Stop Bashing Autism Speaks!

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I know Dana Marnane is following this thread.

I have emailed her suggesting she change the quote in her bio.

She is a lovely woman, and while I can't promise a change, I can assure you that she will carefully consider it.

Dana is working on making the requested changes right now. I will post the link when she is finished.

They claim to be a support site but their site reeks of negativity. By their actions they show no respect whatsoever for autistic persons. I can't find any sympathy for them or people that actively support them. I think the reason that they are discussed and tolerated on some levels is because they are the ones with serious money $$. Every other organization is a far distant second.
Unfortunately, a lot of uneducated average people get their information from them and don't understand that, as a minimum, there is a controversy in the Autism community.

Anyway their lack of support towards neurodiversity shows a grave lack of respect to autistic persons, but then they have $$$ so I guess some cooperation may be necessary.

So you are a part of Autism Speaks then it seems.

This is a characterization borne out by the evidence we already have and I can look on Autism Speaks' website in days to check out if Holman is telling the truth or not.

It is not just the words that are offensive, it is the entire premise. You take a group of people that happen to be autistic and instead of helping them and doing research that could help help them, you tell them they are broken beyond hope and they are a plague on society.
I actually looked at support and research groups websites for conditions ranging from mental health disorders to cancers--I have never seem so much negativity as I do on Autism Speaks.
Autism Speaks--well they don't speak for the entire community.
Puzzle piece ribbon--so autistics are broken and missing a piece.
A recent campaign--"Light it blue!" really blue the color of depression, unbelievable! Even breast cancer gets a cheery pink.

Sadly nothing short of a major overhaul and rebranding of themselves will fix it. I think the Autism community needs to cooperate at some base level since this is the autism organization with serious money $$.

Speak for yourself.


Speculation fallacy.


Anyone has the right to talk on the behalf of a group if they are correct in making a certain assertion.


This is all true.


That's a horrific suggestion that points to something that isn't true. Nobody has died of autism. Get a grip Tambourine.


Which much of the time is foistered on them by a crowd of unthinking, silly and essentially contrictive society. Yes, of course, it's our fault much of the time.


I do know that I don't want to be cured of anything because there is nothing to cure.


You earlier assert that nobody knows now you're battening down the hatches and saying that there are cures. Yay for doublethink!


Except most of them aren't even that clear or indeed well defined.


That assertion wasn't made by anyone here.


If anyone reading this happens to be a plucky, self-advocating Aspie who opposes all genetic research and thinks "cure" is a dirty word, please, watch some of these videos...

http://www.google.com/search?q=YouTube+ ... ent=safari

There is no cure. There may be treatment. People like the guy in these videos desperately need better treatment.[/quote]

[/quote]

Black and White thinking is a common characteristic of Autism, that is no secret, doesn't mean it applies to you as individual though:



http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/black_and_white.asp?cat=1

You asked him to speak for himself, but then when he suggested no one could speak for all autistic people you suggested they could speak in behalf of a group if the assertion was correct.

But yet, he made a correct assertion regarding that many autistic people think in black and white terms, that can be backed up by evidence, and you suggested he speak for himself.

The statement that many autistic people think in black and white terms, isn't a suggestion that you as an individual think this way. Instead it is a generalized statement that many think this way.

On the other hand, all autistic people are indeed different, so no one individual can understand all their needs and speak to all their needs. If you don't think in black and white terms, that is a perfect example, that no one really knows how any particular autistic person thinks.

Studies suggest that Suicide rates are higher than the statistical average for people with ASD's; he didn't suggest that autism kills, he suggested that some people don't survive severe cases of it. In some cases, where people commit suicide for related psychological problems, the fact is they don't survive. It is a horrible tragedy but unfortunately, reality for some.

He didn't suggest that there were cures for the problems related to autism he suggested there may be cures for problems some endure like gastrointestinal illnesses. No one knows what causes autism, and there is no cure for autism, but there is the potential for curing co-occuring medical conditions, with further research and treatment developments.

There have been those, not necessarily in this particular thread, that have suggested that autism speaks be destroyed because they do nothing good for autistic people.

The organization is working to research autism, to provide treatment for co-occuring medical conditions, so to suggest that they be destroyed, is a suggestion for that particular research they support, not to be provided that support.

While one may hope to stand in the way of research by providing that type of comment, in actuality, instead, it may provide free publicity for Autism Speaks, that gains the organization more support.

Yes the guy in the video needs better treatment, that is part of the reason why autism speaks continues to receive the support it receives, to continue the research that may lead to improved treatments, for individuals that experience autism this way.

Autism Speaks is your friend

No they're just a group of people that I have a huge disagreement with.

That doesn't give him the right to just diss on other people because he can project characteristics that he wants them to have to make them all sound wrong. Furthermore his assertion is irrelevant and an argumentum ad hominem so very obvious that he needs to be brought down from his head in the clouds.
Ironic is the fact that you were also projecting characateristics on me in an earlier thread aghogday and so discredit what I said.


Which is perfect because it shows that you aren't even listening to what you say.

In the previous statement you say: Black and White thinking is a common characteristic of Autism, that is no secret, doesn't mean it applies to you as individual though:
So his assertion that: The problem with autism self-advocacy is the black and white thinking that comes part and parcel with an autism diagnosis.
is false by your admission.

Therefore my criticism that he should speak for himself because it's obvious that it doesn't apply to all self-advocates is true, and so ironically you provided the proof yourself that Tambourine-Man wasn't right in saying what he did.
I am not putting up the next two paragraphs. The first is just hot air and the second, well, I'll just say that it's deplorable word-twisting.


He said this: Severe cases may not survive their autism.
That means that the autism was the main factor in their death that the autism was causative. What I can tell you is that actual severe autistics as we know them don't just take suicide because they barely have the minds to think of it and to be honest I know that it isn't autism that makes less severe austistics take suicide. It's other people. That's easily proven looking around these forums.
Furthermore I feel that what you are saying about suicide rates needs to be proven, rather than just said that it's proven. You're doing an Ipsum dixit. A logical fallacy.

John Scott Holman himself takes mood improving pills. It was said in an earlier thread. The fact remains that I know very much what would be causing him depression, and it wouldn't be his autism, it would be the abuse he had.



When people take suicide they don't survive.

You don't say?



And I say that the approach is false, and that you turn from saying that there's no need to cure certain things about autism to saying 'let's cure these guys!'

It all sounds disingenuous.

Tam just one question:

If we think in black and white, don't you think in black and white as well?

I'm just questioning him,

I'm not trying to discredit his "knowledge" of the thing to begin with.

I wasn't trying to discredit him. I was just saying how it did.

Fair enough

Thanks. You were right to question me. I like to think that whatever do is justified by my peers. It has become abundantly clear that Gedrenes are crap at being evil and are usually easy to pound for doing so.