Aspies For Freedom

Jerry's opinion is the comfortable position that the money and praise of "the moral majority" will flow towards.

He offers "hope" by showing just how tractable, biddable, compliant and reasonable someone with ASD can be around prosperous and influential NTs.

He is their toady man and flunkey.    :roll:

I'd like to pour soapy water on him and beat him with my mop!

Stella Moo

This has upset me so much I'm lost for words! The dirty rat.  :shock:

This is how The Daily Express would report Newport's words:

Autistic Scroungers Exposed!

Social Security cheats are posing as autistics says Mozart and the Whale man.

Perhaps we should send emails to groups and organizations that may have contact with this person, making it clear that Mr Newport represents only himself.

Stella

Is there are a private joke that I haven't got?  

I saw that the line about "smoking" meant to suggest that these were the unsound ideas of druggies, but I didn't get the rest of the allusions about homosexuality.  :roll:

Stella

Thank you. I didn't know that.

I was aware only of

Haracopos D. and Pedersen L. Sexuality and Autism, Sikon, Copenhagen,

which paints a depressing  picture of autistic life in institutional care, as much as inform us about anything else.  

Stella

well I never knew that!   :oops:

Stella

I didn't see anything on the old site forum discussion on sex to lend weight to the idea that "There seems to be a lot of AS women who are lesbians and/or transgendered" as Dr Ando suggests.

He may be right, of course, even if he isn't the deceased Dr Ando of Fujitsu Corporation and IBM Japan, but if some AS women are indeed "transgendered" they would appear here as men, so perhaps Dr Ando is referring to himself?

Its not easy to talk about with so little experience and so few papers to guide us on the subject,  :?

I shouldn't mind very much what people wanted to do with their pink bits so long as they were kind,

Stella

dear me, that's sad when we are put upon enough as it is.  

But who can say who taught them hate? Judge Rotenberg himself, perhaps.  :cry:

Stella

Billie, you talk of "choice" as though of a marketing strategy for consumer goods!

But autistic people confined in the Judge Rotenberg Center have no choice and are routinely given as many as 300 electric shocks of up to 275V per day, and forced to live on a punitive diet of as little as 300 calories per day as part of "aversive deceleration."

You will find peer reviewed academic papers published by the Rotenberg Center describing this "therapy" - which has little to distinguish it from a Nazi concentration camp, including superintendents with medical degrees who decide how much further "therapy" the inmates can stand.

Don't take my word for it, but find a few minutes to read some of the material.

Stella

Hello again,

I was away from the computer for a few days and when I saw how much conversation my little post sparked I was pleasantly surprised.   I am happy that (almost) everyone agrees that this is a terrible thing for a fellow aspie to say.  If I had posted this at any other forum everyone would have probably sided with Jerry.

I shouldn't have been surprised by Jerry's remarks because I do know him personally (I am--strike that---was a member of his so-called "support group" which is ironically called "Adult Gathering, United and Autistic"-AGUA) and he usually has something negative to say about everything.  I first met Jerry at a local Autism conference when I was very new in Autism.  The conference was led by Jim Adams who, if you don't know, is involved in DAN!.  Nearly all the presentations had something to say about treating and curing Autism.  Jerry gave a presentation about how children and teenagers feel and how to give them support they need to suceed in life.  

I think that Jerry is a puppet, saying what parents want to hear so they will buy his books and watch his movie.  As a matter of fact, the week before I posted this string I was at his meeting and I mentioned Aspies for Freedom and he said, "They have my vote."  He seemed very happy about the idea that Aspies are telling society that they are not diseased and they don't need a cure or treatment.  

In answer to the question of which list this quote came from...it is a local list for Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) that is mostly about the ASA.  Their list focuses on new conferences that will teach a new treatment or therapy to cure autism.  I have also read some postings about DAN! and how to get involved in their cause.  The only reason I stay on the list is to monitor for comments like Jerry's.  I will continue to monitor for and post any other offensive comments that I feel AFF would like to address.

Thanks,
Crystal

Crystal correctly says:

I think that Jerry {Newport}is a puppet, saying what parents want to hear so they will buy his books and watch his movie

Exactly!  :roll:

And a traitor to boot!

Stella Maru

Jerry wrote:

I didn't realize that it is unethical to share opinions expressed on one list with others who would be interested in hearing those opinions.  I apologize if I've broken any sort of "unspoken rule".   :?

I stand behind my decision to share these comments and I don't regret doing it.  I feel that if Jerry Newport is going to make statements that are offensive to other Aspies that they should know about it.  Just because no one else was on that particular list doesn't mean that they are not entitled to view those comments...unless Jerry is adapting his comments to the particular setting to please the people around him.  That, in my book, does fit the definition of "puppet".  

It was never my intention to stir up trouble and to cause bad energy here.  I think of myself as a very positive person and try to spread positive energy to those around me.     I apologize again if I have done anything wrong.

Crystal

Mr Newport writes: There was little mention of altenative sexual lifestyles because it was suppressed by my publisher......We would have much rather invited gays and lesbians to contribute a chapter but that was not allowed.

A person of integrity would not have agreed to publication under these terms. No one forced Mr Newport to write his wretched book. By failing to represent LGBT Aspies - mention of which might have harmed the sale of the book to Bible Belt American parents - he has not only misrepresented our community, but made himself the toady man and flunkey of our oppressors.

No amount of sweet talk and protests about his good intentions can change that.

Stella

Amy says:

I think it is vital that parents are given the truth anyway about LGBT issues. I once mentioned the higher rates to a parent and she was horrified.  

And Amy is right!

Where the ability of parents to think rationally has been severely impaired by the superstitious nonsense of priests and pastors, they may actually welcome the opportunity to pathologise the LGBT identities of their ASD children.

Any attempt the children may make to come out as LGBT can be added to the rag bag of socially unwanted ASD behaviours and symptoms deserving of "treatment" and "cure."

Mr Newport's collusion with his publishers to suppress the facts about LGBT identities within the ASD community amounts to a distortion of the truth so monstrous that it can only be condemned.

Stella Maru

Vetivert,

your comments seem to suggest that there was some overarching necessity for Mr Newport to publish his misleading work, and so make himself vulnerable to manipulation by profiteers.

Concealing the fact that LGBTQ identities are far more prevalent on Aspergia than in the NT world is a distortion so egregious as to render the book worse than useless.

We would be better off without the book than with a heterosexist narrative from which the lives of so many are edited out of existence, parents mislead about the real state of affairs, and aspies made to feel they are the odd ones for identifying as LGBTQ.

As if we didn't have enough to put up with already!  :roll:

Stella Maru

Mr Newport exclaims: When I see a book on the market with your name attached, maybe I will take your unwise comments more seriously.

Mr Newport appears to believe that the fact of publication validates the opinions of the author, an illusion common among fiction writers and the chattering classes.

He also hits on the convenient idea  that  the size of the Aspie LGBTQ community should determine whether or not it should be represented in any general treatment of aspergian sexuality.

Is the right of a minority to inclusion to be decided on the basis of numbers as Mr Newport suggests? Is size everything with Human Rights too?  

Stella Maru