Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Mitsubishi corporation funds neurodiversity activism

I just read an interesting post on the left brain/right brain blog about the Mitsubishi corporation funding an ASAN program for autistic college students.  The sole purpose of this program appears to be training people to engage in neurodiversity activism.

Now a large corporation is also advocating the idea that I (and others) should live our lives as cripples under the guise of the strawman that these people are promoting some sort of human or civil rights for autistic people.

It's distressing to me that Mitsubishi could have such a cavalier attitude toward autistic persons.  They are not funding a program for medical research to live better lives, to be better educated, to help lift those on SSI or without it out of poverty.  They are not funding group homes for autistics or any constructive program.  Only the hate mongering of ASAN aficionados who want to claim all research into autism is for the purpose of prenatal abortions, who want to insult parents who want to help their kids and those of us with autism who wish a cure could be found.

The canary party, a group promoting the idea that vaccines cause autism,has written some talking points protesting this.They allege that self-diagnosis is okay for eligibility in this program.  I must admit, I don't have any documentation for this, nor does the canary party memorandum provide any links documenting this  However, if true, I don't see how this is helping autistic people if someone not diagnosed by a medical professional or psychologist can take place in this program, which apparently has only the goal of promoting a political agenda and not really giving help to anyone.

Mitsubishi is claiming the program will help with employment activities among autistic college students, but as the canary party correctly points out, no mention of employment is spoken about in the guidelines, only training people in neurodiversity activism.

Mitsubishi also, according to the canary party, mentions helping people with disabilities.  After Ari Ne'eman claimed that he never said that autism was not a disability, Autism's gadfly broke the story about Ari's Ne'eman's essay, Difference Is Not Disease, where he put the words "disabled" in quotes and stated that difference is not disability.  After this essay was linked to on autism's gadfly, ASAN engaged in a watergate type coverup, first editing their essay to state difference is only disability when not accommodated for and then deleting the essay from the site altogether.  Also, Gadfly has provided documentation of Ari Ne'eman stating that Asperger's syndrome (which he has) is hardly something anyone would call a disability.

The Canary party does make one statement in their post that is not 100% accurate:


“While the Canary Party fully supports the acceptance of all people with diverse neurological conditions….it cautions that neurodiversity as promoted by ASAN is an ideology that runs counter to the primary goals of every major autism organization in the country.”

They either don't know or are forgetting that autism speaks has funded the research of neurodiversity rogue Laurent Mottron.  The federal government has funded Morton Gernsbacher's research.  The autism society of america endorsed Ari Ne'eman's nomination for the NCD.  Alex Plank, who has stated that autism equals good, was a keynote speaker at last year's autism society of america conference.  Autism speaks has also funded Alex Plank's Autism Talk TV.   

I have to wonder why the canary party has contacted Mitsubishi concerning their funding of an ASAN project, but has not protested projects that autism speaks and the autism society of america has either funded or endorsed that run counter to the philosophy that autism is a horrible disability and health problem that needs a cure.

If anyone who happens to read this who has not already read Matt Carey's endorsement of this program or the canary party's post about this, the addresses of the people you can contact to protest these activities are mentioned in the above-linked sites.  I doubt I'll bother writing to them as this is already a done deal and it would not accomplish anything.

I just wish I knew why all these people are opposed to me and others being able to live a decent life free of disability, including autism speaks and ASA who gives money to people who are at the opposite end of their stated beliefs.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...The canary party, a group promoting the idea that vaccines cause autism..."

"...I have to wonder why the canary party has contacted Mitsubishi concerning their funding of an ASAN project, but has not protested projects that autism speaks and the autism society of america has either funded or endorsed that run counter to the philosophy that autism is a horrible disability and health problem that needs a cure..."

Maybe the Canary Party is too busy - busy denying that polio, measles, rubella, etc. are health problems - to spend time on protesting projects that autism speaks and the autism society of america have either funded or endorsed?

After all, it's a group promoting the idea that vaccines cause autism.

PonderingMind said...

"Mitsubishi also, according to the canary party, mentions helping people with disabilities. After Ari Ne'eman claimed that he never said that autism was not a disability, Autism's gadfly broke the story about Ari's Ne'eman's essay, Difference Is Not Disease, where he put the words "disabled" in quotes and stated that difference is not disability. After this essay was linked to on autism's gadfly, ASAN engaged in a watergate type coverup, first editing their essay to state difference is only disability when not accommodated for and then deleting the essay from the site altogether. Also, Gadfly has provided documentation of Ari Ne'eman stating that Asperger's syndrome (which he has) is hardly something anyone would call a disability."

It's all about the attitude and protecting those autistics who may come across Neurodiversity and/or the subject about autism on the Internet.

Well, I've got news for you.....you've got to learn the truth and everything there is to know about your limitations. I mean do we really want autistics to grow up believing autism isn't really a disability? That's like never telling your mentally disabled children that Santa Clause doesn't exist and convincing them that it's ok to believe in Santa for your entire life!

M.J. said...

The language about including the self-identified was in the initial announcement back in Feb.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/ASAN-Invites-Autistic-Students-to-Participate-in-Leadership-Training.html?soid=1104220830834&aid=S09w4EH1lyA

"If you are a current college undergraduate student who identifies on the Autism Spectrum, including Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, with a strong interest in the Disability Rights and Autistic Rights movements, we invite you to apply for this leadership training."

Robin Nemeth said...

“I just wish I knew why all these people are opposed to me and others being able to live a decent life free of disability, including autism speaks and ASA who gives money to people who are at the opposite end of their stated beliefs.”

Well the simple answer is that they get a lot of money for opposing you. I’ve seen it first hand. In 2007 I stood on a public sidewalk outside of an Autism Speaks benefit concert, asking people politely if they’d like information about the presence of mercury in vaccines. I was told by the organizers of the event that if I didn’t leave, I would be arrested. When I refused to leave the police were called, although after initially asking me to leave they told me I was within my rights to stay if I insisted. The president of the local chapter of AS, Ms. Shari Goldberg, was doing some fund raising on a local online internet support group a couple of weeks later. When I brought up the arrest attempt, the woman lied and said it never happened.

The local chapter of the ASA is fully aware of what happened to me, and doesn’t care at all. Although I was told by the vice president, Gus Gallucci, that he felt that what happened to me was wrong, they are still perfectly willing to help the organization raise money. “I’m not going to write off a whole group of people just because you happen to have issues with them,” I was told by him. The Greater Cleveland Asperger Association head, Ms. Theresa Szalkowski, told me that my introductory letter to her internet support group could not be posted unless I agreed to allow her to edit it. There was nothing threatening or offensive in my post. Merely an account of the censorship I’d already encountered.


Even Kim Stagliano, of Age of Autism, has show a willingness to censor the unpopular and inconvenient. When she was working with one of her new found friends at AS a few years ago, trying to pass legislation to provide tax benefits to employers such as Walgreens for hiring people with Aspergers, I tried to point out in a post there on her site that Walgreens still sells and administers flu shots with toxic levels of mercury. My post was censored and I was told that Kim didn’t want to embarrass her friend. I informed all of the advertisers on her site, but they don’t care. They’re all profiting nicely from the epidemic, just as the pharmaceutical industry that caused this epidemic is profiting.

And now we have organizations like ASAN profiting, as well. They remind me of those deaf people who don’t believe that cochlear implants are a good idea, because they ‘demean deaf culture’. What a bunch of hooey.

John Best said...

It's odd that the Canary Party would seemingly oppose anything for the right reason. They must have some ulterior motive. I suppose if they focus on Ne'eman and his band of liars for awhile that this is a nice distraction and they can avoid doing what any real political party would be doing now, like trying to defeat Obama and Romney.

John Best said...

Kim Stagliano has always supported Neurodiversity. Can she truly be that stupid or is she working against sane people?

Jake Crosby said...

"...neurodiversity as promoted by ASAN is an ideology that runs counter to the primary goals of every major autism organization in the country.”

The reality is that the goals of AS and ASA do run counter to ASAN. AS and ASA do not live up to those goals, but that does not mean they are irrelevent to Mitsubishi's own stated policy of not funding controversial groups such as ASAN.

"I have to wonder why the canary party has contacted Mitsubishi concerning their funding of an ASAN project, but has not protested projects that autism speaks and the autism society of america has either funded or endorsed that run counter to the philosophy that autism is a horrible disability and health problem that needs a cure."

Because these activities have been going on well before Canary Party even existed. You might remember that Age of Autism did start a petition against Ari Ne'eman's NCD nomination in 2010, but the party did not exist then. Similarily, Age of Autism ran a post by Roger Kulp condemning Laurent Mottron as far back as 2009 well before the party was conceived.

Now that the Canary Party does exist, it has previously taken on the NDs over other issues - including the feds' promotion of neurodiversity by calling for the dismissal of all new IACC members, including the four NDs appointed to the panel.

Moreover, what makes the Mitsubishi-ASAN case so unique is that Mitsubishi is directly funding ASAN's advocacy activities when the corporation's policies explicitly forbid it from funding groups such as ASAN. That's not something you can point to when dealing with AS, ASA or the feds who all advocate an informal "big tent" approach even if it apparently means pledging support to people they do not officially agree with.

John Best said...

AS, ASA, ASAN and the Canary Party all have the same goals but they just use different tactics. They all misinform the public about autism and they all delete the truth when anyone posts it on their dishonest sites.
AS pretends autism is genetic. ASA acts like they don't know anything at all. Ne'eman and the neuronitwits claim autism is the next step in evolution. The Canary Party claims autism is caused by vaccines when they know it's only caused by the mercury in the vaccines. They all suck equally.

Anonymous said...

Check this outhttp://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com/2012/06/calling-mitsubishi-out-on-funding.html

The guy's trying to convince women to want to give birth to people with his own condition...

...by treating women who may give birth to people with his own condition as if their rights don't matter and they don't have feelings worth considering.

Anonymous said...

"and they can avoid doing what any real political party would be doing now, like trying to defeat Obama and Romney."

BTW, I like how you said "...*like* trying to..." instead of just "...trying to...".

Not every real political party has a candidate in every election in their region. It would make sense for a new real political party in the U.S. to try to win some local and statewide offices now in 2012 and, once it has some politicians in those offices, have one of them challenge the Democratic and Republican candidates in a future presidential election instead of trying to defeat Obama and Romney now in 2012.

Unknown said...

It's all about the particular attitude and protecting these autistic who will come throughout Biodiversity and/or the subject about autism on the net. Thanks for sharing this informative post.

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