Which one do you find more offensive?

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Autism Speaks hundreds of signs poking out with 1 in 110, equating us to cancer, claiming autistics soak up 35 billion in funds worldwide or the ones passing out information about myths and further information on human rights?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZOD9xOnJs[/youtube]

osu? darn, i could have gone there i am only about an hour away.

I didn't agree with how a lot of the messages were brought up and how it was executed. I thought a lot of the signs were ignorant, judgemental and very heartless. I don't really have anything against neurodiversity and individuality but saying this I'm not against finding a cure for autism.

Not everybody with autism is the same and I'm sure a lot of people with autism would like a cure. Everybody struggles differently with their diagnosis and to some it can actually be a disability or can come along with co-morbids. Some people find that their autism or AS isn't a disability at all. Honestly if somebody handed me a NT pill today I'd take it. I don't see anything wrong with finding a cure for autism. You can still be neurotypical and have quirks and be different. I'm just thinking of the things that are not so pleasant that go along with autism that could be spared on a person.

If one organization would like to find a cure for autism, why not? They should think about how they execute their "facts" though and think of people with autism as individuals.

Those are some brave protesters, I would never hold up a sign, even in a crowd that publicly said I had ASD.

The alternative is that they're people who don't give a d*mn one or the other.
They feel they have nothing left to risk by getting out there and opposing
Autism Speaks, so that's what they do. I'd be in that action myself except that
Central Ohio is too far away for me to get there....

Shoot. I couldn't believe that Autism Speaks would do
those black propaganda materials, thus being the
bigots that they really are. To those who will be joining
and marching with ASAN, let all your passions
burn and take your messages to the streets. Show
them that Autism Speaks does not deserve to be here and
alive, because of the evil messages and false information
they convey to the general public. Act, and put them where they
belong. I definitely agree with ASAN's statement
to donate to other groups who really support causes for
the autistics at large. Personally, I believe that
under no circumstances shall Autism Speaks ever succeed, otherwise, the
world would be a hell for us on the autistic spectrum. Thank you.

I used to agree...and then I overheard people using "autistic" as a substitute for "ret*d" and I yelled at them. Too late.

I would have just kicked over the sings that happened to be on the way to class.

I appreciate the protesters though

I would totally join those protestors. AS is just using the Pity play to generate huge donations. I wonder how many people and politicians are on their payroll.
2010 they made about $54 million and spent $14 million on staff and expenses... Problem with many of these charities is they get top heavy and greedy and pig headed..

ASAN has my support and I would join their protests. What I can learn from the video is that Autism Speaks is don't speak for the autistic people, they just use the disability card to get money for their selfish needs instead of using that money to actually help autistic people and their families. I gotta commend the protestors though.

Per the third party Charity Navigator Organization watch dog group for non-profit charities, Autism speaks rates a 3 out 4 rating for overall financial/accountability and transparency factors. It is the highest rating provided for any Non-profit Autism Organization.

Also, per that same watchdog organization, the CEO of the organization makes below the median salary of what CEO's of similar sized charitable organizations make in the Northeast.

All of these facts can be verified on the Charity Navigator website.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12720

Beyond this Autism Speaks meets or exceeds all standards required by the Better Business Bureau for Non-Profit Charitable organizations, including financials.

73% of the organizations expenses are dedicated to programs and services, per the 70% requirement to meet Better Business Bureau Standards.

Per the remaining expenses close to 12 million dollars of the organizations administrative expense goes toward fundraising expenses; and close to 2 million goes toward staff compensation expenses which are approximately 4 percent of the total revenue that the organization generates through it's fund raising efforts.

All non-profit charitable organizations address the serious concerns of the causes they support through their missions, through marketing efforts that express those concerns to potential supporters. The financial support required for the mission to help individuals with autism, isn't gained through sugary language, pictures, signs, or videos that there are no serious concerns regarding autism spectrum disorders.

However there are no videos, or signs, showing the harsher realities that some individuals with autism experience per self injury behaviors, smearing feces on walls, and other realities that are part of some individuals lives, that not many want to see, or even think about.

The signs are mild, per what could be realistically portrayed, if there was the actual intention of providing worst case scenarios, per the realities of some individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

It's not offensive to me. I see first hand how many resources ASD does consume. How many people who can't provide for themselves, how many parents who have to live their lives knowing their kids can't take care of themselves and what will happen when their kids die.

There is a huge financial toll. Sorry if you don't like to hear it.

I don't believe it's fair to ask industry professionals to work for less than the prevailing rate, and charity doesn't bother me when participation is voluntary and deserved.

My 1st instinct is to be very offended & pissed with Autism Speaks for lots of reasons including how their commercials make autism sound like a disease that's rapidly spreading. I think some more & I dwell on the fact that the members of AS Speaks are not autistic themselves & clearly do not understand autism. They are made up of NTs who are frustrated because of the problems they see & face with their autistic family member or they hear about the problems from the ausitic's family or other places. They want to cure us because they don't want us or our families to have these problems but AS Speaks does not realize that one of the biggest problems with AS & autism is the misunderstanding about it & their horrid steortyping is not helping. They assume we cant speak for ourselves because we don't speak to them or they don't realize or pay attention when we do. If they would try to really listen & understand us & what we deal with instead of trying to help cure the problems they see or hear about; they could do a lot of good

I would participate and hold a sign. I am who I am and I am proud. I even run a vlog in which I discuss some of the issues associated with being on the spectrum...

HOWEVER...I would NEVER EVER EVER participate in ANYTHING that Autism Speaks is involved with.
1) they have no transparency of where funds are going.
2) There is not ONE spectrum individual on their board
3) They seek to wipe out autism... There is no talk of support and education/treatment of spectrum individuals
4) Their advertising tactics are abhorrent

1)The organization scores four out of four stars per analysis of the third party watchdog group Charity navigator on accounting transparency, the highest rating available to any charitable organization, and 3 out 4 stars overall, the highest overall rating that any autism organization receives per analysis of that organization. This same organization analyzes CEO salaries of charitable organizations and rates the CEO salary of the Autism Speaks organization at below median salaries for CEO's of large charities in the Northeast.

2)John Elders Robison an author whom is diagnosed with Aspergers, has contributed to the direction of research on the Scientific Advisory Board. The Board of Directors has 10 individuals whom are parents of children with autism, has compared to the Autism Society of America, the second most well known Autism organization in the US, in existence since 1965, that has on active member disclosing an autism spectrum disorder on the board of directors and two individuals that are a parent of an individual on the spectrum in that organization, that is endorsed by the self advocacy organization ASAN.

3)Autism Speaks per the interview with the organization that was provided on this website makes it clear their research, awareness, and education efforts are focused on helping those that struggle with co-morbids associated with autism as well as the disabling symptoms of autism. There research mission, restrictions, and goals for 2012 are evidenced as addressing these issues across the spectrum, on their website.

4)Their advertising efforts for the most part, in their current PSA's, and website, portray happy well adjusted children with autism spectrum disorders, as those two well discussed video portrayals of children with regressive autism along with others whom struggle with more serious symptoms in other subgroups of autism were removed from their website years ago, due to offense expressed from some, but continue to be propagated in discussions, in online autistic communities.

While there has been comparison to statistics of other serious diseases, the current advertisements focus on comparisons to statistics on sports stars, while maintaining a serious conversation on the real concerns associated with autism, that cannot be ignored, if funding and research is going to continue to produce beneficial results for individuals with autism, including recent research addressing DSM5 concerns and population wide demographics of autism, that have never been accomplished by the government, as that research sponsored by the CDC, deriving the 1 in 88 statistic, is specific to 8 year old children that receive services and support in classes for the developmentally disabled across the country.

That said per the guidestar.org website there are over 2000 other charitable organizations that offer at least indirect services and support to individuals with autism, many of which are worthy of support, and many of which are local organization, that raise millions of dollars of support to help individuals with autism.

Unfortunately the focus continues on Autism Speaks in online autistic communities, providing that organization continued brand name recognition, where the facts that I just presented can easily be verified by going to just three websites AutismSpeaks.org, Charitynavigator.org, and guidestar.org. It's easy to verify the actual benefits that autism speaks provides to individuals with autism, as well as the high ratings the organization receives from reputable third party watch groups, providing evidence that the organization is well run, and a reputable one to donate to. It would not be reasonable for the general public to browse a site of anonymous opinions that potentially propagate urban internet myths, without checking the facts that can easily be verified from reputable sources.

The continued potential for brand name recognition in online autistic communities, provides a continued potential for another person to get familiar with the organization through third party reputable sources, and potentially become another financial contributor or volunteer for that organization.

They are already evidenced as having 340 thousand volunteers, listed in their 2010 IRS form 990, t provided on their website. These individuals participate in an average of 180 charitable walks a year, also evidenced on their website, where millions of additional individuals provide support to those volunteers through charitable contributions to fund the research, awareness, and education efforts that are part of autism speaks mission.

Some of the other 2000+ organizations could use the brand name recognition provided to autism speaks in online autistic communities, but autism speaks continues to get the green spotlight in forums on this site, where close to 1500 people are browsing forums at any given time, per evidenced statistics that have been provided on this website; most that do not post and are just here out of curiosity or to learn about autism spectrum disorders.

If they haven't heard of the catchy phrase "Autism Speaks" before they get here, it is likely that they will come across that phrase before they leave; an opportunity to do a quick search on the internet and find out the details associated with the organization from third party reputable sources.

I had no idea the organization existed until I visited this site a couple of years ago. I don't rely on anonymous opinions; I do my own research. It didn't take 5 minutes for me to figure out that the urban internet myth phenomenon, propagated against perceived enemies, was associated with the controversial topic of autism speaks. The first place I visited was the Charity navigator organization; they don't play games or favorites in their analyses where the Mayo clinic receives a 1 out 4 star overall rating.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12720

http://www.guidestar.org

http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/health/autism-speaks-in-new-york-ny-1456/conclusions

http://www.autismspeaks.org/about-us/board-directors

http://www.autism-society.org/about-us/board-advisors/board-of-directors.html

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt175264.html

http://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/documents/science-grants/2012_research_emphasis_areas_general__1_17.pdf

http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/grants/asd-prevalence-dsm-iv-and-dsm-5-total-population-study?destination=about-us%2Fgrant-search%2Fresults%2Ftaxonomy%3A9771

http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/grants/south-carolina-children%E2%80%99s-educational-surveillance-study-comparison-dsm-iv-dsm-5-prev

http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/grants/autism-and-developmental-disabilities-monitoring-network-augmentation-screening-and-a?destination=about-us%2Fgrant-search%2Fresults%2Ftaxonomy%3A9771+ADDM

http://www.autismspeaks.org/search/apachesolr_search/john%20elder%20robison

http://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/documents/990s/2010_tax_form_990.pdf

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/site/c.igIRL6PIJrH/b.7734443/k.955C/Upcoming_Walks.htm

Autism Speaks 2011 to 2012 PSA's

Last edited by aghogday on 13 Jul 2012, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.