Do I work for Autism Speaks?

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I do not know of a Zeraeph and I do know of Alan Turing but do not see the connection to him and this place.

I do not seek to "make bad blood". On the contrary. Tambourine Man is and will do a lot for Autistic people. He is not only 'a voice" but a powerful, concise and well articulated voice. Whether or not AFF was prepared to 'come to the party" as it were is neither here nor there.
Did AFF over-react? Yes and No. They reacted in the same way they were always going to react. They are not to be entertained or taken seriously.
Tambourine Man's actions are very much the actions of a young, passionate, talented man with a want to bring AFF with another organisation that he feels well disposed to, even though the has been emnity between the two. There are his intentions and I see no reason for you to make emotive accusations.
I did question as to why there was a reluctance to to mention he has been writing blogs on our site and writing articles prior to going to AFF and the impression he has given them was that he had not had any association with us. Perhaps he was seeking to reduce the chance of AFF doing what they were always going to do and have now done. They ban what they do not understand and always have.
You question the importance of Tambourine Man's efforts. Look at the way he posts and describes things. We have plenty of activist voices in autism or angry voices but what HE brings is a little different don't you think?
We treasure everyone of his articles on our site and if you want to see how well they are recieved by the public, look at his Facebook page.

I think you have me entirely unfairly placed Gedrene and i think you may be best making an apology for accusing me of being these people and assuming motives i do not have.

Myt reasons or posting this (and after just looking through that awful thread on AFF) is simply that he did VERY well in avoiding the specifics of things and making a general indictaion that there had been problems in the past. Something we DO admit. But rather than get bogged down and tick off every slight real or imagined. He mentioned there were mistakes in the past and that the strength in any kind of alliance was not beating dead horses but to work with not what we had then but what we have now.
We at present have far more understanding of Autism. Far more Autism representation (even on a Board level) and more scientific know how at our diosposal.

Yes Grey Area, I do get that you like this and I appreciate the support.

Which is good because when I say 'this sounds like something' then that doesn't require you to identify anything.


This is a broad and imprecise/ statement made at putting all people in to one class for no reason and I am not going to listen to it at all.



Emotive accusations? More like revealing astroturf for what it is. I am not angry funnilly enough. That you would have made an argument about posts about not being able to put across cues through posts and now you're accusing me of being emotive only throws up more interesting arguments against you.



That's because he has no assocation with Autism Speaks. Again this is underhanded and simpleton-like. It's an exact copy of what Zeraeph and the band of demagouges sniping against Tambourine after he just had an interview with him. With imperious self-righteousness they say that he shouldn't have tried to communicate with them. THough there is much to criticize Autism SPeaks for this sort of underhanded monstrosity is a threat to the truth that would best serve all of us.


I don't care about what you are saying about this anymore. This sounds like a conspiracy/


Telling a truth that embaresses people often leads to the embaressed person asking for an apology when they have no right to.

When a troll is telling you Cool story, bro and a white knight is hacking you down at the same time then you know you need to stop.

*facepalms* He's mocking you.

I see. You are "hacking me down" and you are the "white knight' in your estimation.
That is what you see.
What i see is a little different.
I see a person on a forum making rather far fetched assertions about things which do not seem to logically stack up and with some vendetta or bee in their bonnet over someone called Zeraph. Now, that is what I see. My efforts to address each point which seems sillier and sillier have led you to further dig in your heels. I can only assume a level of emotion becuase it seems bereft of logic and you seem to not have any idea of what it is you are saying.
I have no idea what astroturf is but you know it like much of what you have gone on about obviously is importnat and meaningful to you and I have no problem in you holding onto it.
I would like to agree to disagree with you but I do not think you have so far addressed any point i have raised than by saying "You are shameful and sound like Zeraph"
Again. I do not see what you are accusing me on in thi shamefullness and do not know Zeraph. So there you go.
I do not feel so much like I am defending myself with you, as much as purely trying to explore what you are trying to say, to see what contention you actually have. Strangest conversation ever.

Now it sounds more and more like Zeraeph. It's the same kind of words: You have no idea what you are saying because I say so. You are digging your heels in because I say so. I am now going to go on an irrelevant bender because I want to. Ad Hominem attacks because why not.

You can't even link up with my post and intersperse your own comments because it is clear that you're just making an author tract against me.

You managed to take this sounds like something Zeraeph would want to say and managed to twist it in to me saying that you're associated or are Zeraeph. Ego trip.


You even contradict yourself on the same part of the post. You say that I said that you sound like Zeraeph, and then you seem to imply that I associated you with Zeraeph.


More like most obvious attempt at putting words in my mouth ever. And most obvious subterfuge ever.

No my confused friend. You seem to constantly bring up Zeraph. I do not klnow them nor have I studied their way of thinking and i believe that the only association I am anywhere like him is in your mind. A mind that has been throwing up irrelevancy after irrelevancy and passing it of as meaningful. You sound like you have conviction in what you say (that I mistakenly guessed was you being emotional) I honestly do not know now. Perhaps it is that kind of conviction that conspiracy theorist have. The type we know has a strange disjointed logic in place and is weighted heavily with talk of subterfuge and the like. The type of talk that is high on conviction and low in rationality.

Been swell Gedrene. Hope you find this Zeraph and come to terms with your issues with them.

From what I read above Gedrene was calling you a troll (and himself white knight no less).
Is this what to expect from the forum? We all run around calling ourselves trolls and foisting the term around until we tire of it? Interesting. I will pass.

Last edited by Grey_Area on 16 Oct 2011, 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

i never got the term troll.whats the corolation between internet spamer and a demonic m***et that lived under bridges in midevel europe,but call me hyper literal.that being said there are weird paterns emerging on threads as of late.if you think some is a troll contact admin.

"Miss Scarlet, the horse is DEAD!" - "Gone With the Wind" (which, incidentally, is where I would have expected this conversation to have gone a LONG time ago).

All right, skipping over all the trollish stuff ...

I think there could also be the issue of writing here. Some of Alex's projects have been underwritten or partially underwritten by Autism Speaks, and it isn't that clear where the lines are drawn.

I have negative feelings about Autism Speaks, but a friend of mine feels they've been a huge help to her family. They can't be all bad, despite some huge mistakes and some very big questions. And ... at some point everyone is going to have to get onto the same page, a process that requires some people take the risk of trying to build the bridges. It isn't fair to slam the ones who take those risks while the rest of us sit back and wait to see what plays out.

AFF is a strongly activist forum. They have a right to their beliefs and approach; it works for them. I started my journey there, and received some excellent information for which I am grateful, but long run I have found a happier home here, where all ideas are welcome - even if they do get debated and churned and the process isn't always pretty Reality is no one has the one true answer yet. Until that is found, we don't know whose approach is best, and an open mind is needed.

Tambourine-Man, my main caution to you is to remember that with your quick wit you can create very strong statements, and they may sometimes resonate a lot further than you realized they would or intended them to. So try to do some self-checks and filtering, pause an extra beat before you send things off. If you're going to stand at times in the middle of a battlefield, you'll want to make sure your armor is working