Autism Speaks

edited 2014-01-28 13:33:45 in General
I don't know much about it. 

Apparently, a lot of people don't like it, and a lot of people like it.

Can anyone here explain it to me, and what it's all about?

Comments

  • edited 2014-01-28 13:46:42
    Because they "market" autism as a debilitating mental illness when a large number of people with autism don't even want to be cured. They see Autism Speaks as unintentionally humiliating.

    Or something.
  • They also treat their autistic workers pretty poorly, using loopholes to pay them as little as possible.

    Also, most of the good leadership spots (possibly all of them) are taken up by neurotypicals
  • It's a false-front group. Essentially advocating the elimination of Autistics while pretending to speak for them in a helpful manner.

  • More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
    Elimination like killing? This is the first I've heard of that... :o Unless you mean eugenics, so people aren't born with autism in the first place. I might be a happier person without autism. but really, my point is basically w/e
  • THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    It's pretty much "cure your gays" applied to autism, with all of the unfortunate implications that carries.
  • More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
    oh :(
  • lee4hmz said:

    It's pretty much "cure your gays" applied to autism, with all of the unfortunate implications that carries.


  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Even the name is kinda fucked up, when you think about it, because it implies that autistic people aren't able to speak for ourselves
  • "It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
    I for one find the new "autism spectrum disorder" extremely confusing. I learned psychology from the DSM-IV, and was under the impression that people with classic autism need care about as intense as people with Down Syndrome. It would be horrifically unkind to treat them the same as Aspies, who are bright people who find it hard to socialize.
  • “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Well, the point is that it's a continuum: Extreme cases of Asperger's syndrome can in fact be more debilitating than some mild forms of classic autism or other such disorders. This is rare, but it does happen; it is believed that this, rather than schizophrenia, is what got Louis Wain institutionalised.
  • imagei will watch the heck outta this pumpkin patch
    might be worth noting that Asperger's isn't actually recognized in the DSM-V; it's just considered a form of autism spectrum disorder

    not sure what the reasoning behind this is, or what the implications are
  • “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    I guess because it's considered a given manifestation or presentation of a broader underlying disorder/syndrome? If I'm not mistaken, I have seen the same thing in ICD descriptions of things like personality disorders: There are different subtypes or symptom presentations, but it's basically the same thing—APD and Hare-criteria psychopathy, for instance.
  • "It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens

    Well, the point is that it's a continuum: Extreme cases of Asperger's syndrome can in fact be more debilitating than some mild forms of classic autism or other such disorders. This is rare, but it does happen; it is believed that this, rather than schizophrenia, is what got Louis Wain institutionalised.

    That's an interesting anecdote. But it still bothers me that "autism" is now officially a label for the entire continuum of people with disabilities socializing. It conflates people with high IQ and intellectual disability, people who can hold down jobs and those who will have to live as dependents, etc. Well-meaning people want to know to treat people with psychological problems, and having one label only equips laymen to treat Leigh and me like Tommy Westphall, or vice versa.
  • imagei will watch the heck outta this pumpkin patch
    my brother (who has Asperger's) was very angry about it, for that reason

    i don't think laypeople are incapable of understanding that it's a continuum, though i suppose there's a lot of ignorance about
  • TreTre
    edited 2014-01-29 17:35:53
    image
    I'm not a big fan of the change either TBH

    It strikes me as generalization for generalization's sake, and I for one find it hard to label myself as outright autistic
  • More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
    Laypeople? You mean the swarm of zombies that fill the streets and don't know their right hand from their left and reproduce like a hive and feed on the blood of the living? Laypeople can suck it. English wasn't invented for *them.* D:<
  • The reason that the change was made was that it was basically already impossible to distinguish the diagnosis of "high-functioning autism"(not in DSM-IV either, but a commonly used phrase) and the diagnosis of "Asperger Syndrome".

    Furthermore, even previously nonverbal autistics have often been able to communicate and communicate well through things like the Internet.
  • "It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
    spinor said:


    Furthermore, even previously nonverbal autistics have often been able to communicate and communicate well through things like the Internet.
    You just blew my mind. We're missing a step here: how do they learn to read and write if nonverbal?
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Nonverbal means nonspeaking.
  • "It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
    And how do you learn to read and write if you never speak? Think back to the ages you were taught these two skills and ponder the difficulties.
  • Mr. Darcy said:

    And how do you learn to read and write if you never speak? Think back to the ages you were taught these two skills and ponder the difficulties.

    ?????????

    by that logic deaf-mutes can't write either.
  • Mr. Darcy said:

    And how do you learn to read and write if you never speak? Think back to the ages you were taught these two skills and ponder the difficulties.

    ?????????

    by that logic deaf-mutes can't write either.

  • "It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
    The deaf communicate by sign language to the parents or teachers who try to teach them to read and write. How does the process work without communication by the learner?
  • More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
    But, how do the deaf learn sign language?
  • “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    ^^ Try looking it up. The education of the severely autistic is by no means a small field. And lest we forget, being poor at communicating directly has nothing to do with intellect; many of these people, as socially impaired as they are, prove themselves to be extremely intelligent when given alternate means of communication.
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