Why does the little blue puzzle piece and its organization not speak for me?
I get asked this question A LOT!!! Well today they do not Speak for me, because they take the money out of the pockets of great charities that actually help parents. My wonderful friend, Cindy Killeen Waeltermann, today is worried about her awesome little charity not making it because of “No money. Tired of making ends meet. Autism Speaks wins”.
An example of how Cindy’s charity helped me personally is that a few months ago when a fellow San Diego PITA asked for help for a friend that went to college with her, Cindy and her charity were the first to help out. Cindy personally sent me a message on how to get the child an evaluation ASAP. This is a mom, who started a charity because she wants to get kids services and her charity reflects that. When she posts on Facebook about “events” they are doing, many of those are events are kid related, not just about raising money. When was the last time the little blue puzzle piece threw a party for the kids with Autism? When did they do a conference to educate new parents with Autism? When did they sponsor a parent of a child with Autism to go to a conference? Honestly what have they done for me lately, oh wait they have not done a damn thing for me ever!!!!
Today, my older son Nick, who turns 18 in a few days and is realizing that he will have to go to a junior college because of lack of funds asked me what Autism Charity gave scholarships to siblings of children with Autism? I laughed and challenged him to get the little blue puzzle piece to do it, so I could stop bitching about them. Well hopefully his hopes are not high because I am sure that they will fail him just like they have failed his brother and his parents for the past 6 years. Instead of helping me or anyone I know they have instead used their money for a very fancy Park Avenue office and bad mouthed the daughter of the founder for believing in biomedical help for Autism.
So if you are still wondering why you should not donate to the little blue puzzle piece and their big fat NY offices, remember that of the $60 MILLION donated last year only $837,000 were donated to expand Autism services, so do the math less then 1/60 of their revenue, $341,000 went to expanding recreational services, but that does not mean any child actually saw a recreation service it means they were expanding them.
Yet they paid $1.3 Million on advertising, their chief science officer got $669.000, yes you read that correctly they got almost as much was used to “expand Autism Services” and twice as much as was used to “expand recreational services”
There are so many more stats that I could fill up the library of congress, ok maybe that is a bit far fetched, but I could at least fill up at least the Carlsbad Library with their wasted funds.
Here is a couple of awesome youtube videos on this subject if you want more info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fc_qtWxMes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S-9yQrsras
So PITA up and help the little charities that help real families right now.
Here are a few of our favorite ones
www.firstgiving.com/austinprimer (Talk about curing autism now)
http://www.sd-autism.org/givingPrograms.html
www.surfershealing.com
https://ssl.charityweb.net/genrescue/ (Generation rescue)
www.autismlink.com
www.nationalautismassociation.org/
I am not doubting those numbers, as I am also NOT a fan of Autism Speaks, by any means. However, I brought up that first youtube video you posted, watched it, and the website addy given at the end of the video brings up a "Page Not Found" error.
ReplyDeleteDo you happen to have a link to those financial numbers that works?
Here's something else that bugs me about Autism Speaks:
ReplyDeleteAutism Speaks received a huge grant from the NIH for genetic autism research. This is very annoying when all the signs point to the rapid increase in autism probably being attributed to mostly environmental causes. Also, if you think about WHY researchers would want to find a genetic cause of autism... prenatal testing leading to abortion would be at the top of the list. So, instead of funding research that would eventually ban toxic chemicals (oh, but, heaven forbid corporate profits be cut into), tax payers are funding research that will lead to abortion--right now the statistics are 1 in 91 children being diagnosed with autism. That will potentially be 1 in 91 pregnancies resulting in needless abortion. Now, I'm not necessarily pro-life or pro-choice, but I DEFINITELY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH GENETIC AUTISM TESTING THAT LEADS TO MASS ABORTION OF LOVED AND WANTED BABIES THAT COULD HAVE OTHERWISE BEEN PREVENTED BY SPENDING RESEARCH MONEY ON ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS. Don't let these people tell you that genetic autism testing will lead to "gene therapy" in the future. That's like waiting for the hydrogen car. Only a handful of people have ever received gene therapy and the result has been death.
I'm another mom who is trying to tell everyone I can about the many evils of the 'little blue puzzle piece'. I have a fb group called "Help Tell the TRUTH About Autism Speaks" about it if you are on there, please join and share it with your friends list:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109130859120272&v=app_2373072738&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=109130859120272
In the group you will find a list of companies and celebrities that support Autism Speaks as well as their contact info and a sample letter. I encourage everyone to contact these people and let them know how you feel about Autism Speaks and why. I really think most people just have no idea about the truth of that organization. Here is my sample letter:
Dear (COMPANY/CELEB'S NAME),
I am writing this letter with deep concern of your company's decision to support and collect money for the organization known as "Autism Speaks". I am shocked that a company such as yours would continue to lend support to "Autism Speaks" (and thus forward their policies and messages on Autism). Dozens of organizations, parents of children with Autism, and adult Autistics themselves have spoken out passionately against "Autism Speaks". That in and of itself would lead one to question your position of support of "Autism Speaks". More concerning is their status as a charity at all. Taken from their own website the information of their 2009 IRS 990 detailing their income and spending:
Geraldine Dawson, Chief Science Officer - Salary: $669,751
Mark Roithmayer, President - Salary: $400,413
Peter Bell, Executive Vice President - Salary: $265,981
Glenn Tringali, Executive Vice President - Salary: $255,256
Alison Tepper Singer, Executive Vice President - Salary: $201,942
Amount Spent on Travel: $2,873,667
Credit Card and Banking Fees: $989,344
Premiums: $1,452,807
Management Fees: $2,038,024
Advertising and Promotion: $2,108,778
Temporary Help: $718,686
Income: $65,826,829
GRANTS PAID OUT: $27,593,390
In fact "Autism Speaks" is NOT even a recommended charity by the Better Business Bureau:
http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/human-services/autism-speaks...
I am sure your company means well. I am sure (COMPANY/CELEB'S NAME) is trying to spread awareness and help to Autistic children and families in our country, and I thank you most heartily for your effort. However, I must beg you to reconsider the organization in which you have chosen to do this. Please reconsider and choose a more reputable charity or organization, such as the Easter Seals, the Autism Society for America or many others. Just please, PLEASE, do not choose "Autism Speaks".
Most Sincerely,
(YOUR NAME)
Each time one of the businesses/celebs posts on fb or twitter about Autism Speaks I contact them with this info and publicly post it, in encourage anyone who cares to do the same!
Kind Regards,
Christine Rogers
I have never been a fan of AS, I taped the first time Mrs Wright was on The View at the start of the company and the things she said were so disturbing, she made it sound so terrible and the terms she utilized sucked.
ReplyDeleteI am going to Rose Bowl this Sat for the resource fair only - need to find resources and good info to share with other LAUSD parents since most are at parent summit same day at Conv Ctr and also writing material for website.
This is a good information of the autism services articles and really like your site, Please keep sharing more and more information.
ReplyDeleteautism dublin & HSE autism