Aspies For Freedom

Gaaaah... they should have titled it a self-hate statement...

Come on, folks! It's a start. And really, here we have people on disability- that's not harm that came from diverging from non-autistic norms? The autism epidemic gets a lot of support because it is costing a ton. Also, autistic interaction with NTs does cause harm. I'm all for eliminating that.

I think that it sounds very positive; it just needs to be reworded slightly.

         GRASP is a mixed blessing. I have to wonder how I missed that one paragraph a year ago ( about the damage from aspergers ) I was on the GRASP BOD and advisory board for a while but bailed out. My reason was that I live too far away from NYC to have meaningful impact on the organization. But among the GRASP leaders are good friends like Liane Holliday Willey, Steve Shore, Valerie Paradiz and Peter Gerhardt.

      The good thing about GRASP is that it runs several apparently well-attended support groups in the NY area and also helps its people participate in various conferences. Michael J has also personally tried to help some of our peers in distress, like the infamous subway stealer, Darius.

      What I don't  like about GRASP is that its founder has no intention of ever making GRASP a democratically run aspie organization, with members.

      The founder picks the BOD and advisory board, period. GRASP has no members. GRASP is basically an agency; a peer-run agency but that is what it is. The founder, last I heard, is supposed to be paid 75k a year to run it but it's a free country. I certainly couldn't run something that big for free.

          However, I don't begrudge Michael J Carley for running GRASP this way. He has a son with AS and living in NYC is not cheap at all. If people don't like the way GRASP is run, they can start something else or live with it. I would rather see Michael J and other peers get paid for helping us than some damn professional. I think his heart is in the right place.

                                 Jerry Newport

          Good point. GRASP is funded by at least two grants. I think the donors are listed on its homepage. Whether and how that influences Michael J's point of view is a good question.

       I doubt that happens. But the best way to find out is to actually have online contact with the organization.

                               Jerry Newport

Could you please explain this remark? I have never heard of Michael's law but if it is indeed about drunk drivers, then the question of what it has to do with autism is very justified!

Well as I said I was not aware of Michael's Law, it just seemed a very specific statement, to say they were intending to take positions, such as backing Michael's law. I am not sure how it is supposed to be a metaphor if he refers to a specific position as 'something they intend to back'.  :?

And although I do agree with Lili that it seems a bit far-fetched (as in there seems no connection), it is not all that unrealistic for a group of autistics to engage in backing things that are not directly linked to autism, but may benefit everyone.

Well unless Jerry explains what he meant, we don't know know that! Plus it's not about being right  

Could well be that because the guy's name is Michael Jerry mentioned Michael's Law or something. There seems to be very little info on it that I can find.

          I meant to write "Matthew's Law" which is an anti-aversive piece of legislation.  I think it was proposed in NJ and NY had a similar law proposed.

                                       Jerry

Thanks for clarifying that!

See TheASMan, NEITHER of us was right  

However, you did reveal an interesting tidbit about Michael J which I am not surprised to hear. Does he run the support groups in a dictatorial manner?  I don't know. But not being able to know was my rationale for leaving the GRASP BOD last year.

        Now, on whether GRASP will really push hard to defend human rights, the guy you need to watch on the BOD is Peter Gerhart. Peter claims that he has taken a complete about-face from his days with IARET. He says David Holmes of Eden was a bad influence on him. I hope he is correct but time will tell.

         IARET, btw, is "International Assocation for the Right to Effective Treatment"  Think of it as an NRA of aversives.

          I am not surprised that the Long Island group doesn't allow any of us to have a real say. They are dinosaurs but the best of a poor lot as far as image-conscious east coast parents go. So glad I moved.

                               Jerry

Jerry
I was in tucson in the summer of 89 and let me say It is too  hot there for me!!! lol  

Like Hawaii, florida or NY weather wise.

That's a cop-out.  The federal government could easily revise the Medicaid regulations to deny federal funds to abusive institutions.