Autistic activist Amy Sequenzia wrote an open letter to Pope Francis. You need to read it. Like, yesterday.
Why? Because in November 2014, the Vatican hosted a three-day conference on autism. Present and speaking at that conference was Suzanne Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks.
Her presence at the conference was quite unfortunate. Scratch that — it’s downright deplorable that she, along with her organization which continually stigmatizes autistic people and does not listen to autistic adult voices despite repeated efforts to reach out to them — gained an audience with His Holiness.
If you’re new to this — i.e. if you’re unfamiliar with the number of issues that autistic adults have with Autism Speaks below are a few reasons why autistic folk (myself included) have a problem with them. In short, Autism Speaks has:
- in its advertising, repeatedly relied on “offensive and outdated rhetoric of fear and pity…
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