fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3741 ]

[ SECRET POST #3741 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3741 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tomorrow is world Autism Awareness day and you are going to see a ton of blue puzzle pieces and blue lights. As an autistic person, I'm here to warn you that Autism Speaks is not as good as they claim they are. People dismiss me because "well it did good for ME!" without bothering to look into why I say it's bad.

Saying Autism Speaks is good because it helped you or helps people is like saying some random guy who serves food in a soup kitchen is a good person even though he beats his spouse and neglects his children.

Autism Speaks has a history of ignoring, dismissing and silencing autistic people while using the most dehumanizing, fear-mongering rhetoric to paint autistic people as if we're diseased burdens. They don't have any autistic people in any significant leadership positions, yet they want to speak for us? That's messed up.

If that isn't bad enough, barely any of the money donated to them goes to help autistic people. It's all marketing, research and salaries. I won't go into the cure and prevention stuff because that's a big can of worms that causes too many debates and leads to derailment. Let's just say Autism Speaks wants to destroy autism by preventing autistic people and that is where most of their research is going.

Autism Speaks has zero representation of the community they stand for, yet thinks it can speak for us. Would you support a trans rights group run by cis people? Would you support a religious rights group run by atheists? Would you support a POC rights group run by white people?

Please don't light it up blue. Go red instead for autism acceptance.

Here are some links that go more in depth about why Autism Speaks is harmful.

https://strangerdarkerbetter.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/whats-wrong-with-autism-speaks-a-collection-of-resources/

http://elitedaily.com/life/autism-speaks-fails-community/1445981/

https://medium.com/@boundarybreaker/no-missing-piece-why-autism-speaks-is-dangerous-49ed84f8e714

https://emmashopebook.com/tag/autism-speaks/

https://thecaffeinatedautistic.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/why-i-am-against-autism-speaks-4/

I don't support Autism Speaks but I find it baffling when people talk about they don't want a way to prevent or cure autism. Autism is a disease, sometimes a debilitating one. Stopping diseases is a good thing.

Right? It's not like they're saying they're going to force treatment on everyone, but it sure would be nice for people like my cousin who has autism on pretty much the opposite side of the spectrum from aspergers or 'highly funtional' people.

I respect the different arguments and philosophies within the disability communities, but the "cures are evil full stop!" camp has always really bothered me and seems very selfish and short sighted.

Cure should be the choice of the individual affected. I got no problem with people wanting to be cured, but I abhor it when I see people saying they would cure a loved on in a heartbeat because the caregiver is tired of providing care.

How would you feel if someone changed your entire brain without giving you a choice in the matter?

The issue is choice and autonomy, and it's always taken away from autistic people.

What if they can't make that choice? What if they are on the extreme end of the severe spectrum? The kids who literally can't communicate with the world outside their head?

SA

Hell no, it's not a disease. Technically it's more of a developmental disability. Sometimes it can be very debilitating, but people who need extensive support can live full happy lives with support. The problem is support is so hard to come by.

Amy Sequenzia is nonverbal and requires extensive support. She's an anti-Autism Speaks activist who speaks out against Autism Speaks any chance she gets. She communicates by typing.

And what about those people who can't communicate at all? Who spend their whole life stuck in their own mind?

Autism Speaks ain't gonna help them. Autism Speaks is going to spread misinformation about autism and scare their caretakers into murdering them "for their own good" or they're suffering at the hands of "autism parents" who are playing the martyr to the public for taking care of their kid.

Autism Speaks is not doing anything to actually help autistic people and these kind of responses are so stupid because they actually assume Autism Speaks is capable of actually acting like they give half a damn about autistic people like they claim they do instead of getting their HQ shiny new office supplies and shitting out more ads that Autism will destroy your family and ruin marriages. Because that's all it knows how to do.

Oh and fund places that torture autistic children for small slights.

DA

You're missing the point by a mile, nobody here said Autism Speaks is a good organisation, this subthread is about the potential benefits of a cure.

The whole thread is about Autism Speaks so I can address that if I want. The only one setting "rules" about the topic is you.

Do you actually have an argument? Autistic people will be helped by people understanding how their minds work and their own ways of communication (which can range from technology to signing) and learning how to help them by learning from them not ignoring them and their attempts to communicate by deciding they're just hopelessly doomed. Actually try to debate not just go "you can't talk about that" like a weak fuck.

I'm not "setting rules", this is how threads and subthreads work.
Do you have a point except detailing the point ayrt made by bringing up Autism Speaks even though that wasn't the topic of what ayrt said?
It's great for someone if they are lucky enough to have a trace ability of communication in their autistic state, but there are a lot of autistic people who have zero means of communication. But some would apparently rather deprive these people (and autistic people who might actively WANT one) of a cure because... reasons.

You are massively missing the point of both how discussion works on the internet and the point that was being made here.

Autism Speaks sucks so much for all the reasons listed.

I feel conflicted on the cure thing. I understand that there are many people with high-functioning autism who are perfectly content with the way they are. I have a wonderful coworker who is on the autism spectrum and she's very content with who she is. I also work with kids who are on the very low end of the spectrum and a few of those kids hurt themselves so badly that they require frequent hospitalizations. My heart aches for them because they can't communicate what's bothering them and I've gotten hurt trying to keep them from hurting themselves. Their families have little to no support for them and fear for their future. I guess I'd like to see a cure for those kids or, at the very least, more support for them and their families so they don't hurt themselves.

I don't care about any of the snowflake charities, they are just an excuse to legitimize bad parenting and bad behavior. If it irritates you so much though, I will totally donate to Autism Speaks and make sure I give out their material.

I may even leaflet cars in the parking lot with some Autism Speaks material.

Tell Barbara Streisand I said "Hi", btw.

Since atheists (at least in the US) support keeping the government out of religion, they are actually helping protect minority religions as well as non-religious people from the tyranny of the majority religion.

/derail

Yeah... that whole "would you support a group for x run by y" line is pretty awkward and terrible. Yes, a religious freedom group run by atheists would probably be entirely worthy of support. Groups that protect minority rights that are run by white people? Hello, ACLU and SPLC. I thought you've done some good work, but some asshole on the internet says that's impossible. You were founded by whites and still have primarily white boards of directors.

A group that lacks political power doesn't gain it by rejecting allies from groups with power.

Atheism is a type of religion though? I mean in the sense of "What do you believe in?" "My belief is in science/logic." So religious freedom would still apply to them for them having freedom FROM religion. But would you trust a video game review from someone who never played the game? Which are you going to trust more

"I played the latest Zelda game for three days and here's what I think about it..." vs. ""Well, I've never played it, but from looking at the cover...."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #3741 ]

Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

DA

Re: DA

Re: DA

Re: DA

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.

Re: Don't support Autism Speaks this month. They're a horrible charity.