Aspies For Freedom

Something has to be done about that issue.

I think it is possible to make Autism Speaks look like really bad guys if parents and autistics united speak loudly against their funding of genetic research.

One of the reasons nothing happens on this site is the number of "someone should do something" threads.

Do you have any actual ideas about organising a campaign?

Guess we would be better off without them then.

</sarcasm>

Like pretty much everybody else I'm stuck.

But I think this is something that more attention should be raised towards, let people who consider donating to Autism Speaks be clearly aware of it and what autistics and their parents think of it.

The crying mother of sympathy could be on our side - if you get what I mean.

Given we are spread across the world, it would help if we could start by finding out what the official attitudes to pre-natal testing are in our respective countries.  By the end of the week, I'll have more time free to start checking out the Scottish Government's attitude, Health Boards and so on.

Maybe we should start gathering information on the current status of the issue where we each are and then work from there...

Yes, agreed - my point is that it's already been discussed ad nauseum, and most people here seem to agree that "something should be done". This is one of the reasons I put together the list of site goals, so we stop chatting about what we "should" do, and start actually doing something.

I was probably a bit harsh in my original post - it just frustrates me that we keep re-inventing the wheel on these things rather than just getting on with it. I'm sick of people ranting about "bad" things, waiting for others to agree with them, then thinking they've achieved something. It's wasted effort.


Here's some actual ideas:

Autistic pride day is coming up. People could be writing letters to the editor letting others know about it.

Or, various people have been trying to get a celebrity letter-writing campaign going - people could get involved in that.

Or, if the list of goals ever gets approved by Gareth we could put it together in brochure form with a "what is AFF" section, and use it to contact support groups.


For myself, I'm currently working on getting autistic pride day advocated in Australian government departments, and I'm setting up a website to co-ordinate future activities.

I don't usually do frustrated rants, so I apologise for the angst - but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one taking this stuff seriously here.

Good idea... What I've found as a general rule is that it all depends on how it's put across - if you mention "prenatal testing", people usually have no problem, but if you mention "designer babies", they're very much against it.

As far as government goes, in Australia they'd be all for it, unfortunately. Easiest way to find out is to look for how Downs Syndrome prenatal testing is viewed - if they have lots of pamphlets on display in clinics about it, then they're probably not open to alternative ideas. Otherwise, you might have a shot at interacting with them directly...

We have to show ways in which the prenatal testing affects people who are born already with the genetic differences.  

Arguing about abortions does not seem to work because people are seem to be either against it or for it.  

Does a family with a Down's child face discrimination?  How is that discrimination different from some family who has a child that is disabled physically because of a non-genetic illness or injury?  This is what we have to focus on.  

Find some families who feel they face challenges rather than disasters.

Maybe actually protesting againt autism speaks, directly I personally think their evil if only for the reason that spreading false information about other groups especially if negative is evil.