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Petition against supporting Autism Speaks

For better or worse--I sent this in the optional note section. Feel free to copy, paste, and customize. Our stories are persuasive in ways propaganda can't be.



Hi.

You do good and you mean well. What if your support could more closely match your intention?

It's easy.

Ask yourself how you'd rather hire: focused, work-loving people with a passion for detail and a need for vision? Sure.

Ask yourself who you'd rather help. People whose communication skills are as diverse as they are, whose intelligence is unfathomable, whose diversity is as great as race and ethnicity and gender identification.

Or you could just pity them.

Let me ask you: would you rather be respected? Or pitied?

Would you rather support an organization that respects autistic people? Or one that makes a living out of pitying them?

Please reconsider your support of Autism Speaks. Ask your diversity director to compare them to other autism networks--ones run by the very people they represent.

It's not so long since "diverse" meant "damaged" or "deficit"--when the standard was color and gender.

It's very sure that when research is funded to maintain beliefs about people, and not about what's so about people, the research isn't helpful.

Please. Ask yourselves why "Autism Speaks" thinks it speaks for people who speak for themselves: by voice, by hand signs, by TTY, by typing.

Do deaf people need a "Deaf Speaks" association that won't let them talk?

No.

Please stop funding autism organizations that depend upon autism being treated as a problem...so that they have a reason to exist.

Thank you for considering this. I have a personal interest in your thoughtful response.
 
Signed and, forwarded a link to the founders of Glabber - a major anti bullying campaign organization. I also emailed it to some influential people I know and, fellow musicians and, asked a publicist I trust to get a couple of the big fan basses out there on this.

Last time that happened, a reporter for CNN lost her job over hating on someone the fans cared about in just 24 hours. There are people out there that care and, want this sort of thing stopped.

Yes the People Magazine link went out too - they are one of the "Big boys" not easy to make an impact on them but, a bunch of fans and a handful of artists did it to CNN so, I'm hoping we can pull together and do it again - for ASD this time.
 
Beverly said:
Signed and, forwarded a link to the founders of Glabber - a major anti bullying campaign organization. I also emailed it to some influential people I know and, fellow musicians and, asked a publicist I trust to get a couple of the big fan basses out there on this.

Last time that happened, a reporter for CNN lost her job over hating on someone the fans cared about in just 24 hours. There are people out there that care and, want this sort of thing stopped.

Yes the People Magazine link went out too - they are one of the "Big boys" not easy to make an impact on them but, a bunch of fans and a handful of artists did it to CNN so, I'm hoping we can pull together and do it again - for ASD this time.
Click to expand...


Thank you so much. It is bullying when People Magazine published this "Crusading Against Autism" article anyway you look at it.
 
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