this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2024
65 points (97.1% liked)

Autism

6887 readers
32 users here now

A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.

We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.

Community:

Values

  • Acceptance
  • Openness
  • Understanding
  • Equality
  • Reciprocity
  • Mutuality
  • Love

Rules

  1. No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
  2. Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
  3. Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
  4. Do not request donations.
  5. Be respectful in discussions.
  6. Do not post misinformation.
  7. Mark NSFW content accordingly.
  8. Do not promote Autism Speaks.
  9. General Lemmy World rules.

Encouraged

  1. Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
  2. Funny memes.
  3. Respectful venting.
  4. Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
  5. Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
  6. Questions regarding autism.
  7. Questions on confusing situations.
  8. Seeking and sharing support.
  9. Engagement in our community's values.
  10. Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
  11. Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room
  • We have a chat room! Want to engage in dialogue? Come join us at the community's Matrix Chat.

.

Helpful Resources

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world
65
Autism Sneaks (lemm.ee)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by disposable@lemm.ee to c/autism@lemmy.world
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I didn't want to cook for myself tonight, but I read somewhere that the place I started ordering from is a sponsor of Autism Speaks.

Before placing the order, I tried to go on the AS website to check it out but I kept getting distracted by the stream of donation alerts that popped up at the bottom of the page.

It took me an additional five or so minutes to review their partnerships because it was so overstimulating.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Hi! I got here from the "everything" tab, while I don't have autism myself I want to support those with autism as best as I can. I have often seen that Autism Speaks is problematic, but I don't fully understand why, can someone please explain it to me?

[–] Lhianna 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just a few points, you'll find much more just putting "autism speaks controversy" into the search engine of your choice.

They view autism as a disease that needs to be cured.

They made videos saying autism will destroy your marriage, your family and your life.

They advocate to develop prenatal testing for autism with the goal of having women abort their supposedly autistic babies.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Thank you!

[–] ladytaters@lemmy.world 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They treat autism as a disease to be cured, which is a disgusting way to think about it. Their founder also claimed that it's "possible" that autism is caused by vaccines, which is scientifically disproven. There are also no autistic members of their board, which means no actual representation for the people they claim to want to help.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Thank you!

[–] mbgid@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are a lot of reasons, but I think this article does a good job of listing the main criticisms: https://www.themarysue.com/the-autism-speaks-controversy-explained/

But in a nutshell:

  • They frame autism as a disease that needs curing
  • None of their board members are autistic
  • They spread fear and misinformation about autism
  • As a charity, embarrassingly little of their money goes to actually doing anything for autistic people
[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Thank you!

[–] Nithanim@programming.dev 5 points 4 months ago

Well, donation/purchase popups are already a very big red flag in itself. Scam sites use them to drive FOMO. I have never heard of Autism Speaks so I don't know about this particular case.