Stop Bashing Autism Speaks!

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It appears that he changed the phrase Lau made, in support of the facts I presented that 340,000 individuals participate and support in the autism advocacy effort of autism speaks. However, I don't think that was his intention, because the record shows he agrees with Lau's viewpoints on these issues.

There is definitely evidence for the phrase "Autism Speaks supported, through and through". There is evidence of that fact on their IRS form 990, that is reported to the government. These are the number of individuals that have supported and participated in autism speaks autism advocacy through their volunteer efforts, that are documented. Obviously there are many more that support the organization that don't directly participate in these volunteer efforts for Autism Advocacy.

I think DaWalkers intention was to correct a typo in Lau's comment "supporter though and through", where it appears Lau meant to suggest I was personally a supporter of that organization through and through. Which, I corrected, in my response, that I wasn't because I don't financially support the organization and instead, would financially support an alternate autism advocacy organization, in my local area.

It appears that DaWalker may have made his own typo by stating "supported" instead of "supporter", which makes his statement appear to support the facts I presented, instead of supporting what Lau was suggesting.

Autism Speaks has an entire page on their website dedicated to their autism advocacy efforts related to legislative agenda concerning autism:


http://communities.autismspeaks.org/site/c.ihLPK1PDLoF/b.7511457/k.8861/Advocacy_Efforts.htm



There is no available evidence that autism speaks has anything to do with sockpuppets. I welcome you to present it if you can find any.

I'm presenting statistics facts and statistics on autism speaks that are verifiable through third party resources that establish the fact that autism speaks is a huge advocacy organization for autism. If you can find evidence to refute these facts I welcome you to.

It is not possible to verify whether or not the NTspeaks website was within fairuse guidelines because the issue was settled, without going to court, so the fact is, it is questionable. That is an accurate statement.

There have been comments here on this website that autism speaks has moderated comments but those comments have not been provided for review, as to whether or not they would meet the standard of fair moderation, so technically it is not verfiable as to whether or not the comments were moderated for offensive language, personal attacks, or for view point.

If you have any evidence of something else the organization has done to censor autistic viewpoints, that is verifiable or not questionable, you are welcome to present it. If I could find something else I would also present it.

do you think a big organization like autism speaks would be dumb enough to leave a paper trail of there mis deeds.it is a known fact that the posters on autism speaks are puppets controled by the administration

If it is a fact that means there is evidence of it. Other than opinion or speculation, do you have any evidence of it? Just because someone is in alignment with something the organization says does not mean they are a sock puppet.

I've been accused now of being an employee of autism speaks, a PR guy, and it has even been suggested I might be an editor for Autism Speaks Wiki articles, because I provided facts that did not make the organization look bad.

There are lots of folks on the autism speaks website that don't agree with their pro vaccine policy, and they argue their points endlessly about the detriments of vaccines with no intercession from the site administrators.

This is much more costly to the organization, than any comment about not liking research for a cure, stuff like that is largely ignored, on the site. When the organization took a pro-vaccine stance in 2009, they lost financial support from supporters. It shows in their financial reports for that year. Some parents did get extremely upset over that action.

If someone could show me any evidence of sock puppets on their sites, or even an indication of it on their sites, I might be inclined to consider it, but right now as far as I can see, it just doesn't exist on their support site; there seems to be as much freedom to express views there, as there is here.

Anyone can go there and look for themselves if they don't believe it. There are still comments critical of the organization, from autistics that exist there, with no reaction from anyone. Talk about the vaccine conspiracy, though does exist, and people respond freely with opposing viewpoints.

There are a lot of people touched by Autism who post on the Autism Speaks Facebook page. Parent Advocates, Autistics, Affiliates of other organizations, NTs' and others voice their opinions freely on numerous issues ranging from how to topics to the latest research.

In regards to Austitic people criticizing Autism Speaks and having their posts removed; i haven't witnessed IT. What i have seen, is what i would call 'drive-by posting' by some who identify themselves as Autistic. Usually, what happens is someone will post multiple messages stating that Autism Speaks does NOT speak for them or Autism Speaks wants TO Cure them. Once, the person conveys this message he or she leaves and their posts remain. Also, I have seen representatives of Autism Speaks try to have a dialogue with people who have posted multiple critical messages concerning a particular issue. Even in those circumstances, the posts weren't removed by Autism Speaks.

TheSunAlsoRises

Last edited by TheSunAlsoRises on 01 Jan 2012, 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

of coarse i cant prove that autism speaks controls its own media and P.R.your using the" give me proof in writing " arguement to avoid the logical conclusion.do you think i could compete with you,gedrene or lau about knowlege of this stuff anyway.i noticed you did not respond to my point about a screwed organization like A.S being to clever to leaving a paper trail of there wrong doings.your arueing points that cant ever be validated one way or another.

You said it was a fact that there are puppets controlled by the administration on autism speaks support sites. One can look at the site and see there is no significant evidence of it, so that can be validated.

That is the only record available, that one can use to analyze the speculation that might exist.

There is no evidence that autism speaks is a screwed organization. They rate very highly among third party watchdog groups that analyze charitable organizations. This is how one goes about determining, objectively, whether or not an organization is functioning according to required standards.

There is the potential that any organization comprised of fallible human beings could do a misdeed and attempt to cover up a misdeed, but that applies no more to autism speaks than any other organization.

The Mayo Clinic gets 1 star out of 4, as compared to the 3 out of 4 stars that autism speaks gets from the CharityNavigator watchdog group, the largest watchdog group in the US. This doesn't even mean that the Mayo Clinic is a scewed organization; it just means they aren't maintaining acceptable standards of performance as a charity.

Folks from charities that do misdeeds and fraud, go to jail, if they are caught. Same as with any other organization from local government to the folks that run Super Walmart.

It's not any fairer to suggest an organization might be doing something wrong when there is no evidence of it, than for that organization to actually do something wrong.

When I first came into these Autism Speaks conversations, I questioned the validity of the assertions made, because reputable organizations that analyze these type of complaints were not validating those assertions.

What I found was no evidence that there was any fraudalent or nefarious type activity going on in this organization. While some CEO's might not have a good reputation, the founder of this organization has an impeccable reputation, as one of the good ones that exist in society. It is part of why the organization pays their employs what they are worth, they have found individuals that have a reputation of producing results not problems.

let me clarify my viewpoint.im not saying autism speaks is covering anything up.but if they were they would cover there tracks and we wouldnt know about.also to say autism speaks controls there information is a common sense conclusion,but i certainly cant prove it

Even more whitewash.

Thanks for clarifying that, I thought that was what you meant by stating that it was a screwed organization.

I agree with you that anyone in any organization that was doing something wrong would cover their tracks, including individuals that work for autism speaks, but there is nothing about autism speaks, that makes it more likely that it would happen with that organization, than any other, particularly since charitable organizations are highly scrutinized, and Autism speaks has a very good record in this area.

They definitely have marketing experts that tailor their ads toward their target audience, of individuals concerned about the disabling aspects of autism. That's the controlling part of marketing, and information, that most big charities and businesses, do for successful results.

I think it is possible that if somone goes on their support site, and starts generalizing offensive comments about parents of autistic children, like "they only care about themselves, not their autistic children", or other type of comments like that, that something like that would be moderated, and probably deleted.

There is a parents section here that I doubt anyone would have the nerve to say something like that, but that type of comment has been expressed on other parts of this site and overlooked.

Chances are though, it wouldn't be tolerated if someone pressed that kind of opinion in the parents section. It's a matter of who is part of the conversation, and who might be highly offended.

While someone might think it is not fair that a comment like that would possibly be moderated and deleted from the autism speaks support site, they are possibly not looking at just how offensive that could be to parents who are doing the best they can to take care of their children 24/7.

No doubt there is information control like this, but I haven't seen any evidence of anything unreasonable. General comments stating some fairly rude things about the organization in general, still exist on those sites. That's proof enough for me, that there isn't unreasonable control of information, there.

I've already presented evidence that the organization has a three star rating from the CharityNavigator organization in the US. The link and information is provided in this thread.

Not sure if I provided the available facts on the founder of the organization in this thread, so in case I didn't, here are those facts. I'm not giving anyone any more credit than they deserve. It's unusual for a CEO's bio to only include accolades, and absolutely no criticisms for trips or falls as a major CEO in the US for over 20 years. Here are the facts as they exist:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wright




This Bio explains part of why Autism Speaks has become as successful an organization as it has in a short period of time and the influence the organization has in media.

Not every successful CEO gives back something to Society. He hasn't earned a penny for anything that autism speaks does.

If every successful CEO in the US turned their influence toward charity after their careers, many people in many different areas of life, would likely benefit, that ordinarily would not have an opportunity to benefit.

Bill Gates is an individual like this also, that has turned his influence to help others after a successful career leading industry in society.

I realize the organization is not perfect, and has offended some autistic people with their marketing efforts, and that others don't agree with the general mission, but the organization is far from this evil thing that some have imagined.

And, there is the potential for this organization to do good things for autistic people in the future, even if some of those autistic people have determined for themselves there is reason to bash the organization. The current evidence for what the organization is actually doing in research supports this positive potential.

Yes, the web has been totally Spammed by this Public Relations Machine. They generated secondary Spam from all their Affilates.

That is what comes of having lots of money and no ideas.

Whatever it takes, We Will Eradicate Autism.

All of The Message, all of the Research, was directed at Curing this Disease.

That is why I like Research, that proves that we will not be eradicated by Autism Speaks.

All of their Research lead to dead ends, About a Billion Dollars later, all they have is, Korean War Brainwashing might work.

This has lots of problems, for one, they are known through their own efforts for being the Eugenics Group that was going to Exterminate the Autistic, at least in the future. They built their Brand Identity on it.

A second problem is there was no Plan B. A Cure or nothing, they got nothing.

From their vast network of friends, the Drug Companies said drug them, which was and still is being overdone. Psychobabble said, Pavlov! B. F. Skinner! And this book on training Puppies! Nothing new here.

Sleep and gut problems are caused by drugs, and the stress of ABA.

It reminds me of a J. Edgar Hoover story, When his men reported the I Have A Dream speech, he sent them to bug Martin's rooms, phones, and find out what this Dream was.

Autism Speaks is the same. Hi! Spys.

I Have a Dream, that men will not be judged by the color of their skin, or their common here Differance of Thought and Perception, but by what is in their heart, and the good they do for all. Our lack of eye contact is more than made up for by our works accepted by The Patent Office, and the Computers you can only Spam with.

That is what it comes down to, you have constantly denied the Humanity of millions of people.

"That all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights."

The Autism Speaks Sun is setting in the cesspool of their own making.

You raised money by terrorising parents, promoted a network of drug pushers, and did lifetime damage to children.

Every generation before you came along, we lived, grew up, and fit into life. Since you came along, we may need lifetime care for children raised on drugs.

We recognize our own, we have something in common, and Thomas Jefferson sounds like one of us. We have all the traits sought in Prentice Boys who spent more time at education, and rose to become Guild Masters.

Our roots run deep, You chose the wrong enemy.

You only dared attack us as children, Now you face what we become.

I Have A Dream that millions who share a differance of thought and perception will band together and defend their right to exist just as they are from a few thousand that wish to exterminate, cure, or change them, who are doing it for the money.

The organization has never focused on successful individuals with autistic traits, that will never need a diagnosis.

When you describe Thomas Jefferson, the Prentice boys, and the Guild Masters, or when someone discusses Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, George W. Bush, or all the other highly successful individuals; they do appear to have some autistic traits in common, but there is no way they would receive a diagnosis, unless those traits combined to produce an impairment in functioning in an important area in life functioning.

The traits of these individuals spread out into potentially two billion individuals on the planet.

They are all part of a broader phenotype of humanity with autistic traits that has always existed and likely is expanding through modern culture through neuroplasticity.

Autism is a disorder. The broader phenotype of autism that includes individuals with a few autistic traits, is not a disorder.

Difference: a disorder impairs one in a major area of life functioning a phenotype does not necessarily impair one in a major area of life functioning.

It can be the prentice, the guild master, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or any other successful individual in society with a few differences that make them special, not impaired in functioning. And beyond these individuals any of the other potential two billion individuals on the planet that share these traits of autism.

There are no research organizations seeking to destroy this broader phenotype. In fact it is very likely that those research scientists that are studying the issue are every bit as much a part of that broader phenotype, as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Jefferson, or anyone else that shares what appears to be a few autistic traits, that live successfully with no major impairments in life functioning.

These are not the children that autism speaks have focused on that cannot communicate with the world as children. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Jefferson, have never walked in those shoes.

They might have been picked on, bullied, for being a little different as children, but it did not hold them back in life; they are the individuals that have the capability of founding charitable organizations, not needing the assistance these organizations provide.

And again they are likely the same individuals that are seeking to understand and provide solutions to problems that diagnosed individuals with autism have in functioning in life, through research, not likely significantly different than some individuals that have posted here, that have openly stated they are research scientists, associates, etc.

Don't know if you took the time to read the research that autism speaks is ckurrently supporting, but the current 47 projects are varied and complex. Research Scientists are gaining momentum; no one is close to running out of ideas, in studying autism, the research is only becoming more varied and complex.

Autism is autism.

For the record, I got my Dx at thirteen, which ended my education.

Autism was not my disability, it was Autism Speaks thinking, that I should not exist.

Having paid the price of the thought, now you say I am not really Autistic?

Autism Speaks will claim who is disabled? What would they know about it?

They are going to do a study?

Fraud, the misrepresentation of a material fact for personal gain.

Autism spectrum disorders consist of criteria chosen by the psychiatric profession. It's a construct that has changed much through time. This is not autism speaks thinking it is the American Psychiatric association thinking along with the DSM organization comprised of representatives out of that association.

The individual traits that vary from one individual to the next that are unique, are the only thing associated with this psychological profession's subjective decision to call it something, that exist in reality.

The only consistent thing about autism that remains the same is something someone wrote in a diagnostic manual, subject to change upon each revision.

One is not determined as having an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis by a qualified professional unless they are impaired in a major area of functioning in life, as determined by those that created and classified these "autism spectrum disorders".

Autism Speaks does not determine this for anyone. The research they are funding into screening individuals in the general population, will use individuals that have the appropriate credentials to do such a screening.

A few autistic associated traits does not necessarily make a disorder or a disability.

Whether or not one refers to themselves as autistic, Joeseph, Daniel, or smart, is completely up to them, but if one is upset that autism is called a disorder or referred to as a condition that impairs one in a major area of life functioning that may be permanently disabling, that's a complaint for the DSM, not autism speaks.

I certainly am not suggesting that you are not autistic, and neither is autism speaks. That is your business, neither me or that organization is in a postion to diagnosis you or Thomas Jefferson.

But, neither Bill Gates, Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, prentices, guild masters, research scientists, mathematicians, or engineers in general have an autism spectrum disorder diagnosed by a qualified professional, it's just speculation, based on generalized behavioral traits similiar to what is identified as traits associated with autism spectrum disorders.

My point is autism speaks has not directed their effort toward these individuals, nor anyone else that does not struggle with their symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorers classified by the psychological profession. Thomas Jefferson or Steve Jobs is not here to tell us whether or not they struggle with symptoms of autism as classified, and Bill Gates hasn't complained about it all.

Perhaps some of the screening efforts will capture statistics for some of these research scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, as having an autism spectrum disorder, and we can find out how they accommodate their major impairment in life functioning and maintain successful employment. Not something anyone is going to be forced into participating in, if they don't want to.

@aghogday.sucessfull and high functioning in the world doesnt mean one is not disabled.many people think beethoven may have been an aspie and he is epitamy of sucess,the greatest muscian that ever lived.however beethoven was deeply tormented individual,he never married or even had a girlfriend and was torchered by unrequited love.his deafness was caused by a ear infection related to sifulis,likely from prostitutes.it was his own inner turmoil that fueled his creative genius.yoseph stalin another powerfull man with a idiot savant personality.anyone who could murder 20 million people must have had a tormented inner life.stalin was diagnosed,its just that the doctor who diagnosd stalin disapeared mysteriously.had the asan existed in volgigrad,georgia in the early 1900's millions could have been saved