I left the Catholic Church because of Autism Speaks

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Is this the same conference?

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/11/ ... ism/19856/

Pope Francis is a good man, I hope he does get through to people that would like nothing more than to push a button, and have Autism and Asperger's disappear. To make them see we're not a malady, and should be valued and seen as a positive.

He said "[A]bove all, prevent the onset of these conditions as soon as possible."

Where can I read about what he said?

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/ ... ism-32815/


Moral of the story: Changing attitudes requires a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach.

How true that is. The inclusion message is positive. The disease stuff is regrettable, however we are going to continue to be faced with this until we take possession of "the message to the others" ourselves. That day seems to still be far in the future to me, though I look forward to being proved wrong on that.

I think the Riddle Scale is instructive here. The Riddle Scale describes different levels of respect/lack of respect for LGBTQ people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddle_scale. It could be applied to autistics too.

The vatican seems to be at the "pity" level when it comes to autistics.

Here's the speech in full, have your sick bucket ready.

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/11 ... sm/1112005

With all the good pope Francis has done previously, this is just so hard to believe, that he would actually encourage eugenic elimination, and spread even more stigma.

^^^ Nowhere does he suggest that he encourages eugenic elimination. I know that you get there by assuming that D requires C, C requires B, and B requires A, but most people don't operate on those same assumptions. As I said before in this thread, the Pope will NEVER support abortion as a way of "preventing" ASD.

I know that none of us believe ASD can be "cured," but huge strides HAVE been made in the past decades improving the lives and outcomes for ASD children. My son has benefited greatly from many of them. Not all research is bad.

The words "sick", "pathology" 'heal", "prevent the onset" does a lot to undo the very acceptance and lessening of the stigma he is trying to accomplish. And only children were mentioned. Prayers are nice and appreciated, listening to us instead of Autism Speaks is what was needed, but that did not happen. I am not going to say the event was harmful, and that no good came out of the Pope speaking about eliminating the stigma, but a huge opportunity for a lot more was not taken advantage of and that hurts.

I agree with all 4 points you make ASPOM. Maybe I will write a prayer citing them and send it to him.

Proverbs 17:15

Agreed.

Definitely a missed opportunity.

Even this could be turned to political advantage if the ASD activists thought, strategised and acted more politically. John Robison is someone who does that from time, though he is part of a very small group of independents who have achieved that kind of street cred.

Given the obvious intelligence, analytical ability and writing skills of many WP members, I wonder why there is not more directed activism to continuously challenge the reigning myths. Just writing a letter to your local paper saying "well I am on the spectrum, and that isn't true of me, it's a myth that was spread by... " is a political act of self advocacy. And if a thousand people write a thousand letters, it becomes a trend..

I hear you Brother,

I do make youtube vids to put a human face on us and raise awareness, also to call out the BS to try and remove the stigma, I also partake in any advocacy or political ventures in my area. I don't know what else to do though, the Pope was right about one thing when he says that it's complex, it's also such a large mountain.

Great to hear that. Good on you. Pity I can't clone you though.

All great moments started out small. Then momentum gets going, slowly, until there is a critical mass, and then the scoffers start to realise that this means business and start to listen - even if they don't agree at first. We changed a law here in NZ like that, which the status quo thought was written in stone. A grassroots movement with a leader with political nous grew to that critical mass. It's harder to do this in the USA, because of the state government system. But not impossible, as history attests...strength to your arm. Kia Kaha!! (Maori for stand strong)

There are lot of reasons. The natural inclination against confrontation and preference to be alone. A lot of members are overwhelmed with daily life and there is a lot, a real lot of internalized ableism. As oldsters we have seen radical changes of attitudes, many things that were thought to be impossible come to fruition someone who is 20 has not seen these. WP is great but there is attitude that if you try and silence a prejudicial voice that us a terrible thing you are censoring them, better for it to stay there as an example of how bad NT's are. I ran into that attitude when getting Psychology Today to drop an article by a Job coach who horrible things to say about employability of Aspies. Moromillas was eviscerated for trying to get a gaming site to drop hateful posts. That site would not have been my choice of where to advocate but come on, and you with the "satirical" encyclopedia.

I think it will take us longer then other minorities because of social differences and black and white thinking will make it harder comprising not only with the outside world but also between the factions in our community. But it will happen and happen in an autistic way.