Official Statement by Executive Director, Amanda Seigler Originally posted on May 01, 2020. Moved to site on September 08 2020.
On Monday, Autism Speaks issued an “apology” for a husband of an executive of Autism Speaks, calling an active member of this FAA org’s board a very vile name that no one should ever be called. This apology is not genuine. They “got caught.” The autistic community, myself, Fierce Autistic and Allies, and the victim fought back. This was the first time anyone had direct proof of this type of treatment of autistic people by this organization. They listed the perpetrator as a partner of an employee. This is a husband of an executive and they were trying to down play what actually happened. “During this event, we heard many voices, including thousands of our dedicated supporters and others who disagreed with us.” This statement says it all. “and others.” They have been othering us for years. They came out and said this during an apology. They called the message an “inappropriate message,” and it was more than inappropriate. This message is sexual harassment and we will refer to it as such. This should never be downplayed. They stated they have an open dialogue; however, they blocked several of our board members from interacting with the page. The very community they claim to speak for, they shut out. In the comments, the community made their disgust and frustrations known. Today, Autism Speaks hid their “apology” from their timeline. Not only did they hide that, but they hid their whole month of April on their Facebook Page. They have a history of silencing and deleting autistic voices. This community has grown accustomed to it. We screen shot everything and we have proof. This shows how insincere they are. They got caught and were backed into a corner. The Autistic Community is not impressed. You do not speak for us. We can speak for ourselves. We have been advocating for ourselves but no one listens. This ends now.
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