Civility in Autism Politics - How can we draw more flies?

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Logic my friends. Nothing but logic.

What do we want and how can we get it? Logic.

I'm surprised by how overtly emotional many autistics can be.

Logic. What is the goal? How can we get there?

Logic. Not emotion.

Am I being cryptic? This is a public forum. If you understand then I have done my job. If you do not understand then I have done my job.

Logic. Alan was on to something but, unfortunately, he couldn't see the Forrest for the trees.

Logic.

im not sure what you mean

None of that means anything. If other people don't understand you haven't done your job, if your job is to make people understand what you mean. Also no, that isn't right about Alan at all. His problem was that he attacked you because you printed an interview about Autism. Emotions don't change anything. A person can be completely unemotional and be an absolute farce. Contrarywise a man can shout with fury, but if his emotions don't cloud his mind and are directed by his arguments then it's absolutely fine.

I have a habit of speaking in riddles when I'm expected to go on the defensive. It is the Bob Dylan fan in me.

i thought you were a dylan fan with that handle.my personal email addressv is a reference to beethoven

I would advise you to break the habit tambourine_man. It's unfair on those who may actually want to understand you, and it lets people with bad intentions in mind swarm all over you.

As I said, if you understand already, I've den my job.

Those who don't understand, really don't seem to want to.

I got a little tired of being personally attacked there. I'm careful not to hand out ammunition to be used against me.

AFF is very insular; they take the childhood bullying and turn it into adult curling up into hedgehog balls without seeing a problem with that. TM had no idea what he was walking into.

Problem is we just don't know if this alteration in the tone of autism speaks is genuine or just a PR excercise, don't get me wrong if they are doing things that help autistic people then I support these efforts, but their goal is still to cure autism, which is not a goal that I share.

Given this, I think that some degree of opposition between autism organizations is inevitable and necessary. If you feel that someone's agenda may oppose your own, or may even threaten you personally, you would be foolish not to demonstrate some degree of hostillity to them. This whole "let's all just be nice and we'll find common ground" is empty sophistry, as well as naive.

They have to follow more or less what they say or they lose the game. As for what they really want - who are they? Some are parents in denial who want to eradicate autism, some are opportunists on a gravy train, some want to help autistics.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced we need both honey and vinegar. It's very important that they feel hostility to a degree that threatens their income stream whenever they go off track. I loved how ThinkGeek reacted when we told them about Autism Speaks. They have to notice stuff like that. Let's not stop doing that. Meanwhile, honeytalkers like TM can help keep them straight from the other side.

Asking people what they think is dangerous.

We hear from the ends.

I agree that without people bringing it up, Marketing would never understand they were talking about other people's lives. Lives that other people, about a million of them, live every day, and "Awareness" does come across worse than "Rainman."

From that one bad movie, I who just got by, have been asked many times how someone could win the lottery, and gotten smirks from superior sales clerks, now so educated about people like me.

"Awareness" is helping who?

I who have gotten by for 66 years, now have to deal with Aware people who now know I have the behavior of a six year old. I invite them over to view my feces paintings. For sport they now try to induce a meltdown, sudden loud noises, bright lights. They have become "Aware."

Thanks Autism Blabs, you have really changed my life, being a senior citizen is going to be a lot more fun.

The backlash to your Awareness, started Diversity, they are not just Felons released from the Mental Hospital, they are Diverse, and they now claim me as part of their group.

I, who do not really want anything to do with anybody, have been pointed out to the public, as a walking symbol of both of your information slanders.

As the Public are just folks, IQ 100, able to mentally hold onto a TV sound bite, the world in which I have so long lived has become poisoned for my continued enjoyment of life.

I am no longer just that odd guy with the strange sense of humor. I got by, I made house calls and fixed computers. Now no one wants me in their house, for you have warned them, about what they are not sure, but they are Aware of something, and it came from New York, and was on TV.

Daily I feel the effects of your War on Autism. You have rallied the troops, spread Awareness, and I hardly leave the house anymore, they know what to look for, and they know it is war, and they should do something.

Topping that off, Homeland Security is chanting, Terror, Terror, Terror, and I feel your messages have become mixed. You are both pushing fear like a TV preacher.

At least in the old days, 1950s in the rural south, when I did hear the whispers about Demonic Possession, with my better than normal hearing, I knew I had at least one powerful friend. They did not fear the small child, but my ally kept them in check. Life was better then.

Now that you have given me an Autism Awareness T shirt, with a target on the front and back, my Life, Liberty, and Persuit of Happiness has has been reduced and is under attack.

Never say you are helping the Autistic, you are targeting them.

I suppose "awareness" can backfire against us in some circumstances. If the messages that autism advocacy groups convey are misunderstood, or if the theories banded around by scientists in mainstream academic circles are flawed, they can certainly do more harm than good.

A good example of this is Simon Baron-Cohen spouting his nonsense that we have no empathy and see people like inanimate objects. This "awareness" certainly does us no favors.

But I think that it is important not to take a defeatist attitude. If we are misunderstood and persecuted, it is important that we fight back and make our voices heard. We can only be successful in life if we coalesce society into catering for our needs. This will require carefully thought out PR and organizing ourselves and forming our own cosensus. And it is important that societies understanding of who we are, and what our needs are, is formed by our own sentient collective self-definition.

I think that too many autistic people just regurgitate the theories written about themselves by NT scientists, rather than come to their own sentient understanding of who they are by self-exanination and communicating with other autistic people. If we can rectify this situation, I think that this will turn alot of the negative "awareness" into positive.