Autism Speaks Petition

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http://tinyurl.com/q4jpr

On May 9th 2006, Autism Speaks launched a film entitled 'Autism Every Day'.

This film was alleged to depict the realities of autism, described by the film's Producer Lauren Thierry as:

"At this point we need to be showing the world what the vast reality truly is. [Lauren says]…that reality includes images of kids not sleeping through the night, banging their heads against the wall or running into traffic – not images of kids setting basketball records or passionately playing the violin."

It later transpired that the film had been 'set up' and that Thierry had purposefully attempted to display the worst possible view to the world:

"Thierry told her subjects not to do their hair, vacuum or bring in the therapists. She showed up with her crew at their homes sight unseen and kept the cameras rolling as a mom literally wrestled with her son to get him to brush his teeth, as a 9-year-old had a public meltdown, as a 5-year-old had his diaper changed. And, as moms revealed dark and uncomfortable truths about living with autism. The result is a window into an exhausting world of interminable work."

The film itself contained a segment where one of the mothers interviewed said that:

"I remember that was a scary moment for me when I realized I had sat in the car for about 15 minutes and actually contemplated putting Jody in the car and driving off the George Washington Bridge. That would be preferable to having to put her in one of these schools."

The mother in question made this statement whilst her autistic daughter was in the room with her. She further added that the only reason she didn't kill her autistic child and herself was the thought of her non-disabled daughter.

Producer Thierry called this section 'gutsy and courageous' and added that:

"If most mothers of autistic children…look hard enough within themselves they will find that they have played out a similar scenario in their minds. If this is not your reality, then God bless you."

Autism Speaks: Don't Speak For Me

We, the undersigned:

-Utterly repudiate the notion of murder being an acceptable response to disability
-Vehemently deny that most parents of autistic — or otherwise disabled — children harbour thoughts of murder
-Testify that the false 'reality' concocted by Autism Speaks film 'Autism Every Day' is not a true reflection of the reality of parenting an autistic child
-Call for a public apology from Lauren Thierry for increasing ignorance regarding autism

Please add your signature to the petition. Your email address is required but will never be displayed or used for any other purposes.

I don't want to seem rude, but your giving a very black and white view to this, there isn't anything in between for what your describing, i agree that what your talking about is sickening, but autism speaks is a great thing for those who take care of their severely affected auties.

There's got to be some kind of middle ground... Somewhere...

I didn't MAKE the petition, I am only passing the word about it.

I am an advocate for autistics and have a pretty good idea of what it takes to take care of them. And as a result of this, I think I can honestly say that Autism Speaks is not the type of organization I would want speaking for autistics.

there not speaking for us though! there speaking for the people who are affected to the point where they can't take care of themselves! okay! not us!! !!

They want to speak for us though, and are trying to.

Right. Remember, Autism Speaks is the same organization that just sued a 14 year old kid for $90,000.00 because they didn't like the website the kid put up.

Well, god forbid that someone has a statement counter to their own... They almost had me convinced that it was the autism speaking...

oh lord, here I go with the sarcasm again...

well they couldn't have goten away with it without good reason,

I have a severely afflicted autie kid. I deeply resent the cure site because it seems that so many parents put on blinders and just put their energies into curing their kids and not embracing fully the kid that they have. Then the kids grow up and.,. there's nothing for them but maybe it doesn't hurt as much because the curbie parent maybe thinks that the kid that they didn't accept and didn't prepare for adulthood wasn't really their kid. Autism stole their real kid.

I've been around parents, too often, who are spending a fortune on the trendiest cure of the day and looking subjectively for changes that they claim that they see but nobody else sees it.

I've asked cure people to PLEASE remind the parents that the kids are not standing still waiting to be cured. They are growng up and need their parents to advocate for THEM, not for the "stolen child." But they don't care. I think parents who are too realistic are likely to not fork over as much money.

They had good reason. It was called satire and parody. Autism Speaks didn't have a sense of humour. Not only that, they withdrew the claim because you can't sue a 14 year old.

I thought that kid was gutsy and gets my stamp of approval. And I support the petition because Autism Speaks need to pull their heads in and get their focus right.

Meu amigo no hotel onde eu moro e trabalho para Autismo Fala é convencer-me de que estamos a ser injusto para com eles. Antes eu estava tão irritado que eu estava indo para enviar uma hitman de detectar o que é que o seu nome, que ameaçou matar seu filho. Mas agora ela está a fazer-me ver sentido. Sugiro que você actally conversar com os pais pobres e veja por si o que elas foram e ainda estão indo através através.

More importantly, they dont want us speaking for Autistics.

They see us all as being broken, instead of taking in account that this is a spectrum, that we're on. They want to wipe out people, with all types of Autism. They take the worst case scenario, and make it out to be the norm. The commercials that I hear on the radio make me gag. They have this woman speaking with a sad voice, and soft music playing in the background. Another thing that I dislike about them, is that they support CAN. They want to cure everybody with a diagnosis, whether they want to be cured, or not. I don't think that it's up to Autism Speaks to decide who's going to be cured. I think that it's up to each individual to decide if they want to take "The Cure" I don't want to be cured, but I have a friend here, who wants a cure. I also have another friend who doesn't. I think that it should be up to each person. The person who started Autism Speaks, is exactly like Hitler. That's why I've signed the petition, twice. I've signed it last January and again, last month.

I see nothing wrong with the video.

It shows caring parents, albeit selfish as they wish to apply their ideal and the normal life to their children, their children who most likely will never do their ideal and the normal things (form relationships, live independently, work, etcetera). Ironically, those who wish to impede the possibility of a cure/treatment for their own agenda are just as selfish.

Ahhhh. . . when will we all learn the meaning of "spectrum disorder"? We are not all a worst- or a best- case scenario.