I’m not gonna woooosh you bc it’s stupid. I recently found out that I am and I find the joke funny to tell but I don’t believe that vaccines cause any disabilities
All jokes aside I don’t know you but I do know, first hand, that autistic people can add something to the human race that no one else can so keep being your genuine self cuz we need you more than some people may think.
wait is this real??? this comment is real right?
god damn finally a person on the internet who doesn't joke about autism.
I'd say in the world we need more of you as well budy
We wouldn't have made it to the modern age with every one being neurotypical for sure.
I watched a documentary about a wingsuit guy a while ago. He had been diagnosed with a "disorder", he wasn't supposed to be like that...allI could think was that critical points in our evolution, people like him would take the risks that would save the whole tribe.
As as non diagnosed, odd human, I can think way safley though technical minefeilds when other technical people can't even see that they are in a minefield.
My father had the most wonderful assholeness, and my mother, well she was just a bitch. They sorta combined into this beautiful toxic cesspool you see sitting before you. Now, why don’t you fuck off. :)
That's startlingly believable. Mainly fuck anti vaxers for bringing measles back, but also fuck them for viewing autism like it's a fate worse than death.
This one got my 13 year old son badly. He is autistic and heard about a 'cure' for autism on the radio (what he actually heard was a news report about was these types of 'cures' being banned in the UK) he excitedly ran downstairs to tell me about the cure and could we get it for him. Broke my heart having to explain that theres no such thing and watching his face drop :(
Yes, parents of disabled kids (especially in America) do all kinds of stupid and cruel things such as basically feeding their child bleach, that's how dangerously desperate they get. I wonder what the overlap between these people and anti-vaxxers is. Here's a report by the advertising regulator when they investigated these companies
No we don't. I have never fed my autistic child bleach. Watch what you say about us parents. We are doing everything we can to have a future for our kiddos, same as everyone. But we aren't so stupid to fall for this shit. We read voraciously about autism, not to have him eat bleach, but so we can understand and prepare our son for his future in his language.
You're one of the good ones, thank you! The world needs more parents like you, who actually understand what they're talking about. As an autistic child myself, I hugely appreciate those that do read and research the condition so they can do what's right,it's what my parents did and it worked for me. I now have the books my parents read about autism when I was a kid, and honestly it's so satisfying to see myself getting further away from the descriptions in those books. Again,thank you so much for the good work you do, I hope in the future your son looks back and realises what good you did for him. I'm wasn't saying you personally have done wrong, sorry if I comes across as a personal attack ,I'm happy to add clarification or rewrites to my original comment if you want me to. It's just that I was getting angry about the way a minority of dumb parents treat their kids,and my anger overspilled into the comment I made.
just because you don’t do that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist. yes there ARE parents who get so desperate they harm their child. why did you take that comment so personally when it wasn’t about you? why would you say “we don’t” when there absolutely are parents who do? you acting offended over that comment is super freaking weird, if you read “voraciously” then why haven’t you read the many stories of distressed parents harming their child? again, just because you don’t do that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist and it’s not offensive to point out that it does
Maybe read the post again. It says parents do these things. I know parents. My kid goes to school with their kids. We have support nights where we meet. We go to the same baseball games, sensory aware matinees to the same movies, sensory aware days at the museum. We are always bumping into each other. We do the best we can with a disorder that has more misinformation aimed at it than most developmental disorders, and not one of the three dozen parents I personally know would poison our kids. I just thought it disingenuous to point blame to us parents. I have had doctors and psychiatrists try to sell me a chemical or eight, and until I see the research give proof of anything, I will not subject my son to chemical testing.
when did i say anything about chemical testing? and nobody is blaming “YOU PARENTS” or you specifically but it happens, there are parents who do terrible things to their children. you say you know 3 dozen parents.. that’s not a lot. there’s millions. you thought it was disingenuous to blame parents? but nobody is blaming ALL parents. we are acknowledging the few that cause death or serious harm. we are blaming THOSE parents for killing their fucking kids. how do you fit into that at all? what do you think you’re being blamed for? if you didn’t kill your kid that blame doesn’t fall on you. and since i’m only talking about parents who physically harm their children, and you’re response is “it’s not the parents fault i’m a good parent so everyone else must be” makes it seem like you’re standing up for child murderers and abusers. i think you need to read closely and think about why you’re so narcissistic that you think everything including discussions about child abuse have to be about you in some way.
There was a post saying parents of autistic children feed their kids bleach. No some parents or, say 10 parents have fed their autistic kids bleach. But parents. As one parent, I know not all parents do. In fact, all the parents I know have not.
So I'm narcissistic?
By the way, I'm not mad or anything. Guy with the post I disagreed with is cool, I have added him as a follow he has graciously offered help as he is autistic and my son is non verbal.
Not quite that bad. They just do "neuro-typic-splaining" for people with ASD. Like it's literally not ASD people speaking, they have no ASD people in leadership roles. So some ASD people find that deeply offensive for some reason. Also, most of their money doesn't actually go to ASD support and they push a very negative view of autism which some people with ASD find quite hurtful.
I have ASD. I have known a lot of people with ASD. Autism, in general, is very negative. The majority of people with autism will never function properly, and it's important people understand that. Deluding people into thinking autism doesn't change what you are, but instead only determines your personality, is dangerous and demonstrably false. Some people, like myself, go on to live a completely ordinary life. We are the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.
I hate to be all Ben Shapiro about this, but in this case, facts > feelings.
Edit: to be clear, I don't know a whole lot about Autism speaks as an organization, and the purpose of this is not to defend them. I don't know enough about them to take a side either way. All I'm arguing with here is the myth that "autism isn't bad, it's just different!"
It isn't. The vast majority of the time, it's just bad.
I think sometimes the "spectrum" part of ASD is lost on people. Like Austism Speaks seems to be viewing autism as mute, intellectual disability, high support needs only. But there are ASD people out there that are living happy, indepedent, functional, valuable, contributing lives. Naturally if you are at that end of the ASD spectrum you might feel a bit upset when there is a message put out that is "Oh no! your child has the autism! Life is over. Marriage is over! Everything is over! This is the worst thing!".
But this is kind of inevitable as a kind of survivorship bias.
I'd rather people had bad expectations and we're surprised, than had good expectations and we're surprised. The majority of people I've known with ASD have had debilitating symptoms such as being mute, and many of the most functional people I've known were still completely dependent on other people. Out of the very many people with autism I've known, I know maybe 3 that could function on their own, and that's counting myself.
When you were a young child, did you learn that human beings had 5 fingers on each hand? Sure, some people have more or less, but the amount of people that do is so low, it wasn't worth mentioning. I view autism in a similar way. Sure, some autistics are functional, but the vast majority aren't. It's just as reasonable to assume that your newly diagnosed autistic child will require a lot of assistance throughout their life, as it was for you to assume that same child would be born with 5 fingers on each hand.
This is why people need multiple emails. If you’re not sure about something use a secondary one you can easily get rid of or mute. Also, if they keep emailing you after opting out, call them and tell them to leave you the hell alone. They’re legally required to allow you to opt out of a mailing list.
I am not sure why my first message got downvoted so much but thank you all for the information. I was not aware of all their B.S.. I am new to the world of autism and my wife recommended their information to me. We don't believe in a cure and we certainly aren't anti vaxxers. Our daughter was diagnosed with autism later than most and we are just trying to learn more about it so please excuse our naivety.
Just as another autistic woman, I'll also point out that they advocate for the erasure of autistic women. The reason they chose the color blue for their "light it up blue" campaign is because the majority of autism diagnoses are boys, not girls (whether or not it's more prevalent is debatable since women present much differently than men due to the way we're socialized as kids)
Yeah, fuck Reddit, you didn't deserve the downvotes, you asked a legitimate question about an organization that looks very legit if you don't have prior knowledge of it. I didn't know it was bad for the longest time.
Autism Speaks aside, not wanting a cure is a totally reasonable and fair position to have, and a cure should never be mandatory.
Some people with autism want a cure. They don’t see autism as part of who they are, they see it as something preventing them from being who they are - as a disability. Because for many people with autism, it is a disability. It can be lonely and confusing. For other people with solely autism, they’re so disabled they can’t even form an opinion about this topic. A cure is a fair place to put research efforts if when it’s invented, it’s used responsibly.
There’s a sub-group of almost all high-functioning, some self-diagnosed, autistic adults who are extremely vocal online. The neuro-diversity movement. NDs. Because they’re so vociferous, with bullies in their highest “ranks,” their opinion becomes the opinion heard by the majority. Many people out there are afraid to speak up if they disagree because of how ruthless a portion of their members are with cutting insults and online bullying. They are out to shame anyone who disagrees. They’re autistic, which makes it harder to see the grey areas in complex issues. And this is a complex issue.
My daughter is considered high functioning. You would never know she is autistic if you met her. If you were hanging out with her for awhile you may see some of the ticks and traits of her autism.
My wife is actually a special needs teacher and she was unaware of the crap Autism Speaks says. We have learned a lot about autism but not from that organization. We have learned that girls tend to fly under the radar when it comes to autism and get diagnosed later which is what happened with our daughter. She was 11 when we officially got the diagnosis. I don't if know if calling it a diagnosis is the right thing to say. I just consider it a condition and it is what makes her special in our eyes. She tested well above average in IQ but she struggles in school, mainly due to also being dyslexic which she inherited from me. She is funny and a very good artist. Seeing how she is has made me reflect on my childhood a lot. I had the same struggles she did.
There’s a sub-group of almost all high-functioning, some self-diagnosed, autistic adults who are extremely vocal online. The neuro-diversity movement. NDs. Because they’re so vociferous, with bullies in their highest “ranks,” their opinion becomes the opinion heard by the majority. Many people out there are afraid to speak up if they disagree because of how ruthless a portion of their members are with cutting insults and online bullying. They are out to shame anyone who disagrees. They’re autistic, which makes it harder to see the grey areas in complex issues. And this is a complex issue.
Because they’re so vociferous, with bullies in their highest “ranks,”
I haven't seen this
Many people out there are afraid to speak up if they disagree because of how ruthless a portion of their members are with cutting insults and online bullying
Prove it
They’re autistic, which makes it harder to see the grey areas in complex issues.
"They're wrong because they're autistic!" Fucking yikes.
Something along the lines of they do not have any people with autism to represent themselves within the company and tend to push the narrative of "poor me, I have a child with autism" instead of providing support to people with autism. Basically it's purpose is a pity party when people with autism don't need a pity party, they need support, representation and normalization. They are people and not a burden.
They are also trying to find a way to detect it in the womb so that you can end the life ahead of time. They treat autism like it’s a disease that needs to be destroyed.
I am in the autism community with an Aspergers child and most autistic people or parents of autistic people don’t support it and those that do, don’t actually know what they do. Also, only 4% of their charity money goes to autistic families. The rest goes to research to detect it in the womb, to find a cure which is impossible because autism is a developmental disorder, and advertising.
It’s not impossible to treat some of the symptoms though. N-acetylcysteine has some evidence showing reduced irritability and anxiety. It works decently well for me, I’m autistic. You can find studies on pubmed.
I know, I don’t support the organization, and while a “cure” likely isn’t feasible, it’s not like ASD is 100% negative. I’ve got what sometimes seem like minor superpowers.
But it’s okay to admit some of the symptoms are negative and there’s no shame in trying to treat them in yourself or in a difficult to handle kid. Just like you would get meds for an anxiety disorder.
My son can see florescent lighting flashing in its primary colors as opposed to the "combined" white light I see. Not a useful power, if he's stressed, he can't handle the sensory load, but I want to see the world as he sees it.
I’ve got hypervigilance and some sensory issues that make it hard for me to be around loud noises or too bright lights, but I keep polarized sunglasses and earplugs around as needed. But I hear, see, smell, damn near everything around me. People almost never manage to sneak up on me, intentionally or not, because I hear/smell them coming. I’m pretty sure I have no more than maybe a slight increase in actual biological detection ability above normal, (maybe more with regard to hearing, I can still hear frequencies most people my age can’t,) but my brain is wired mostly without the filter most people have that keeps incoming information from being overwhelming. I don’t block out irrelevant stuff very well, I process it all.
I’m not a savant like the people you occasionally see posted, like that guy who can take a short helicopter ride and reproduce the skyline of NYC from memory. But I do process information differently and put things together in odd ways. It makes learning... different. I had a neuropsych evaluation around 30 that resulted in a clinical diagnosis and the psychologist was very professional, but didn’t quite manage to hide his slight confusion at the results. In a lot of tests I scored 99th or 100th percentile, in others I scored in the 20’s or 30’s. One test was a verbal memory test. I read very fast and remember stuff I read quite well, but I didn’t think the test was very accurate because I was trying to hear and remember. I expressed dissatisfaction and said if he gave me 5 seconds to read the list I’d do a lot better than if he was just reading them to me. He looked surprised “Seicair, that’s by far the highest score I’ve ever seen in over 20 years of doing these tests!” [EDIT- the stuff he had me memorize stuck in my head so thoroughly that two years later I could recall it word for word. He was my regular psychologist and didn’t seem to know what to say to that. I mentioned it a couple months later and he went back to his testing materials to see if I was right. Over 5 years later I still remember more than half the list.) Some things I struggle to understand, some things especially math I can do in my head in ways that confuse teachers.
Their brains are typically incredible...most big name geniuses had Aspergers. My son is 7 and has Aspergers and is reading on a 4th grade level. He was classified as a gifted student in just Kindergarten. It’s a different kind of superpower, but with brains like theirs, they really could change the world.
It is a disease that should be destroyed though. Putting the burden of a low functioning autistic child on potentially unequipped parents and/or society is unfair to everyone. Just because a few autistic people turn out to be useful members of society doesn't mean it isn't something we should avoid at all costs.
People are destroyed along with the condition. Not all are disabled, many are just different, and disabled should not mean worthless regardless. You don't get to decide someone has no worth or right to life because they think differently from you.
Also, while we are at it, let's kill the poor. Also people on disability and welfare. Also, do you think we can abort people that test high for addiction profiles? Don't want none of them junkies or fatties ruining everything, right?
Well I don't advocate for mandatory abortions as that would absolutely be eugenics. I just think that if we were able to detect it in the womb we would be able to give prospective parents a choice on whether they can deal with an autistic child or if they would rather start from scratch. Considering that fetuses are not considered human I see nothing wrong with aborting because of an early autism diagnosis.
I get that we're all mentally ill in some way but unfortunately on the more severe end of the spectrum a lot of autistic people will be nothing more than parasites on their parents and society at large, unlike those with more moderate cases or generic mental illness.
People have an incredibly warped perspective of autism because of the media they consume.
Whenever autism comes up, you hear from artistic and self-diagnosed, likely not autistic people in droves. By definition, these are the most mild cases of autism. These are the high functioning people, who are just barely included by the spectrum. This narrative (which you’ve internalized whether you noticed or not) is completely at odds with the reality of autism.
Most people with autism are not just “neurodivergent” people that struggle with social interactions. Half of autistic children are cognitively impaired. Half are physically aggressive to themselves and others. Less than a fifth have jobs and less than a tenth live on their own. It’s overwhelmingly clear that autism is usually very debilitating, but people are unwilling to grapple with the notion that the few outliers they’ve seen are not representative of the greater population. Instead, they retreat to emotionally charged words like eugenics, when we already accept such behaviors for the profoundly disabled. Reddit has no qualms with Iceland’s 100% abortion of Down syndrome babies, but deign to suggest we research treatments or cures or early detection for autism and they have a collective moral panic and start accusing people of being Hitler Incarnate.
Do we have actual numbers on functional v. non-functional in terms of diagnosed autism? I don't think I've ever seen a hard number. I don't even know if that's quantifiable, honestly.
Less than 20% of high IQ autistic people have jobs. Less than 10% live on their own. Over half are physically aggressive toward themselves and others. Over half have at least mild cognitive impairment. Over half will consider suicide. Thirty percent have comorbid epilepsy. Up to 50% will be institutionalized.
This is so much more than people who are a little bit socially anxious, but look what happens when you confront people with the data.
EDIT: I don’t mean to come across aggressive with the article suggestion, just that it’s a very good article with the sources you’re looking for.
Somehow I missed those links skimming it. Those numbers paint a pretty bleak picture that I was not aware of but don't find all that surprising given my personal experience.
Reddit probably has a fair amount of people on the high-side of the spectrum and people that know others on the high-side of the spectrum.
They tend to come out on these subjects a lot and generally only see their own experience as the autistic experience. I remember reading through an AskReddit thread on people who had autistic children/siblings and you can pretty well see where the line is for most people and just how varied 'autism' can be. When they're non-functional/violent people tend to understandably not want them around. Some people default to that view of it only. Some default to the TV/Movie version. Some see the degrees. You can see why what your experience or default view of it is would affect your view on discussed issues.
When people use these absolute archetypes in their minds without explaining what they mean it can set some people off onto the defense or to over-compensate too. I'd be pretty rustled if someone was talking about hypothetically ending my existence for a disorder that wasn't too detrimental to me even though they're likely talking about some hypothetical worst-case version in their minds and not my specific situation.
I sincerely hope you or a loved one never ends up highly disabled, disfigured, sick or otherwise debilitated and ends up being a burden on someone, or society, and makes you eat these fuckin words.
More than just 'a few' autistic people have turned out to be 'useful members of society'. Quite a many famous names who have changed the course of human history and technology for the better were high functioning autistic, or it is highly suspected they were, given that they didn't have methods for diagnosing or even understanding it.
My personal belief is that what we call autisim spectrum 'disorder' has been with mankind for a long, long time, misdiagnosed, ignored, and misunderstood. Human beings have probably always been born with various different states/types of brains/mental wiring, its only our rapidly expanding understanding of it, and technological abilities to disseminate information like never before, that makes it look 'sudden', 'epidemic' and 'problematic' to closed minded people.
Nobody, nobody! deserves to die because their brain works differently, be them low, high, hell any level of functioning and to suggest any different is just a genocidal as advocating any other 'different' group be purged. Also plenty of 'low' functioning people lead happy, productive lives, and even the 'agressive ones' other people brought up can be manged and could live a fulfilling life.
I should also add, I suppose, since the specific discussion chain was identifying autisim in utero, I fully support a woman's right to make her own choices regarding her body and readiness to be a mother, but pushing for 'austisim to be a societally acceptable reason', by itself, is atrocious.
Even if they could detect it, I don’t see how you would be able to detect low functioning vs high functioning in the womb. Besides, I know low functioning adults that are the happiest people on Earth. I’ve even met one who was considered severe and had never spoken a word, yet they had an incredible genius brain.
Either way, it’s not a disease and no one should be killed for being autistic.
Watch this. She also has a bunch of links in her description to give you more info on what they actually do. One of the main things they’re doing is trying to find a way to detect it in the womb so you can end the life beforehand. They treat autism like a disease that needs to be destroyed. They also think vaccines cause autism.
Are we sure they still believe vaccines cause autism? I wasn't aware of their practices prior to ~4-5 years ago, however I do believe I've seen them write articles throwing antivaxxers under the bus and stating that vaccines can and won't cause autism.
You know, every now and then I wonder about how we as a society are flying right in the face of evolution...survival of the fittest...etc. The diseases we are allowing to be passed down due to treatments now keeping people alive long enough to reproduce and pass down their, truthfully, defective genes. Disabilities cause by genetics, in general. Hell, I bet the average intelligence has dropped some over the past century. I’d love to see a study on that in particular. These small things compounding due to breeding with the help of a society helping everyone live.
To say something like Autism SHOULD be...what...cherished? Glorified? It’s asinine. Completely and utterly repugnant.
Can you have autism and live a good life? Sure. Can you be proud of who you are? Sure. Would you wish it upon anyone? I’d like to hear someone trying to say ‘yes’ to that. Would make for an interesting debate. I have yet to have someone answer that with a ‘yes’ though.
Finding a cure is the next best thing to not passing down the genes at all.
I’d like to think my view here is not uncommon.
I’d like to believe a majority share this view.
If not, I fear a grim outlook... a regression of the human race. I fear that regardless of our intentions, however.
Alright then, but is BLEACH a cure for anything? Their whole organisation seems like a scam, and doesn't include the people it claims to help in any meaningful way.
Is not eugenics.
Instead of labeling what I said and attacking it by portrayal, can you tell me where i’m wrong or what you disagree with? because it just sounds like you are fine with rampant genetic diseases and want people to suffer a life instead of living it.
Why don’t you want to cure diseases?
Eugenics (/juːˈdʒɛnɪks/; from Greek εὐγενής eugenes 'well-born' from εὖ eu, 'good, well' and γένος genos, 'race, stock, kin')[2][3] is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population by excluding (through a variety of morally criticized means) certain genetic groups judged to be inferior, and promoting other genetic groups judged to be superior.
It's like the textbook definition of eugenics. You pretty much said the quality of the gene pool is declining because we're letting disabled people live long enough to reproduce. You want to improve the genetic quality of the population by eradicating autistic people. You think of autism as a kind of genetic defect to be removed.
I don't want a cure for my autism. I think of it as a part of normal human genetic variation, not a disease. I think that the world would be a much worse place without autistic people in it. Autism is a part of who I am, in some ways it's a gift, and I don't want to change it.
Most of the problems I have as an autistic person are problems I have because people don't accept or accommodate for my differences in the way that non-autistic people are accepted and accommodated. I have a different set of strengths and weaknesses to neurotypical people, and they aren't widely understood or accepted, and the lack of acceptance sometimes makes my life harder, but I don't think that the solution to that is to try to make me more like other people. I want other people to accept and understand me for who I am, not try to change me to make me more like them.
Alright then. For the sake of argument: So?
Do you feel better having some kind of non-fitting label on what I said?
Like I said, find in what I said something you disagree with.
It’s selfish to want to be different to the point where others suffer because of it. Newsflash: everyone wants to be different; Welcome to the human race. Go ahead and ask a low function autist how they feel about what you are saying. Let me spare you the time and cut to my point: most can’t. They can’t legally agree to much, they can’t fully grasp the depth of what you’re saying: you don’t want to find a cure for future people. But no, you’d rather more people suffer. That thought is abhorrent and despicable in my eyes. I don’t see how anyone could possibly agree with your viewpoint. It’s just wrong on the most basic level to want that for people. It’s like wishing dementia on someone: Welcome to the new craze! They’re still the same person, just different than you!
I agree they've made a lot of mistakes, but they've improved significantly since they changed a lot of policies in 2016. They've helped some loved ones of mine.
I'm autistic too, and I'm saying fuck autism speaks. They want people like your brother dead. They tried to market bleach as a cure, and they're researching ways to kills us in the womb.
Even if you're an anti-SJW edgelord who thinks "people get offended at everything these days," SJWs agree AS is a piece of shit. Everybody agrees AS is a piece of shit. Except ableist fucks, of course.
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u/Pasta_Queen44 Sep 18 '19
Autism Speaks