Ending the "epidemic" epidemic...

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Exactly. It may be a word, but simple words (and their inferences) can affect the perception of an organization's messages. When an organization admits their faulty thinking and decides to take a step forward instead and change things, that is a very bold and gutsy thing to do. Not only that, but it is a very positive step in the right direction.

Now, I can gladly say that Autism Speaks is working WITH autistics instead of pushing them away.

The government statistics of 1 in 110 children with autism is based on 8 year old children, in the US. No statistics are currently available for adults in the US.

My understanding is that the statistics for children with autism in England is close to what it is in the US, so it stands to reason that the results for Adults in England might be similiar to that in the US.

It would probably be good to do it before the DSMV goes into effect so the statistical comparisons would not be affected by new diagnostic criteria.

the autism epidemic is good for drawing attention to autism.instead of hating the notion of autism being a epidemic.use it as an opertunity to raise awareness to valid autism related issues

True, but when people misrepresent things, even with good intentions, it is bad. It's of primary concern that all people must understand. The ends don't justify the means, because the means causes injustices that lead to your end.

Whoah, slow down Anneurysm. Just because someone changes their tack doesn't mean they made an apology. Why the bad inferences to begin with? It is also a minor detail. There's also one other thing... *looks around*

*finishes looking*
There was athread where some girl who was going to tell us about some Autism Speaks video was found. Where is it now?

Plus, as a spectrum, there might be a fair number of people just barely not on the spectrum, right? And these people might be 'bridge' people, aspie friendly, potential allies, and also benefit from self-advocacy.

And I really think, if more of our institutions were multi-path rather than single-path that would be a major change for the better.

i know,there is such a fine between awareness and starting panic

thats a pretty good saying there. did you make that up? i aint heard it before.

Ends don't justify the means is an old phrase. The second part is my own creation. I am linking up morality to personal motivations.

Fact is morality boils down a case of not messing with people by action or omission. I hoped my little addition would make that clear.

So, A New World Order. (That was sarcastic humor!)

I would second the role of adults, we did just blend in. Compared to the recently drugged children, we are the vast majority, and as John Robison will tell you, Old Free Range Aspies. No Shrinks, no legal drugs, and looking around, not the worst of the lot by far.

Focus and persistance, we self produced ourselves. Those Special Interests do pay off, not instant gradification, The American Plan, but a few years spent reading books and learning gives a wider world view.

There was a conflict with the world, they live for today, do not understand why anyone would consider what they would be doing years from now.

The world works for a paycheck, and anyone who spends time and money trying to do something never done before is considered a fool.

"The fool who persists in his folly soon becomes wise."

All are fools, few have the persistance to gain wisdom.

It was because of the tangents in our learning style we made connections others missed. Focus on the issue at hand was why I was hired to run a room full of IBM punch card machines at eighteen. It also made me a great mechanic. The do it now live for today types broke them, I fixed them, it worked for me.

When the PC came out I did not have to go to school to fix them, I could rebuild dual Holly four barrel carbs, tune them to perfection, and that is critical work. The 99% non autistic paid me well to keep their little boxes running.

I was considered odd, not bad when many neurotypicals are considered dangerous, dishonest, and worse.

There were a few times when those with friends in government had me checked out, and they did not believe the results, looking back forty years, I had never gotten a traffic ticket.

I know others, I started an Inventors Organization, both the inventors, and everyone who works at the Patent Office, is Autistic. Machine shops, optics, cameras and microscopes, and when I hung around Sandia Labs, Los Alamos, those were the most normal people I ever met. The Millitary puts them in Intelligence, I have met some.

During World War II, the INTP ENTP types were used to assemble the Norton Bomb Sight. Wrong Planet strongly groups around that sector. Hardly 1% of the population.

So what about the children? Will they be like us? Or will the future have our skills altered for the sake of conformity?

Without a baseline of adult outcome, how could anyone aid the children to prosper in their natural paths, as we did, and many generations before us?

Yes, we can be problem children, but when doing what we were born for, good citizens.

Becoming self actualized is all that any human wants.

In the past, Autism Speaks has advocated primarily for parents and children with classic autism.

Self-advocates have been largely Aspies advocating for, well, themselves.

This idealogical divide is unwarranted. As I've said before, autism in not always a curse, not always a blessing. Sometimes it is one or the other, but it is often a mixed bag.

If 30% of the population share autistic genes, and the medical community recognizes autism as a group of similiar deficits, but self-advocates view autism as an essential part of their personality to be embraced... what the heck is autism?

Some say it is a disability. Some say it is not.

What the heck is it?

Well, it isn't simple, that's for sure.

I don't think early treatment will take away those special skills, it will just make them high functioning enough to achieve their goals. I can tell you it's not easy having an idea in your head but being so limited that you can't pursue it. Feel lucky that you were high functioning, that you had those skills and were in the right place at the right time to be able to reach those goals. Not everyone is that lucky.
We'll always think differently and it's that thinking differently that makes some of us successful.

So why make one?

Here some particular people are making a huge fuss about 'yay no epidemic!' in an example that can't be independently confirmed and replacing something for which we don't have a picture like the replacement. Yet at the same time elsewhere lau is pointing out that another word is being used with negative connotations against autism elsewhere. This isn't consistent. I really did think autism speaks has changed its tack. :

Autistics can find ambiguities and points to dispute in a black hole.