By Kris Young
Originally published HERE on Rainbow Autistic
I #BoycottAutismSpeaks because they’re not accepting of Autism, and they won’t accommodate Autistic individuals’ needs, or even listen to us and what we have to say.
Autism $peaks portrays Autistics as burdens and crises. They even say that we’re broken and missing and use the puzzle piece as a way of saying that we need to be “fixed”. I’m not a burden or a crisis, and I’m not broken or missing. I don’t need to be fixed. I’m already whole.
Only 4% of Autism $peaks’ funds goes to services that help Autistic people and their families. Much of their funds go to research, but only very little of that research money—less than 1% to be exact—goes towards helping Autistic adults.
I was appalled when People magazine had a recent article about heroes, and Bob and Suzanne Wright, the founders of Autism $peaks were featured and the headline was titled “Crusading Against Autism”. It was a like a punch to the gut. It’s like People is saying, “Crusading Against Kris”. We shouldn’t crusade against Autism. We should crusade against intolerance and hate!
