07-21-2006, 03:10 PM
07-21-2006, 03:21 PM
When will the full vote take place?
07-21-2006, 03:30 PM
I would ask for people in the US to contact the senators involved:
http://www.combat autism.org/s ite/c.adJCKON vFoG/b.1317953/k.AAA8/The_Co mbating_Autism_Ac t_of_200 5_Needs_Your_Help.htm (broken link)
http://www.combat autism.org/s ite/c.adJCKON vFoG/b.1317953/k.AAA8/The_Co mbating_Autism_Ac t_of_200 5_Needs_Your_Help.htm (broken link)
07-21-2006, 05:08 PM
1 - I would advise that nobody tax evades - this is a rather stupid idea
2 - We need to take action NOW, not after it's already passed.
2 - We need to take action NOW, not after it's already passed.
07-22-2006, 01:01 PM
CAN and similar organisations are viewed like good charities by most of the public. Autism research to them is just as important as cancer research.
07-22-2006, 06:01 PM
I'm sure that all politicians are aware that diagnosed autistics, however anti-cure we might be, only make up at most 1% of the population, compared with a much larger minority of NT or closet aspie family members who are likely to support curebie organizations, and the vast majority of voters are NTs with no significant relationship to any autistic person, who just believe whatever the TV newsreader tells them about autism. AS VOTERS AUTISTICS COUNT FOR NOTHING. I'll bet most pollies assume that we are incapable of voting. I doubt that anything that we say to a politician will make any difference, unless there is a real threat that supporting curebie groups will backfire on the pollie by giving him bad publicity rather than "brownie points".
The group to work on, to change opinions, is the third group that I mentioned, the vast NT majority who know nothing much about autism. If we can manipulate the media to present a positive image of autism/AS, then we could swing public opinion our way, and then, and only then, will the politicians listen to us.
The group to work on, to change opinions, is the third group that I mentioned, the vast NT majority who know nothing much about autism. If we can manipulate the media to present a positive image of autism/AS, then we could swing public opinion our way, and then, and only then, will the politicians listen to us.
07-22-2006, 10:13 PM
Lili Marlene Wrote:
I'm sure that all politicians are aware that diagnosed autistics, however anti-cure we might be, only make up at most 1% of the population, compared with a much larger minority of NT or closet aspie family members who are likely to support curebie organizations, and the vast majority of voters are NTs with no significant relationship to any autistic person, who just believe whatever the TV newsreader tells them about autism. AS VOTERS AUTISTICS COUNT FOR NOTHING. I'll bet most pollies assume that we are incapable of voting. I doubt that anything that we say to a politician will make any difference, unless there is a real threat that supporting curebie groups will backfire on the pollie by giving him bad publicity rather than "brownie points".
The group to work on, to change opinions, is the third group that I mentioned, the vast NT majority who know nothing much about autism. If we can manipulate the media to present a positive image of autism/AS, then we could swing public opinion our way, and then, and only then, will the politicians listen to us.
The group to work on, to change opinions, is the third group that I mentioned, the vast NT majority who know nothing much about autism. If we can manipulate the media to present a positive image of autism/AS, then we could swing public opinion our way, and then, and only then, will the politicians listen to us.
Some very good points here - perhaps shifting the focus to gathering allies will give us a better chance. However, the clock is ticking faster and faster - it's debatable whether or not action now (however useless it may seem) or action later is better.
08-09-2006, 11:22 PM
I just sent this letter to the Hon. John Spratt, my Representative.
Quote:
I am writing to you about the "Combating Autism Act" (H.R. 2421), because my parents, my husband and myself all find ourselves on the autism spectrum. As persons with this neurological difference, we work, study, and teach. We enjoy our lives, not only inspite of -more often, because of- our social and processing differences.
I am thankful that our government wants to help autistics. I do not feel that the large Autism organizations are in fact concerned with helping autistics. With names like "Cure Autism Now" or "Defeat Autism Now", they express more of a desire to prevent the existence of more people like us.
Even Autism Speaks has the following goals more connected with cure and with considering autism a "health crisis" than with understanding and helping autistic persons:
http://www. autismspeaks.org/goals.php
http://www. autismspeaks.org/science.php
Videos are made ("Autism Every Day" for example) where parents say they wish their child dead or have wished to kill their autistic child, in front of the child! This is not acceptable. If such attitudes are advertised to be normal, and our lives are judged to be less worthwhile than other lives, it is no wonder several parents have murdered their autistic children in recent times.
Many autistic people, as well as many non-autistic parents of autistic children and adults, feel that our way of being is valid and that we do not need to be Cured. It is known that an autistic person may undergo various types of therapy, may learn to communicate, may learn to interact socially... but deep down they will still be autistic. This is not a tragedy, it's a way -our way- of being human.
Rather than concentrating on Cure, I believe a more effective use of funds would be to help actual autistic people, perhaps in some of these ways:
1) services to enable autistic adults (even those considered low-functioning) to live independently instead of in a dehumanizing institutional life.
2) services to facilitate learning of work skills for autistic teens and adults, and job-placement.
3) services to allow families new to autism to interact with autistic teens and adults, to educate parents in ways of understanding their child and about the many future possibilities for their child, and also to allow children to see that adults like them exist, so they can have positive autistic role-models.
4) services needed at home and in schools to help autistic children learn to communicate in a way that works for them.
5) These are just a few ideas. There should be input from actual autistic people about the services that are needed and about what constitutes "help". The organization called "Autism Speaks" does not in fact speak for autistics, as they have very few autistic members and therefore cannot understand what it is like to be the people they claim to speak for.
I am seriously concerned about the moral implications of research that attempts to find a prenatal test for identifying autistics. Based on what has happened with the test for Down Syndrome, it is probable that people would use the results of such a test to then abort autistic babies.
If you are interested in knowing what actual autistics think about these issues and more, you could visit some or all of the following organizations:
http://www.autistics.org/ (especially http://www.autistics.org/library/ )
http://www.neurodiversity.com/
http://aspiesforfreedom.org/
(especially http://aspiesforfreedom.org/wiki/ and http://www.autismprenataltest.com/ )
http://thiswayoflife.org/
(especially http://thiswayoflife.org/murder.html and http://thiswayoflife.org/quality.html )
http://www.gettingthetruthout.org/
(on this last one you have to read the whole thing, or you will get the wrong idea. if you do take the time to read it, you will be amazed.)
Thank you in advance for considering our viewpoint on matters that concern us.
I am thankful that our government wants to help autistics. I do not feel that the large Autism organizations are in fact concerned with helping autistics. With names like "Cure Autism Now" or "Defeat Autism Now", they express more of a desire to prevent the existence of more people like us.
Even Autism Speaks has the following goals more connected with cure and with considering autism a "health crisis" than with understanding and helping autistic persons:
http://www. autismspeaks.org/goals.php
http://www. autismspeaks.org/science.php
Videos are made ("Autism Every Day" for example) where parents say they wish their child dead or have wished to kill their autistic child, in front of the child! This is not acceptable. If such attitudes are advertised to be normal, and our lives are judged to be less worthwhile than other lives, it is no wonder several parents have murdered their autistic children in recent times.
Many autistic people, as well as many non-autistic parents of autistic children and adults, feel that our way of being is valid and that we do not need to be Cured. It is known that an autistic person may undergo various types of therapy, may learn to communicate, may learn to interact socially... but deep down they will still be autistic. This is not a tragedy, it's a way -our way- of being human.
Rather than concentrating on Cure, I believe a more effective use of funds would be to help actual autistic people, perhaps in some of these ways:
1) services to enable autistic adults (even those considered low-functioning) to live independently instead of in a dehumanizing institutional life.
2) services to facilitate learning of work skills for autistic teens and adults, and job-placement.
3) services to allow families new to autism to interact with autistic teens and adults, to educate parents in ways of understanding their child and about the many future possibilities for their child, and also to allow children to see that adults like them exist, so they can have positive autistic role-models.
4) services needed at home and in schools to help autistic children learn to communicate in a way that works for them.
5) These are just a few ideas. There should be input from actual autistic people about the services that are needed and about what constitutes "help". The organization called "Autism Speaks" does not in fact speak for autistics, as they have very few autistic members and therefore cannot understand what it is like to be the people they claim to speak for.
I am seriously concerned about the moral implications of research that attempts to find a prenatal test for identifying autistics. Based on what has happened with the test for Down Syndrome, it is probable that people would use the results of such a test to then abort autistic babies.
If you are interested in knowing what actual autistics think about these issues and more, you could visit some or all of the following organizations:
http://www.autistics.org/ (especially http://www.autistics.org/library/ )
http://www.neurodiversity.com/
http://aspiesforfreedom.org/
(especially http://aspiesforfreedom.org/wiki/ and http://www.autismprenataltest.com/ )
http://thiswayoflife.org/
(especially http://thiswayoflife.org/murder.html and http://thiswayoflife.org/quality.html )
http://www.gettingthetruthout.org/
(on this last one you have to read the whole thing, or you will get the wrong idea. if you do take the time to read it, you will be amazed.)
Thank you in advance for considering our viewpoint on matters that concern us.
08-09-2006, 11:24 PM
PS:
DWMom I used some of your phrases, thanks.
DWMom I used some of your phrases, thanks.
08-16-2006, 08:05 PM
citibob Wrote:
Sorry guys, it's too late for this bill.
Has it also passed in the House, now?
08-16-2006, 11:35 PM
In order to have more offline action we need people to (surprise, surprise) take action offline. Until we get a critical mass of offline groups nothing further can be done. Read my post "the real autism epidemic" in news and media.
Anyone reading this thinking "someone else will do it" is missing the point.
Anyone reading this thinking "someone else will do it" is missing the point.
08-17-2006, 11:48 PM
I seriously doubt that we would be able to find enough autistics in one place to have one large offline group. And of course, being spread out allows us to influence things on a wider scale.
08-18-2006, 03:15 PM
In any city of a million people, if autistics number 1 or 2 per 200 people, there must be thousands of autistics. Perhaps most of the adult ones have not been diagnosed or self-identified as autistic, perhaps many are too young to join a group that mum or dad don't approve of, and perhaps a sizeable proportion don't have the IQ to even know what activism is, and perhaps many are too busy with life in general or are too busy with special interests to be bothered with joining any group, and perhaps many just aren't "joiners", but there must be some potential for forming offline groups.
08-22-2006, 04:17 AM
Darmani wrote
Quote:
People motivate each other; 5 people may go do some activism together even if none would have done anything themselves.
I'm not sure how much this applies to autistics, who can be more active and effective when working alone.
08-22-2006, 11:44 AM
Be honest - what % of people here have taken action in the real world on their own accord?