It's only the second day of April and already I feel like snarling over the autism awareness shit being spewed by people who are not autistic and who do not, in fact, advocate for us. Looks, it's like this:

Westboro Baptist Church is to gay people as Autism Speaks is to autistic people. They both claim that the world would be better off without a certain kind of person and that a "cure" is in order. And if that "cure" entails eugenics, so be it. If that church were trying to get donations to "help" gay folk, the outrage would be instantaneous, particularly if they claimed to be THE VOICE for gay people. Oh, sorry, I forgot. We're like cancer. For us, it's different. We're a disease that needs to be eradicated. Our parents want to kill us (YES, they SAY that!! They even say it on national television and are responded to with sympathy!)

I'm sorry, was that supposed to be inoffensive? Fail

The gay rights movement was not spearheaded by straight fundamentalist christians. The civil rights movement was not led by the Ku Klux Klan. And the autism advocacy/acceptance movement cannot be led by Autism Speaks or by people who adhere to that brand of hatred. Yes, hatred. Call it what it is. Don't sugar coat it with smarmy good intentions. Saying that the world has no place for us, that we need to be cured (cease to exist), and that we are a plague, that life is just so difficult with people like us in the world, etc is not kindness or advocacy, it is hatred.

And that fucking puzzle piece....Oh god.... That puzzle doesn't even look like anything! It is just stupid meaningless blobs of primary colors! What kind of puzzle piece doesn't go together with others to make a picture? Is that the idea, that we're useless and won't make sense no matter what, that even if the pieces were to fit together, we'd still be incomprensible? That is not advocacy, folks, and it isn't helpful imagery. Ugh!