Autistic Hedgehog

Well, here’s the thing: The necessity of a charity for autism depends, I think, on where that charity is located and what it’s trying to do.

In the US, where social support structures are absolute crap, charities are often an unfortunate necessity. They are an opportunity to raise money, support and awareness so that autistics of all ages can get what they need out of society to make life more comfortable. 

That’s part of what makes Autism $peaks such a crappy charity. It focuses on things like cures, which have very little relevance to the daily life of any autistic. When I see cases where, for example, a mother kills her autistic child because she can’t afford the special schooling he needs, I hold Autism $peaks doubly responsible. Their fearmongering and misinformation is bad enough, but as a charity, this is what they should be doing: Giving support so things like that don’t happen, and raising awareness of why society should change so there’s more support built into it.

They’re such a big charity that their Light it up Blue campaign is worldwide, and yet, why don’t they have funding programs to help autistic people get the kind of education, health and career help they need? Why don’t they run ads and make videos about how social security and universal healthcare are necessary infrastructure to help autistics (and all people) live happier, healthier lives? They could do that, and a good charity would do such things. 

I guess what I’m saying is, having a charity for something doesn’t necessarily make that something a “charity case.” Rather, it can potentially be a force for change in the world, doing its part to help make the world a less harsh, inflexible place for autistics, and showing others why they should do the same. Such charities would definitely be worthwhile, and I can’t imagine most of us would be offended by them. 

I know this sort of thing can be difficult, but no matter what, it’s always best to be informed about the realities of any charity organization. Something that appears on the surface to be good may not be so when examined from another angle. No one should remain silent in cases like those. Especially when it’s so hard to get people to listen in the first place. Every voice is valuable when it comes to shutting down horrible organizations like Autism Speaks. 

If you want to intervene, you will face opposition and you may not succeed. But if you change even one mind, you’ve achieved something, which is very important to remember. Start by getting as well informed as you can about why Autism Speaks is so bad. This post is an excellent place to begin in that respect, and even lists alternate and preferable charities. Ask for permission to print out this information to pass around, or email links to the people involved in raising money at your school. 

A very important thing to remember: Autism Speaks feeds on the same fears that anti-vaxxers and alt-med gurus do. They target parents who were given no hope by the psychologists and psychiatrists involved in diagnosing their child, parents who have to fight with crappy systems that refuse to provide what their children actually need, and with an overall field that is still very uneducated and incompetent when it comes to understanding autism. 

This makes it much easier for them to paint autistics as a burden, as a problem that needs curing, when its society that needs curing. It’s society that makes things burdensome with its inflexibility, it’s lack of compassion, its strict adherence to “normalcy.” Find information and a charity, if you can, that works to combat those problems by changing society rather than changing us, is what I guess I’m getting at. 

Autism Speaks is big, loud, and well-funded and that gives it a huge advantage and allows it to manipulate situations to fit its needs. Even making small inroads against it is beyond valuable.