First of all, I apologize for the flood of posts within the past day or so.

I had a very interesting conversation about Autism Speaks and Autism Awareness month with my folks, in which it was revealed to me that my father, before my diagnosis had worked with Autism Speaks in the school setting.

This was a part of an activity in regards to his former position in the schools working with at risk kids, and autistic children in a peer to peer program he helped develop for the school he works for. I love my father dearly, but hearing that information disheartened me as an autistic individual, especially one who promotes neurodiversity, and acceptance. Here’s a breakdown of what bothered me the most.

• Autism Speaks isn’t an organization that represents me- I am an autistic individual, and I do not have a disease that needs to be “cured”. I am me, including my autism and not against it.

• They have had a long history of not including autistic people in their discussions about autism. - I mean, this ideology makes no sense. In order to better support the autistic populous, shouldn’t you know what our needs are?

• Not much of their funding actually goes to help people with Autism.

• They perpetrate the stereotype that autism is just a “boys condition”.

• They do not focus on acceptance and support for individuals with autism and instead are focused on efforts to silence those with autism.

• Their research in genetics and in general scares me, because it seems like they are focused more on getting rid of people like me, than creating acceptance and support for people like me and families like mine, that celebrates neurodiversity and doesn’t shun it.

With that being said, I’m glad my family and I had that conversation yesterday, and I can honestly say, even though I was asked multiple times by my parents “Where did you find this information?” and by my NT mother “ Wouldn’t you like to have research for a cure for autism, and know what causes it?” this is a learning experience for both of my parents and that this Autism Awareness Month and always, I will be making sure that collectively as a family we will be supporting ASAN, AWN, and our local Disability Support Network that help provide a culture of acceptance and strength to people like me, and to people like us on this forum.