Links that explain why Autism Speaks is a bad charity that should never be trusted until autistic voices are 100% listened to, centered and favored over neurotypicals.
* * * WARNING: Some links include abuse, violence, murder and mention of ABA therapy. * * *
https://medium.com/@KirstenSchultz/a-roundup-of-posts-against-autism-speaks-5dbf7f8cfcc6 (collection of links)
https://kpagination.wordpress.com/autism-resources/autism-acceptance-month-resources/ (collection of links)
https://whyiboycottautismspeaks.wordpress.com/ (collection of blog posts)
What's wrong with Autism Speaks? Before you donate, please take a moment to look into this organization and what it’s awareness and fundraising is really doing for the people it claims to support.
Autism Speaks no longer seeking a cure, and this autistic person couldn't care less. Not only does it sound like a lot of nice words couched in nice language that don’t actually mean a thing, but it’s very parent focused (still) and doesn’t actually seem to help actual autistics.
Four years. Every time a parent whose clothing is covered by puzzle pieces or autism “awareness” slogans tells me I don’t count because I can speak, even while I’m stuttering and turning red and unable to continue and they think they’ve won the fight…my heart breaks.
Autism Speaks diminishes lived experience. Autism Speaks is not a representation of autistic voices, they are a sham, intended to steal money from scared parents.
Why I am against Autism Speaks. If you are FOR humanity, you will be AGAINST Autism Speaks.
Who is your awareness really for? Autism is not about you. We don't want your awareness. We don't want your damn silent selfies. If you really want to do something for autistic people, first stop posting your kid's business all over the internet. Then listen to us. Stop doing this mommy centered 'awareness' crap that stigmatizes us.
Be aware of this. Quackery awareness month, even, but of course no one will come out and call a spade an effing shovel because autistic people don't count in this society. That's right, it's a f*ing shovel.
I'm aware of your hate. Everywhere I look you remind me that you hate us. You want us gone. A word for the history books.
Is Autism Speaks a hate group? According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a hate group’s “primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization”.
Light it up blue isn't autism awareness, it's advertising for Autism Speaks. But every time I start thinking Autism Speaks is starting down a good path they do something that reminds me: they are not my family’s autism organization. They don’t represent my values. They don’t represent my family.
Why Autism Speaks is dangerous. Autism Speaks, frankly, has the most ironic name of any nonprofit I’ve ever heard of, because they do everything EXCEPT let autistic people speak. Their entire campaign is founded around how awful it is to be a parent of an autistic child, without paying a single thought to how it feels to be an autistic child.
Be Aware! My kids do not need people to be aware of Autism, especially when what that actually means is “beware” of autism. My kids need people to accept them, just as they are, and recognise that they are valuable and valued human beings who do not need to be changed. My kids need people to be willing to support them when the environment is causing them problems. My kids need people to see the value in diversity and look at them as people with some thing to offer, not something to be tolerated.
Autism Speaks: Hate speech and eugenics. I’m pretty pro-choice, if you don’t want a baby, don’t have one, but I take a huge issue with encouraging the termination of intended pregnancies on the grounds that you’ll get someone with a neurotype you didn’t want. Wiping out a group of people by stopping them from being born is called genocide.
Autism Speaks fails the community. In one of its controversial videos, "I Am Autism," we hear autism promise to bankrupt you, destroy your marriage and friendships and eliminate all hope from your life. Autism Speaks turns autistic people into villains and parents of autistic people the heroes — or worse — the victims.
Autism Speaks does not deserve your support. Autism Speaks’ mission statement goes on to claim that they will “find the missing pieces of the puzzle,” showing that “they don’t really value autistic people as fully human people. We are puzzles and we are missing pieces of ourselves, and we must become neurotypical in order to be respected by this group.”
Why we hijacked the #AutismSpeaks10 hashtag. Here’s the thing about the “autism advocacy” organization known as Autism Speaks – it doesn’t advocate for people with autism. In fact, if it’s said to advocate for anyone, it would be for overwrought parents of autistic children. In fact, they’ve promoted a video sympathizing with a mother who says – with her autistic daughter in the room – that she considered driving herself and her daughter off the George Washington bridge because of the enormous burden of it all.
Do not light it up blue. Did you know that autistic people are here all year long? Their struggles and their triumphs don’t begin and end in the month of April. How are you being more aware and accepting of autistic people and their families all year?
An autistic speaks about Autism Speaks. So that is why I'm posting this blog entry today. It's to get the word out from the other side of the autism debate, the one that doesn't get all the media attention. It's in the hope that someone, anyone, who participated in the walk might start to have second thoughts about it. And most of all, it is with the hope that others like myself can get the support we need to live in a sometimes frustrating society, not a cure that is forced on us without our acceptance.
Real autism. Autism Speaks was created by Bob and Suzanne Wright in 2005 as an organization that advocates for Autism. Over the years Autism Speaks has created a severe amount of controversy around their practices and policies in regards to how they promote Autism to the general public.
"Imagine, if you will, that an organization existed by the name of "Womanhood Speaks," which, on the surface, appeared to be in support of women's rights.
Now imagine that the governing body of this organization only included members of the male gender, with not one female represented in its ranks. Imagine that its actual aim was to create a registry of all females and force them to become more masculine, completely disregarding the fact that a majority of females were perfectly content with their womanhood and even found it to be advantageous. Imagine that members of its leadership appeared on popular TV programs talking about the epidemic of womanhood and how it needed to be eradicated.
Doesn't sound too appealing, does it?"
-- https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2007/5/19/336513/-
