Hello and welcome to Autistic Changeling.
Today is April, um, specifically it is April
2nd, which a lot of people consider to be
Autism Awareness Day, and I really want to
talk about that.
Um, I knew I was going to have to do this
video at some point.
So, let's get going.
So, autism "awareness" day, uh, and the associated
"Light it up Blue" movement, was created by
Autism Speaks, and has since become associated
with many other Autism-related organizations,
regardless of whether or not said organizations
are directly affiliated with Autism Speaks,
the movement still came from them, and, uh,
is still primarily associated with Autism Speaks.
Um, and I and many other Autistic people have
a lot of issues both with Autism Speaks specifically
and with this movement in general.
So, let's start with the movement.
Um, "Light it up Blue" specifically, uh, I
mean, first of all, the idea of using blue
specifically with this movement came from
the misconception that boys are more likely
to be autistic.
Uh, this is not true, specifically, um, but
boys are more likely to be diagnosed due to
various social pressures and the fact that,
uh, the stereotype perpetuates itself.
Many psychiatrists will not consider autism
as much as a diagnosis for girls because they
assume it's a boys thing, so that just kind
of perpetuates itself.
Um, and there's a variety of reasons, but
most girls are misdiagnosed or undiagnosed,
not necessarily less likely to be autistic.
So that's the first thing, is that it's straight
up misinformation.
But second, and I think more important, is
the fact that awareness is not enough.
People talk about awareness today, um, and
being aware of autistic people, but a lot
of this awareness comes from organizations
made up of non-autistics people, and parents
of autistic children, rather than from autistic
people ourselves.
And when we try to speak, and try to share
our own voices, a lot of the time, unless
we are simply agreeing with and supporting
these parents and non-autistics, we get ignored
or shut down or spoken over.
Um, and awareness can be harmful if it is
not accompanied by acceptance.
Awareness can be these terrible advertisements
that Autism Speaks made a while back, perpetuating
stigma against autistic people.
I know there was one advertisement where a
woman was talking - with her child in the
room - about how the only reason she didn't
drive herself and her child off a bridge was
because she has a non-autistic child.
You know, parents speaking about wanting to
kill their autistic children is a form of
awareness, and it's a form I don't want.
Perpetuating the stigma that autistic people
are broken, or are missing a piece, or aren't
fully human, and if that sounds like I am
exaggerating, be aware that Autism Speaks'
scientific movement trying to figure out the
"cause" of autism has the shorthand "Missing",
because they believe that it's a missing piece,
and be aware that the creator of applied behavioral
analysis "therapy", Lovaas, said that autistic people
aren't really people but they're just empty
vessels that you can fill with whoever you
want them to be.
And be aware that these are things that people
think, that parents who kill their autistic
children have news articles written about
how hard it must have been for them to live
with the autistic child, rather than about
how tragic it is that a child was killed simply
for the way their brain works.
And all of this is awareness.
It's just not the right type.
Your awareness is not enough.
If "Awareness" is talking about autistic people
like we're not human, like we're missing pieces,
like we're broken, like we're harmful or like
we're burdens, tragedies, if it's talking
about us as though you pity us, or about us
as though we have to be superhuman to be worthy
of basic human respect and dignity, if it's
sharing videos of your child having meltdowns
without their permission, if it's sharing
details about your child's bathroom habits,
if it's acting as though we don't have anything
to offer the world or as though we have to
have more to offer than anybody else to be
worthy of respect, then I don't want your "Awareness"
I don't want it.
What I want is acceptance.
What I want is for people to, yes, know autistic
people exist, yes, that's why I'm doing educational
videos, that's why I've been doing videos
talking about various aspects of being autistic,
because education and sharing information
is important, but I don't want that information
to be wrong.
I don't want it to be misinformation or stereotypes.
I don't want it to be coming from the parents
of autistic people.
I don't want it to be coming from non-autistics
who haven't consulted us at all.
I want it to be coming from us.
I want it to be coming from autistic people,
and I want people to listen to us for a change.
And I want acceptance.
I want people to realize that we are people,
that autistics - including nonverbal autistics
- have things to say, and can communicate,
and can speak for ourselves.
I want people to accept that the way we are
and the way we exist isn't wrong, we're not
broken, we're not missing pieces, we are full,
human beings, with the rights to exist and
to be happy that everybody else has.
And until people can realize that, your awareness
isn't enough.
And that's why I do not support Autism Speaks
and the "Light it up Blue" movement.
Um, and I strongly recommend supporting Autistic
people and educational resources and acceptance
movements by Autistic people.
Uh, in particular I would suggest looking
up, um, the #RedInstead movement, as well
as resources by Amythest Schaber, who I've
mentioned before, um, and the book "Loud Hands:
Autistic People, Speaking" by the Autistic
Advocacy Network, which I also recommend.
Um, sorry, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
And also, the Autistic Women's Network is
a good resource as well.
Uh, and there's lots more, those are just
the ones off the top of my head.
Um, so that's... that's mostly what I wanted
to get off my chest today.
To share with all of you.
Um, just a few more details about why Autism
Speaks is harmful.
In addition to the negative stereotyping and
incredibly harmful advertisements they've
done in the past, uh, the majority of their
research, um, their funding goes towards,
you know, the usual things charities pay for,
like salaries and advertising - advertising
like what I've already mentioned - um, in
addition to that, they also primarily fund
research aimed at figuring out the "cause"
of autism and looking for a "cure".
Now, I put this in quotation marks because
many autistic people would not want a cure
if one was available, um, and that is an important
discussion, I would not a cure.
I am myself.
I like who I am.
You know, some things might be harder for
me because I'm autistic, but some things are
nicer, and regardless of any of that, I like
who I am.
And if you made me non-autistic, you wouldn't
make me into a version of myself that isn't
autistic, you would make me into somebody
else who is replacing me and living my life
but not having my identity.
It wouldn't be me.
It would be some imaginary version of me that
people might have thought they would prefer.
Um, so that's certainly an important thing
to be said, but you can't develop a cure.
There is no cure.
It is simply a fundamental part of how our
brains work, which is why so many Autistic
people oppose a cure, but what this really
means is that they don't want a cure, they
want eugenics.
It is not possible to take an Autistic person
and then to remove the autism, that isn't
going to happen.
So what their research is really trying to
do is to figure out how to do the same thing
to us that people have already done to babies
with Down's Syndrome, which is to discover
which children that's going to be, and then
selectively abort them and to pressure parents
into aborting their children by not providing
any resources about Autistic people that aren't
heavily stigmatizing, which plays back into
this whole awareness is not enough element here.
So, you know, when you're trying to figure
out how to identify and selectively abort
children with a specific trait, that's eugenics.
Um, and I cannot support that, I do not support
that, I strongly oppose that.
Um, so that's one of the major reasons, in
addition to the fact that, as far as I know,
Autism Speaks continues to support the Judge
Rotenberg Center, which is notorious for using
electric shocks as a deterrent on Autistic
people and other disabled people, um, and
has had lots of issues with quality of life
for the people living there.
Um, there's an excellent piece about it in
the Loud Hands book I mentioned.
And of course, the fact that Autism Speaks
continues to support ABA "therapy", which
is essentially, uh, designed to condition
Autistic people to suppress autistic traits
and to act like neurotypical people, and you
can't do that in a healthy way.
Autistic people are autistic, and by encouraging
autistic, through harmful adversives or through
condescending "dog treat" style methods, all
you're doing is encouraging people to suppress
traits that aren't harmful so that they can
fit in better in society, and that isn't going to work.
Not least because it's insulting and inappropriate,
but also because the traits that they're trying
to remove are things that happen for a reason.
Autistic people stim for a reason, I've talked
about it.
Autistic people avoid eye contact often because
it's a sensory issue.
Autistic people are autistic, and you can't
just make us non-autistic because you would
like us better if we were.
Uh, and there's lots of pieces written by
Autistic people who have had to suffer through
ABA "therapy" and have written about the abuse
and the harm they experienced and the negative
effect it has had on them.
Uh, I am not one of those people, but, uh,
it is important to be aware of how harmful it can be.
So.
That's what I wanted to say today.
Um, be aware of this and remember that your
information about Autistic people should come
from Autistic people.
Because we're the best source.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
