There is nothing more dangerous than a herd of xenophobes aiming to “cure” you with baseball bats. I speak metaphorically, of course.

Fear and panic sure seems to appeal to a certain, easily exploited demographic. It’s become pretty obvious that Autism Speaks appeals to Social Conservatives, or rather, that segment of the population who tend to be fearful and who therefore tend to be social conservatives, people who seek comfort in authoritarian structures.

Autistics and aspies cannot and will not “fit in” to hierarchical structures, cannot easily adapt to that sort of social matrix, do not respond well to “traditional discipline” – frankly, we put the question to their entire world-view simply by walking and breathing. It gets a lot worse when we learn to talk. :>

Anyway, I don’t want to threadjack – but I do want to point out that this actually does fit into a larger social context and it’s probably productive to keep it in mind in order to craft productive responses. As my socially-clueless reaction is to jam a thumb into the inflamed reflex point – I think the best thing I could do at the moment is to stop. right. now. :P

“Anyone who thinks the ND movement – as a movement – is denying the existance of severely autistic people clearly has no clue as to who the ND movement is made up of and what they do for a living.”

I would also add that they either do not realize or do not care that people with autistic traits that significantly interfere with functioning in a neuro-typical world need to be recognized as people with the rights, privileges, and accommodations they need to enjoy a quality of living consistent with their community.

As much as I feel the need to advocate the cause of neurodiversity for the benefit of my older son who is now (after treatment) high-functioning so that he can attain his potential; I feel it is even more important that I advocate the cause of neurodiversity for the benefit of my younger sons who are not high-functioning (yet) so that they can attain their potential without being stripped of their rights.

I don’t stalk ASAN and don’t claim to know everything they believe, but self-advocacy shouldn’t be dependent on level of functioning nor should self-determination. People are people are people, no matter what label you put on them. Unfortunately, people need to fight for the right for autistics at all levels of functioning to be treated as so, or else they won’t be treated as so.

I’ll be sure to tell that to John Travolta and his wife Kelly the next time I see them.

Some of you folks are way out there, good luck with all that!

Lets see, who is usually thrown into the ‘ND box’ by the Kulp Krew?

Arnold, who is involved with several autism charities, including at least one that provides services to serverely autistic people.

Stanton, who has worked with people on the special needs spectrum, including people with autism.

Murray, who has campaigned on the national stage for assistance devices for non-verbal people, including autstics.

Mottron, who has more research hours to his name than Roger has had vitamin meds.

Dawson, who has fought for recognition for people with autism on the national stage.

I can think of sundry other ‘nd’ people, myself included, who have professional level experience of working directly with people with autism (and dual diagnosis like schizophrenia and stroke), often in the clinical or institutional environment.

The total amount of experience of the ‘anti-ND’ movement can be summed up as: one of them went to a institution for people with autism a couple of times.

Anyone who thinks the ND movement – as a movement – is denying the existance of severely autistic people clearly has no clue as to who the ND movement is made up of and what they do for a living.

ASAN and Ne’eman are a disgrace,who want severely disabled autistics shut away from society.

The $600,000 salary figure is misleading, perhaps unintentionally. Autism Speaks posts their IRS Form 990 submissions. Here is the 2008 form, the most recent available: http://www.autismspeaks.org/do.....0_2008.pdf

In this filing, Dr. Dawson is identified as having a salary of some $360,000, with a significant $270k in “other compensation.”
Reviewing the notes, p.55 of the PDF, it is disclosed that she received a “one-time relocation payment of $269,721.”

Now, $360k in salary for Dr. Dawson and the organization’s president, Mark Rothmayr, may well be high, and a $270k relo payment may be unusual for a nonprofit, but commingling/confusing/obscuring the numbers does not help ASAN’s argument.