Thursday, September 24, 2009

good common sense from a member of neurodiversity

I was very pleased to see that a member of the neurodiversity movement, Alan Griswold, has shown some good common sense, a rarity for any of them. Alan writes the autistic aphorisms blog. Though I don't agree with a lot of what he says, I find the stuff he writes interesting and I have provided a link to his blog on autism's gadfly.

As those who read autism blogs are well aware, autism speaks has come out with a new and controversial video extolling the negatives of autism. Predictably, those who have a neurodiversity perspective are incensed about the video and are trying to get it removed as they did with the ransom note ad and the kidnapping sign that the York Pennsylvania chapter of the autism society posted along a highway.

Alan has written an open letter to Laurent Mottron urging him to decline receiving further funding from autism speaks. He has not written a similar open letter to Michelle Dawson, however, I left a comment on his blog urging him to do so. This would make good sense as it would seem that the need for funding of research has trumped the moral principles of both Dr. Mottron and his sidekick Michelle Dawson. When I asked Ms. Dawson about why she would not resign from the Mottron group in protest her explanation was "science isn't politics". I have been very curious as to why autism speaks would give Dr. Mottron half a million dollars when he has stated that curing autism is nonsensical and that autism isn't harmful and that autism is not a dysfunction but merely a difference. This certainly is not the point of view of autism speaks, judging by the current video they have made.

Though I disagree with Alan on many topics, I do agree with him that ceasing to accept funding from autism speaks would be the honorable thing for Dr. Mottron to do, as he clearly does not agree with the agenda of this organization. It would also be the honorable and ethical thing for Michelle Dawson to resign from the Mottron group since she has stated that she believes autism speaks wishes a very short future for those with autism. Given the fact that she makes such a big deal about ethics, it would increase her credibility even further if she were to discontinue working with Mottron, Jocelyn Faber, Isabelle Souleries and other AS funded researchers until they cease to get funding from AS. Also Michelle has recently been posting deragatory things about the new controversial video on her TMOB comment board. I won't link to these, but I have a link to her comment board on my blog and the interested reader can link and read what she is saying about the new video.

I am glad Alan has written that open letter and posted the problem with the Mottron group accepting funding from AS. If Dr. Mottron discontinued to accept or receive funding from AS then the money could go to sane scientists who have the common sense to realize that autism is harmful and how much a cure is needed.

I won't hold my breath waiting for either Mottron to quit accepting funding or Michelle to resign though.

2 comments:

jypsy said...

and Mr. Griswold has replied to your comment here.

Anonymous said...

"As those who read autism blogs are well aware, autism speaks has come out with a new and controversial video extolling the negatives of autism. Predictably, those who have a neurodiversity perspective are incensed about the video and are trying to get it removed as they did with the ransom note ad and the kidnapping sign that the York Pennsylvania chapter of the autism society posted along a highway."

I just watched the video on youtube, and all I have to say is that Autism Speaks has ruined their reputation for trying to help autistic people. Videos like this are causing Neurodiversity to freak out and ignorant parents, family members and other educators of autistic children to receive "politically incorrect" information.

What Autism Speaks needs is a politically correct video covering the entire autistic spectrum. If Neurodiversity could see the political correctness that ONLY WE (anyone who posts on your blog and is on our side) are able to see, then more people would begin to understand.

Although some people on the autistic spectrum already secretly know the truth about autism due to little or no cogitive and language-comprehension problems (receptive language in particular), they would rather "play" along with anyone who's naive enough to join Neurodiversity. With a politically correct video, people from all over the world would be educated and not remain ignorant. Additionally, everyone from the autism community would get along regardless of whether one is cure or anti-cure.