Top reasons why you don't support autism speaks?

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That really hit me hard, Lukecash12... Really well thought-out post. Thanks for that.

For OP, I found this pretty comprehensive document on why people oppose AS. Probably a useful resource for your report.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ODs- ... sp=sharing

I don't mind the research and even the looking for a cure. Some people want a cure and if there is one to be had they should have the option to get it. I personally don't want to be cured but that is also my right. I might change my mind someday and I should allow myself that option. Everyone has the right to choose whether he or she would want a cure and people should respect that right.

What I do mind, however, is that there are no Autistic people working for Autism Speaks. I also have trouble with the tactics some of you already mentioned that they use. I don't necessarily mind that they are focused on children because I respect that that is their choice. I just wish that someone would focus on Autistic Adults with the same fervor. I also wish that Autism Speaks would put as much energy into supporting already living Autistic people as it does towards eradicating future generations. And I wish they would also put more energy towards educating the public on the truths of Autism and what it is like to live with it.

If they claimed that their only intent and focus was to find a cure than I would not have a problem with that. I don't want to be cured at this point but if an organization wants to spend its time and energy doing that it has every right to do so and if they succeed the people who want a cure can benefit. But if they are going to claim that they represent the Autistic community and that they actively support it, and all they are doing is what they are current doing the way that they are currently doing it, I don't agree with that and I do not wish to support it. I also think that if they are not supporting and representing the Autistic community they should change their name. Autism Speaks is not appropriate nor is it correct. They might consider a name like Autism Bigots Who Want A Cure To Eradicate Autistic People or something more accurate like that.

1 no autistic adult on their boards
2 only 3-5 percent of their funding goes in to services. The rest goes to research on prenatal testing and a cure. This takes money from where it is needed most the community and autistics and our families and from the services we so desperately need but aren't enough of!
3 the use fear and pity tor awarness and silence those who speak out against this method.

I remember a commercial where they were saying that autism diagnoses was on the rise making autism sound like it was a disease that was spreading instead of realizing that the ratio of autsitics has been the same but more are getting diagnosed with it because of more awareness so more used to be undiagnosed.

Run by NT's and dismissive and disrespectful toward autistic self-advocates. More focused on getting rid of the problem we present to NT's than on improving our quality of life.

I think, like any minority group, we need allies in the majority to help us out, so the NTs working there is not a problem for me. The reality is that our deficiencies, for a lot of us, are very noticeable, and in the cases of some people, very detrimental to our functioning, and a lot of NTs are not sympathetic to it at all. We can go around talking about how normal we are, but then we're going to be judged by a normal standard, which means that when we can't do something that NTs can do, or we do something that NTs aren't supposed to do, we're judged as harshly as an NT would be judged, even if the deficiency legitimately due to our ASD, and we are working on improving it. Acting like we don't have deficiencies is insulting to other autistics who do have severe troubles, and are trying to fix them. It's like telling them that they have no valid reasons for their problems.

If I'm blind, I'll appreciate a bunch of people who can see helping me find a way to see, a lot more than I'd appreciate other blind people telling me how they function perfectly normal with their disability (who btw might not be as severely blind as I am), and therefore I have no excuse for not being able to do so, even if I am trying as hard as I can.