For Autism Awareness Month, skip Autism Speaks and donate to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network instead
autisticadvocacy.orgApril is, among other things, Autism Awareness Month, so you may see tables for autism advocacy organizations around (especially on college campuses).
Do not donate to Autism Speaks- they have no autistic people on their board, have refused to hire parents with autistic children, use legal threats to shut down criticism of their organization from people with autism, adheres to the widely-discredited theory that vaccination causes autism (in that they dump money into researching the connection), and are generally not useful or well-liked by actual autistic people.
Generally, the endeavor is like Susan G. Koemen, a big fundraising loop (they sell products to ‘raise awareness’ and then use those proceeds to sell more products) that fails to benefit anyone but those pulling salaries from the effort, who are notably not autistic. Only 4% of their budget goes to services for autistic people and their families.
Instead, donate to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, through the title link.
(Thanks to greencarnations for the information.)
I'm watching the Jimmy Kimmel thing about the parents eating telling the kids they ate their candy. I personally do not find it funny. I find it fucking horrifying.
To have fun at your kid’s expense like that? To break their trust, and to break their sense of expectation—they got all that candy and they expect to be able to eat their candy—they’re incredibly disappointed.
My husband’s like… wow, all those brats, a couple of them were raised right… and I’m like… no, if that had been me I would have lost it. I would have been incredibly wounded that my parents had done that to me. I would have been wounded that they took something that was mine without regard to my feeling, then when I found out it was a joke, I would be wounded that they’d do something like that to me.
I hate practical jokes. I hate things that make people feel bad. I hate being the butt of them, and I hate watching them perpetrated on others. I hate seeing caps on my dash of this video, and I hate that I was made to watch it. And I’m sure people are going to be like oh… you’re being overly sensitive, it’s all in good fun, etc. But I think that was really potentially damaging. Yeah, it’s just candy, whatever, but it’s not about candy. Not getting the candy you thought you were going to have IS disappointing. But it’s about trust.
Google eliminates 'die' search suggestion for autism
nj.comWe did it! The flash blog, that was held on February 23, 2013, to get Google to change the way it’s autocomplete ends the phrase “autistic people should” worked!
“Autism activists have succeeded in getting Google to change the results of its automated search process so that offensive “hate speech” doesn’t routinely show up as a suggested match.”
Feminism
So browsing through Tumblr, or course I come across woman’s rights posts, and that’s fine. What’s not fine is reading that post to see that all white, males are inherently rapists and oppressors. It’s not okay that in that post it says that women need MORE because men at one point had more. It’s not okay to see trans people saying cis people are scum or something of the sort.
I am a 15 year old pansexual male. I have 4 piercings. I do drugs. I was diagnosed with Aspergers on May 21st of 2012. I live in a capitalistic, monetary-based society. Are you really going to sit there and tell me that I am not oppressed? I was beaten up every day of elementary school for being a little strange. I was given death threats for the past year until I took my facebook down…
I have worn makeup before. I used to get called a faggot daily for it. I was beaten up a few times for it. I’m CONSTANTLY told to conform to the male gender role. I am socially retarded, and I do not pick up on social ques. I do WHATEVER the fuck I want when it comes to social things BECAUSE I DON’T ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR EXISTENCE. YES I get shit. Yes I get oppressed, but I’m not the only one!
We are all being oppressed. Start a fucking revolution. Do WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT UNLESS IT CAUSES HARM OR LOSS TO ANOTHER PERSON. Thank you, now stop bitching about how some people are born with it harder than others. That’s not equality at all.
Fucking niggers.
Explaining the DSM 5 Criteria for Autism.
Soon a new version of the DSM, the criteria used in the field of psychiatry to determine mental illnesses will be released. Many people are worried because of the removal of Asperger syndrome, and worry that this will remove their diagnostic label. I’m going to go down this and explain what these changes mean for the autistic community at large.
Autism Awareness
1. Accept us. Autism is a part of who we are. As sure as skin color or sexual orientation, we cannot change being Autistic. Acceptance starts by understanding that we are not broken, defective, or diseased. We do not need to be fixed or cured. There is nothing wrong with us. Yes, autism is a disability, and yes, some Autistic people are very severely disabled. Accepting our autism does not mean ignoring or denying disability; it means accepting us for who we are, as we are.
2. Respect us. We are people, fellow human beings. We deserve to be treated with the same respect afforded to our non-Autistic peers. Respect starts by understanding that we are full and complete human beings, with individual personalities, life experiences, goals, and preferences. We deserve an education, access to communication, and a place in society as we become adults. We deserve to live without fear of being abused, manipulated, or hurt. We are not less than.
3. Support us. Because we are disabled in varying degrees and in multiple ways, we need support, services, and accommodations to successfully navigate a world not made for us. Supporting us starts by understanding that we are usually the people who can best define what types of support and services we need, especially once we become adults. Some of us may need services throughout school and or higher education. Some of us need help with seeking and keeping employment. Some of us need help with living independently or semi-independently, or with activities of daily life. Without appropriate supports, we will not have equal access and opportunity.
4. Include us. We deserve equal access and opportunity throughout the community and throughout our lifespans. Inclusion starts by understanding that we are part of the community and deserve to be included in it. As children, we may not be ready immediately for full inclusion, but full inclusion should be the ultimate goal for every Autistic child. Full integration into the community means living outside institutional or segregated settings and working outside a segregated setting. If we need accommodations or support to fully participate in the community, then provide those accommodations. We need to belong.
5. Listen to us. Too many conversations about us and issues that affect our lives take place without any of us present. Listening starts by recognizing that we have valid, legitimate, and important things to say about our lives and about the issues that affect us collectively. Like any group of people, we are not homogeneous in opinion or ideology, and this diversity is part of the Autistic community. Yet we must be included in any conversation about us, because decisions made by policymakers, school administrators, and grant reviewers often impact our daily lives and our future outlook. We can speak (or write or sign or type) for ourselves, and it’s time to listen.
Lydia Brown is an Autistic student at Georgetown University who interns for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. She blogs at Autistic Hoya.
Read more: http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2012/04/02/autism-awareness-is-not-enough-heres-how-to-change-the-world/
