Why protest autism speaks?
VISION
A world where suffering because of
autism no longer exists.
There are a couple different ways you can interpret this quote.
You can interpret it to mean "if autism no lunger exists, the suffering it causes also no longer exists".
But that's not the only interpretation. You could also take it literally. If you take it literally, the vision is to end the "suffering because of autism", not "end the autism". You can end suffering without ending autism and good for them if they find a way to accomplish this.
What if they found a way to end meltdowns? End self-injurious behaviour? I've read plenty of posts about meltdowns here and I've yet to read that anybody enjoys them and would miss them if they were gone. If research can find a way to alleviate the things that sometimes go along with autism and that hurt, then they have in fact ended the suffering because of autism.
they ligitemetly want to cure autiam- to make us all "normal"
they legitametly want to develope prnatal testing- so parents can abort thier unborn autistic children so not to burdden the parents
They legitimatly and meaningfully only show the "bad side," and difficulties that autism can bring and children on thev "low unctioning end," - to strike fear into the hearts of the masses and solicate donations
If they are only show those with low functioning autism then I imagine it is low functioning autism and that which prevents individuals from caring for themselves which they are targeting.
Herein is my issue with calling AS autism. AS is entirely different than lower functioning forms of autism. People with AS can speak. Most people with AS do not require caretakers.
They are obviously two different things and there is need for differentiation.
Yes, Inventor! As an adult with AS and also having a 3 yr. old with non verbal LFA I can see both sides.
My social anxiety and sensory problems are extreme for me, and i can imagine its much worse for my son.
Any, and everybody researching this cause can only bring good. The more we DISprove, the more we learn.
As a matter of fact, let the slimiest people you can think of throw all their money at it. Ive already thrown all my money at the slimy insurance companies to help us with many therapies for our autistic son. Its terrible watching him go through life like this, no matter how randomly and unnecessarily good at something i am for having aspergers.
If anything its brought some much needed awareness to the NT world.
BUT, it IS forever, and uncurable.
Thanks, everyone for these really respectful discussions. I know first hand how easy it is to get the wrong message across.
If they are only show those with low functioning autism then I imagine it is low functioning autism and that which prevents individuals from caring for themselves which they are targeting.
Herein is my issue with calling AS autism. AS is entirely different than lower functioning forms of autism. People with AS can speak. Most people with AS do not require caretakers.
They are obviously two different things and there is need for differentiation.
I beg to differ, but autism is autism any way you slice it. The fact that some autistics can speak and some can't is irrelevant. It's the same condition.
Douglas_MacNeill
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Gender: Male
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Autism is not a disease
We are not sick
We are not walking tragedies
We can speak for ourselves.
Most of us don't want a cure.
They want to wipe us out.
They want to develope a genetic test that will lead to abortion
That stupid video that they have
Banzai, CockneyRebel! Count me in for this fight too, for twelve rounds, fifteen rounds, whatever it takes. Autism Speaks is going down!
You know, Chronos, I used to feel the same way, before I had ever met anyone with classic autism, and before I gained more insight into how NTs think-- because before I gained that insight, I didn't think I was very different, but I did think autistics were very alien. In the time since then, I've learned a lot, and revised my position.
In person, I've met a few autistics, and a few Aspies. Online, I've met a few, and read the blogs of a few, and learned a few things.
Like the fact that most autistics are verbal anyway. Like the fact that just because I don't rock myself very often doesn't mean I never stim. When I realized that stimming isn't just hand-flapping and shrieking, I was able to identify my own stims, and the truth is I stim almost constantly.
Reading what they actually say for themselves, I realize I have more in common with the others on the spectrum than I do with NTs.
It wasn't visible until I began to gain insight into other people's minds, though. If you're not at that stage yet, then I can understand why you wouldn't have access to enough information to come to an informed conclusion. There's no shame in that, but you're wrong.
And you've never read the blogs of the ones who don't have the level of functioning needed to write one...unless it was written by a caretaker, in which case it is really the caretaker's blog.
Yes, I would imagine most are. And the most of the verbal ones, who are able to use language fluently at some point in their lives, are generally on the middle to upper end of the spectrum.
And of the ones who can't say anything for themselves?
The ones who can't feed themselves?
The ones who can't dress themselves and perform the basic tasks vital to the survival of a human being, like pulling a blanket around one's self when one is cold, or moving out of the sun when one is hot? The ones who will run out in the street in the middle of traffic?
What of them?
And of the ones who can't say anything for themselves?
The ones who can't feed themselves?
The ones who can't dress themselves and perform the basic tasks vital to the survival of a human being, like pulling a blanket around one's self when one is cold, or moving out of the sun when one is hot? The ones who will run out in the street in the middle of traffic?
What of them?
Really? CLICK HERE
Chronos, that would be a valid argument if there were a sharp line between communicative and uncommunicative. But there isn't.
I once knew a kid who could barely speak, but when he did, you understood him. Right now I have a friend who is clearly verbal and understands how conversations work, but try to actually get information out of her and it's like pulling teeth.
Even in the same person, it varies. I could recount an incident to you that left me (temporarily) only semi-verbal, without my theory of mind, and without the basic people-skills that let me recognize a face so that it would seem even vaguely familiar when I saw it again, to the point that I didn't recall the race of one of the people involved, let alone distinguishing features. (Except I couldn't recount what it was that upset me, partly because it's too hard to talk about and partly because I've found that I tend to forget the details of traumatic experiences pretty easily.)
There's no sharp line between functional and completely broken. (Although what you describe sounds more like anencephaly, but never mind that.) You can make the argument that you should divide the spectrum. Fine. Let's accept that. Now you tell me where.
It's a spectrum. I find it ridiculous that just because some Autistics can't speak they must have low intelligence. Just look at Amanda Baggs she is diagnosed Low Functioning Autistic but still is intelligent.
There are alot of misunderstandings with curebie's they say that the persons's autism is causing the person's difficulties. Sometimes the person may be mentally ret*d congenitally. It's is hard to measure a persons IQ when they are nonverbal due to some IQ tests being based on verbal response.
http://autismbulletin.blogspot.com/2007 ... er-on.html
Bethie
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I don't have a problem with abortion whatsoever.
I do have a problem with their campaigns' portrayal of Autism...melodramatic music, telling me my Autism will ruin my marriage.
It's scaremongering to get money, and that's disgusting.
_________________
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay.
I guess they'd prefer to take my 33 ACT, 3.9 GPA, and all my other accomplishments WITH the help of that which they want to destroy and shove it, eh?
I hope my kids are autistic and I hope they have meaningful lives. My story and theirs, in a perfect world, would teach those ret*ds a lesson. Unfortunately, this ain't a perfect world. So I'll just consider that an accomplishment in and of itself. Eventually the world will wake up and see that autistics accomplishing things is normal and not a beat-the-odds Hollywood epic as they make it out to be.
And your insistence that "high functioning" and "low functioning" are so far apart?
And what of me, someone diagnosed with Asperger's, when I go non-verbal?
And what of me, who struggles to find food I can eat because of executive functioning difficulties.
And what of my friend, diagnosed high functioning, who's been hit by a car, because she doesn't know to not walk into the road at times?
Or, even me, who had to remind myself, though I managed only walking wobbly, earlier this week that I wasn't supposed to arbitrarily walk across the highway towards the river.
It's not "them" vs "us", its autistic.
We're autistic too.
Verdandi
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