Aspies For Freedom

Cookieman, aka Theasman, please dont make emotional demands on members like this.
Most members wont even know what IAY is, or possibly what FAAAS is either.
FAAAS is not a hate site, even if a lot of us disagree with certain things.
IAY are inviting any group related to aspergers to join, it is up to them to use their own discretion.

Have you considered that if a negative group join a positive group they can learn from it, and may have an attitude swing towards a more positive viewpoint?

If you are unhappy with what IAY do tell them yourself, but AFF as a whole needs to take an unemotional view of what IAY choose to do and put it into perspective of the good work they are doing as a whole, and the positive aims that they have for the community.

This is the group and its aims -
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/asperger-year/

Stella, its TheASman.

I never said they were a group for awareness. IAY are the ones doing good work for the community.

The word sponsor to me means donating money to a group to help them, we have not given any money. I dont know what else it would mean, but we havent particularly done anything else either.

As far as I know IAY is aiming to highlight aspergers next year for Hans Aspergers anniversary, they have asked many groups to join all around the world.
Their aims are on their yahoo site. It may be the case that they cannot independently check each group, I would imagine that is certainly the case for foreign language sites and groups.

We are discussing the anniversary at the next aff meeting to see what members would like to do, if anything, to celebrate it.

As for IAY, it could be seen as being similar to the recent Awares conference.
It was arranged so that members of the community and parents, students, teachers, etc could meet online and discuss matters.
However, certain curebie individuals dominated some areas, and were very negative towards others, should Awares be boycotted for allowing these people to join, or was it really the individuals fault for causing trouble?
Should AFF and other groups/sites miss out on partaking in the anniversary because of the existence of negative sites?

Bonnie we have considered some events for the anniversary. We have numerous things in mind, and will discuss them at the next meeting. If members are interested in the ideas we will post about them afterwards.





Joe, people dont really know who carley is, yet you often post about him, personal arguments aren't really relevant here.

Aspergia.com would not be relevant to IAY as the site is archived so could not participate in any way, that seems obvious.

Jerry, it is most upsetting that you believe we would want to boycott you. It is my personal belief that something such as IAY can be another medium to put our views across to the curebies and others. If we refuse to take part in anything with the enemy involved then we will not accomplish anything worthwhile.

FAAAS has angered me a lot, the same as "the girls at delphi". As an aspie married to an aspie, I find what the lies they are trying to spread disgusting, but I will not condone withdrawing from any involvement with these groups.

AFF is about education primarily, we can't educate by withdrawing.

Look at it this way, why should aspies have to leave the party because a bunch of NTs who hate aspies turn up? Shouldnt the aspies be allowed to stay?

AFF never boycotted Jerrys film, we dont sponsor anyone at all, IAY has asked people involved with aspergers to join, I dont think they can check every site, the same as we cannot check who every member is who joins this forum. Because John Best joined this forum are we collaborating with him?

Many groups and sites are on the internet, its like a huge city, new groups start within that city, alongside negative sites, but we cannot abandon the internet in protest and lose our voice in the community.

The best option is to make positive sites, and shine out amongst the blackness of negativity.

" Jerry: The best option is to act like a responsible advocacy organization instead of just fronting as one. Tell IYA to dump FAAAS. That is the responsible thing to do. Pull out until they do. Contact other orgs listed and urge them to do same. Show some spine, for god's sakes.

Show some organization. When will AFF ever have the legal, nonprofit status it needs to be more than just another internet wet dream?
When do you get over your obsession to keep everything in the clutches of a little clique and find people to help you do what you obviously can't do to make AFF really viable?

How about a little democracy? My groups are always democratic and have been for almost thirteen years. What gives you and Gareth a supreme monopoly on insight and wisdom here?

That's it. Now do me a favor and just tell me how to get off this list.

Jerry"

We do have democracy as much as possible, members vote on whatever issues are chosen in meetings, we have polls on other issues, and members post about their opinions for others to read. Your groups meet in real life, we are dealing in a different medium here, and do as much as we can to communicate with each other.

You can leave the list by not posting and not reading the site, simple.

Groups join a list along with other groups on IAY, it does not mean that we are working with them, or alongside them, people are simple posting messages on the IAY yahoo website, and suggesting ideas, I have not seen any input from FAAAS or seen anything negative about aspies posted there at all. I have posted a few times when it began, and since then have not really participated as we have had much less time to spend online recently.

Jerry, you said show some organization, well I have some news for you, we are not organized people!!! We are doing as much as we can, we can only work with the abilities that we have, we cannot pretend to be something we are not. Gareth and I have trouble organizing most things in life, as a number of aspies do, and we try our best to do as much as we can. Overall we arent doing that badly, but you are right in that we are not a registered charity in the UK as it is not techincally possible until we can fulfill the legal requirements, such as having a certian amount of donations per year (which we are very far from getting) and also having a secretary, treasurer, etc.

Gareth and I hardly have a monopoly on wisdom, we very often ask other people for advice and input, you may not realise but we are running the chatautism network too, that takes a lot of time, and it enables us to talk real time to other aspies and auties and we often discuss ideas, ask advice, and are given help in that way.

Jerry, you seem to be feeling very angry, this is surely misdirected, we are not FAAAS, no-one here is promoting FAAAS or working with them.

To JSL -
It is complicated. IAY are not in any way negative. It is a group that has asked all groups around the world involved with aspergers to join together and participate in celebrating the anniversary of Hans Asperger next year.

AFF was one of the first to join up. People who have joined simply post ideas on a forum like this, a yahoo group forum, and they are discussed. I posted a few times with some ideas, but since 5-6 weeks I have not participated as we have not had time.
There are not many posts. It is more a case of groups joining and stating that they have an event planned, as we might do ourselves, or that they want to join in an online event.

I have not checked each group that joined, as so many have, including foreign language groups that I could not translate.
I did not know FAAAS had joined as I cannot check all the new groups or posts there.

We would not be 'bedfellows' of any other group, or sponsoring or collaborating with them.
Its more like members of a forum currently, except most are not posting.

FWIW, one of the leaders of IAY told me that he will ask FAAAS to withdraw. Whether FAAAS does or not, I am going to come back as a sponsor since they are acting in good faith. So there, if ONE person can get that to happen, what can 800 do?

Well I joined IAY for AFF, so I am still one person, you are probably there as a representative of your offline groups.

As for Amy's argument, "we are not organized", I politely disagree. Not naturally maybe but when we are forced to make a change to help a cause, it is amazing what we wind up doing. Anyone in a marriage knows what I mean I am as organized as rarely as possible but when I have to be, I use lots of lists and drills to feign organization.

I meant specifically Gareth and I are not organized, because its true. We do as much as we can.

If there is nobody in AFF who can wade through the maze of legal stuff that people like Michael J at GRASP did, there are actually some friendly NTs who can help with that.

It is more complicated in the UK, we need offline groups, and donations over £1000 or more per year, it may be higher.

I am glad AFF is apparently more democratic than I thought but at a loss as to how one can participate in this without being there physically.

In the chatroom, people type messages to each other, like talking via text real time.

Now, as to whether you need a tax-exempt status to be viable? Yes!!
You sure as hell need it if you want people like me to give money or help you raise it. Technically, your activity alone makes you viable but why remain broke while doing it? I am never going to live on the street again.


We cant be tax exempt on very small donations, see our finance page accessible from the front page of the site, its pretty pitiful.
We do not qualify just from our activity under UK rules.

Finally, I really am sorry this whole thing came up while I think one of us is expecting. I am happy to just chill out on this until she makes her contribution to the next generation. Maybe she will have an aspie

If you mean me, then I had the baby a few short weeks ago, it was a boy :grin:

Thanks, we had a thread about it in the general section.

What exactly is a mixed marriage? It has a particular cultural meaning to me which is negative and racist, so maybe you mean something else.

I dont like the term. It seems negative to me.

Lili: While many relationships between aspies and NTs do detiorate over time, any organisation that aims to truly support such relationships is doing a good job. The problem is when such an organisation blames the aspie partner for everything. That is the problem with FAAAS or ASPartners.