Aspies For Freedom

it seems that facebook have the curebies lurking in its pages

here is a link to the exact part of the website

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cau...d=13544286

more worrying is this revelation about the N.A.S our so called "non-cure" organization

I stand corrected it is not the N.A.S

but the National Autism Association

sorry for any confusion!

" fund important scientific research to determine the cause of autism to prevent it in the future and treat those with autism now"    not all treatment is bad but they do not say whether they are funding genetic research/prenatal testing or not.  

" have a Helping Hand program that gives money to families of autistic individuals in need – helping them pay for treatments and other critical services, that without us, would not be possible"   actually giving money to families with autism -- first time I have heard that.   but what is criteria for eligibility?

"have a Family First program that provides counseling services to families who are threatened by divorce thus disrupting very vulnerable children’s treatments and services"   Is there actually more divorce in families affected by autism?  It sounds like they are blaming the divorces on autistic children.  If it just said "family counselling" it might be different.  

"lead national and statewide advocacy efforts to urge our lawmakers in Congress and legislatures to provide sorely needed autism research money, write new policy and uphold education laws to help those in need."   nothing for adults with autism.

Ever seen the website of NAA?

In other words...

"We are an organisation that helps turkeys vote for Christmas."

I've reported the page.

Today I got an e-mail asking me to go into a site and register on a petition for the Australian government to provide 1000 hours funded early intervention for pre-schoolers diagnosed with autism ie. 2 years with 20 hrs per week therapy. I haven't gone into the website so don't know what the therapy is.

It's all therapy, Pakrat. Nothing specific.

Be careful though, because I heard they won't let adults on the Spectrum sign the thing (I don't know if that's true or not - but just in case...)

I got that 20 hours thing too, Pakrat, but didn't sign because I'm not sure I support a preschooler spending those kinds of hours doing some unspecified therapy.   Might be different if I knew more about it.

AFF's Facebook group is rather small compared to our membership here - might that be because here we can hide behind pseudonyms but over on FB we all (alledgedly) use our real names?

I was unaware there was an AFF group on facebook, i shall now join. I do think you're right though, whenever somone joins a group, or most things for that matter, it goes on all your friends news feeds which is something i always consider when doing things on facebook.

I joined the Think Autism group briefly to comment on one of the threads titled "How do you help someone that likes the way they are?"

One person suggested that the woman should give lsd or magic mushrooms to her son to help him become more sociable..i think he was taking the piss. I told her that she should be glad her son isn't socially dependant because she was whinning about how her son doesn't have any friends and doesn't want to spend his time doing various therapies.

"My point is that my son likes to not be socially interactive and is complacent about not having friends. He doesn't mind that he can't even throw or catch a ball well. Next year that may change as he will be in junior high and not have the comfortable small classroom that understands him and accomodates his differences. He won't have this protective social net that allows him to not participate. Time will tell."

She seems to be looking forward to her son being surrounded by unaccepting people next year.

I also pointed out to her that just because certain things make her happy (making friends) doesn't mean it will make him happy.

I just had a trawl through all 160-odd groups that came up on FaceBook when I did a search for "Aspergers".

Downright depressing.  If they're not bitching about how terrible it is to have a child on teh spectrum (yes, kids can be hard work, but no need to broadcast to the universe what an inconvenience yours is - what when the kid or his classmates get online and read it?!) or trying to raise dosh to cure it whether the poor helpless suffering victims want to be cured or not, they're making "ass-burgers" jokes and generally taking the piss.

But, it is hopeful that most of the crappy sounding groups only have tiny memberships anyway.

That webpage is just so full of fail!  

Horrifying disease?! I just had to laugh!

How can they be compared? Cancer and AIDS can kill people, but autism doesn't, so it makes sense to spend more money researching them.  Even diabetes can be life-threatening in certain circumstances.


The reason why I haven't joined the AFF page on Facebook is because I have several co-workers on my friends list.  No one at work knows I have AS, but if I joined the AFF group, it would show up on my profile.  Facebook isn't anonymous like this forum.

I got that thing but won't sign it because it's not specific enough about what therapies are going to be used; it doesn't recognise that some kids need hardly any intervention whereas others might need more, it basically suggests that older kids and adults are not deserving of assistance = it is too much biased towards one particular group.

Given that the government is said to be proposing a tight budget, it is doubtful that this "initiative" will get up any time soon anyway.

sorry I haven't commented on this forum for a bit

went on holiday for a week came back today!

anyways the most annoying thing about this is my Aunt is a member of this group

hopefully she may have just not read it properly but I'm not so sure.