Hello everyone! I hope everyone is faring well.

My name is Cate Matthews. I am 26 years old, a single parent, currently unemployed, divorced, and have a five year old child named Alex, who was diagnosed last month, May, with autism.

Currently, my friends are doing a survey to better understand the parents with kids with autism. As a mother with an child diagnosed with autism myself, I've been helping them with outreach and connecting to other parents. I assure you that this is not spam or any of that kind of junk mail. Please remember that you don't actually have to take the survey, but if you do and if at anytime you do not wish to answer certain questions, you can place 'N/A' as an answer.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this!
Sincerely,
Cate Matthews

Unauthorized Survey; Link removed. - ῦ

This post was last modified: 07-03-2012 11:10 AM by ῦ.

I'm sorry but you have to ask Gareth, and/or Nu to do this survey.... They are the site Admins

Check it out. http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...?tid=19114

Gareth

ῦ (pronounced Nu)

You can PM either from their profiles.

should there be a notice about this on the top of the homepage?

ATTENTION RESEARCHERS:
....blah blah.... contact Gareth or Nu.

I'll pass that along to Gareth.

Please do

Thanks!

There is a split infinitive in the second sentence of the introduction to the survey. I didn't read beyond that.

This is junk mail because it is junk science being done by people who clearly have no idea about their subject matter, autism.
Your survey fails on the first page.

Might I suggest Cate that you devote your time to studying and understanding your son and when you have worked out that little puzzle you may be a bit closer to understanding the problems autistic people have.

Because I really don't like to be all negative I'll give you and your academic friends this to read.

http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...?tid=24700

Just a little note of caution, I read this survey through and it seems to be looking at selling "tools" to people whose children are autistic. It might still be kosher, but it also asks how much you'd be prepared to spend on these tools (not specified what they were.) It's also pretty grim, it seems to assume that we're a tragedy, along the lines of "Do you always feel marginalized when you appear in public with your child?"  "Do you need a break?" "Do you feel nobody understands/gives you sympathy for your situation?"
Nothing about raising public awareness to the fact that we're not foaming-at-the-mouth monsters at all.
Alison

Whats the point of this survey anyways? *even if I did agree to ask Gareth and Nu about it -_- *

There is one at the top of every board. People are just too damned thick to actually **** READ THEM.

They are simply preying on the fears of the general public, for what else. Cash

Right. I just looked now. It seems there is one in the sections that these would most likely be posted in. Why this one's in the Time Out section, I have no idea.

*Gasp!*  

Are you suggesting that someone would perpetuate stereotypes about autism in order to make money on whatever treatment they're selling?!  

Preposterous.  


What really makes me mad is how marginalized the parents feel.  Poor babies Please.  I had one mom tell me that she was so grateful that she had at least one typical child - right in front of her autistic son.  I was appalled and grossly offended!  I'm not just a mother of aspies, my youngest kiddo is a lot worse off and may never be able to live independently, so I know what its like to have a tough kid, tougher than most autistic kids.  I still would never consider myself marginalized for parenting him, it sounds ridiculous next to what he's been through!

Argh.  Rant over.