Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> NORANNE: We're protesting against Autism Speaks.
>> NICK: OK. And can you tell me why?
>> NORANNE: We're against their eugenics, their bigotry,
and their ability to completely exclude us away from dialogue.
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] We're people, not puzzles! We don't need a cure!
We're people, not puzzles! We don't need a cure!
[sound of cars passing]
>> MELANIE: I'm out here today to protest Autism Speaks
because only four cents out of every dollar raised
actually goes toward families. I'm here as a part of the Autistic Self-Advocacy
Network, which is a group run for and by Autistic individuals.
And another problem with Autism Speaks is its
lack of Autistic representation in any leadership and decision-making roles
>> JESSICA: [to walker] But your money doesn't go there.
They might be one of the largest, but that's not where they give the money percentage-wise.
>> NICK: Sixty-five percent of their money... According to their own publications, 65% of
their money goes toward research that works toward eugenics.
>> WALKER: So toward a cure, is what you're saying...
Toward eliminating...
>> NORANNE: They spend their money mostly on
really negative commercials to instigate pity and to paint us as tragedies. And they do
nothing to put money into vocational groups for adult
autists, sensory tools for younger autists, more accessible
communication devices, funding for parents raising
autistic kids. There's nothing, nothing for them.
>> PROTESTERS CHANTING: Autism Speaks needs to listen!
Autism Speaks needs to listen! Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> BENZION: Autism Speaks is focusing on curing autism,
not being able to live with, not integrating autistics.
Two years ago, I very naively came to Autism Speaks
to walk for autism, until I learned I was a disease that
needed to be cured.
>> PROTESTERS CHANTING: Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
>> WALKER: Are you really that stupid?!
>> NORANNE: Autistic rights are human rights!
>> WALKER: Are you that stupid?!
>> ERIKA: Most representations aren't true. As so I got passionate
about this topic because so many people are misinformed.
>> NICK: OK. Is there anything else you'd like to say?
>> ERIKA: They're people, not puzzles!
>> PROTESTERS CHANTING: Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights! Autistic rights are human rights!
Autistic rights are human rights!
>> WALKER: [sarcastic] Thanks!
>> BENZION: Huh?
>> WALKER: I said thanks.
>> BENZION: Thank you.
>> WALKER: [sarcastic] I appreciate people telling me that I'm wasting my time.
>> PROTESTERS: Autistic rights are human rights!
>> REP. CELESTE: I appreciate your willingness to appear
in that piece. I don't know whether you got a copy of it,
but it's now all over my district. There's 15,000 copies of it,
and you're all heroes!
>> MELANIE AND NORANNE: Thank you!
>> PROTESTERS: 2, 4, 6, 8, Autism Speaks discriminates! 2, 4, 6, 8, Autism Speaks discriminates!
>> WALKER: How do you guys sleep at night?!
>> WALKER: How do you sleep at night?!
>> BENZION: Absolutely...
>> WALKER: Hey, get back over... [incomprehensible]
>> JUSTIN: Continuing focus on the child's autism as a source of grief
is damaging for both the parents and the child, and precludes
the development of an accepting and authentic relationship between them.
For their own sake and for the sake of their children, I urge parents
to make radical changes in their perceptions of what autism means.
I invite you to look at our autism, and look at your grief, from our perspective.
>> BENZION: Autism is not an appendage. Autism isn't something a person has, or a
"shell" that a person is trapped inside. There's no normal child hidden behind the
autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience,
every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter,
every aspect of existence. It is not possible to separate the autism
from the person--and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the
same person you started with.
>> MELANIE: This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence.
This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know,
when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us:
that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be,
and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.
>> NORANNE: Autism is not an impenetrable wall.
You try to relate to your autistic child, and the child doesn't respond.
He doesn't see you; you can't reach her; there's no getting through.
That's the hardest thing to deal with, isn't it? The only thing is, it isn't true.
Look at it again: You try to relate as parent to child, using your own understanding
of normal children, your own feelings about parenthood, your own experiences
and intuitions about relationships. And the child doesn't respond
in any way you can recognize as being part of that system.
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> WALKERS: [yelling] O - H! -I - O!
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> WALKERS: [yelling] O - H! -I - O!
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> WALKERS: [yelling] O - H! -I - O!
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> WALKERS: [yelling] O - H! -I - O!
>> PROTESTERS: [chanting] Autism Speaks needs to listen!
>> JESSICA: You didn't lose a child to autism. You lost a child because the child you waited
for never came into existence. That isn't the fault of the autistic child
who does exist, and it shouldn't be our burden. We need and
deserve families who can see us and value us for ourselves,
not families whose vision of us is obscured by the ghosts
of children who never lived. Grieve if you must, for your own lost dreams.
But don't mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we're here waiting for you!