Aspies For Freedom

If you've seen them, you know the ones I'm talking about here.

The ones from Autism Speaks (*hisss*), with that one woman from Law and Order that tells the odds of a child being diagnosed with Autism, related to the odds of something completely different happening.

The ones I've seen so far is: 1)Getting struck by lightning(the fuck?), 2)Becoming a ballerina, or 3)becoming a professional golfer.

I have problems with each of these.

1) They obviously equate Autism with something harmful, like being struck by lightning. They're saying that Autism is even more dangerous than lightning!

2 and 3) Now they've got a different approach, but it's still the same bull.
They have shots of the parent and child together, having fun, with the parent being proud of the child, and oh so emotional and heartwarming and BLAH.

A ballerina or professional golfer?

And we're all supposed to aspire to this?

How about these?:
Creator of a multimillion dollar entertainment corporation?
Bestselling author?
Mathmatician?
College professor?
Computer genius?

All of these careers are about filled with people who, at least a little bit, are AS.
But they don't want to talk about those, do they?

Thoughts?
Did I forget a job?

Maybe if we can get a pretty good list going, somebody could show it to Autism Speaks?

i can't see the commercial, but again these people doesnt know anything abut AD's beyond what they see in just few cases

I doubt they'd listen or agree (from what I'm hearing about them) but you make a valid point.

I once met an aspie who was a college teacher, and has been for many years. He had problems at first, but they kept him thankfully. I have seen some of Autism Speaks' videos to. I still think they could be a little better. One that didn't set well with me was one like the one you discribed. In the beggining it was the usual "One out of (whatever) have autism", and it seemed ok at first. I was dissapointed in the end where it started saying how the world would be perfect if autism didn't egsist. "Imagine a world where Autism is a distant memory." Ick.

I'm an assistant tutor at a technical college. So I'll be the last to say we can't do those kinds of jobs.

I haven't seen those.  I did see the one with the mom strapping the kid into a carseat, and the voiceover talking about likelihood of dying in a car crash vs. being autistic.  Not only were they equating autism with something bad (dying in a car crash), they were also implying that ASCs are something that "happen," like an accident, instead of something that people are born as.  I didn't "get" autism by having an autistic sneeze on me; it's in my DNA.  Ugh.  Autism Speaks.  Disgusting in so many ways.

Yeah, the same with the lightning strike one.

It also shows the parent hurrying to get their kid out of the water as the storm clouds gather, like, it's your duty to protect your child from it.

There's also a comercial comparing it to the likelihood your kid will grow up to be a famous fashion designer.
They are obviously implying that autistic kids will never amount to anything in any career, which of course is both dead wrong and incredibly disgustingly bigotted.
The fashion one particularly upset me as it is a career I am considering following.  I have always been fascinated by clothing since I was a little kid.

Autism speaks had a full page ad in the New York times recently, too, but I don't remember what it said- just that it enraged me.