Aspies For Freedom

This is the first coverage of the neurodiversity movement I have seen so far.  I think it is a step in the right direction (although I noticed in these articles they never mention why the autistic child is beating up his parents.  There's usually a reason for it, and in that reason, a way to avoid it happening again)

Estee Klar-wolfond.

We salute you.

Lectures won't do anything, though.

These curists are nazis.

And, historically there is only one way to deal with nazis.

*pats crowbar.*

Fair enough, but if they actually start doing prenatal tests and abortions...

Well, they'll have a hell of a lot more to reckon with than a bunch of anti-abortionist hicks

Down Syndrome.

Stage 4 of the 8 stages of genocide has already been completed.  We have been classified.  We have been symbolized.  We have been dehumanized.  Organizations--wealthy and powerful organizations--have been formed to carry out the genocide.  The next step, which has already begun, is polarization.  The criminals have a multi-decade lead on us, we cannot smugly sit back and think we will be able to stop them at the last minute.

And it's stupid to put all the onus on the scientists who merely do the technical research.  They are not the ones making the genocidal decisions.  They are not the ones producing movies that dehumanize us.  They are not the ones raising the money that makes the research possible in the first place.  The technocrats very often simply don't really grasp what is going on, and when confronted by it, they are very often too innocent and personally ethical and moral to believe that anyone would misuse the knowledge they generate.  Scientists are a remarkably trusting and child-like group of people.

However, it DOES play right into the hands of the genocidal maniacs to blame the scientists.  If you want the public to believe the demonization, blame the scientists for everything.  If you want the public to think that the world would be better off without us, blame the scientists for everything.  But, whatever you do, don't call attention to the real criminals, just attack the scientists.

The proponents and drivers of genocide are the "charities", "foundations", and "concerned groups" that produce and promulgate proto-genocidal propaganda.  If there were no science at all at their disposal, they'd just rely on public perceptions and prejudice.  The biomedical data doesn't require genocide, it's the spin put on it by the genocidal.

you make it sound like we should be stockpiling arms and looking at old maps to see where "our ancestral homeland" is.

You are mistaken--severly mistaken.  Welcome to the exact same mindset had by "Cure Autism Now".

Hey, that's just what "Cure Autism Now" says.

Well, that's what you might say, but would CAN agree that you're innately competent to make such an assessment?  After all, you're merely "high functioning.  Think of all those poor children who are "suffering from autism", day after day...

Well, they speak all the time about progress toward a cure for Type I Diabetes. They have already managed to artificially grow heart muscle, so human trials of a diabetes cure will begin before the end of the decade. That makes me hopeful there will be less suffering at the end of this century than there was at the start.

I don't want anyone to say anything anymore. I just want them to understand why I am doing what I am doing.

Well, I can appreciate that people have the right to exist if they can sustain themselves. However, I ask again, what major contributons to the planet's workings have Down's individuals provided? It really is like comparing apples and oranges where we are concerned.

I also don't recall very many Aspie children being thrown away, funnily enough. And even if they were, they would still at least take an interest in caring for themselves. I literally came out of those places sick to my stomach.

I hope the first paragraph makes sense to you, because people like CAN or Autism Speaks are trying to provide an answer to the exact same question. It happens to be wrong, but the thing is, its the most burning question in terms of continued existence.

Heinlein illustrated the point well in several of his novels, my favourite example of which would be StarShip Troopers. No right is inalienable when it allows someone to thrive at someone else's expense. Since this is only necessary for Aspies who have been abused half to death and back, and not permanently at that, I do not wish to be thought of as allied with anyone for whom it could be called necessity.

Not all contributions have to be large and earth shattering. I have two friends with Down syndrome who have contributed much to my happiness.
They always treat me with respect (as I do them) and accept me exactly as I am. I get together with one of my friends to draw and paint weekly. She volunteers at a local hospital. She is a loving sister, daughter and companion to those who know her. She maintains a consistently positive outlook in spite of her difficulties. She has enhanced my life tremendously and taught me more about respecting cognitive differences and about the nature of preudice than either NTs or AS types have. She is a valuable person; the fact that she will not be the one to cure cancer or AIDS does not diminish this.

Acceptance is the first step in being destroyed. Much of what we have shared with humanity comes from the fact that near enough is not good enough for us.

If I were to encounter a race of aliens who were always happy in spite of living in a world where absolute morons were in charge, I would kill every last one of them. No way would I want them getting off their own planet.

That letter made me believe for a fraction of a second that there was hope. *nods*