Unrelatedly, this gives us a good view of the cantina samovars that were later repurposed as IG-88’s head.
Well…
I guess if I recover from my sensory issues, I still won’t watch the new movies. Because the Twizzler Challenge is associated with “autism awareness” and “New York Collaborates for Autism” works with the hate group “Autism Speaks:”
God dammit.
Well, that’s disappointing.
My next move was actually to research this myself but thankfully @MarjaE was ahead of the game.
Uuuuugh.
Well, that was the first group that turned up when I looked up the “twizzler challenge.”
AutismSpeaks is a hate group? Please 'splain.
Not again…
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I don’t think they have had any autistic people in leadership positions since John Elder Robinson left.
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I can’t watch tv, but I have read that they aired dehumanizing ads in their “autism every day” campaign.
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I have read that they support the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center.
That’s not Chewie!?
2014 Joint Letter to the Sponsors of Autism Speaks
Autism Speaks’ advertising depends on offensive and outdated rhetoric of fear and pity, presenting the lives of autistic people as tragic burdens on our families and society. In its advertising, Autism Speaks has compared being autistic to being kidnapped, dying of a natural disaster, having a fatal disease, and countless other inappropriate analogies. In one of its most prominent fundraising videos, an Autism Speaks executive stated that she had considered placing her child in the car and driving off the George Washington Bridge, going on to say that she did not do so only because she had a normal child as well. Autism Speaks advertisements have cited inaccurate statistics on elevated divorce rates for parents of autistic children and many other falsehoods designed to present the lives of autistic children and adults as little more than tragedies.
“Not again” like I’m the only person who hasn’t heard this before? Maybe I am…
I think my definition of hate group is different than yours, but thanks for explaining why Autism Speaks doesn’t actually speak for all autistic people.
A couple weeks ago I got into an exhausting argument with an “Autism Speaks” supporter over this.
Thank you for taking the time to explain - it’s important to know about groups like this, and I hadn’t known. I did do some googling, and found a Wired interview with Ari Ne’eman, the first autistic presidential appointee:
Wired.com: The most prominent and well-funded autism advocacy group in America is Autism Speaks. Is this group not doing its job?
Ne’eman: The core of the dispute between autistic
people and Autism Speaks is a problem that’s very common in the
disability community: organizations that claim to speak for disabled
people without including them in the conversation. Groups like Autism
Speaks have taken tremendous amounts of money out of local communities,
but haven’t included the people they claim to be serving in their
decision-making structure. Promoting fear of autism and pity for
autistic people may be good for their bottom line, but it actually hurts
us in our efforts to have the kind of lives we deserve to have.
Autism Speaks raises lots of money through their walks for a cure,
but only four cents on every dollar goes to services for autistic
individuals and families. That’s surprising and concerning, given the
kinds of challenges that people are facing in today’s fiscal climate
with state budget cuts leading to the gutting of services. Instead, the
money goes to advance Autism Speaks’ research and advertising agendas.
Obviously, funding autism research is very important. There’s a lot
that could be done to significantly improve autistic people’s quality of
life. But instead, groups like Autism Speaks have been prioritizing
things like developing prenatal tests to detect autism in the womb. That
doesn’t help the millions of autistic people who have already been
born. Very few of us wake up in the morning and think, “Have they
developed a proper mouse model for autism yet?” Instead, autistic people
and their parents worry about finding the educational and support
services that they need.
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