Aspies For Freedom

To the Editor of Time Magazine,

I am writing to lodge a protest against one of the top 100 Heroes and Pioneers you published in your recent edition. It was number 27 - Bob and Suzanne Wright.

As a person with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, I am outraged and disgusted that a reputable magazine such as yours would regard these people as heroes or pioneers. Autism Speaks is an organisation that does NOT speak for Autistics. It can not. It certainly doesn't speak for me, and there are many adults on the Autistic Spectrum throughout the world who feel the same way. The board of Autism Speaks does not have one single person with an ASD on it. They do not understand the condition as much as they think, and have joined with the infamous Cure Autism Now! (CAN!) as a part of their campaign to wipe ASD's out.

Autistic Spectrum Disorders are NOT a disease, and I think I speak for many on the Spectrum when I say that we are happy the way we are. Autism Speaks makes us feel like animals - like we are not worthy of living. It's a part of a drive to create a situation that has already affected Downs Syndrome - the location of a gene that will allow the aborting of babies who may be Autistic. This is eugenics at work, and therefore by association - Autism Speaks supports eugenics.

We are special. We are unique. And we are human beings. Autism is a genetic difference in the same vein as skin colour, gender and all other factors that are not considered a disease. Autism Speaks does not respect this fact, and for this reason these two people should not be considered heroes or pioneers. I am utterly offended by this inclusion as it shows complete contempt for the real understanding we are seeking for ourselves. If you want a hero amongst the Autistic community, these two aren't it. They are two of the many villains. Not the worst, but they are certainly not heroes.

Yours truly
(my name removed)
Proudly Aspergers Syndrome
Australia

Hello, I am the co-founder of aspies for freedom - a group fighting
for civil rights for individuals on the autistic spectrum.

Like many people on the autistic spectrum, I was disgusted by your
naming of bob and suzanne wright on this list. The propaganda that
their organisation has put out has been responsible for more
demonization, misery and even murders than we have ever seen any other
organisation cause.

Autism speaks is horrendously misnamed, as they have actively
attempted to silence the voices of autistics who oppose their goals
(which include "a world without autism", and thus by extension a world
without autistics). Their board (who make millions compared to other
non-profit organisations through salaries, bonuses and service
contracts) does not have a single autistic member and to date they
have not spent a penny of their research budget on anything that would
acutally help autistics. Instead they choose to fund genetic research
and more recently studies into techniques such as rTMS (repetive
transcranial magnetic stimulation - in order to rewire the human
brain, regardless of whether that brain belongs to a minor below the
age of consent for such drastic changes).

The end result of this genetic research and their stated aim is the
elimination of autism from the human genepool. On top of this, they
persistently portray autism as a horrible curse that is "worse than
death" or describe autistics as "devoid of soul". In some cases their
staff have even publically condoned murder, and these public
statements have later led to actual copycat child murders. I quote
from wiretap magazine:

http://www.wiretapmag.org/education/38631/
>Both autistic and typical families have reacted with outrage and
disgust to Singer's statement -- calling for her children to be
removed from her custody and even drawing a connection >between her
and Karen McCarron. Thierry responds by calling Singer "gutsy and
courageous." She was expecting a call from Singer asking that the
footage not be used. But that call >never came. "You don't say stuff
like that -- camera rolling -- unless you are truly ready to play ball
with the entire world," Thierry says.
>
>If most mothers of autistic children, Thierry responds, look hard
enough within themselves they will find that they have played out a
similar scenario in their minds.

Alongside this, I am curious why your publication is not only showing
respect to people whose stated goal is elimination of an entire
minority group (autistics), but also why you are indirectly supporting
a white supremacist:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/inthenews/wr...harbor.php
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scienc...94898.html

Watson is a white supremacist and proudly supported by the wrights,
his anti-autistic views are just as bigoted as his racist views:
>Watson and his co-discoverer Francis Crick failed to mention Franklin
in their Nobel Prize acceptance speeches. But then it emerged that
they had been given some of Franklin's >findings without her
permission or knowledge. One of Franklin's colleagues had shown Watson
an extraordinary X-ray photograph she had taken which clearly showed
the helical >structure of DNA. "The instant I saw the picture my mouth
fell open and my pulse began to race," Watson admitted much later.
>
>But at the time Franklin went unacknowledged. Worse still, in his
book The Double Helix, a gossipy account of the cracking of the code,
Watson made derogatory remarks about her >physical appearance, and
painted her as a frigid, badly dressed and charmless bluestocking. She
died four years before the Nobel Prize was awarded – from ovarian
cancer at the age >of just 37, possibly brought on by the constant
radiation from her photography work.
>
>Even now Watson talks of her with a brutal frankness. "She was just
awkward," he said. "I think she was partially autistic."

Whenever autism speaks has been contacted by autistics who disagree,
their response has been to blatantly lie (as is the case in the UK
where they lied about the policies of the charity commisioner - the
charity commisoner later confirmed that despite what autism speaks
say, it is perfectly legal to hold autistic board members) or even in
some cases to threaten to sue the very same "helpless children" they
claim to be wanting to help:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/bein...arity.html
New Scientist
Voices of autism 'silenced' by charity
* 01 February 2008
* Celeste Biever
* Magazine issue 2641

I will not provide further references in this email for now due to the
space constraints you undoubtedly have, but please be considerate
before you give such an undeserved honour to well-known figures of
hate such as the wrights.

Thankyou
Gareth Nelson
Aspies for Freedom
Reply

Forward

Hang on a minute... is Miley Cyrus on there? And Angelina Jolie?

Okay. It does not speak for me, and 98% of inelligent people out there.

Like many people on the autistic spectrum, I was disgusted by your
naming of bob and suzanne wright on this list. The propaganda that
their organisation has put out has been responsible for more
demonization, misery and even murders than we have ever seen any other
organisation cause.

They named them as influential in the "heros and pioneers" category. Besides, TIME don't list people in their 100 most influential list who are influential in a negative way. It's a well-known honour given to people as a sign of respect.

ONE MORE TIME:

"Influential" is NOT THE SAME THING AS "HERO"!

Stalin:  Influential
Mao:  Influential
Hitler:  Influential

Am I the last person left who understands what "influential" actually means?