The Problem with Autism Speaks

[naraht]

I know I'm not going to hit all of the points that everyone has made, but I'll give it a try.

My wife is on the board of the Asperger's Association of Greater Washington and knows the founder of the ASAN (Autism Self Advocacy Network). She has been to events protesting Autism Speaks.

1) Austism Speaks (AS) is completely uninterested in having anyone with any diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder on their board. To them Autism is *only* the situation that the founders have, being grandparents of a child who is unable to communicate at all. Those with Autism who are high Functioning are inconvenient for their concept of Autism being something that can be cured.

2) AS has invested money in to the high doubtful and now completely discredited concepts of Mercury in Vaccinations and has only recently stopped supporting Wakefield's "research".

3) AS's research into *prevention* of Autism includes continued belief in specific genetic markers (such as those for Tay Sachs) as well as tests in amniotic fluid, which only makes sense if you are willing to consider that bringing an autistic child into the world is so bad that aborting the child based on that is reasonable. Of course *that* assumes that the condition is so well defined that you can actually look for markers.

'Autism Speaks', but it sure as h*ll doesn't speak for me.