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| Should we work with Autism Speaks to promote positive images of autism? |
| Yes! This isn't about spite. Any chance to get a positive message across is good. (Besides, if they back out now it will prove to everyone how they really feel.) |
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40% |
[ 36 ] |
| Not sure... (If this is your answer, please explain why in a Reply Post.) |
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13% |
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| No way! We don't want to make them look like they care while they are still working for a "cure". It's more important that people know we disapprove of their policies. |
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46% |
[ 41 ] |
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| Total Votes : 89 |
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NicholasGray
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Jan 24, 2008
Posts: 46
Location: Phliadelphia
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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:47 am Post subject: Offer from Autism Speaks, please give your opinion |
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Hi everyone.
I'm Nicholas. Some of you may have read and/or listened to the interview Alex did with Alvin Keith and myself about our movie If You Could Say It In Words.
I went with Alex's group to the UN discussion on autiusm awareness this week. I got the chance to ask the panel a question and decided to address the way autistics are potrayed in major advocacy campaigns (especially by Autism Speaks). I suggested that too much time is being devoted to showing the worst moments in autie's lives while none was being spent on celebrating your achievements. I believe this contibutes to a message of pity and fear; it furthers the misconception of auties as damaged/diseased.
Suzanne Wright, the co-counder of Autism Speaks, responded with a public offer to promote positive stories on Autism Speaks' website if I provide them to her. This was, of course, right after she claimed her orgainzation is making a ton of progress to make autistics feel more accepted. She then promptly compared autistics to AIDS patients.
...sigh...
Still, they have all the money. They have all the corporate partnerships. They have the most influential lobbyists. They have the best machinery in place to influence public opinion and the use of government dollars. If there is a chance to get them to take up the right side of this issue for a change, even if its due to nothing more than public pressure, I feel like we should seize it. Helping to steer their organizatoin, with all its capabilities, in the right direction has to be better than going to war with them, right?
But I would like to get feedback from the folks here at wrongplanet on how you feel about it.
Thanks
Nicholas |
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Quatermass
Cynical, Sardonic, and Generally Ironic
Joined: Apr 28, 2006
Posts: 18453
Location: On the Liberator...
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: |
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Tell her that I had been diagnosed with AS by Dr Tony Attwood himself, and that my mother never regretted having me OR my non-autistic brother. Tell her that training for both parents and children is better than any supposed cure.
And remind her of Huxley's speech to 'Soapy Sam' when Sam Wilberforce asked him whether he had an ape on his grandmother or grandfather's side:
| Quote: | | If the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion, I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape. |
I feel a similar accusation is being levelled of us as being burdens on society (especially when she compares us to those who suffer from HIV and AIDS), and so I think she should take her money elsewhere, unless she changes her attitude.
_________________
BLAKE: You said persuasion wouldn't work and it didn't. So now we use force.
AVON: Force? Yes, of course. Law makers, law breakers, let us fight them all. Why not?
-Blake's 7, 'Shadow' |
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JakeWilson
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 12, 2007
Posts: 154
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| Yes. I think that Autism Speaks is probably just as unaware of the high-functioning side of autism as the general public is and we should work together. I disagree with a lot of what Autism Speaks says, but I think it is good if Aspies and parents of severely autistic children stop yelling as much at each other and maybe work to promote a positive image of autism and at the same time work together to help LFA kids learn how to speak. I don't agree with a lot of the negative image Autism Speaks gives autism, but regardless of everyone's feel for a cure, I think groups like Autism Speaks and groups like Wrong Planet can at least unite around a common desire that we want to teach autistic kids who cannot speak how to speak. For LFA kids, we Aspies probably have something to contribute that no one else has - we maybe at least understand a tiny bit of what the kid is going through. This does not mean we approve of their perspective in every way though. |
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bikermark
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 63
Location: NW Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:48 am Post subject: |
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I think we should, and I have been hoping to have an opportunity to tell my story, as a 19 year employee of the company that Mr. Wright is second in command of. Yes, the company started by an Aspergian, TA Edison.
I was Dxed last year at age 48, and foolishly thought that telling my bosses might make it easier for us to work together. I am a Union Steward, and so frequently am engaged in contentious discussions with management. They refuse to acknowledge the issue unless I use the ADA to play the Poor Handicapped Me BS. I am no more handicapped (to me) than a lefty, but I would fit the portion of the ADA requiring inability to participate in major life activities.
But I was normal enough to teach Machinist Apprentices as an instructor, to give an impassioned presentation to Bob Nardelli while he was the VP in charge of our 6000 employee plant, to be trusted by my union sisters and brothers to be their elected representation, to be elected to be on the Board of Directors of ABATE of PA, a motorcycle legislative action group, be a T Ball coach, Cub Scout leader...and damn proud single father.
I look for the opportunity to expand our civil rights as different, not as handicapped.
Mark F Haller
Union Steward, UE 506
Last edited by bikermark on Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:57 am; edited 1 time in total |
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bikermark
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 63
Location: NW Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:50 am Post subject: |
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| Oh, and I now am working to get the Erie PA chapter of GRASP active again. |
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bikermark
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 63
Location: NW Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:55 am Post subject: |
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| PS Bob Wright will be in Erie for the annual shareholders meeting April 23rd, maybe he could come see me while he's in town. |
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MissConstrue
Has left WP.
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Joined: Feb 05, 2008
Posts: 16635
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:20 am Post subject: |
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The only thing I can give is it's never a good idea to angrily attack an oppositional group if you want to bring any influence from yourself onto them. It usually turns into a pinball game. One's always going to try to prove the other wrong without looking at the big picture. At least it's always been my experience with myself and through observation.
So I think educating the public would be a better option. After all, sadly they're people too who don't know better. The process might be slow but I think it would be way more affective then just getting angry at them about it. After all, the more they're educated the more they'll eventually know through that hard brick wall.
And yes I was brought up by hippies but it has nothing to do with what I just said. Peace Out! 
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TLPG
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Posts: 682
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:30 am Post subject: |
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Absolutely not. They are in bed with Cure Autism Now, and as long as that association is there Autism Speaks is not worth talking to. Along with the fact that they have NO boards members who are on the Spectrum.
Change both those factors, and maybe I'll change my mind. |
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Samotnik
Hummingbird
Joined: Jan 17, 2008
Posts: 18
Location: UK - Gloucestershire
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:43 am Post subject: Re: Offer from Autism Speaks, please give your opinion |
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| NicholasGray wrote: | | If there is a chance to get them to take up the right side of this issue for a change, even if its due to nothing more than public pressure, I feel like we should seize it. Helping to steer their organizatoin, with all its capabilities, in the right direction has to be better than going to war with them, right? |
I agree 100%. Anything that improves their portrayal of autism has to be a good thing. It doesn't mean anyone has to endorse anything s/he doesn't agree with.
In what way did Suzanne Wright compare us to AIDS patients? I remember the fear and predjudice about AIDS from the mid-eighties. Things are better now. |
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Aranittara
Raven
Joined: Mar 03, 2008
Age: 19
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| TLPG wrote: | Absolutely not. They are in bed with Cure Autism Now, and as long as that association is there Autism Speaks is not worth talking to. Along with the fact that they have NO boards members who are on the Spectrum.
Change both those factors, and maybe I'll change my mind. |
There are board members on the spectrum
unfortunately they are attacked as misinformed   
ironic huh
_________________
All of us are computer programs running in a box somewhere I'm just one of the few endowed with the knowledge that it is a simulation. and no one seems to believe me *sigh* |
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Fuzzy
Ack! Thbbbt!
Joined: Mar 31, 2006
Posts: 3695
Location: Alberta Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:30 am Post subject: |
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| Hopefully Alex will never take money from them. once people give you money, they start telling you what to do. |
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SeaBright
Chargé d'affaires Attaché
Joined: Aug 16, 2006
Posts: 1400
Location: Halfway back
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:17 am Post subject: |
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Yeah,
Bogging down the system or 'idea' with an internal war is to much like government and religious institutions. Who loses?
Us.
_________________
"I'm sorry Katya, my dear, but where we come from, your what's known as a pet; a not quite human novelty. It's why we brought you.... It's nothing to be ashamed of, my dear, but here you are and here you'll sit." |
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Kaleido
Nearly NT and counting
Joined: Feb 19, 2007
Posts: 2602
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:19 am Post subject: |
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Yes, anything positive is good.
Even if they are with the cure people, they might change their mind if we go with them, but they probably won't if we do nothing. |
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CockneyRebel
Mick Avory
Joined: Jul 18, 2004
Age: 35
Posts: 22537
Location: 1965 London with Ruby the Routemaster by my side
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:29 am Post subject: |
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If they wish to cure us, than I don't want to bother with them. If they decide that people on the spectrum don't need to be cured, after talking to us, than I have no problem with it. I'd like to see if we can turn the opinions of the people at Autism Speaks around, so they won't feel the need to associate with CAN, anymore.
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Mick Avory is my favourite Kink. He always has been and he always will be. Him and I are two peas in a pod. |
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The_Cucumber
Phoenix
Joined: May 05, 2007
Posts: 665
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Well, I suppose we could if we do it right.
Simply showing someone why they are wrong without actually saying "your wrong" can be far more effective then telling people they are wrong and backing up your argument.
So I think we should send them as many success stories of people with autism as we can. Preferably, it can be inferred that if the person did not have autism they could not have succeeded in the way they did.
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The improbable goal: Fear nothing, hate nothing, and let nothing anger you. |
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