And the AutSpeaks fundraisers? Wow, those really are autistic-unfriendly events. Nothing like creating fundraising events which completely exclude the people you’re trying to “help.” I wish I were more surprised about this.

I do speak *with* a community/communities of other autistic individuals, including those whose experiences have been different from my own. And certainly there are other non-autistic allies/parents/professionals who speak with us as well.

And how the heck does Autism Speaks speak for autistic people when there aren’t any autistic people involved in leadership/decisionmaking roles? Add to this their poor record for community/family supports — 4% of their operating budget.

From what I know of you and your blog, we’re slated to disagree on most things (maybe all things) because we occupy different ideological stances — you’re pro-cure, I’m decidedly not; you like to distinguish between labels that involve the idea of “functioning”; I tend to hate those labels, and find them dehumanizing/totalizing labels that disregard a person’s individuality and humanity (as well as disregard a whole host of other things).

Moreover, I fail to see how focusing so intently on research on cure/prevention to the near-exclusion of supports *helps* autistic people, or represents the interests of autistic people. We exist, and the AutSpks agenda is to make us not exist.

You’ll disagree with me, I’m sure. And I get the sense this comment of yours was meant in an insulting manner?