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I'm torn.
I love CafePress. I mean love.
I have many of their products.
CafePress is having a promotion in acknowledgement of Autism Awareness month.
A portion of the proceeds for their "Autism gear" will go to Autism Speaks.
Yeah, Autism Speaks.
At first, I was all "heck no, I can't support that".
Then I was all "I wonder why they chose Autism Speaks"?
Now I'm all "I wonder if they even know anything about Autism Speaks versus any other Autism organization such as the ASAN or Autism Society?"
I've decided to post this anyway, because as an Autism advocate, I feel it is my job to help educate. I sent a response email to the woman who originally contacted me, asking why CafePress decided to support Autism Speaks (among other things). Sadly, I have not received a response as of yet.
So.
You may support Autism Speaks. You may not.
It's obviously your choice to make.
It's also your choice whether to buy from CafePress during this promotion or not.
Maybe even shoot them an email. I did.
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6 comments:
The worst thing about this?
Pretty much all the anti-Autism Speaks stuff on CafePress are tagged with "autism". Which means that part of the proceeds go to the very organization the products are protesting!
Hahaha... I didn't even notice that. Even awesomer.
So as someone who is interested in the autistic spectrum, but doesn't know much about it, what's the difference between the various autism organizations?
Have you heard of the hollyrod foundation (hollyrod.org)? I've been reading some of the stuff they post on FB. Holly Robinson-Peete (actress from 21 Jump Street if you remember that far back) is a very big advocate of autism and trying to raise funds for families with autism. Her oldest son has autism. Any opinions on this foundation?
Anon- kind of long to get into in "comments", and keeping in mind that no organization is going to be perfect- in a nutshell, Autism Speaks has a very negative outlook on Autism in general.
They're committed to making the "Autism epidemic" a public concern, and are dedicated to raising money to fund scientists who are searching for a cure. Funding scientists. Not services, support, awareness, acceptance, or anything else people with Autism would actually benefit from (IMO).
They refer to Autism as a "national healthcare emergency" and an "urgent global health crisis".
My Autistic son is a blessing. He is not "damaged goods" and there is nobody who could convince me otherwise.
Like I said though, there are many people who support Autism Speaks, for their own reasons. I'm just not one of them.
Marshella, I have not looked into the hollyrod foundation, so I really don't have an opinion. :(
Can't stand Autism Speaks. They hate people with Autism and want to do research to come up with a prenatal test so they can be aborted. They promote a "cure" for those people with Autism already here because they think they are "broken" and a burden to the families that care for them and the rest of society. They pimp Autism to line their own pockets. As far as Holly Robinson Peete goes, she also doesn't give direct support to people with Autism and their families. Just Google Autism Speaks and insert your choice of negative word, such as, "criticism" "complaints" etc. and you will find plenty of articles written about why they suck. I just posted a link to why the BBB doesn't recommend giving to them as a charity on my blog if you want to check it out.
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