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[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 82 points 1 year ago

Autism Speaks played a huuuge part in making that the dominant narrative about autism for the past 20 years or so.

In the 00s (maybe early 10s?) one of the videos they made for parents of newly diagnosed children had a parent talking about how she was considering driving off a bridge to kill herself and her autistic child, but didn't because her non-autistic child was also in the car. This was presented as totally normal and just a way to prepare for how an autistic child will ruin your life.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago

Autism Speaks is disgusting. What an awful organization. I wish more people knew that.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

I didn't know until I saw it getting trashed on the autism subreddit and asked why... So keep getting the word out!

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

I will. I don't have ASD but several of my loved ones do and I'm glad Autism Speaks hasn't gotten to them and made them ashamed of who they are.

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

I had no idea that existed. Wtf

[-] fckreddit@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

But, there must be ways to manage the ill effects of Autism. Parents can talk to experts, instead dealing with it on their own.

[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 year ago

I get what you’re saying, and caretakers certainly deserve support, even (especially!) when they’re talking about wanting to kill their own child, even if for no other reason than the child’s safety.

IMO Autism Speaks’ biggest issue is that their money comes from marketing autism as a horrible disease that affects only or primarily children, which only increases stigma against autistic people of all ages. They also have the problem of having no autistic members involved in a meaningful capacity in the organization, and AFAIK the only autistic member of their board of directors left because they were essentially ignored. That absolutely flies in the face of decades of disability advocacy, where a common refrain is “nothing about us without us.”

TL;DR: caretakers deserve support but Autism Speaks is super awful.

[-] Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Malicious misinformation is nothing new I guess.

[-] Globeparasite@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

very sane behaviour regarding your child.

When that kind of parents how their autistic child is very difficult and that it keeps getting worse I am always feeling like : Karen, only 10 % of your kid issues are caused by his autism, the 90% are 100% because you treat him like shit and he is turbo-traumatized

this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
310 points (78.9% liked)

Autism

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