Autism Speaks

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First off, I firmly believe "curing" autism is impossible anyway, because it just isn't a disease. It's how your brain is wired. By the time they can cure autism, they'll be able to program the brain like a computer.
Autism Speaks is pretty mainstream, and they do nothing but generate pity. The only thing that that's good for is donations. But it hurts the autistic community so much because that kind of negative thinking can't make anything good happen. It makes people view people who are "autistic" as "disabled". Autism can certainly be disabling, but that's dangerous. It'll make people treat autistics too much differently. A parent might expect less of a child then the child is capable of. A person might use Autism as an excuse for failing, and it all comes from this negative thinking.

Whoa, I just read this thread:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/f ... 758&page=1

That seriously pisses me off. I'm registering.

They also have a thread claiming that Heather from America's Next Top Model doesn't have AS!!

Geez. These people are sick.

What's the correct term for these people? Racist isn't right...so what is the correct term to describe them?

Wow. Another thread claims that sociopaths have ASD. I just responded to it saying it's wrong (though I supposed someone could theoretically have both), and to check the DSM entries for both.

The people at that organization also forget that people along the entire spectrum are affected in a variety of ways. Someone with LFA might be a genius like Sue Ruben and somebody with AS might wear Depend's such as yours truly. They can't go on generating pity, and generalizing that "All people on this end are like this, and all people on that end are like that." All of us people who are on the spectrum are individuals. We are not Rain Men and Women. If all people with autism were like Rain Man, this would be a very dull community.

Sid :O)

I've responded back to a bunch of posts like that. We'll see what happens...

only looked at the forum because of this thread,there are some very ignorant people on there on the subject of both kanners and aspergers.
what is with this crap that aspies are in no way autistic and people cannot be autistic if they can use a forum,they haven't even spent long enough researching autism past the age of their own child,plus they should stop referring to auties and aspies on the forum as being the really lucky ones who got an easy life just because they can string a sentance together on the forum-how do they know they weren't at the same level as their child when they were the same age? or worse? and who are they to say they haven't had their own set of difficult challenges which won't change just because someone has it worse,it's the same in everything,there's always someone worse off but that doesn't make it any easier for others.
and how can some question the autisticness of Donna Williams [despite the fact she's on there-why not ask Donna herself instead of ask around her-do they not think it's possible for an autie to answer back?],Temple Grandin etc,they're ignoring everything they've actually gone through and are only focussing on the successes,pillocks.

The concept of "curing" autism is a nonsensical one because autism, by definition, is an innate neurobiological disorder which is genetically determined. Teaching an individual with autism to adapt to the mainstream world and function more successfully in it is not called "cure", it is called improving adjustment. "Autism Speaks" and CAN know this damn well. All the research they support is geared towards finding and eliminating the genes that cause autism, not towards finding better ways of helping autistic people to lead more fulfilling lives. I don't remember the exact figures now, but the vast majority of the money they receive goes into genetic research, and only a meager sum has been spent on entertainment for autistic people and something of that sort. Practically none of it has gone into funding new therapies, teaching methods or some other support for existing autistic children and adults.

In other words - they not only couldn't care less about how autistic people live or feel, they don't want them to be around at all.

It is, quite simply, easier. Rather than have to offer support, it is far more convenient to make sure there are no people who need it in the first place. Services are expensive and are a drain on the state's budget; teaching requires a lot of time and effort; compassion and understanding are much too emotionally taxing on certain individuals (who would have wallow in self-pity and tell everybody how their children ruined their lives and haven't lived up to their expectations). As Stalin said once, "there's a person, there's a problem; no person, no problem".