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[Doomblade187]

One of the regulars who are on the spectrum (I *think* it was Vector) talked about this when that book came out. From what they said, calling it a "caricature" is over-generous.

that is really over-generous, it feels like some propaganda that autism speaks would make

I've never been able to track down their troublesome stuff. I keep hearing about it though.

I have no heard bad things about them, what's up with em?
 
For a positive perspective, I've found them to be rife with some very positive free materials for myself and others who have direct contact with a person with Autism.

Agreed, they seem to have fairly positive resources. For some reason I hear these things about them saying that autistic kids break families or some bullshit like that.

[deathpunch578]

One of the regulars who are on the spectrum (I *think* it was Vector) talked about this when that book came out. From what they said, calling it a "caricature" is over-generous.

that is really over-generous, it feels like some propaganda that autism speaks would make

I've never been able to track down their troublesome stuff. I keep hearing about it though.

I have no heard bad things about them, what's up with em?
 
For a positive perspective, I've found them to be rife with some very positive free materials for myself and others who have direct contact with a person with Autism.

Agreed, they seem to have fairly positive resources. For some reason I hear these things about them saying that autistic kids break families or some bullshit like that.

they didn't say that. THEY MADE ADS THAT SAID THAT.

[Doomblade187]

Okay, so that is horrible.

Side note, I don't watch tv: I have never seen that before.

[deathpunch578]

Okay, so that is horrible.

Oh that's nothing. They made an ad where a mother says she almost committed a murder suicide by driving off a bridge just so she could kill her autistic child, but the only reason she did that was because she has a neuro-typical child at home.

[Il Palazzo]

How is that horrible or a caricature? These are the fears and realities of parents of children with low-functioning autism.
It's good to recognise that the S in ASD stands for spectrum, so while people with Asperger's can and should advocate for not being treated as disabled, they shouldn't pretend the rest of the spectrum doesn't exist.

[MrRoboto75]

I for one wish someone would drive me off a cliff.

[choppy]

I for one wish someone would drive me off a cliff.

But in a fun and mostly safe way. Right?

[Dunamisdeos]

That ad is bizarre. I see what they are trying to do, make it about an oft-ignored disorder that needs to be taken seriously, but they definitely wrote that as if it was from the perspective of a person with autism. The second half that ad makes it clear that the voice in the beginning is the "disease" and not the person, but WOW the insensitivity and tone-deafness are incredible there from an agency that deals directly with autism (what? Voodoo??? what?? ? ?) The ends don't justify the means there, good lord.

Regardless though, Autism Speaks DOES provide a great deal of free (and accurate) material and my understanding is that they primarily fund research into preventing autism, which is extremely important. I've had nothing but positive experiences from them, so my position will be that this utterly chilling ad is not representative of their organization's overall work. Feel free to disagree.

Spoiler: Now, I'm going to maybe be unpopular and talk about my personal experiences. (click to show/hide)

TLDR: Within my lifetime the official diagnosis for severe autism could often be "leave them in a home and forget about them", because you've obviously already failed. The void of bitterness and hopelessness this produces in a person is likely what fueled this ad.

My brother was severely disabled, including but not limited to severe autism. I've spent a great deal of time in related circles that most people avoid, or maybe I should say "used to avoid". When I was growing up with my brother there was not a cultural awareness of autism and there was almost no care or effort made to help a person with severe autism cope and live their life with any kind of joy or fulfillment. If my mother asked a doctor what the best thing to do was, they generally recommended putting them in a care home and moving them permanently out of her life, because I was a child with a future and having another child with autism in the home could damage me. My mother was told she was morally wrong for trying to care for her son, because improvement was impossible. Instead, my brother was at the forefront of movements designed to educate and provide for people with his kind of disability, and those foundations are what modern treatments are based off of. My brother was walking and speaking within months of receiving real care at 11 years old. The unspoken culture only a decade before this ad was made (seriously, I'm talking about the 90's here) was that a person with mental disability has no place in the world, and that if you spend your time making room for them you are morally wrong. My mother became an emotionally scarred person.
 
Having a child with autism but getting no support from friends, family, or the state is definitely a thing that can and has driven a person to a suicidal depression. There is no real way to describe to a person who has not lived through this extremely specific hell what watching their child fail to thrive because of a cultural policy of pointed indifference can do to you. You watch your child (or brother) struggle with almost everything, then finally they make a breakthrough and realize your name is dad, or that there are other children they want to play with, and you can SEE a real person inside who is PROUD of themselves but no matter who you tell or who you show, your child's name to them was still "retard", and plenty of people are willing to publicly blame you as a parent for "something" you did that must have made your child this way. That likely is the bitter place in themselves that the writers of this ad came from.

[Doomblade187]

How is that horrible or a caricature? These are the fears and realities of parents of children with low-functioning autism.
It's good to recognise that the S in ASD stands for spectrum, so while people with Asperger's can and should advocate for not being treated as disabled, they shouldn't pretend the rest of the spectrum doesn't exist.

That post was my reaction to the ad. And while you're right that the spectrum can be extremely harsh, rhe first half of that ad is damn apocalyptic. And the second half doesn't feel like it balances it out. It's a very depressing ad, that doesn't make it seem like the support they provide will be enough.

[deathpunch578]

"they primarily fund research into preventing autism"
This is one of the BIGGEST problems with autism speaks. They barely help families that have children with severe autism (only 4% of their profits, the rest go into their pockets and into eliminating autism) and plenty of people on the board hate people with autism (no one currently on the board is autistic and the ONLY autistic member on the board was treated like a child and nobody even listened to him)

[Descan]

The main problem with Autism Speaks isn't all that guff. I mean, that stuff is a problem, but it's not *the* problem. If anything, they're symptoms.

The problem is that it is (or was, but for the longest time and certainly when that and similar ads was made) a group who have nobody who actually has autism, to any degree or of any kind, in any sort of input role. None in leadership, none on the board, not even advisory.

So it's like having a womens health foundation run entirely by men, or a black advocacy group run entirely by white folk, or a queer support run entirely by straight folks.

They can have all the good intentions they want, and all the data they want, but without the input of lived experience and someone to say "Uh, dude, that's not at all what it's like/holy crap that is offensive as hell," then all the myriad other problems stem from it.

Especially for an organization called "Autism Speaks," it's certainly not autistic people who are doing the speaking. They're at best a support organization for the people surrounding autistic persons, but that's not what they bill themselves as.

Not to mention the fairly eugenics*-y advocacy for a "cure for autism" without actually asking autistic people if they even want to be cured, like Deathpunch said, and it's just... Yeah.

*And this is coming from a transhumanist who's all about genetic engineering, mechanical augmentation, and building the better being, but the difference is that from me, consent is first and foremost. Especially for things like Autism where, for a large subset of patients, the main issue with having autism isn't the symptoms per se like it is with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, schizophrenia, etc. It's the surrounding society expecting one thing and you delivering another. If the person is supported in the culture and allowed to function as they normally function, no square peg in a round hole, they're often as competent and capable (if not more) than the average non-autistic person.

Edit: Guy basically said what I said, but I added more words, so I win. hah!

[deathpunch578]

Allow me to plug a clip from one of my favorite movies that speaks volumes about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEYKFw6nboY

[A Thing]

Allow me to plug a clip from one of my favorite movies that speaks volumes about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEYKFw6nboY

Man, I wish I had that good of handwriting.

As an 'aspie' (what an awful term) the idea of cure is kinda weird to me. Honestly I've never really identified with Aspergers much, but I don't entirely see it as a bad thing. Not really a good thing either, just something I have to live with. I definitely got into a lot of trouble in the past because of some of the autism related stuff*.  Yet as I get older it just seems more and more like a vague thing that maybe changes how I act. I guess a cure might be good for those who have low-functioning, but I somehow doubt it'll just magically fix all of the flaws that child has and leave the 'savant' parts of autism. It doesn't exactly feel clear to me where autism ends and just being a normal flawed/gifted human being begins.

I'unno, I've never got my rainman mentat math science S T E M magic powers from it so maybe I'm just jaded and apathetic. Then again I've also never run into traintracks because of math butterfly shit either so maybe that's for the best.

As for Autism Speaks, I think they helped my mom get an actual diagnosis for autism instead of the misdiagnosis I got for ADHD? I think that's something they do? If it was they're probably not entirely awful. If not, it was some other thing, and they suck I guess (I can't be bothered to watch the ads so I'll take your guys word for it.) Definitely should have some autistic folks on the board either way though, seems like a pretty awful oversight.

*Getting overwhelmed and lashing out mostly.

FAKEEDIT: looking up the foundation date of Autism Speaks it seems unlikely they are the one that I'm thinking of unless I got diagnosed way later then I thought. Also, it was math rat shit not math butterfly shit looking back in the thread.

[Egan_BW]

Honestly, if I experience myself doing something amazing, I'd rather chalk it up to myself just being awesome than aspergers anyway.

[Il Palazzo]

Yeah alright, I've looked a bit more into what people say about Autism Speaks, and I'm beginning to see how they're kinda twisted. The predominant opinion is similar to what people here were expressing.
They kinda seem like an organisation whose views on autism are stuck in the past. Not the 1950s past, but maybe 80s or 90s.