Aspies For Freedom

On Sunday October 24, 2004, I protested the NAAR walk here on Long Island. I was nervous. I am fairly sure I was the first person with aspegers to challenge their beliefs openly. They all see themselves as the autistic community. We are the *REAL* autistic community and it is time
to set the record straight.

At first I was hesitant. Why walk?. A majority of people doing the walk Have LFA Children. But as I read thru NAAR's web site,I became even more convinced that to protest was the right thing to do. For Example here is a link:

http://www.naar.org/walk/why_walk_letter_alex_benny.htm

The article supposedly takes the viewpoint of a younger brother of a child who has aspergers. The tone and character of this so called letter was disgusting. It describes the horror of the parents realizing their child has aspergers. How they dread that the younger one might be as well. You see NAAR groups us all as the same, whether you are LFA, HFA, aspergers as defectives not humans. NAAR will point to us and say "see they are crazy, they want your child to be LFA"  Which is far from the truth We are protesting  lumping HFA/AS as something to be cured along
with LFA. Totally off the wall.

This event was held on jones beach which is on a very small island off of Long Island.

There is a 4 lane highway (with a median) that streches across the islet. It is very long with a small width. The beach is on both sides. There various underpasses that connect both sides.

I had three large posters. And small number of leaflets. The posters were the following

                           Say NO to NAAR

                          http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org
  
================================
                
                          Autistics Are Intelligent

                          NAAR is NOT
                          
                         http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org
                  
   ==================================

                         NO CURE FOR AUTISM

                         NO CURE FOR EVOLUTION

                     "Theory of Mind" is the new appendix.
                        
                        http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org
    
     ==================================


    I held them up switching between them. I was first all very concerned with my safety.

I decided to protest from outside the fence. I went to a place where I could be seen by a number of people. Most importantly I was facing the stage. The Co-Chairs of the event saw me. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and a local celebrity Jim Watkins. They saw all of my signs. One guy gave me "the finger"- A gestural obscenity. One lady came by. She
mentioned she was a nurse at a hospice. She tried to convince that "why wouldn't some body not want a cure?". She also said now if a cure was available Why shouldn't they take? Dont you want to be normal?". She was looking at me and talking to me like "oh you poor thing". I told her my position. She would not listen. The typical arrogance of the self righteous. I finally told her bottomline I am drawing a line in the sand. "This far and no father". I held up sign between me and her until she went away. A couple guys came up . Remember there was a fence in between us. They told me to get out of here. They refused to take a flyer. The previous lady told them to leave me alone. They grudgingly left. They called me a couple of obscenities.

When the walk started I found an excellent location from which all the walkers could see my signs and yet help ensure my safety. (safety is key folks!). I stood at the edge of one the underpasses where the walk went thru. I waved the signs. I was given the finger yet again a few times. I was told to "go home", I responded - "I am home, This is my world too" .I was called countless obscenities. "Get a life". "Get a job".That one puzzled me. What do they know about my situation? I yelled down at one point- "I dont have your innate monkey rules. I SUFFERED ENOUGH at your hands". I looked all around constantly. I did not want someone to
sneek up and hurt me. Remember they are looking for an excuse to call you "handicap" so do not act on any agressive displays. They are trying to get you to do something that they can use against you.

In America, Protesting is a protected right. Be peaceful and cooperate with the police. The idea is to be heard and be noticed not to earn a police record. DO Not be araid to run away if you feel threatened, I know was ready to run if I had to. Be aware of your surroundings.

At the end of the walk I stood at the exit when they were leaving. I stayed there till the lot was almost empty and the park workers had shutdown all but one exit. I had a few cars come by stop and ask me questions. WHen they stop I was nervous and ready to run. I again was
called names and obscenities. Twice a car stopped , and the guy in the driving seat tried to spit at me.  NAAR knows http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org now. Dont think they are not thinking about what happened. They are preparing to prevent it again, if they can.

In case I didn't make it clear on #chatautism last night - yay!

I applaud your bravery ASman - more people need to be willing to stand up and be counted, so more people are aware that there are more perspectives on autism than that of the cure industry.

shame on the ignorant bastards who gave you abuse

dunc

Hmm. I seem to have been logged out when I said:

One the posters was her idea



joe

AWESOME, ASman! I sincerely applaud your bravery in going to protest. Unfortunately, my parents did not let me protest  :evil:  or else I would've gone. GREAT job, man!

I also wish to add my compliments to you for taking the initative against that walk.  Next time bring a camcorder, lets see how nicely these ******** behave when they have a larger audience

http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/phpBB2/v...=9189#9189

is the latest protest at NBC autism series with my pic.

So please no cure for autism. Support Comestic surgery. Cure my looks

Thanks

but what is really upsetting is that their true goal is preventation as in pre-natal testing.   They already talk about genetic counseling. No there will not be a cure  just abortions for those found with the wrong genetic markers.

NT stands for neurotypical. Those with the common form of neurological structure.

Oh yeah  just to be clear Kev  has stated he would not cure his daughter.  But I am a sure a humane and caring therapy that would help his child and all others would be welcomed

We are trying!!! See

http://www.autism-assembly.org

Kev

In the case of Einstein, IT was verified. They have his brain.  It has the white matter overgrowth. etc  So We DO know that he was autistic. not to mention the fact he did not speak until 5 etc.

Kev
  you are right. But lool at vernon smith the nobel laureate in economics.  He has aspergers. He was just interviewed on NBC as part of their week long autism focus.

NO I do  not think that is what he said nor implied. But their genius was tied to the visual nature of what characterizes autistic thought

NO!! this thread has left its original purpose. In fact I asked amy to spilt off all the posts that is NON NAAR /protest related and put in a separate thread.

Please make a separate thread in parents.  This thread is googled extensively and We need to keep it focused.

thank you

I agree with The ASMan that most of this thread needs to be split off to the parents' section.

Kev, have you read Jim Sinclair's excellent essay Don't Mourn for Us?  Very good advice on this subject for parents.

Do you expect that you will have to care for Megan all your life?  Professionals tend to make dire predictions like that, but as you probably know, many autistic children do grow up to be independent adults, and that includes some who do not speak until age 5 (as mentioned earlier in this thread, Einstein was a late speaker).

I think it is very unproductive to worry about worst-case scenarios in the far distant future.  (Although I certainly do agree with you that much more social acceptance and community support for autistic adults is needed.)

I'm glad of that.  When parents don't expect their children to be able to care for themselves, it can often turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, even when the children aren't consciously aware of the parents' low expectations.