Just to note that there are a few new Autism groups in Second Life, including 2 that’s expanding around the outer sims of Farstone. The New World Enlightenment and its branch Masters of the Singularity, run by a person with Autism, is rapidly expanding in Glinda and Taernils Bluff.

Our beliefs are, “Autism Speaks dosen’t speak for us”. Period.

Mercury causes Autism?
Sorry jeff4Truth, but thats quackery no.1. Go promote it elsewhere.

Ladies and gentleman, need I give any more evidence that the anti-vaccine crowd is nuts?

Sorry, let me rephrase that:

DO I need to give ANY MORE EVIDENCE that they’re all nuts!!!!!!!!!!???????!??!?

SEE numerous books written the last 9 years by parents who are wonderfully happy at the recovery of their child after years of FRUSTRATION WITH THE SYSTEM they found relief in something SIMPLE !!!
AND they found it from other parents, NOT medicos.

How come, for instance, virtually ZERO AMISH HAVE AUTISM ??? (this is medically well known, see Ayoub,MD Chicago Medical Conference circa 2001?)

Parents check with parents who have had success.
It takes 3 days to 2 years depending on how much merc is in the brain and how well the natural substances will bind to it to let the body remove.

“We know that autism is not a disease, and we oppose any attempts to “cure” someone of an autism spectrum condition, or any attempts to make them ‘normal’ against their will.”

CHOICE is the word that I perceive, take and emphasise from the above quote. If a “cure” for Autism is found that comes in the form of a drug or therapy (and can be administered to all Autistics regardless of age), Autistics should be given the CHOICE to take it or not. No Autistic should be strapped down in a gurney, some needle forced in their arm. No Autistic should have their right to government services taken away just because they are comfortable with the way they are – uncured.

The prenatal test is already here. In less than ten years it will be fully licensed and available to the public, but with stipulations:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7013251

To “cure or “not to cure” aside. ALL autistics can agree that they want understanding and social acceptance. A few years ago, people thought all Autistics were like Rainman (some people still do!).
There’s so much misconception and ignorance out there that it’s not funny.
Even I don’t understand everything about Autism still, but I’m learning more each day, and I know a misconception when I see one.
Oh, but lucky for the rest of you people, then comes along all the campaigns for Autism “Awareness”. Yes, they successfully make you Autism “aware”, but they only want to make you aware of the things they WANT you to be aware about – the things that make them money.

Some media excerpts:
“Autistics are serial killers and psychopaths”
http://media.www.dailytitan.com/media/storage/paper861/news/2007/03/07/Opinion/The-Advocate-2762131.shtml
“Autistics are school campus shooters”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267282,00.html

….Well on the plus side at least no-one thinks Autistics are like Rainman anymore. On the negative side, people see these articles and think Autistics are something to fear and isolate, or worse, deserving of more ridicule. It’s happening right here in SL, in the comments on this article- “ass pies” “retards who f*** their computer”. I’m starting to doubt many people in SL have friends inworld who are admittedly on the spectrum, or if they would accept people on the spectrum as friends knowing they were. No actually, instead they find an “Autism Speaks” donation kiosk and pay it some Lindens in a lazy, but desperate attempt to convince themselves that they were supportive of people with differences all along.

The funny thing: in SL, Autistics needn’t be ostracised and socially isolated. With the aide of text communication, Autistics can hide things like poor body language. They can hide the fact that they are non-verbal. Most of the barriers that are present in interaction with others are down (granted some of thier social anxieties may still be there). They can use SL to experience interaction in ways that are unique and advantageous to them, and more importantly non-autistics can use it to UNDERSTAND them. Communication is reciprocal. If you wanna talk to an Autistic in SL about Autism, gain insight into their minds AND you approach nicely enough, I’m sure you will get a positive response. If you’re gonna try to understand them, DO IT NOW cos it’ll be pretty hard to understand them from those pages in the history books Autism Speaks are proclaiming.
And yes, contrary to all your misconceived beliefs, LFA’s DO use SL…quite proficiently I may add.

Autistics don’t want a charity like Autism Speaks to fund advertisement after advertisement telling people that Autism “steals souls” “kidnaps children” and falsely makes them out to be emotionless and mindless. Some even make comparisons to animals!! Completely disregarding the fact that they’re human, just like everyone else.
It’s just so sad that genes and brain wiring of Autistics is given more value than who Autistics are as people.

so my response to this article is pretty much who cares”

Can someone please list all the big donation drives there’s been on SL sofar, and how much in L$ and RL $ they brought up?

Cause I cannot be bothbered at the moment to google for it for this retard.

Having seen some of the negative aspects of people on the middle to lower function aspects of autism, how can you say that you wish that on someone? Or if therapy or a change in diet can help a person be able to interact with the rest of society better, how is that wrong? I think when you go to the genetic level, it sounds to close to eugenics. But on the other hand, with all of the early childhood programs that can lessen the effects of Autism, some people here make the argument that it isthe same as eliminating someone’s personality.

as an Autist myself, I am not opposed to the idea of abortion; rather, i feel it should be the choice of the woman in question.
what i DO oppose is the routine abortion of people because of some percieved “Deficet”. dont think it will happen with Autism? look at Downs Syndrome. routine abortion of Downs fetuses is now the norm.

RE:”no one you have spoken to with AS really is autistic, they just diagnosed themselves from the internet”

really?
see, I am a member at Gareths forums, and we have spoken in the past..
so, all those Psychatrists et al that i was bounced around when i was 5-7, both Private and NHS….didnt exist? wow, then the men in black must have reprogrammed me and my entire family!