'I Am Autism': An Advocacy Video Sparks Protest

[TallGeekyGirl]

Few medical conditions rival autism as a magnet for controversy. Practically everything about the disorder — its cause, its treatment, the way it is diagnosed, how it is studied — is subject to bitter dispute, sometimes to the point of death threats.

http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...935959,00.html

[Sister Ray]

I will say portraying autism as some evil entity that devours children and destroys families should be considered a bad thing.

Sister "oh, and watch I am socks" Ray

[Flagg]

I watched the video and the beginning is pretty depressing, but about halfway through it switches to what seems to be a very uplifting and empowering message that pretty much negates the first part.

[Sister Ray]

I thought the second part was even worse, myself. If you call yourself "Autism Speaks", shouldn't you at least have one person with autism in the video, you know, speaking?

Sister "perhaps I'm missing the point" Ray

[crocoduck_hunter]

My mom sent me the video shortly after it started going around.

I couldn't stomach watching it and quit after about a minute.

As another person with Asperger's, I just plain can't stand Autism being portrayed as only being like that.

[snoozn]

I didn't like this portrayal at all. There are certainly tragic stories out there of people with severe (and even moderate) autism, who were beyond the reach of therapy or didn't get it early enough. I think early intervention is key, but I don't see this video as the way to achieve it. It doesn't even address the signs to look for and makes autism sound like something so horrifying that it would be obvious if your kid had it. Or, it sounds so scary that some parents would be more likely to head into a "denial" stage. I'm sure this was well intentioned by the makers (the article says they are parents of autistic children), but I think it misses the mark by a long way.

[Native Medley]

Wow, that's a pretty terrible video. I'm not surprised by it at all. Autism speaks is very good at getting their money this way. I've never seen something from them that wasn't essentially "Do you secretly blame yourself for your child's autism? Send us $50. It'll help us lower the big number in our '1 in 166' statistic."

My brother exists somewhere on the spectrum. It's never been easy and I can't overall argue that our household was ever emotionally healthy, but I have to admire my parents (mother especially) for just doing what's necessary for my brother's comfort without the aid of stylized puzzle piece ribbons and walkathons.