I have a cause on Facebook called Understanding, Accepting, and Embracing Autism. Please check it out and join it if you'd like to.
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/190022? ... d=39415621
Positions:
1. People effected by autism are valued members of society.
2. People effected by autism deserve respect and love.
3. People effected by autism do not have a disease, they have a condition that means their brain is different than neurotypical people.
4. People effected by autism do not need to be "cured".
5. People effected by autism need support and understanding.
Description:
As a parent of two children effected by autism I am a part of the world of autism. I find it disturbing that so many children and adults are written off and literally tortured in an attempt to make them "appear normal" and "cure" their autism. This is wrong and it sickens me.
Autism needs to be handled with love and understanding. People with autism have sensory issues that can make functioning in our hectic everyday lives very challenging for them. It is a tremendous mistake to believe that autistic people are "in their own world" and unaware of what is going on around them, though to the uneducated observer this may seem the case. Some autistic people are nonverbal or have limited communication abilities. This does not mean in any way that they are not completely intelligent and aware, and that they do not have something to say or emotions. They do if you can understand how to listen.
Please watch this youtube video. It will open your mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J...
Many of the Autism charities and organizations' goal is to raise money for genetic research so that autism can be identified before birth and thus allow families to have the fetus aborted. They are working to "cure" autism by making those who would be effected by it extinct. (ie Autism Speaks, I am VERY anti-Autism Speaks).
Other organizations pass themselves off as concerned doctors who promise uneducated and afraid parents that they can "cure" their child's autism. These doctors use untested, unproven, painful, frightening, and dangerous medications and procedures on children. Parents pay tremendous amounts of money out of pocket because no insurance will pay for these practices. These doctors and their organization promote themselves as autism experts. It’s true, they are doctors. Doctors like podiatrists, urologists, hematologists, and dermatologists who have attended a two day workshop to learn a business model that capitalizes on the hope, fear, and ignorance of desperate families. It's a crime. (ie DAN-Defeat Autism Now, VERY against that organization as well).
Autistic people are just that, they are people. They deserve love, understanding, and respect just like everyone else. Autistic people do not deserve to be tormented, tortured and eliminated.
Autistics such as these have already contributed so much to our society, what else might we all learn if we learn how to listen? :
Jane Austen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Alexander Graham Bell, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Isaac Newton, Vincent Van Gogh, Jim Henson, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Schulz, Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Bobby Fischer, Bill Gates, Al Gore, John Nash… follow this link for more:
http://www.geocities.com/richard...
Imagine how different our world would be without THEM. Very different indeed.
If this sounds like it’s been a tirade it has. And it needs more voices. Please, add yours.
Please do not post any links or anything in support of Autism Speaks or DAN. Those organizations go against the message and spirit of this group and will be deleted if posted.