**Warning**April is "Autism Awareness Month"

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I'm pretty sure there is in Autism Speaks in Canada. But I've found they AS in Canada is very different than the one in the US. They're more balanced and not in your face.

Positive autism awareness is not just limited to those with 'higher functioning autism'.

AKA: A lot of 'lower-functioning' autistic people probably hate the idea of a 'cure' too.

Why not work as one solid group for positive awareness instead of going 'Well WE don't need a cure but THOSE people sure do!'.

http://www.autism-society.org/site/Page ... _awareness

That's from the US Autism Society. It must be different in the UK.

Maybe a good month for me to sit on a street corner wearing a WP shirt and waving a tin cup at people as they walk by. It seems like Alex needs the money to fix the site or pay his advertising bill.

I think it's worse for those parents. Nobody deserves to have their children likened to car accident victims or cancer cases. Nobody deserves to have their kids valued in terms of how much their therapies cost. They're not damaged property; they're not shadows of real children; they're human beings. Autism Speaks is not helping parents of low-functioning kids any more than they are helping us. They aren't providing better educations for those kids, nor job training, nor protection against abuse, nor anything but genetic testing and genetic research and brainwashing and coercion and "let's make sure no more tragedies like these are ever born again". They need real, respectful, practical education about how to live in this crazy world; they don't need to be "normalized" and forced to act as NT as they can, especially when that NT-like appearance comes at the expense of real competence and real expression and authentic decisions. I don't know what it's like not to be able to speak but I know what it's like to be human, and if you're human you want to be treated with respect and kindness, not called a burden and told that what you are is a tragic mistake that has to be corrected. Autism Speaks doesn't help anybody but themselves, at any point on the spectrum.

this is just a common thing have noticed,but what about those who are adults and LFA,as adult aspies/HFAuties are always used,whereas for LFA it's always the children.


am LFA and not a sorry case in need of a cure-though am pro choice,and would have a part cure given the choice.
the problem with that term [sorry cases/in need of cure] is that it's used to get pity money for autism-they are looking in at LFA children,not looking out,and so to them it represents hopelessness,uselessness,and 'saving the autist' with a cure,it takes away an auties worth in humanity,dirties existance,and gives the wrong idea to others that LFAs just exist to waste oxygen,it should be making the best with what have got and trying to strengthen quality of life as much as possible-not adding further burden and regret to LFAs.
it's a term that is attacked by the autistic community because autism speaks relie on it and the disability community as a whole do not like it.

Am have lived with many other LFAs-most of them are profoundly affected,and they're able to have a life,go to day centres,go do sports with disabled clubs etc,am have known aspies on here have much more lower quality of lives than some LFAs because they dont get any support.

some [LFAs] are very limited in what they are able to do,but what staff do for autie service users in residentials is work with the skills people do have,rather than focus on what they can't do-no two people on the spectrum are ever alike [am was told this by own key worker from the national autistic society].please don't take this as an attack,found it hard to know right words to put together.


Re.autism awareness month.
some users have mentioned escaping this because theyre in the UK-well there is one coming up in the UK and it might even be this one?,am have seen some NAS staff magazines lying around about some autism awareness thing coming up,it was on a paleish green background [incase any of the NAS staff on here know what am talking about],didn't catch much else,but think they've left one at home so will check it out on sunday,hopefully it's just NAS organised.

though there is an international autism thingy every year...dont know who that is by.

If they start up about it at school, I'm going to have a very hard time keeping my mouth shut.

I'm sort of abusing the fact, and trying to organise my school in to doing a special assembly about it or something like that, or even me to do an assembly.

I'm an NT interested to know more about autistic/Apergers' views on how autism awareness should be promoted, since clearly many are opposed to the approach of Autism Speaks and the likes. A friend (mom of an autistic son) and I are planning to kick off a website devoted to artistic media projects related to ASD (projects about autism or created by autistics). What do you think of the idea, and how would you want to be represented? (The purpose of the site is twofold: to increase awareness and to be a gathering place for inspiration and celebration). I get (as much as an NT can get) your points about misprepresentation... so please help me -- and help the community you represent -- by offering your suggestions.

All or nothing is what I want. Either there is NO coverage on Autism or coverage on EVERYTHING ABOUT autism.
Autism Speaks does not believe if you are High Functioning you are not Autistic. Only low-functioning Autistics are real.
Same goes with Classic/Apserger's. There is MUCH more Asperger's Coverage than Classic Autism which is wrong.

Delicious Cake

Combined with Nepotism...oh dear. I had a nice image/visualization of that

I'm a bit ignorant of "autism awareness month". However, I am going to a autism/asperger conference on April 17th in Austin, TX. Temple Grandin, and others with autism and asperger's is suppost to speak there. Perhaps that will be more insightful than "autism speaks", no?

I wonder what people will say at my college. Are there any pamphlets nearby people have?



There are other sites like that already in existence, you should go to them and join up with them

Don't want a userbase that is too spread out

EDIT: this link, saved it on my delicious
http://www.taaproject.com/resources/



indeed. see software piracy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLB8wysMbY[/youtube]



they're all examples of what the mainstream hates.




cool

Last edited by Warsie on 21 Mar 2009, 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think the best way's to pick out a bunch of actually autistic people, and let them represent themselves. You will get a lot of diversity, simply because people have different experiences and ideas. The important part of that is that it gets the idea across that we're individuals; people often have the idea that "autism" is this monolithic thing, something that exists on its own; but it isn't, it's just a trait that happens to apply to lots of people. If the best way to break a stereotype is to get to know people from the group that you're stereotyping, then the next best way has to be to show those people as interesting individuals with their own personalities, and to show what their lives really are like--not putting a bad spin on it for pity, nor ignoring the difficulties to try to make them sound superior; but just to show them as regular people with a different sort of brain.

I'm preparing to do what I call my "30 in 30." It will be 30 videos in 30 days promoting POSITIVE autism awareness. It's the only way I can get through the month without staying pissed off at Autism Speaks.

The videos will consist of me talking (with someone with a decent video recorder taping me,) interviews with autistics, more slides with info and image with music, etc. all with a positive and uplifting theme.

I outlined all 30 days this morning and I'm going to start working on them now, so I won't fall short of my goal of posting one a day starting April 1.

Wow, ambitious!! Good luck!