'I am Autism' Autism Speaks Video

[Cat]

 

This is the most horrible thing I have ever seen about autism Surely we can make a point without going this far

 

http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=3208

 

Cat

[call me jaded]

What a load of bitter old tosh

[ScienceGeek]

"Autism Speaks" are notorious for being awful. The Asperger livejournal community is littered with stories about autism speaks lashing out at autistics that dare to challenge them on their policies.

[Cat]

"Autism Speaks" are notorious for being awful. The Asperger livejournal community is littered with stories about autism speaks lashing out at autistics that dare to challenge them on their policies.

 

Yes and sadly they now have a very firm foot hold in the UK which I personally find worrying.

 

Cat

[baddad]

That was truly vile...

I have no idea how that kind of hatred can be allowed a public airing, even dressed up behind a pretence of 'caring'. It shows just how screwed discrimination laws are, when judgements about who/what constitutes discrimination are made by the people doing the discriminating...

Can you imagine a campaign for downs syndrome, or cerebral palsy using this kind of hatred and distortion being allowed to air? Can you imagine any other sort of disabled group being allowed to be blamed for the implications of their disability and publically vilified, demonised and dehumanised for them?

And where was the voice of autism? I heard the voice of autism's parents (or at least the voice of some autistic parents who have been taken in by this hate campaign), and a voice over that sounded like something from a hammer horror film trailer - complete with reverb and demonic chordswells - but I didn't hear autism at all.

Let's just hope that this ad comes as a wake up call for the people of the UK who have made the mistake of taking what 'autism speaks' offers at face value. Sadly, I think once people get in to this kind of BS they become so indoctrinated they lose all sense of perspective...

****wits!

[Cat]

That was truly vile...

I have no idea how that kind of hatred can be allowed a public airing, even dressed up behind a pretence of 'caring'. It shows just how screwed discrimination laws are, when judgements about who/what constitutes discrimination are made by the people doing the discriminating...

Can you imagine a campaign for downs syndrome, or cerebral palsy using this kind of hatred and distortion being allowed to air? Can you imagine any other sort of disabled group being allowed to be blamed for the implications of their disability and publically vilified, demonised and dehumanised for them?

And where was the voice of autism? I heard the voice of autism's parents (or at least the voice of some autistic parents who have been taken in by this hate campaign), and a voice over that sounded like something from a hammer horror film trailer - complete with reverb and demonic chordswells - but I didn't hear autism at all.

Let's just hope that this ad comes as a wake up call for the people of the UK who have made the mistake of taking what 'autism speaks' offers at face value. Sadly, I think once people get in to this kind of BS they become so indoctrinated they lose all sense of perspective...

****wits!

 

Can you imagine a campaign for downs syndrome, or cerebral palsy using this kind of hatred and distortion being allowed to air? Can you imagine any other sort of disabled group being allowed to be blamed for the implications of their disability and publically vilified, demonised and dehumanised for them?

 

We do think alike sometimes then Badders Because I have just said more or less the samething on Facebook (I know I should have more sense at my age ) I am astounded by how many parents (mostly American) who think the video is 'beautiful' and can not see that it is demonising their children, who will one day be adults some of whom at least will understand what their parent's thought about them

 

As for Autism Speaks I think you summed them up rather well too ****wits indeed!

 

This video should act as a wake up call.

 

Cat

Edited September 23, 2009 by Cat

[NobbyNobbs]

well i always wondered who caused the bad things in life... now i know... it was me

 

what a load of nonsense. i can't believe that sort of thing is legal, and that people looking for information on autism might come across it before they find out anything else.

i feel sorry for the child of any parents that believe that rubbish, blaming their own faults and weaknesses on their childs autism.

 

[Paula]

Just watched it and read some of the blogs underneath the video.

 

It made me cry it realy did.But to be utterly honest it did hit upon some stuff that is true.............i cant take my son to parties ect without it going pear shaped or fealing embaressed............most people dont want to know about autism untill it effects there child or grandchild...............i didnt untill it was my son..............

 

To me the message wasnt one of hatred for autism .......part of the message was kinda saying Parents love for there autistic kids is a powerfull thing that will break down walls and plod on day in day out.

 

 

I think for me it was difficult to hear ect because it said what at times ive fealt deep inside it confronted my darkest thoughts over the fact my son has this condition and sometimes its not easy to aknoledge the truth.

 

 

Just seen youre comments Nobby i dont beleive parents are the cause of autism .

Edited September 24, 2009 by Paula

[Sooze2]

Just watched it and read some of the blogs underneath the video.

 

It made me cry it realy did.But to be utterly honest it did hit upon some stuff that is true.............i cant take my son to parties ect without it going pear shaped or fealing embaressed............most people dont want to know about autism untill it effects there child or grandchild...............i didnt untill it was my son..............

 

To me the message wasnt one of hatred for autism .......part of the message was kinda saying Parents love for there autistic kids is a powerfull thing that will break down walls and plod on day in day out.

 

 

I think for me it was difficult to hear ect because it said what at times ive fealt deep inside it confronted my darkest thoughts over the fact my son has this condition and sometimes its not easy to aknoledge the truth.

 

 

Just seen youre comments Nobby i dont beleive parents are the cause of autism .

 

Thats how it came across to me too. Although I had to make myself watch the first half because it was so negative and did hit a raw nerve, once the parts with the families came on what I felt it was saying came across well and made me understand why I keep perserviering to make sure he gets what he needs especially now that he is medicated so seen as easier and less demanding. xx

[JsMum]

Just watched it and read some of the blogs underneath the video.

 

It made me cry it realy did.But to be utterly honest it did hit upon some stuff that is true.............i cant take my son to parties ect without it going pear shaped or fealing embaressed............most people dont want to know about autism untill it effects there child or grandchild...............i didnt untill it was my son..............

 

To me the message wasnt one of hatred for autism .......part of the message was kinda saying Parents love for there autistic kids is a powerfull thing that will break down walls and plod on day in day out.

 

 

I think for me it was difficult to hear ect because it said what at times ive fealt deep inside it confronted my darkest thoughts over the fact my son has this condition and sometimes its not easy to aknoledge the truth.

 

 

Just seen youre comments Nobby i dont beleive parents are the cause of autism .

 

 

I Interpretted it the same as paula and as horrible it was it is very similair to the situations Ive been in, especially the very few birthday parties, the bankruptcy is more because america have to pay for their health care, its a different system there, but as much as I did feel uncomfortable hearing it and watching the children with their individual experience of autism I did massively relate to it, and if it is ment to be portraid a different way Ive taken it the same as paula.

 

JsMumxx

 

[Paula]

Thing is the first part of the video blog is very very hard hitting and negative..........and yet is very true of most peoples experiances ........it is of mine........it would have been easy to think ill turn it of but then it went on to bascially say parents are powerfull people and no matter how hard it is we fight on day after day and we love our kids so autism isnt going to win...............I liked it it was very powerfull...............it made me proud because it kinda said you know what youre doing a bloomeing good job in rotton circumstances and autism isnt going to beat any of us.

 

 

 

Yes it was very american in its delivery but so what.

[baddad]

Just watched it and read some of the blogs underneath the video.

 

It made me cry it realy did.But to be utterly honest it did hit upon some stuff that is true.............i cant take my son to parties ect without it going pear shaped or fealing embaressed............most people dont want to know about autism untill it effects there child or grandchild...............i didnt untill it was my son..............

 

To me the message wasnt one of hatred for autism .......part of the message was kinda saying Parents love for there autistic kids is a powerfull thing that will break down walls and plod on day in day out.

 

 

I think for me it was difficult to hear ect because it said what at times ive fealt deep inside it confronted my darkest thoughts over the fact my son has this condition and sometimes its not easy to aknoledge the truth.

 

 

Just seen youre comments Nobby i dont beleive parents are the cause of autism .

 

Hi paula/all - Yep, that's what's so offenisive/vile about this campaign: it takes some of the negative implications of autism and spins them into something else; removes the humanity from autistic people and projects the loss of expectation that parents feel onto autistic people in a way that enables them to feel justified in 'loving my child but hating autism'...

After posting last night I woke up feeling even angrier, because the quasi-religious implications of what they portray in this video hit home. By portraying autism as some sort of child/life/family snatching demon it's far easier to manipulate people into seeing the interventions these people promote and the measures they propose as a sort of 'exorcism' rather than as abuse and as prevention rather than ethnic cleansing.

I don't know whether I believe in 'devils' or not, but I do see and hear things I consider as 'evil' every day. Places I see demon's include:

Religious Fanaticism

Child Labour

Multinational Corporate Policy

Poverty

Racism

Sexism

Human Sex Traffiking

Pornography

War

The Arms Trade

Drugs Trafficking and control (illegal)

Drugs Trafficking and control (legal, for profit)

(the list does go on and on...)

 

I do not see demon's when I look at autistic people, but I do see demon's in people who would profit from their disenfranchisement or celebrate their eradication. I do not see evil in the actions of misguided people who see what they want to see but I do see evil in the people who knowingly manipulate them and feed on their fears.

I do not see evil in people who cannot cope with what life has dealt them, but I do see evil in projecting that inability to cope onto the innocent and the vile implication of 'martyrdom' that goes along with it. If the parents are 'saints', shining the holy light of research, therapists and paediatricians' on the darkness that has consumed their children then by definition the children are 'sinners', purely for commiting the crime of being born.

 

Somewhere in there it said 'Autism - you should be afraid'. I don't invest 'autism' with a life, a will or an intent of its own, but I do think autistic people should be very afraid, because this kind of thinking has paved the way for all of the world's greatest atrocities. When a minority are allowed to be demonised/dehumanised for whatever reason (race, creed, colour,religion, sexuality or 'difference') that dehumanisation becomes a justification for inhuman treatment. If that's what people want for their child sign up... But they should do so knowingly, and honestly, and with full awareness of what they are potentially letting their child in for.

 

L&P

 

BD

Edited September 24, 2009 by Kathryn
poster's request

[Cat]

Thing is the first part of the video blog is very very hard hitting and negative..........and yet is very true of most peoples experiances ........it is of mine........it would have been easy to think ill turn it of but then it went on to bascially say parents are powerfull people and no matter how hard it is we fight on day after day and we love our kids so autism isnt going to win...............I liked it it was very powerfull...............it made me proud because it kinda said you know what youre doing a bloomeing good job in rotton circumstances and autism isnt going to beat any of us.

 

 

 

Yes it was very american in its delivery but so what.

 

So I have no wish for my sons to think that they were an embarrassment to me for a condition that they were born with. The video is all about parents and what they feel and think and has no regard whatsoever for the autistic adults who watch it and then wonder if there parents felt like that about them when they were small.

 

What the video is already doing is to divide and conquer. It will divide the autism community, it will create a divide between autistic adults and neuro-typicals and it will open the door to allow governments all over the world to deal with autism, what Canada has already called a plague, accordingly. The long term implications of this video will keep me awake at night wondering how my sons will be treated by the state when they are alone. You can not portray something as eating everything that is in its path and then expect the people being eaten by autism to be treated kindly.

 

Suzanne Wright co-founder of Autism Speaks did say some time ago now that they were on track to eradicate autism within her life time.

 

Cat

 

 

 

 

[NobbyNobbs]

Just seen youre comments Nobby i dont beleive parents are the cause of autism .

i didn't say that. i said the parents are often the cause of their own financial issues/marital problems etc and blaming that on their child is unfair. there are plenty of people who have no money/get divorced without children with autism, its not an exclusive club and there are social groups where the divorce rate is incredibly high with no reason other than the couple entering marriage without understanding/being able to fully commit the rest of their lives.

 

making out ive got some demon inside me that tries to destroy everything i touch and my family must fight to suppress this demon is disgusting. it gives no voice to the person who has the autism (ironic eh? 'autism speaks') who if my life is a reflection has worked far harder than their family to learn and behave in appropriate ways so that they can fit in. it also suggests the only thing standing between society and its total downfall (divorce/poverty etc) by autistics is some parents on an egotistical crusade.

[Cat]

Somewhere in there it said 'Autism - you should be afraid'. I don't invest 'autism' with a life, a will or an intent of its own, but I do think autistic people should be very afraid, because this kind of thinking has paved the way for all of the world's greatest atrocities. When a minority are allowed to be demonised/dehumanised for whatever reason (race, creed, colour,religion, sexuality or 'difference') that dehumanisation becomes a justification for inhuman treatment. If that's what you want for your child sign up... But do so knowingly, and honestly, and with full awareness of what you are potentially letting your child in for.

 

L&P

 

That says it all BD

 

Cat

Edited September 24, 2009 by Cat

[BusyLizzie100]

Hi paula/all - Yep, that's what's so offenisive/vile about this campaign: it takes some of the negative implications of autism and spins them into something else; removes the humanity from autistic people and projects the loss of expectation that parents feel onto autistic people in a way that enables them to feel justified in 'loving my child but hating autism'...

After posting last night I woke up feeling even angrier, because the quasi-religious implications of what they portray in this video hit home. By portraying autism as some sort of child/life/family snatching demon it's far easier to manipulate people into seeing the interventions these people promote and the measures they propose as a sort of 'exorcism' rather than as abuse and as prevention rather than ethnic cleansing.

I don't know whether I believe in 'devils' or not, but I do see and hear things I consider as 'evil' every day. Places I see demon's include:

Religious Fanaticism

Child Labour

Multinational Corporate Policy

Poverty

Racism

Sexism

Human Sex Traffiking

Pornography

War

The Arms Trade

Drugs Trafficking and control (illegal)

Drugs Trafficking and control (legal, for profit)

(the list does go on and on...)

 

I do not see demon's when I look at autistic people, but I do see demon's in people who would profit from their disenfranchisement or celebrate their eradication. I do not see evil in the actions of misguided people who see what they want to see but I do see evil in the people who knowingly manipulate them and feed on their fears.

I do not see evil in people who cannot cope with what life has dealt them, but I do see evil in projecting that inability to cope onto the innocent and the vile implication of 'martyrdom' that goes along with it. If the parents are 'saints', shining the holy light of research, therapists and paediatricians' on the darkness that has consumed their children then by definition the children are 'sinners', purely for commiting the crime of being born.

 

Somewhere in there it said 'Autism - you should be afraid'. I don't invest 'autism' with a life, a will or an intent of its own, but I do think autistic people should be very afraid, because this kind of thinking has paved the way for all of the world's greatest atrocities. When a minority are allowed to be demonised/dehumanised for whatever reason (race, creed, colour,religion, sexuality or 'difference') that dehumanisation becomes a justification for inhuman treatment. If that's what you want for your child sign up... But do so knowingly, and honestly, and with full awareness of what you are potentially letting your child in for.

 

L&P

 

BD

 

I agree.

 

I cannot imagine my children without autism. I love them as they are. Yes, there are things I'd like to change about them, like the fact my eldest swears like a trooper, but I think if I took fundamental things like their autism away I would turn them into strangers. That's too big a price to pay to be able to go to parties with them.

 

Lizzie xx

[Sooze2]

making out ive got some demon inside me that tries to destroy everything i touch and my family must fight to suppress this demon is disgusting. it gives no voice to the person who has the autism (ironic eh? 'autism speaks') who if my life is a reflection has worked far harder than their family to learn and behave in appropriate ways so that they can fit in. it also suggests the only thing standing between society and its total downfall (divorce/poverty etc) by autistics is some parents on an egotistical crusade.

 

Hum, I see the other side now. I read between the lines to hear what I thought it meant but really when I read what you have written I should have just listened without trying to analyse. I was only looking at it from a parents perspective I suppose and I see my son as an average kid who I treat the same as my other children, same rules same everything really which is why I have pushed to get him understanding at school because I feel he has the same rights as everyone else to a decent education and to acheive his full potential just like everyone else.

 

The trouble, I find is that now that he is "diagnosed" teachers and other professionals blame everything on Autism, I think he is dyslexic - no he's Autistic and that is why he finds writing hard etc etc which seems to almost let them have an excuse for not helping him overcome his literacy difficulties he is an amazing story teller and has an amazing knowledge of the world but can't write it down but its ok!! I don't want him to say its ok if I don't want to do this or that because I'm Autistic - because he'll learn that anything he finds hard he can give up on and think he always has a valid excuse - he hasn't he has obsticles to overcome. Rambling again......

[AlishaJ]

I also cried for 20 minutes after I watched the video. For me I don't see Autism/Aspergers as a seperate "thing" from my son. I see them one and the same. It is part of him like his arms/legs. I wouldn't take it away from him. I don't pray or use voodoo nor do I want to. What I would change is the stigma, the confusion and the utter ignorance surrounding Autism/Aspergers.

Edited September 24, 2009 by AlishaJ

[baddad]

The trouble, I find is that now that he is "diagnosed" teachers and other professionals blame everything on Autism, I think he is dyslexic - no he's Autistic and that is why he finds writing hard etc etc which seems to almost let them have an excuse for not helping him overcome his literacy difficulties he is an amazing story teller and has an amazing knowledge of the world but can't write it down but its ok!! I don't want him to say its ok if I don't want to do this or that because I'm Autistic - because he'll learn that anything he finds hard he can give up on and think he always has a valid excuse - he hasn't he has obsticles to overcome. Rambling again......

 

 

Very valid point - and one I absolutely agree with. There is a huge difference, though, between supporting,encouraging and even 'pushing' if necessary someone to achieve all that they can achieve and 'breaking down the walls' (as one parent put it in this video) to drag them kicking and screaming if necessary into the 'light' of a life-by-proxy based on what the parent thinks they need, or - as is more often the case - what the parent needs. How on earth can children achieve any sense of self worth and value when those most significant to them are telling them constantly (by deeds if not words, but in this video the words do have the potential to come back and haunt them) that they do not measure up?

I'm not sure which I think is worse - disabling a child by enabling their disability (as you've described in your post) or emotionally crippling a child by demanding an adherence (and pretence) to an inappropriate medical model of excellence that they simply cannot live up to. Both are, IMO, abuses, and both have far more to do with the 'needs' of the parents than they do the genuine needs of the child...

The message contained in this video is very, VERY clear:

"I love my child so much that I will do anything and everything in my power to see him and every other person like him eradicated from the face of the planet".

 

If that is 'love', God help us all

 

L (I think?) & P

 

BD

[pookie170]

I just couldn't watch all of the bl###y thing......horrendous viewing, and to personify autism in such a 'Hammer Horror' (ta, whoever used that phrase already, it fits so well here...sadly.) way is downright irresponsible, to put it mildly.

MANY parents of kids with additional needs (not just autism) have run the whole gamut of emotions, embarrassment, pride, love, guilt, wistful longing for previous hopes/expectations and resentment, (towards the situation their family is in- 'Why me?' 'Why him/her?' etc)

This atrocious video seems to me to have an in-built 'lock-on' targetting system for playing on those emotions.....

Arrgh, I can't put it better than Badders and others, am in complete agreement that this vid is a vile, crass, vomit-inducing pile of donkey dung......

Yuk.

[Sooze2]

I only push him to do his best, I was a failed student and never measured up - passed the 11 plus because by some fluke I was having a good day but then spent my whole Secondary School time getting mostly D's and E's (o'level - I'm old!) I shouldn't have been in that school. I was the same at Primary. I was reading my school reports and every single comment from every teacher said I lacked concentration, was dissapointing, didn't listen and a nice one kept saying I tried but couldn't retain the information. Last week I told the teacher his maths homework was far to hard and he just didn't understand it and we have had a similar sheet sent home again - the poor boy was in bits tonight because he hasn't retained what I taught him on Monday when we did the last sheet - can you see a pattern? He's said that its not even what they are learning in class.

 

There is no way I will force him do be what he is not, I know what that feels like but I will also not give up helping him to try unlike my parents who just gave up and left me to get on with it on my own usually in tears and not give me a chance to understand. I would then fake my mums signature on the homework each time so she wouldn't see how little I had done and how wrong my answers were.

 

Although reading what you have said I do know that in the past when everyone said "he's fine" I then said to him out of frustration "everyone says youre fine so why can't you do it" both of us frustrated and him in tears! I'm not proud of it at all I have heard my parents words come out of my mouth which really upsets me so now we do a bit at a time and then have a break from each other because we are very similar it seems.

 

What I'm saying (admitting) is that I may be thinking that if I get this help or that help he will be able to do it but I may have to accept that he can't - perhaps I do actually find that hard without realising it.

 

Am I still on the subject or should I have actually posted this waffle on another thread

Edited September 24, 2009 by Sooze2

[baddad]

I only push him to do his best, I was a failed student and never measured up - passed the 11 plus because by some fluke I was having a good day but then spent my whole Secondary School time getting mostly D's and E's (o'level - I'm old!) I shouldn't have been in that school. I was the same at Primary. I was reading my school reports and every single comment from every teacher said I lacked concentration, was dissapointing, didn't listen and a nice one kept saying I tried but couldn't retain the information. Last week I told the teacher his maths homework was far to hard and he just didn't understand it and we have had a similar sheet sent home again - the poor boy was in bits tonight because he hasn't retained what I taught him on Monday when we did the last sheet - can you see a pattern? He's said that its not even what they are learning in class.

 

There is no way I will force him do be what he is not, I know what that feels like but I will also not give up helping him to try unlike my parents who just gave up and left me to get on with it on my own usually in tears and not give me a chance to understand. I would then fake my mums signature on the homework each time so she wouldn't see how little I had done and how wrong my answers were.

 

Although reading what you have said I do know that in the past when everyone said "he's fine" I then said to him out of frustration "everyone says youre fine so why can't you do it" both of us frustrated and him in tears! I'm not proud of it at all I have heard my parents words come out of my mouth which really upsets me so now we do a bit at a time and then have a break from each other because we are very similar it seems.

 

What I'm saying (admitting) is that I may be thinking that if I get this help or that help he will be able to do it but I may have to accept that he can't - perhaps I do actually find that hard without realising it.

 

Am I still on the subject or should I have actually posted this waffle on another thread

 

Hi sooze - not sure about this, but 'Just In Case' I wanted to say that none of my previous post was a comment on your situation with your child in any way: it was just a general observation about going too far in either direction.

 

Getting the balance right is incredibly tricky, and that's not made any easier by the fact that often we parents are 'isolated' in terms of unbiased input, and those who could/should be able to offer that kind of input and support are often people who seem to have their own agendas. Pushing too hard occassionally isn't a bad thing, so long as we're willing to admit to ourselves when we have. The only way you can test or extend a boundary (and 'safe zones' are boundaries) is to push against it and find the points where there's a bit of give. It's better to say 'sorry' occassionally than to limit somebody's potential by always staying well within the comfort zone.

The difference I see in the parents in this video is that they see it as a WAR, and autism as the enemy. You can't separate an autistic person from their autism like that and wage a war against one without doing significant damage to the other. As with any 'war' the only real, peaceful solution is mutual acceptance and compromise (actually, Donna William's describes the 'war' parents have to fight in the back of Nobody Nowhere, and postulates the same peaceful solutions)...

It's not surprising that 'autism speaks' began in America, because their tactics in war have remained unchanged for years: bomb the cr*p out of something, then send in some scouts. If anything's still moving, pull back and bomb the cr*p out of it some more...

 

L&P

 

BD

[Sooze2]

Hi sooze - not sure about this, but 'Just In Case' I wanted to say that none of my previous post was a comment on your situation with your child in any way: it was just a general observation about going too far in either direction.

 

L&P

 

BD

 

Don't worry I didn't take it as that. Its a case of my midnight ramblings taking off and going off on a tangent! I'm sure I must have been born at night. xx

[Jannih]

This is the most horrible thing I have ever seen about autism Surely we can make a point without going this far

 

http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=3208

 

Cat

 

A good response !

 

[pearl]

Oh, I like that one much better!

[Cat]

Oh, I like that one much better!

 

 

Me too

 

Cat

[baddad]

Hmmm... I'm a tough audience and dislike 'parody songs', but I've gotta say I much prefer the spirit of this one...

 

I think any parent considering throwing in their lot with 'autism speaks' really only needs to consider this fact taken from the video:

 

Dollars raised by Autism Speaks in 2008: Over 69 Million.

Number of Autistic people involved in deciding how to spend that money: Zero

 

Once you consider that it kind of puts the whole thing about 'who' exactly is speaking here into context... As for the rest of the official video, it's pretty blatant about the organisations 'view' of autism, so I guess anyone who doesn't see it is having to work pretty hard at not seeing it. Sadly, there's plenty of historical evidence (and current - given racial tensions in this country and around the world generally) to suggest that people are very capable of putting in that effort when it suits them...

 

L&P

 

BD

[Tempus]

That video is so utterly ****** up it makes me want to be sick. I thought that the comments here must be exaggerating (though I am a staunch hater of Autism Speaks they seemed a little melodramatic) referring to it as like a horror movie, but it was absolutely disturbing. I'm sure that some people will believe what this short puts across, and the ramifications of that are horrible.