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Why Autism Speaks doesn't Speak for People With Autism

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, in fact the whole month of April is Autism Awareness Month. I'm sure most people have seen the Autism Speaks' Light it up Blue campaign and I've seen lots of blue light bulbs and other Autism Speaks posts all over Social Media this week. As someone who is High functioning Autistic/Asperger's Syndrome, I just have to speak out against the Autism Speaks organization.

Why? I've been asked by Autism Speaks supporters, why can't I just agree to disagree with Autism Speaks. I've heard people say that Autism Speaks helps families dealing with Autism, or the lame, Autism Speaks does lots of good stuff so why shine a light on the bad things Autism Speaks does. So, here are some of the reasons why we shouldn't support Autism Speaks.

1. Misinformation ~ Autism Speaks hurts the Autistic Community by spreading misinformation and lies about Autism. Autism Speaks is responsible for most of the bad press and confusion about Autism. 
2. Behavior Modification ~ Autism Speaks promotes behavior modification instead of promoting Autism Acceptance. They advocate training Autistic children to behave more like non-Autistic children, which sends the message that there is something wrong with being Autistic. 
3. We are not an Epidemic ~ Autism Speaks considers Autism to be a disease of epidemic proportion that requires eradication of people with Autism.
4. We are not broken ~ Autism Speaks promotes the concept that Autistic people are broken and need to be fixed. 
5. Fear ~ Autism Speaks uses fear tactics to raise money for their research agenda. They promote concepts that spread fear and panic like claiming vaccinations, gluten, chemtrails, etc...cause Autism even though all of those theories have been debunked and proven wrong. 
6. Disregard of Autistic Adults ~ Autism Speaks has no Autistic Adults on their board. They refuse to listen to the perspective of actual Autistic people.
7. Eugenics ~ Autism Speaks spends millions of dollars that were donated by people to help Autistic people, on Eugenics. Their Autism research consists of trying to identify the Autism genetic marker so pregnant women can be tested to find out if their fetus is Autistic before it is born. The purpose of this test would be to be used much like the test for Down Syndrome, so the parents of the Autistic fetus can abort fetuses with Autism.
8. Genocide ~ Autism Speaks' concept of a "cure" for Autism is to abort Autistic fetuses. This is an act of genocide against all Autistic people. Autism Speaks want to cure us into extinction.

Autism Speaks does not speak for Autistic people. We are not broken, so we don't need to be fixed. We are not a disease or epidemic, so we don't need to be cured. What we do need is acceptance and support. We need to get real Autism information and facts out to promote awareness. We need more programs and help available for Autistic Adults, because Autistic children eventually grow up and become Autistic Adults. We need people to accept us the way we are, quirks and differences and all, instead of trying to force us to be more like non-Autistic people.

Hopefully this will help people see why Autistic people don't support Autism Speaks and why supporting Autism Speaks hurts people living with Autism.

The Shame Of Poverty

Like being low income or poor isn't hard enough, people struggling financially also have to deal with a Society that blames the poor for being poor. Every day the Media, Conservative Politicians and Conservatives spew a non-stop litany of derogatory comments about poor people.

The poor are called lazy, parasites, welfare Queens and told to get a job, stop asking for handouts, pull up their bootstraps, whatever that means when you can't even afford boots. Right now, today in the United States there are over 50 Million households on food stamps. More than 80% of those households have at least one adult working at a minimum wage or low wage job. A large chunk of those 50 Million on food stamps are Military families.

Over 60% of homeless people in the United States right now have jobs, yet there are 6 empty houses/apartments for every one homeless person in America.

Those statistic of course don't even include the Millions of Americans who are struggling financially but are too ashamed to ask for help or apply for aid. Food Shelves across the Nation have reported an over 200% increase in people requesting aid.

I personally have never been rich, I was raised in a working poor family and was among the working poor most of my adult life. I have a good education, a handful of degrees and a ton of job experience, yet all it took was a string of bad luck when the recession hit to take me from being a working poor person who owned a home, a couple of cars, etc...to someone trying to survive on less than $9,000 a year from Social Security. I lost my job in the beginning of 2008, and discovered quickly that age discrimination is alive and well in the US. Oh, they don't come right out and say that you are too old, no they use euphemisms like 'over-qualified' but we all know it means too old.

A divorce and health problems along with not being able to find work, and not for lack of trying, left me homeless and sucked into a cycle of poverty that is very hard to just pull you bootstraps up to get out of. A lot of the people living in poverty in the United States are Seniors and disabled people, people who worked hard their whole lives only to end up struggling in what was supposed to be their golden years thanks to a Social Security system that didn't keep up to inflation and today's cost of living.

The United States government's formula for calculating poverty has not changed in decades. In the early 1980's poverty level for a family of 4 was just over $24,000 a year...the poverty level for a family of 4 today, in 2014 is still just over $24,000 a year. Yet, the price of everything else, rent, utilities, food, gas, etc... has gone up more than 200%.

I could quote statistic and facts all day long though and it still wouldn't convince the jerks who try to shame the poor, that it isn't poor people's fault that they are poor. They will still claim that people are living high on the hog off welfare and food stamps, even though the actual fact is that welfare fraud is at less than 1%

There will still be morons telling the poor to get a GED, even though more than 40% of people in poverty have college degrees. They will still tell poor people to get a job, even though most people in poverty are working at least one job and many are working 2 or more jobs. They will still tell working poor people that they just aren't working hard enough, even though most low wage jobs are much more labor intensive than higher paying jobs.

The suicide rate of people between the ages of 40-65 has quadrupled since 2008 because so many older workers are finding themselves among the long term unemployed. These are people who spent 30 years working in factories or on assembly lines and lost their jobs and pensions thanks to corporate loopholes, deregulation and union busting that led to thousands of companies moving their factories to third world Countries. These workers have had to cash out their 401k's and retirement funds to survive long term unemployment. They've lost their homes to foreclosure and are now paying higher rents than their mortgage was. They choose suicide because they don't want to be a burden on their adult children, because they feel ashamed for being poor even though it is in no way their fault that they are struggling.

Everybody has a story and you don't know what the homeless guy on the corner has struggled with. You don't know what the single Mom has survived. You don't know what the elderly lady digging through the dumpster has gone through. They do have one thing in common though, they don't need someone shaming them just because they are struggling financially.

Seniors In Crisis

      Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half in line at my local food shelf with a lovely lady named Nadia and heard her story, a story that is all too common among America's Senior Citizens today. Nadia is 73 years old and worked her entire life as a waitress before finally retiring at age 69 because her body just couldn't do the job anymore. Jobs like waiting tables don't provide 401K or pension plans, so Nadia now depends 100% on her Social Security benefits that are pretty minimal since waitressing jobs generally pay less than minimum wage.

     Nadia told me with tears in her eyes, how she had never been to a food shelf before and was embarrassed to be so desperate for food that she finally had to forget about pride and receive charity. She told me how after paying her mortgage payment, bills & prescription costs every month that she is left with only around $30 left over to purchase food each month and that she and her 2 cats have been living off Malt-O-Meal and dry toast for almost a year now. She told me that she ran out of Malt-O-Meal a day earlier and finally swallowed her pride for the sake of her starving kitties.

     When the food shelf finally opened up, I help Nadia get all of the information and phone numbers she needs to apply for food stamps, Energy Assistance and Medical assistance. She had no idea that she was even eligible for these programs and hopefully they will help make her life a little easier. We also discussed how she might be better off selling her house and moving into a subsidized Seniors Apartment.

     The thing is, Nadia's story is not uncommon anymore...millions of Seniors across America are struggling to make ends meet. Social Security payments are not enough for most Seniors to actually live on. More and more Seniors are needing to rely on help like food stamps and food shelves, even though they worked their entire adult lives. I meet Seniors like Nadia all the time, people who worked hard their whole lives only to end up struggling to survive during their so called Golden Years. Most would still be working if their bodies allowed or if there were jobs that would hire them.

     Cutting funding to Social Security, Medicare or the many Social Programs that our Seniors depend on just to barely survive to fund tax cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires is criminal in my opinion. Our Seniors are not lazy bums living off the system, they earned their Social Security & the Social Security program should be paying them a livable amount, not just barely paying them enough to subsist on. Something really needs to change in the United States if we the people allow our Seniors to struggle just so a handful of Millionaires and Billionaires can have gigantic tax breaks.

Waiting In Lines

I find myself spending an awful lot of my time lately, waiting in long lines...waiting in long lines full of other people just like me...people struggling just to stay alive.

People working minimum wage part-time jobs because employers don't want to provide benefits to full-time employees. Families consisting of 3 generations sharing too small apartments, because rents are so high it takes multiple incomes to put a roof over our heads. People who make too much income to get food stamps, but not enough income to actually afford food.

I share a small 3 bedroom unit in a Duplex with my youngest son, his spouse and my grand daughter. My son and my daughter in law both work part-time low wage jobs where their employers won't give them full-time hours because they don't want to give their employees full-time benefits. I get a small disability check each month and supplement it with what I earn writing from home. I get some public aid, Medicare and state medical assistance and a small amount of food stamps that isn't enough to feed me, let alone 4 people. My son & his spouse make too much income to qualify for any public aid, but not enough income to actually afford to live. We are what is sadly becoming the typical American family.

So...since they both work, I spend a lot of time watching my grand daughter & waiting in lines. Waiting in line at the neighborhood food shelf once a month. Waiting in line at various churches & community centers that give food to the needy. Waiting in line at the Energy Assistance office, the Salvation Army, the various free meals served at local churches and such. I spend a lot of time talking to other low income people in my area who are in the same sinking boat.

We share our stories that are all strikingly similar. The people standing in lines aren't lazy like the Republicans would like people to believe. Most of them had good paying jobs with benefits most of their lives...until the factories closed, or the company went out of business, or the job got outsourced to India, China, Mexico, etc...

Many got laid off for what was supposed to be temporary, but became permanent. Many lost their homes to foreclosure after their unemployment ran out. Most now work part-time minimum wage jobs that they are way over-qualified for. Many are senior citizens who never dreamed they would be spending their Golden Years standing in lines to keep from starving to death.

Empty Eyes

Empty Eyes

By: Bambi

Everywhere I go...

Everyone I see...

Empty eyes...

Staring back at me.

Riding on the bus...

Walking in the park...

Everybody struggling...

To get out of the dark.

Standing around in lines...

For loaves of day old bread...

Even working full-time...

Most folk just can't get ahead.

Everybody tired...

Everybody cries...

Looking for some hope...

Through very empty eyes.

Empty eyes everywhere...

We pretend not to see...

Everybody struggling...

Just like you and me.

Both Parties Are Not Alike

I keep hearing people saying that both parties are the same, because both the Republican and the Democratic Parties are corrupt. Yes, to some extent that is true...both parties are influenced by corporate interests, but that truly is where the similarities end.

Also, while the DFL is most definitely influenced by corporate interests, the GOP is owned by the Corporations, bought and paid for. There is in reality a gigantic difference between being influenced and owned.

Anyone who seriously believes that Corporate influence in a political party is all that matters is basically viewing politics in an extremely narrow minded way. Corporate influence in American politics is just one thin slice of the overall political pie and that is a severely limited way to judge an entire political party.

I'm a tail end baby boomer, born in 1964, I grew up in the era where JFK was the symbol of all that was right about the DFL. I am old enough to remember what the Democratic Party once was before it started leaning right and embracing more conservative values post Reagan. I have watched the DFL become the moderate Conservative party in the US as the GOP has become slowly but surely a far right religious extremist hate group that has no business even being in American politics anymore.

Today's Democratic Party is not the DFL of my youth, it no longer truly represents Liberal minded Americans...and yes, a new Liberal political party is desperately needed in the US...but seriously...anyone who thinks both the GOP & the DFL are opposite sides of the same coin has not been paying attention.

There is still a world of difference between the GOP and the DFL if you are a woman, LGBT, low income or a minority. The GOP is waging a war of oppression against everyone who isn't a rich white heterosexual male, and they are winning because they have convinced a generation of 20-somethings that both parties are exactly the same so there is no point in voting. They have spent the last 30 years dumbing down America through their corporate control of information and when mainstream media failed and the Occupy Movement rose up to try to educate and inform the Nation, the GOP seized on another way to hold on to their control...APATHY

The GOP had already seized control of the lunatic fringe with the Koch Brothers funded Tea Party...but the Occupy Movement threatened to educate and inform the children of Reaganomics, the youth that Fox News & the GOP had spent 30 years indoctrinating was suddenly on the precipice of becoming informed, joining forces with the Liberals and rising up against them. The GOP couldn't afford to let that happen.

But, how to nip it in the bud when America's youth yearned for revolution? It was actually quite simple and the GOP easily infiltrated the Occupy Movement and quickly spread the seeds of mistrust towards all politics...they played the Anarchy card and won big. They easily removed the possible threat of millions of young voters by getting them to believe that both political parties were equally evil and that voting was pointless. A political strategy that has worked countless times throughout history and America's disenfranchised youth were easy targets.

All politicians know that the easiest way to win an election is to convince the opposition not to vote...that their votes don't matter. Better yet, convince them that not voting is a form of protest and make them angry at everyone to ensure that they don't vote. Make them feel self-important, as if they know a secret and everyone else is blind. The GOP has succeeded in doing just this within the Occupy Movement by feeding their anger towards the Corporations to the point where they are blind to all other issues.

The Anarchy faction in Occupy has grown significantly over the winter...they are young and angry and are so focused of corporate corruption that they have a tunnel vision that leaves them blinded to all other issues except for how they relate to corporate corruption. Over the winter they have chased away many of the older and Liberal activist claiming the Liberals are trying to co-opt the Occupy Movement, all the while not even realizing they have become GOP puppets and that the Right Wing has effectively silenced them by convincing them not to vote.

There is currently a tug of war going on in the Occupy Movement between the Liberals and the Anarchists that threatens to derail the entire Movement...and all I can say is well played GOP...well played.