P.S.A. from spacedlaw

[ayoub]

The band Five for Fighting will generously donate $0.40 for each time this short, beautiful video is viewed. The funding will go toward research studies to help find a cure for autism. When you have a moment, please visit the link here to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.

Comments

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

Four thousand dollars? Four thousand, for a research project of that magnitude? You can't even hire one research doctor these days for that much.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Every penny helps, my friend :)

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

True, but they set the goal at 4000, only in a clever way so that it doesn't look like 4000 at a glance. That's kind of a paltry little thing to do, ya know..?
I mean, I watched it anyways, and put it up on myspace, but... 4000?

[the-ravyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. :)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

*hugs 'n' love*

[kingdavey.livejournal.com]

As someone on the Autistic spectrum, I can understand some of the issues here. The film portrays the very important issues surrounding Autism. Autism Speaks the charity that will be getting the money do both good work and at the same time seem to me to be very misguided. Autism involves the way your brain is wired to take in a deal with different information. I see and do things very differently to you, this is because my Autistic brain processes the information differently. I agree with researching the causes of Autism, the lobbying for better health care provisions and therapy's for people with Autism. A cure is the wrong word in my book. The only cure would be to rewire the brain. Would you want your brain rewired?

Autism appears to be part genetic. My daughter is showing signs of Autistic traits. To cure her would have meant that her genetic code would have needed to be changed before birth. Is this a good idea? In my opinion NO.

As long as Autism Speaks continue to fund awareness programmes and lobbying they have my full support.

Thank you for posting the link

[the-ravyn.livejournal.com]

You bring up a very good point about the word "cure".  My son is also on the spectrum (Kanner's).  While I am going about getting him treatment for things that neurologists insist are "part of his autism" (most autoimmune issues), I in no way think I am "curing his autism" as I have seen a lot of parents say they are doing on the Autism Speaks message board.  I think a lot of parents are mistaken when they see that their child's "autistic behaviours" are waning, they somehow think they are "cured" as they start to blend in more with their neurotypical peers.  I find that thinking terribly misguided.

I agree as long as Autism Speaks continues to fund awareness and research programs, they have my support.  I would like to see them have a bit more focus on autistic adults as well, as far as lobbying for better services for those who cannot live independently.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome... :)

[seegwa.livejournal.com]

Very poignant message. Thanks for posting this. *hugs*

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

*hugs back*

[spacedlaw.livejournal.com]

Thanks for spreading this.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the head's up! :D

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

That made me cry. I have 3 nieces and 1 nephew (all in the same family, my ex husband's brother's children) with various degrees of severity of autism. The family is currently undergoing several genetic research studies, because this is apparently extremely rare. Being part of the study is the only way that the children have been able to get *any* therapy and treatment at all. The youngest girl has very severe autism.

Thanks for posting this. I love Five For Fighting.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

*hugs you back just because I can always use one*