Basics: Helpful vs Harmful Organizations
Per the potential risk of legal action, I have decided to approach this subject of autism charities in exclusively general terms. As individual consumers, it is up to each person to do their own research and decide where they want their money to go, but I wanted to provide some tips to look for when doing this process. You can consider it a list of red flags to avoid.
Anything to do with the puzzle piece symbol:
The puzzle piece symbol was created by an autism hate group to represent how people with autism are a puzzle that needs to be solved. Organizations with this symbol more often than not are in support of creating a cure for autism, the problems with which we will be discussing in a future post. Look for the rainbow infinity symbol instead!
Focus on parents instead of autistic people:
With the exception of some parental support groups, it is a red flag whenever a group is more focused on the emotional needs of the parents of the autistic child rather than the needs of the child himself. A good place to check for this would be any kind of merchandise section of the organization’s website. If all the items have slogans related to being a parent of an autistic child rather than having autistic pride, that would be a red flag.
Lack of autistic voices:
Going off the last point, if you notice that the voices being amplified through this organization tend to be professionals or researchers rather than autistic people, that would be a red flag. If the primary goal is to educate about autism, the majority of their content should be coming from autistic people. Instead, look for an organization proud to have autistic people in leadership roles and that are honest about their representation.
Overemphasis on one method of treatment:
Unless it is an advertisement of a specific company, an educational organization should have information on a wide variety of options for people seeking assistance for autism related problems. For example, a website saying that the only way to get an autistic child to speak verbally is through their specific type of intervention, it would be time for you to check where their funding comes from. You would be surprised by how many organizations are funded by larger research groups to promote certain programs as being more effective.
Inaccessible media:
Any charitable organization should have their website and resources available and accessible to anyone. If you open a pamphlet from an organization and the colors are obnoxiously bright, for example, that pamphlet is likely not accessible to some people. Organizations that truly want to benefit the communities they serve will, at minimum, create materials that are able to be used by that group of people.
As a rule of thumb, when I am learning about a new topic I try to switch the language to apply it to another totally separate category of people. For example, if I am reading about a neurological condition, I should be able to replace the name of that condition with any other and still feel that it is being respectful. Oftentimes people with disabilities are excluded from social justice circles due to accessibility, so if you would feel uncomfortable saying it about another marginalized group, it probably isn’t ok to say about disabled people.
