated by parents of autistic children, with no autistic people involved in policy-making. An organization that excludes the people it is alleged to represent from its leadership is as troubling as a whites-only organization that purports to address racism or a males-only panel on sexism.
Suzanne Wright, who co-founded Autism Speaks in 2005, described autism as an unmitigated disaster for families, consistent with her organization's established message. Advocates point out that this message stigmatizes and contributes to the exclusion and abuse of autistic people.
The resource fair of the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in DC (November 2, 2013), included the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, an institution notorious for its extreme abuse of disabled students.
Autism Speaks speaks only for itself, and not for people with autism.