Running a business can be challenging to everyone, and as with most things, can provide extra challenges for autistic people. Also, as with most things, we may have skills and abilities that give us a greater chance of succeeding despite the extra challenges.

In honor of Autistics Speaking Day 2011, I will write about my personal experience of running a business with these challenges and benefits. I have been very lucky and have had a lot of help along the way and would be very happy if I could help someone else looking to follow a similar path.

First, a  few words about luck:

I do not have the business skills to run my own business. Before Karen was my billing manager, I often forgot to bill people and could not keep track who had paid even though I use software to keep track of such things. Software is useless if you forget to supply the needed data. Every month, Karen makes sure that clients are billed and follows up when someone has not paid. Needless to say, this has had a huge impact on the success of my business!

I have also been lucky to have a community of web designers and developers that send work in my direction. Most of this community is in the San Francisco Bay Area and I miss them a lot. I have not yet met that community in Baltimore, but I have met some really great developers at local PHP and WordPress meetups. I have been especially lucky to meet one woman who has welcomed me to Baltimore with open arms, sent great jobs my way, and shares her office space with me!

For the most part, when I work with other internet professionals (designers, developers, consultants, marketing people, copywriters, etc.), I have much less client contact than I do when I am working directly for a client. If I had my way, I would have a partner who takes care of the business and non-technical client management side of things all the time.

Challenge/Benefit #1 – Communication

When I was a new freelancer, I did not yet know about the client phenomenon known as “one more thing”. ”One more thing” is when a client thinks a task is very simple, when in fact it may take several hours or days to complete. “Can you just [insert complicated time-consuming job here]?”. I am often expected to do this for free, because it is part of the website that I am building for them. No, I can not just do that. It will add 3 days to the project time and cost $1000.

It is a skill to communicate to clients what is involved in creating the things they are asking for. In most cases, it is best not to be too technical because most people do not understand the jargon of web development. Why should they? By attempting to simplify things into terms that a client can understand and relate to, the amount of time and work necessary to complete a project can seem like it would be much less than it actually is.

I like to have honest relationships with my clients. I do not generally ‘read between the lines’ and I never speak between them. I am autistic. My communication skills are limited, yet for the most part, my clients seem to like and respect me a great deal. Some will become frustrated with me at some point or other due to a communication (or lack of communication) issue, but all have appreciated my honesty, attention to detail, and dedication to giving them the best site possible within their budget.

Challenge #2 – Organization

Every morning, I look at my todo list, get overwhelmed, and start my work day. The list is always long. I use software to prioritize tasks and to view them in very focused ways. Otherwise, I would not have any idea what to do first. If I have to think, I am doomed to spend hours in a state of confusion while rapidly alternating between hundreds of things for 30-60 seconds each. Very bad for productivity to say the least.

Challenge #3, Benefit #2 – Hyperfocus

When I am not serially uni-tasking at rapid speeds, I can usually be found doing the exact opposite, hyper-focusing on one thing for hours at a time, usually code. In general, this serves me well, but sometimes there is a need to come out of the code and attend to something else. I find this very hard to do at times, to the point where I can not give my full focus and attention to something because I can not let go of the code. The amount of confusion that occurs while trying to shift can be very painful and disorienting to me and very annoying and frustrating to a person trying to pull me back.

Hyperfocus can also be a benefit when learning new skills. I work in an industry where there is a need to be constantly learning new technologies and keeping up with older ones. The ability to become so engrossed in something that it becomes all-consuming makes it much easier to keep up.

Benefit #3 – Helping Each Other

At some point, I would like to work with an autistic intern/apprentice and teach them the skills that I have learned in a way that they can understand and in an environment that they can be comfortable in. I have a similar wish to teach karate to autistic people someday.

In the past 5 years, the autistic community on the internet has grown exponentially and brought thousands of people together. This has expanded to “real life” communities, government action, education, and many other areas, but it is still not enough. It is our voices that will lead the way to a better future, whether those voices be vocal or assisted by a device or person. It is our voices that will allow us to reach out to one another, help each other, and share our unique views of the world with the people who’s world is sometimes a mystery to us. It is our voices that will tell the world that we have voices.

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Exhaling Beauty by Kim Miller

Last night, Karen and I attended Exhaling Beauty: an Evening Celebrating Females on the Autism Spectrum. The aim of the event was to share and showcase the talents, experiences, and spirit of the female ASD community. They definitely did that. I have never heard of another event like this and I am very thankful that they put on this amazing show and will be taking it on the road. It was really nice to be there with Karen, especially on the day that she passed her national social work license test. Congratulations Karen!

The show consisted of talks by authors Shana Nichols, Rudy Simone, and Liane Holliday Willey, and featured the artwork of Kim Miller.

Shana Nichols is a psychologist who specializes in working with girls on the autism spectrum. I don’t think there are too many other people in existence with this specialty. Hopefully she will start a trend! She spoke about girls growing up on the autism spectrum and some of the challenges they face. It was really amazing to hear about how she helps these girls to try and see the positive aspects of being on the spectrum and empower them to make the most of their skills and interests. It makes me incredibly happy to know that young girls will have the chance to be understood and taught to deal with living in the world on their own terms. I imagine it to be the polar opposite of how things were for many of us who did not grow up in a time where services like this existed. Shana is the author of Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum: What Parents and Professionals Should Know About the Pre-teen and Teenage Years.

Rudy Simone is a jazz singer and the author of Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome, Asperger’s on the Job, and 22 Things a Woman Must Know: If She Loves a Man With Asperger’s Syndrome. Rudy’s presentation was called “Loving the Aspergirl life: How to navigate the challenges of adulthood and have the fulfilling, inspired life you were meant to”. She spoke about her life and many of the challenges that she has been through and how she ultimately pieced together her skills and talents to make a better life for herself.

Liane Holliday Willey was the last to speak. Her presentation was titled “Life Shared with ASD: A Journey of Challenges, Self-Acceptance, Forgiveness & Healing”. She told some heart-felt and personal stories about growing up on the spectrum, her current life and challenges, and some really amazing stories about her father, who also had Asperger syndrome, and how much he meant to her and taught her throughout her life. Liane is the author of Pretending to Be Normal: Living With Asperger’s Syndrome, Asperger Syndrome in the Family Redefining Normal: Redefining Normal, and Asperger Syndrome in Adolescence: Living With the Ups, the Downs and Things in Between.

Me and K had a really great time and met some great people, in particular a mother and daughter who travelled all the way from Missouri to see the show. The both seemed like really great people and it was nice to get to talk to them. It was also nice to meet the authors and Kim Miller.

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AWN is a unique organization that was founded by women on the autism spectrum. Our mission is to provide effective supports to autistic females of all ages through a sense of community, advocacy, and resources.

This month, AWN is taking part in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Project.

Please vote for us every day in August!

Goals

• To organize 5 Workshops with focus on female specific autism qualities
• To provide online support & mentoring for autistic females & families
• To secure Autism Women’s Network as a non-profit organization

You can vote by texting 101500 to Pepsi (73774) once per day.

For more information and to vote online, head over to the AWN Pepsi Refresh page:

http://www.refresheverything.com/awn

You can also vote directly from this site. Click the ‘Vote for this idea’ button in the sidebar.

I got kind of confused when voting, so please make sure you vote goes through. You need to log in with your Facebook account or create an account on the Refresh Everything site BEFORE clicking to vote.

Thanks everyone! Please share this with anyone you know who may want to help!

Disclosure: Lori is the Director of Technical Services and Web Development for AWN.

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Alex Plank gave the keynote presentation at the Autism Society’s 41st National Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Alex speaks honestly and openly about being autistic and connecting with other autistic people online. His website, WrongPlanet.net, has been helping autistic people connect with each other since 2004.

Alex’s keynote is the first of 7 videos from the conference. The panel discussion also features Sandy Yim from the Autism Women’s Network.

All videos can be found on the Autism Society’s YouTube Channel.

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I have been different from other people for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I have had many different diagnoses, opinions, and treatments that were not quite right. My parents have tried to get me help since I was a little kid, but no one really knew what to do with me.

I was a smart but strange kid. I didn’t understand things, especially people. I didn’t fit in. I thought school was dumb. I thought a lot of things were dumb. Turns out a lot of them are, but many were not as black and white as I thought at the time. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began seeing shades of grey.

During my early years of school, I barely talked at all and spent a bunch of time in the principal’s office. My teachers and school psychologists thought I could be normal if I tried harder. If I would just be like the other kids, they would like me and wouldn’t be so mean to me. I just wasn’t “applying myself”.

It wasn’t until 5 years ago that I finally learned what is “wrong” with me. I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Autism. I sometimes wonder what would life have been like if we knew that when I was 3 instead of when I was 38? It is hard not to think of all the “if”s.

Would I have been a happy kid? Would I have finished college? Would I have never wanted to kill myself? Would my parents have had a happier and less frustrating life? Would they have had support and not had to figure everything out for themselves? No way to know and generally a bad place to take my brain.

For Autism Awareness Month, I would like to write about autism from the perspective of the people who are closest to me. They have been there for me through the best times and the worst. I think that acknowledging and documenting their experiences is an important part of increasing autism awareness and would like to thank them all very much for answering so honestly and thoughtfully.

I asked 5 questions each to my partner Karen and my parents Gloria and Ron (M&D). Here are their answers:

1. What, if anything, changed for you when you found out I am autistic?

M&D: What changed for us when you were finally diagnosed was relief and sadness. We were glad to hear that they finally put a label on all your symptoms and you did not have a life threatening disease and that this condition was somewhat manageable. We were also very sad and disappointed that this was not diagnosed earlier in your life because of all the pain and suffering you incurred unnecessarily for so many years. As parents, your pain was our pain.

Karen: So many things changed – maybe not immediately but I’d say quite a bit in that first year – more than I could probably put to words here.

A lot of things started to make sense in terms of why you do some of the things you do. I remember looking it up in the DSM (which I use regularly where I work) and feeling like all the puzzle pieces had clicked into place. I never thought of autism because in the DSM it’s listed as a condition that is diagnosed in childhood and I work with adults so it never occurred to me. I don’t think I had heard of Asperger’s at that point.

When I say “some of the things you do,” I mean specifically – rocking, flapping your hands (or “stimming”), echolalia (repeating words or phrases), getting “loud head” – i.e. becoming sensory-overwhelmed, having difficulty with certain social situations or people. Also just some things about what you like or dislike make sense in terms of sensory input – your love of soft things and clothes, your dislike of certain tastes or textures or lighting or sounds.

Another thing that changed is that I had a better context for understanding some of the ways that you see the world. I feel like we went on a journey together as we looked for other people on the autistic spectrum and in particular, resources. Basically it opened a whole new way of understanding who you are and I think that brought us a lot closer.

2. What do you see as the positive aspects, if any, of my being autistic?

M&D: After reading about Aspergers, and being told that most sufferers of this form of Autism are highly intelligent (something that we always knew), and could really focus on one thing at a time,  we were glad that you were putting your talents to good use. We are so proud of what you have been able to accomplish up to now and what you will continue to accomplish in the future.  We are also in awe of your writing ability. Your communication skills over the internet are beautifully written and very enlightening and educational.

It makes us very happy that you chose not to look back with “what if?”.  Being able to look toward the future is a very positive attitude and one that will prove to be very fruitful.

Karen: The biggest thing for me is that you have really changed the way I see the world too. I’ve had to do a lot of my own soul-searching about my learned and ingrained ways of communicating with others, social conventions and norms, the ways that we neurotypical people, or “NTs” take for granted our skill with non-verbal communication. It has made me less afraid of being straightforward and honest because with you, I have to be, and not just because you are my life partner. I can’t expect you to just know when something is wrong or when I might be feeling a certain way – the way other people in my life might be able to tell. I have to tell you and be up front about it. Ultimately it has made me see how much gets covered up – for various reasons – by the neurotypical world – and how important it is to uncover those things.

You are funny and silly and I find, for example, the echolalia endearing. I hope that is not insulting to anyone on the spectrum who is reading this. It makes me laugh but not because I’m making fun of you but because there is a certain whimsical and playful quality to that, and to other things you do that I just love. It’s freeing to me because I get to be playful with you.
I love your love for computers, coding, geekery, gaming, podcasts, screencasts, etc. You get so into it and I think that the computer has brought new worlds to you, including having your own business.

I especially love that we don’t need to constantly talk to be comfortable around each other. I talk all day for a living and I like to be able to come home and we can both be doing our own thing in the same room without having to have constant conversation and both be totally content and relaxed.

I like the way you are and who you are. It’s hard to say what “part” is the autistic part and what part is just who you are because I think it’s inseparable.

3. What kinds of challenges have you faced because of my autism?

M&D: Now you’re asking me to tax my brain.  Thirty-eight years is a long time to remember, but I do recall there were many incidents and challenges.  Keeping you in line at school was probably the most challenging because it involved many years.  Trying to get a diagnosis was very frustrating.  I always had a feeling of guilt that I wasn’t doing enough. Aspergers was an unknown back in the 60′s. No one ever suggested Autism or any form thereof because basically you were functioning (or pretending to function), almost normally. You didn’t have a lot of friends but you managed a few (although some of them were very questionable at the time) you enjoyed their company. You were basically anti-social and that hurt me because I was such a people person. We were disappointed that you never finished college but then again you never thought many of the courses were necessary and what would they do for you later on in life. We tried to convince you to stick it out, but to no avail. I think the college experience was a good one because you managed to make friends and had some fun.

Karen: Probably the biggest challenges are social interaction and travel. You are sometimes uncomfortable in certain social situations, which means that at those times, I go and do things on my own with other people. This works out most of the time – although as you know it took a bunch of years to figure out pretty well what works and what doesn’t for both of us. I imagine there will always be situations that come up that we need to work through. Sometimes there are places or events that I go to and wish that I had my partner there – and that you would be able to enjoy them.  Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to work things out or come to a good compromise.

Travel can be difficult because it’s hard for you to deal with, even though once we get to our destination, it’s usually fine. It’s a lot of stimulation and energy-drain and I sometimes get impatient for you to decide whether we or you are going to go somewhere.

The energy thing can be hard in general because sometimes I have more energy than you to do multiple things or multitask and your run out of it quicker.

4. What types of communication have worked best and what types of communication have worked the least with me?

M&D: Being your mother, I often felt that I had this inner connection to your thoughts and feelings.  There were many times you called me a witch.  When I get the feeling that something is not right I call and I am usually right.  During those times I feel your pain and frustration and wish that I could just hug you and tell you everything will be better.  I think the positive approach always worked for me with you.  I try not to ask too many questions when I think you are having a bad day.  When asked, I try to answer your questions with honesty and an up front answer. I truly believe that since you have been diagnosed, your communication with the outside world has improved.  Knowing what is wrong always helps to prevent bad things from happening because there are medications, explanations and advice as to what to do. I believe that the knowledge of knowing that you are not alone and there are so many other people suffering from the same thing has made you a better person and improved your outlook on life.

Karen: Like I was talking about in my earlier answer, being honest and up front works best. It’s not always easy – it comes way more naturally to me than it did before we got together. It can be scary but ultimately it always brings us to a better understanding of each other. It still makes me squirmy sometimes but it has made a world of difference in all areas of my life, not just in our relationship – which by the way is another positive thing.

Me saying to you, “Why don’t you just….” does not work at all. It makes us both frustrated. Sometimes I forget that if you could “just” do something, you probably would.

5. Is there anything you have learned that you would like to share with other loved ones of autistic people?

M&D: I have learned that everyone walks in their own shoes.  You are who you are, and being happy doesn’t mean that everything in life is perfect.  It just means that you have to learn to live with the imperfections. Remember, all is not what it appears to be.  You have a great support team with Karen, family and friends. To me and Dad you serve as an inspiration in being able to accomplish what you have until now and what you will continue to accomplish in the future.  We love you and we will always be there for you.

Karen: I have learned to be more patient and more honest in general. I have learned that brains are fascinating and mysterious things and that everyone’s brain works differently. I have learned that people on the autistic spectrum have as much to contribute to the world as NTs do. I have learned that people on the spectrum have so many things that they can teach NTs: about different ways of communicating, of seeing the world, of showing love and affection and about the nonsensical nature of many of our social norms. I have learned how much NTs take for granted about how we communicate without words – and how confusing and bewildering this can be for people on the spectrum. I have learned that people with autism are lovable.

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Autism Reality is a 10 minute documentary film about autism by Alex Plank. The film features interviews with Dr. Temple Grandin, Alex himself, and a handful of others including Alex’s parents.

This film shows a perspective not often seen in autism media by portraying autism as a reality which is neither good nor bad, just a different way that some people are wired.

Alex is the founder of WrongPlanet.net, one of the earliest and largest online communities for people on the autistic spectrum.

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Me & K went to Monterey for K’s 40th birthday and had an awesome time. Happy birthday K! We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the seahorse exhibit. It was amazing. We also saw lots of sharks and rays and other random sea creatures. We stayed overnight at a nice bed and breakfast and got home the next day in time to give Halloween candy to kids. Not so many kids this year.

Still hard to breathe but not so dizzy anymore. Sometimes it is kind of annoying to be me but most of the time I like it. Enough writing for now. I think it helped some.

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To the Sponsors, Donors and Supporters of Autism Speaks:

We, the undersigned organizations representing self advocates, parents, professionals and allies in the Autism, Autistic and Disability Communities, are writing to you to express our concern about the recent actions of Autism Speaks. Our work is about helping empower and support people with disabilities of all kinds, including adults and youth on the autism spectrum, and we recognize that there are a wide variety of means towards accomplishing this goal. Yet, Autism Speaks’ recent choice to use fear, stigma, misinformation and prejudice against Autistic people as a fundraising tool does real damage to people with disabilities everywhere. The most recent example of this lack of ethics can be found in Autism Speaks’ new “I am Autism” campaign which states,

“I am autism…I know where you live…I work faster than pediatric AIDS, cancer and diabetes combined. And if you’re happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails. Your money will fall into my hands and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain…I will make it virtually impossible for your family to easily attend a temple, birthday party, or public park without a struggle, without embarrassment, without pain…I am autism. I have no interest in right or wrong. I derive great pleasure out of your loneliness.”

Not only does this campaign rely on offensive stereotypes and inaccurate information (research indicates that parents of Autistic children are not more likely to divorce than parents of non-Autistic children), but it also does real damage to the cause of disability rights. By choosing to portray Autistic people as husks of real people, stolen out of our own bodies, Autism Speaks reinforces stereotypes and prejudice against people with disabilities that have existed for centuries and have been the source of pain, segregation and violence.

We are calling on you to end your support for Autism Speaks and to find new ways to show your support for Autistic people and others with disabilities. As the result of a pattern of unethical behavior and irresponsible governance, outlined below, we believe that Autism Speaks as an organization no longer deserves your time, energy, money and support.

Autism Speaks uses damaging and offensive fundraising tactics which rely on fear, stereotypes and devaluing the lives of people on the autism spectrum:

Autism Speaks’ unethical fundraising tactics are not limited to the new “I am Autism” video. Its television Public Service Announcements compare having a child on the autism spectrum to having a child caught in a fatal car accident or struck by lightning. In fact, the idea of autism as a fate worse than death is a frequent theme in their fundraising and awareness efforts, going back to their “Autism Every Day” film in 2005. Indeed, throughout Autism Speaks’ fundraising is a consistent and unfortunate theme of fear, pity and prejudice, presenting Autistic adults and children not as full human beings but as burdens on society that must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Very little money donated to Autism Speaks goes toward helping Autistic people and families:

According to their 2008 annual report, only 4% of Autism Speaks’ budget goes towards the “Family Service” grants that are the organization’s means of funding services. Given the huge sums of money Autism Speaks raises from local communities as compared to the miniscule sums it gives back, it is not an exaggeration to say that Autism Speaks is a tremendous drain on the ability of communities to fund autism service-provision and education initiatives Furthermore, while the bulk of Autism Speaks’ budget (65%) goes toward genetic and biomedical research, only a small minority of Autism Speaks’ research budget goes towards research oriented around improving services, supports, treatments and educational methodologies, with most funding going towards basic research oriented around causation and genetic research, including the prospect of prenatal testing. Although Autism Speaks has not prioritized services with a practical impact for families and individuals in its budget, its rates of executive pay are the highest in the autism world, with annual salaries as high as $600,000 a year.

Autism Speaks excludes the people it pretends to represent:

Autism Speaks is one of an increasingly few number of major disability advocacy organizations that refuse to include any individual with the disability they purport to serve on their board of directors or at any point in their leadership and decision-making processes. In large part due to Autism Speaks’ public relations strategy of presenting Autistic people as silent burdens on society rather than human beings with thoughts, feelings and opinions, Autism Speaks’ governance policies are deeply unrepresentative and out of step with the mainstream of the disability non-profit community.


Contrary to the “I am Autism” video, which equates autism with AIDS and Cancer, autism is not a terminal disease. It is a disability, one that comes with significant challenges in a wide variety of realms. Yet the answer to those challenges is not to create a world in which people are afraid of people on the autism spectrum. The answer is not to create a world in which the word autism is met with terror, hatred and prejudice. It is to work to create a society that recognizes the civil rights of Autistic people and others with disabilities. It is to work to create a world in which people with disabilities can benefit from the supports, the services and the educational tools necessary to empower them to be full citizens in society.

We are Autism’s true voice – Autistic people and those with other disabilities ourselves, and our allies, family members, friends and supporters. Autism Speaks does not speak for us. We are not stolen – we are right here. Our lives may be difficult – but they are worth living. Autism Speaks Does Not Speak For Us and we will not work with an organization that relies on damaging and offensive stereotypes to advance an agenda out of step with those they purport to represent. We call upon you to recognize this and find better avenues for your admirable desire to support Autistic people and our families. We call upon you to end your support for Autism Speaks.

Regards,

National:

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
ADAPT
TASH
Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund
The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN)
Autism Network International (ANI)
Little People of America (LPA)
Not Dead Yet
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Autistic Spectrum Partnership In Research and Education (AASPIRE)
Mothers From Hell 2

International:
Autistic Self-Advocacy Network-Australia
Autism Rights Group Highland (in Scotland, United Kingdom)
The Autistic Community of Israel
Autreach IT in the United Kingdom
The Southwest Autistic Rights Movement (SWARM) in the United Kingdom

Local and Regional:
ADAPT-Montana
The Center for Disability Rights in Rochester, NY
The Regional Center for Independent Living in Rochester, NY
The Michigan Disability Rights Coalition
The Institute for Disability Access in Austin, Texas
The Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education
The Paraquad Center for Independent Living in St. Louis, Missouri
The Lonesome Doves in Pennsylvania
TASH-New England
Together Enhancing Autism Awareness in Mississippi (TEAAM)
Wesleyan Students for Disability Rights at Wesleyan University in Connecticut
Tangram in Indianapolis, Indiana

–
Ari Ne’eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
info@autisticadvocacy.org
732.763.5530

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More Responses:

• ABFH has posted a list of video and blog/article responses here.
• Turner and Kowalski are collecting pictures with captions for their parody video. Send some in!

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This video is just one part of Autism Speaks’ crusade to educate the world about how horrible autistic people are and how they will destroy the happiness of anyone who crosses their path.

If you haven’t seen the Autism Speaks video, it is exactly the same as this one except for the audio, which is almost the complete opposite. Lyrics are below.

A list of responses to the Autism Speaks video
is being compiled at I Speak of Dreams.

I… Am… Autism… Speaks…

I am Autism Speaks…

I am invisible to your children. And I will be invisible to you until it’s too late.

I know where you live. And guess what? It’s no use hiding.

I have my eyes on all of you… I am watching you all.

I am Autism Speaks.

I have no color… no religion… no morals… no love….

I speak the language of despair and disease. And with every voice I steal. I grow stronger.

I work quickly to make people believe your children are suffering worse than cancer or AIDS victims.

I am Autism Speaks.

And if you’re happily married… I’ll distroy your marriage with unattainable dreams and broken promises.

Your money will fall into my hands… And I will bankrupt you… And pay myself hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

I don’t sleep… And I’ll make sure you don’t either.

I will make it virtually impossible for you to leave your home without feeling the shame of diseased children.

I am Autism Speaks.

You have no defense against me…

Your advocates don’t have the money to fight me. And I relish your poverty.

I will make everyone think you and your children are diseased and disordered. And then… Turn on them.

I am Autism Speaks.

I have no interest in right or wrong.

I derive great pleasure out of your loneliness.

I will take away your hope.

I will rob you of your children and of your dreams.

I will make sure you will cry everyday.

You will wonder who will look after your children when you die.

And the Truth is… I… Do… Not… Care…

I am Autism Speaks.

And you are scared…

And you should be.

I am Autism Speaks.

You ignored me… And that was a Big mistake.

I am Autism Speaks…

And I speak in voices stolen from your children.

I am Autism Speaks.

Join the Protesting Autism Speaks “I am Autism” Video group on Facebook:

From Bev @ Asperger Square 8:

Thanks to Turner & Kowalski for stirring things up.

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