A Roundup of Posts Against Autism Speaks
Last updated April 25, 2024
The following is a masterpost of items against Autism Speaks. To add any, please comment below.
Note: you can find FAQs and a few updates in the very last section of this article, added in April 2024.
Note: This post was originally pulled together in March 2017. As such, you may need to utilize the Wayback Machine to access some posts. If the trial and error of it is frustrating, they have a Google Chrome extension that will automatically access the site that way if it’s unreachable otherwise.
Anti-Vaccination Support
Neo-Nazi Support
Misuse of Donations and Funds
- Autism Speaks to Hurricane Victims: What, You Thought We Cared?
- I Take Back Every Nice Thing I Have Ever Said About Autism Speaks (Please note that this author is now an anti-vaxer — H/T to streamofawareness. I do not endorse those viewpoints.)
- It has a poor Charity Navigator rating, too
- The Autism Speaks “Truth Be Told” Fund Drive
- Top Earner At Autism Speaks Paid More Than $600,000
Legal Issues
- Autism Mother Sues Autism Speaks For Disability Discrimination
- Autism Speaks Are Work-Stealing, White-Texting Liars
- Autism Speaks Legally Threatens Autistic Adults During World Autism Day
- Mom sues Autism Speaks after job offer is rescinded because of needing child care accommodations for her autistic child
Anger From the Community
- A Mouse that Roars — Standing in Defiance of Autism Speaks
- An Autistic Speaks About Autism Speaks
- An open letter to Autism Speaks
- An Open Letter to Suzanne Wright, Co-Founder, Autism Speaks
- Autism Acceptance — Leading the Conversation
- Autism Speaks and Representation
- Autism Speaks: Are They Really That Bad?
- Autism Speaks Boycott-Pushback from Autism Speaks
- Autism Speaks Does Not Speak For Me
- Autism Speaks Does Not Speak For Us — THIS is Autism
- Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak For Autistics
- Autism Speaks Hasn’t Really Changed Anything
- Autism Speaks Hits A New Low
- Autism Speaks isn’t Speaking for Us
- Autism Speaks Kidnaps “Policy Summit”
- Autism Speaks Should Learn When to Shut the Hell Up: I am Autism. Not.
- Autism Speaks: SHUT UP AND LISTEN
- Autism Speaks Under Pressure, Doles Out Grants
- Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks’ “I am Autism” Campaign
- Co-Opting the Movement: Autism Speaks, John Elder Robison, and Complicity in Oppression
- Crisis, despair, and everything else wrong with Autism Speaks’ “Call for Action.”
- Disability Rights Community vs. Autism Speaks
- Does Autism Speaks Really Speak for me?
- Does Autism Speaks Really Speak for me? #2: Obviously Not and Today they Gave Me a New Reason Why….
- Erasure and Silencing by the Omicron Pi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha
- Epidemic, Awareness and Us, Autistics
- Georgetown: Say No to Autism Speaks
- Groups Outraged Over Video Released By Autism Speaks
- How Autism Speaks Must Change
- I Support #BoycottAutismSpeaks
- I’m a Person, Not a Puzzle
- I’m Not A Goddamn Puzzle Piece!
- Is Autism Speaks a Hate Group?
- It’s time to listen, Autism Speaks!
- Letter to the Sponsors, Donors and Supporters of Autism Speaks
- Lies, Statistics, and Autism Speaks
- Light it up Blue? — No
- Neurobigotry at Ohio State
- Not Good Enough, Autism Speaks
- Please Don’t Support Autism Speaks
- Protesting Autism Speaks
- School Supplies Our Autistic Children Should Not Have to See
- So why is autism speaks bad? I’m confused
- The Aegis of Autism I — Peter Bell the Third
- Think before you “light it up blue”
- This was too much for a tweet, so look here
- To Whom It May Concern: Open Letter to Sponsors of Autism Speaks
- When Is a Disability Not a Disability? Autism Speaks Has the Answer
- Why Autism Speaks doesn’t speak for me
- Why Autism Speaks Does Not Speak for Us
- Why Autism Speaks Hurts Us
- Why I’m going to #BoycottAutismSpeaks
- Why I am Against Autism Speaks (and you should be, too)
- Why I Am Against Autism Speaks, and Why It Matters
- Why you need to stop using the puzzle piece to represent autistic people
Anger From Parents/Families
- A View of Autism Speaks From Afar
- Addressing Criticisms of the Autism Speaks Boycott
- Advocating: Love not Fear!
- An Open Letter to Autism Speaks’ Sponsors Who are Autism Parents
- ASAN Vancouver: Protesting Autism Speaks #boycottAutismSpeaks
- Autism is Struggle, But Not Only: Why Autism Speaks Hurts Severely Disabled Autistic People the Most
- Autism Speaks: The Last Straw
- Autism Speaks Attacks Local Charity’s Fundraising Walk
- Autism Speaks does not speak for this family
- Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak For Our Family
- Autism Speaks is not and has never been listening despite their slogan
- Autism Speaks’ Poisonous Ideas
- Autism Speaks, Your Negativity is Only Making Things Worse
- Dear Ms. Wright, Autism Speaks and any others out there who may read this…
- Doing Your Research
- Fear, Hate, and Exclusion: It’s time to silence Autism Speaks!
- Fear, Loathing, and Autism Speaks
- How Autism Speaks Hijacked World Autism Awareness Day
- Living, Not Existing
- My Son is Not Lost
- No Misery: This Is Autism, Suzanne Wright
- Not on my wall… Boundaries and Entitlement
- Open Letter to the Financial Sponsors of Autism Speaks
- Speaking Out Against Autism Speaks, Even if It Means No Ice Cream
- The Appalled Voice of An Autism Mom
- What the Vulture Calls Unity: #BoycottAutismSpeaks
- What’s Wrong With Autism Speaks?
- Who does Autism Speaks speak for?
- Why Autism Speaks Disabled the Review Option on their Facebook Page
- Why don’t we support Autism Speaks?
- Why I Don’t Like Autism Speaks
- Why? Why? Why?
- Wright vs Right: Autism $peaks is Completely Wrong
Anger From Others
- 7 Reasons To Not Support Autism Speaks
- Autism Speaks–But You Don’t Have To Listen
- Boycott Autism Speaks
- Don’t Support Autism Speaks
- Sensationalism, disinformation, and Autism Speaks
- This Is the Week Autism Speaks Meets Its Downfall
- Why are so many people mad at Autism Speaks right now?
- Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak For Me
- Why I don’t support Autism Speaks (which is why I don’t ‘light it up blue’)
- Why I Joined the Boycott Autism Speaks Movement, Part One
- Why I Joined the Boycott Autism Speaks Movement, Part Two
- Why Many Autistic People Don’t Like Autism Speaks
Sexism
- I will not ‘Light it up Blue’
The ‘Light It Up Blue’ campaign also promotes stigma and sexism within the autism community, promoting the idea that autism is more of a masculine disease/affects boys more than girls. This is completely false and contributes to the lack of diagnoses that girls/women and non-binary people face.
Want to support Actually Autistic organizations?
Note: No organization is perfect, and there are new developments all the time. I’ve made a few notes below as of April 2022.
- The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Note: racism has been an issue here, particularly with stealing content from BIPOC creators without citation. - The Autism National Committee
- Autism Network International
- Autism Women’s Network
- TASH
- ADAPT
- American Association of People with Disabilities
- APSE
- National Council on Independent Living
Note: NCIL is a nonprofit that is in charge of the Independent Living Centers or ILCs across the nation. Their most recent former president was ousted due to be incredibly racist. The overall ILC system needs major overall as does NCIL. - Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE)
- HSC Foundation
- Self Advocates Becoming Empowered
FAQs
Why did you write this?
When I originally wrote this, I did so because I was tired of seeing so many people have to speak up about the harm AS does as an organization. Instead of finding and pulling the same links regularly, I wanted to have one link to share information with others that they could peruse when they had time and energy to do so.
It just felt like the right ally thing to do. Back in 2017, my only confirmed form of neurodivergence was PTSD with a side of “anxiety.”
Cut to May 2021 and I was diagnosed with combined type ADHD. Through working out my ADHD treatment, I also learned that I did not have anxiety — it was instead a misdiagnosis of my ADHD. (This is incredibly common, especially in women, girls, and trans folks.)
And then cut to April 2024, and I’ve taken a number of assessments whose results clearly show autism in addition to my ADHD and complex PTSD.
Do you know that your birthname / deadname / former name is in the link?
Yep! I could change the link, but have chosen not to.
While it may seem like an odd choice to some, changing the link would possibly make it harder for folks to find this article as it’s been linked to for ages in various settings, including being cited in academic work such as PhD dissertations.
I’d rather not break links that have been shared out. The more people can access this information, the better.
