This site seems set up as an opposition to the work of autism rights activists.
"In stark contrast to the widely recognized medical opinion that autism is a debilitating neurological disease, a small, (yet noisy!) group of individuals in Canada and elsewhere has become very vocal and active in the autism public policy debates and struggles. They have become forceful advocates for the bizarre fringe notion that autism is a misunderstood "culture" rather than what science knows it to be - a very serious disease of the brain."
http://66.221.49.64/dawson/
From the above site -
"First of all, it is very simple to show that autism is not and cannot be a culture. There are many recognized criteria that describe and define culture, one of which is the sharing of a language. Children with autism not only do not have a common language, but gathered in a room and left to their own devices, they do not communicate with each other at all. Only after treatment will the vast majority possibly have the ability to converse; only at that point could they join a culture of any kind. The second defining characteristic of a culture is generational transmission, and again autism falls short of the mark, as it is not transferred in any direct form from generation to generation.
So where do the autism-as-culture people get this concept? They rely on two other "culture" battles. First is the case of the deaf. It can be debated that those with hearing deficits share a culture since they do share a language - sign language. It can also be argued that deafness has generational transmission, since some deafness is genetic and can be passed from parents to children. The second area where the autism-as-culture movement leans is upon the "culture of disability" movement, which avers that the entire group of disabled people are part of a single culture because of the way they are treated by society at large. We could argue that children with autism might be able to join this culture of disability, but only after treatment, because only then do they have the ability to communicate."
They are making fundammmental errors in their argument. It is well known that autism is genetic in origin for 90% of cases. And why have they focused on children with autism? Many adults with autism can communicate through various methods, if not through direct speech.
By their understanding, autistic children would have no culture at all, without any language, yet autistic children can sometimes use sign language in school, or makaton, they are grossly missing the whole point.
This is very bad. Until now groups like CAN ignored us. Now we have a group directly in conflict.
And I am sick of people comparing me to cancer! :mad:
This is very bad. Until now groups like CAN ignored us. Now we have a group directly in conflict.
And I sick of people comparing me to cancer! :mad:
I DISAGREE COMPLETELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
it is shame that out name is not mentioned. I wish NAAR and CAN would publicly mention us
Yeah maybe it is better that they at least mention us. What I was thinking was the similarities to the Afrian American civil rights movement in the 1960's. They had two groups segragationist and racist to deal with.
This could be a sign that we are more active. But it could also be a sign that it will take a long time to gain freedom. I think it's to early to tell.
If you read it it is clear that whoever made it hasnt got a clue what they are talking about.
Also it seems to be a hate site directed solely at michelle dawson
Geez. That site seems convinced that autism is pretty much all about "self-injury". I wouldn't grant it any merit.
They make lots of errors throughout their whole site but only in the sense they are factually wrong - they weren't placed in error as this is a deliberate attempt at misinformation. Thankfully, its all fairly easy to refute.
For example, all through the site they make a big deal about the advocacy movement trying to redefine autism as a culture. This is a fairly glaring factual error - that the advocacy movement has a culture is true enough but nowhere have I seen autistics claim autism is a culture, a small but very important distinction.
I think the all imprtant thing is - how do we as an advocacy movement respond to this? I have a few ideas on that front but I'm loth to discuss them on a public board as you never know who's lurking.
Kev, we'd be very interested to hear your ideas, can you ever get onto the chat autism network, and into the chatroom so we could discuss it?
A common fallacy found amongst the pro-cure crowd is to tell people that we are against all treatments simply because we do not wish to be cured. I was once asked why i wasn't happy about the fact i received speech therapy when i was younger - something i am extremely grateful for. I am also extremely grateful for my mind and my ability to think logically. Why is that so difficult to understand?
Kev, we'd be very interested to hear your ideas, can you ever get onto the chat autism network, and into the chatroom so we could discuss it?
If you give me a link I'd be happy to 
On the front page of this site is the link to the chat applet. its a java applet that you download, its only temporary on your computer, and you need to download each time you chat.