Are you held hostage by Autism?

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Campaign issues ransom notes

I'm not held hostage by anything that I deal with.

It's a genetic thing FFS, you can't get Autism and AS in the same way as Bulimia and ungenetic depression.

And besides, it's more often the people around us holding us hostage for having AS and Autism than the condition itself.

The campaign is headed by a general psychiatric org and as such, they are labeling everything "illness".

There is something inherently wrong about their wording. I wouldn't use the "held hostage" metaphor even for devastating mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Any more or less good psychotherapist will tell you that mental illness is not something "foreign" that takes hold of a person - it's something that comes from inside the person him- or herself, and treatment involves trying to make sense of it and integrating it back into one's personality, as much as anything else. It is also very deeply rooted in the person's biological and psychological make. Nobody knows where schizophrenia *really* ends and the schizotaxic personalities begin. Nobody knows where bipolar disorder ends and the cyclothymic personality begins. As for autism or AS, the condition and the personality seem to be inextricably fused into one, to a point where separating the two may be altogether impossible.

Speaking of this, for one, they are exaggerating wildly (it's apparent that many people with autism are capable of taking care of themselves and communicating, though in their own way, AS certainly doesn't mean "complete isolation" etc). They seem to be starting drama, which, like any drama, is intended to hit people's emotions first and foremost. It makes me wonder whether it is meant to make people choose certain treatments for their children, especially given that word "untreated" in that context. In other words, someone may be making money, as it has been done with ABA or psychiatric medications.

I have to admire the sheer brilliance of the ransom-note campaign as a marketing tactic. Play on parents' fears at the most primal level, then hit 'em in the hip pocket. Ignore the fact that these "illnesses" can arise from vastly different causes, but stress the fact that they all require expensive intervention.

Once again, it all comes down to money.

That ad looks like it's put together by a group of people who are blinded by greed, not by compassion or reality.

I sure as hell am NOT held hostage!

How do we kill it? With fire? Fire's good. Makes things dead. And tasty. Yes. Use fire.

The ad itself was created by an advertising agency (BBDO), but must have been approved of by the org. The ad agency produced it "pro bono" and it's going to be distributed as PSAs (Public service announcements).

Yeah, I am.

I don't really care about the social impairment aspect of it, more the vocational impaired part.

Nice, so psychologically manipulating parents by putting them in the position, as being responsible for their child's "disability" is ok, as long as they get their child psychological help? Why would someone think they should get help for their child, from an emotional sadist who terrifies parents into beliving they're making their child suffer from something they were born with?