Why all the hostility

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associated with the organization AutismSpeaks? I really do not understand why people speak so negatively of it. I do admit I'm ignorant of their contributions and motives, but I would assume that they are there to help, no?

Because they're trying to make profit off of us and they want to find a way to detect autism before birth so they can abort autistic foetuses. They're also filled with mothers who treat hate their autistic children. Get it now?

Well excuse me, I'm sorry to have asked a question that rubbed you so wrong. So autismspeaks is funded by psychopathic mothers and selfish businessmen? Ya I got it bud! Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I think that's a huge exaggeration.

From what I've learned here people don't like them because they're for cure of autism, because of a video they uploaded called "autism everyday" I think where a mother said she'd thought of killing her autistic daughter by driving off a bridge, because they believe they don't give enough money to autistic people, because they called autism an epidemic, and because they only focus on children.

Not sure if I covered it all.

Of course that's only one side of things. I don't know enough about the organisation to hate them. I don't know how much of it is true. Or the other side of things. All I've seen is the hate side and I don't want to base my judgement on one side.

I think their two main goals are the eradication of autism by pretty much any means and paying the nts that are employed high up as much of their funds as possible.

In other words, a typical charity.

Autism Speaks 2012 Audited Financial Report:

36% for salaries, benefits, payroll taxes ($22,861,019)
​25% for science grants/awards ($15,790,797)
5% for travel, meals, lodging, entertainment, catering ($3,034,109)
4% for advertising & marketing ($2,827,316)
3% for family services grants & awards ($2,048,552)

(Percentages are based on the total reported expenditures of $64,127,886 for FY 2012)

a. Autism Speaks collects money to fund research for a cure for Autism.
b. Autism cannot be cured.
: : Autism Speaks collects money.

Autism Speaks is dominated by parents of autistic children, with no autistic people involved in policy-making. An organization that excludes the people it is alleged to represent from its leadership is as troubling as a whites-only organization that purports to address racism or a males-only panel on sexism.

Suzanne Wright, who co-founded Autism Speaks in 2005, described autism as an unmitigated disaster for families, consistent with her organization's established message. Advocates point out that this message stigmatizes and contributes to the exclusion and abuse of autistic people.

The resource fair of the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in DC (November 2, 2013), included the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, an institution notorious for its extreme abuse of disabled students.

Autism Speaks speaks only for itself, and not for people with autism.

Why did that offend you? "HE" answered your question. This subject brings up a lot of anger among some people, so don't take it personally, it wasn't directed towards you.

Btw, he is right. Autism Speaks is a organization that is out to completely eradicate autism despite the fact that a lot of us on the spectrum are against that. There are next to no people on the spectrum that has any say in the organization. Basically they are claiming to represent autism without listening to autistics.

Last edited by Lukeda420 on 11 Aug 2015, 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dailypoutine1 is male, Luke.

Yeah Lukes right Crazy there no need to be rude.

Last edited by DailyPoutine1 on 11 Aug 2015, 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah sorry, I thought I fixed that.

The #MSSNG campaign
Autism Speaks #MSSNG Project Sparks Controversy

Supporters of Autism Speaks have criticized people for using the 2009 "I am Autism" video saying the video was a 6 years old one time mistake and is not representative of what the organization is today. The #MSSNG project is new and ongoing thus reflecting current Autism Speaks thinking.

That's like someone who beat their wife and then claims "oh come on, it was a one time mistake. It doesn't represent me.

Crazyfool,

you seem very naive.

and no, based on the data, and the information of a available publicly, Autism Speaks is not " there to help".

60 percent of the money they receive from the community goes to Nero typicals doing "research" on autism. which means that all that money is going into the pockets of Neuro typical scientists, paying for their houses, paying their income, paying their food and gas, etc. All the while only 7% of Autism Speaks income is dedicated to helping actual autistic people and families now, who are living now.

and it recently came out that Autism Speaks research is aimed on preventing autistic people from even exist in the first place. they are doing research on genes, on identifying genes so that they can eradicate autism from the mother's
womb. and recently there scientists have admitted that they have no real goal of supporting and helping autistic people that are living now.

so basically, they are looking into the far future, a kind of scientific genocide against autistic people. and they very clearly have no interest in helping autistic people who are living now, in your community.

not to mention, it has been discovered that the Autism Speaks is run by neurotypicals. none of the scientists or any of the board member CEOs are autistic.

they are pulling the wool over your eyes.

you need to grow up, and wise up, this is what Neuro typicals do.

you just can't believe anyone at face value who comes up to you and says
"hey there, we are here to help !"

"There's a sucker born every minute."
-- B.T. Barnum

Well no, autism doesn't need to be eradicated, whereas other charities are trying to eradicate things that do need to be.

While there are a lot of reasons why people object to Autism Speaks, there are two primary issues at the heart of the controversy.

First is their focus on cure research. As Fnord noted, Autism Speaks funding for research outweighs funding for support services by roughly 10:1. A lot of people see this as a serious miss-allocation of resources. If nothing else, it's a pretty legitimate reason why many people do not support the organization. However, it's hardly something that stirs up the kind of hate that you're likely thinking about.

For that you have to look to the second main problem with the organization, the continued use of derogatory and stigmatizing language to describe people on the spectrum by individuals at the highest levels of the organization, often while officially representing Autism Speaks. This has continued despite increasingly widespread outcry from the autism community, including the resignation of a board member in protest of the organization's attitude towards the people it claims to be working to help.

This second issue is what stirs up the anger. It changes people's perception of Autism Speaks as an organization they merely disagree with to one that treats them with, at best, indifference, and contempt, at worst. Viewed through that lens, disagreements over the organization's other issues, small and large, become much more heated. It no longer seems like a simple matter of misaligned priorities as it seems like the organization has fundamentally different values from the people they claim to be supporting.

If you're interested in further reading, I would suggest starting with the open letter [link] John Elder Robison wrote when he resigned his position on Autism Speaks' board in protest. Though written nearly two years ago, the criticisms are just as valid today as they were when he wrote it.

Last edited by gamerdad on 11 Aug 2015, 5:09 pm, edited 4 times in total.