Why all the hostility

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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.

^^^ Very well said.

I would also point to the November 2014 speech Suzanne Wright gave at the Vatican as a recent example that the values and mindset, at the top at least, have not changed.

Most of their money is going towards biomedical research in order to find the genetic marker for autism, which will lead to genetic screening, which will lead to expectant mothers aborting their unborn autistic children. I feel that there's something horribly wrong with this, because I feel that every life is worth living and abortion is murder, whether the baby is normal or they have any kind of handicap of any level.

It must be pointed out while their defenders have criticized us for mentioning the old hateful videos, the organization itself has NEVER apologized for using those videos.

I think this is something relevant to OP's question about why so much hostility as well. Autism Speaks, as an organization, pretty much refuses to engage with their critics and their criticism across the board. Organized protests are ignored. Overwhelmingly negative reviews on their Facebook page are deleted. A board member resigns, quite publicly, in protest, and there's not a single statement from the organization about his comments. This is par for the course the organization. Their stance is that to give attention to criticism is to validate it, and so they ignore everything.

One thing I forgot to mention was the Autism Everyday video where the parents are ranting that their children are less than perfect. The founder mentions that she almost drove her autistic daughter and herself off a bridge, but she didn't because she has a normal daughter who needs her. Her daughter was right there, in the room. I'm also not very fond of the woman who was changing her son's diaper, bitching about the fact that he had two accidents. I'm sure that there are a lot of well to do incontinent people -some of them famous- who can manage quite well in their daily lives.