Yoko Ono named First Autism Ambassador By Autism Speaks

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I recently read about your partnership with Autism Speaks as the "First Global Autism Ambassador". As an autistic person, I believe autism awareness is an important step on the way to increasing acceptance and integration of autistic people into society.

However, it worries me that you chose Autism Speaks for your awareness campaign. It is an understandable choice, because Autism Speaks is a very large, high-profile organization. However, many people simply do not realize how little Autism Speaks actually does to help autistic people.

Autism Speaks raises a great deal of money; however, much of it is spent on their directors' six-figure salaries and on large-scale fundraising events, and most of the rest is spent on genetic research aimed not at helping living autistic people, but at finding a prenatal test to make abortions possible. Less than 5% of the money Autism Speaks receives is used to improve the lives of actual autistic people; and we cannot do anything about it because we are not allowed a decision-making representative on their board of directors.

Even the awareness campaigns that Autism Speaks uses have done more to hurt than help us. Autism Speaks uses fear tactics and stereotypes to cast autism as a monster that ruins families' lives; they compare autism to pediatric AIDS and cancer and complain about how much we cost to educate. Autism Speaks's "awareness" campaigns encourage people to pity or fear autistic people, not accept us.

I agree with your intent. It is important for people to know what autism is. But Autism Speaks is going about it entirely the wrong way. As you continue your efforts to raise awareness, I encourage you to reconsider your partnership with Autism Speaks and find an organization that affirms the rights of autistic people as human beings and fellow-participants in the world we all share.