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.