Please Support Autistic People and STOP misrepresenting us.
Our voices are so incredibly important and we should not be invalidated. If you are a Neurotypical representing Autistics, please consult with us first. Consider our voices. Don’t exploit us for profit or speak about us in an incorrect or disrespectful fashion. If we call you out, don’t utilize it for your own personal gain. Listen. Respect. Consider. Consult. There’s plenty of things you can do to show us that you care.
I never claim to be an expert. I am an Autistic Person who is sharing her experiences. Those are two vastly different approaches when it comes to providing insight as to what Autism is. There are people out there who are passing themselves off as experts and they are getting feedback from those who are taking it all in as fact. Please be careful! Perpetuating untrue stereotypes and misinformation does not help anyone. Do your research. Be skeptical, ask questions.
Today, I stumbled upon a video shared by Eve of International Badass Activists. It was Jenny McCarthy promoting a hateful book and spreading the idea of #endautismnow on September 20th, the release of the book.
Transcript of her video:
“Hey Guys, Jenny McCarthy here. I’m back! With my 2nd call to action.
1st off, thanks you so much for coming in droves to support my 1st call to action: Which was to pre buy jb handleys book, how to end the autism epidemic.
The power we have when we all come together with common goals is immeasurable! And what better common goals than to bring us together then the health, the safety, the love of our kids AND wanting to prevent this from happening to future families.
The more time passes the more difficult it is for us to tell our stories and it’s only going to become more difficult.
SO WE MUST ACT NOW, which leads to our next mission, SEPTEMBER 20TH IS THE date of the book release and we want to see hundreds of you at bookstores across the country, where we will facebook live holding up copies of this book
The book that will reveal the truth behind the autism epidemic and most importantly, help end the autism epidemic.
Now this is how we can make it happen:
There’s a page I called, that it started, hashtag ENDAUTISMNOW
This will be an ambassador sign up page and what i need from ambassadors will be to represent your city and bookstore along with creating a facebook page so people in your city know where to go and once you’re accepted in the group, i will be filling you in with more details, now the goal again is to reach out to as many people as possible in your area to pre-buy the book, “how to end the autism epidemic” and then gather as many people as possible to that bookstore on september 20th and we will all facebook live from hundreds of stores across the country. They might have silenced many of our kids, but they ain’t gonna silence us. The groundbreaking information in jb handleys book could lead to the end of the autism epidemic. But that’s only the first step! It’s up to us, we’ve got to come together, unite and make some noise! Kim Kardashians’ ass didn’t really break the internet, but we can! Will you join me? Please send a request to the facebook page, hashtag endautismnow to be part of this massive event to help end the autism epidemic.
Thank you so much
#ENDAUTISMNOW”
Here’s my response. I really hope you have a chance to watch and interact with me.
I’ve been a Vegetarian for roughly 15 years, so naturally i’ve wanted to go to VegExpo. It was incredibly busy! You had to push past part of the crowds to get anywhere so that was a bit tedious. The fact I had the chance to connect with brands that I already love, taste delicious new treats and be immersed in a space with likeminded people made it completely worth it. They had over 200 vendors. The location was the Vancouver Convention Centre and it ran from 10 until 5pm. We got there at around 10:15, waited in line for about 15 minutes and got in at 10:30. We stayed for 3 hours and I’m really happy we went early. As the day went on it just kept getting busier. It’s really nice to see something of this calibre be such a success.
Back when I was employed in the retail health food sector, I had the privilege of going to CHFA. This, being a show open to the public and not just exclusive to retailers and wholesalers, was, well, very different: The demographic and the approach by companies was more tailored to their customer base. It was interesting to compare and contrast.
I was really happy that I was able to talk a bit about my story and connect with brands that seem to align with my vision and values. I hope this gives me some opportunities for some great taste test videos (did you see this one?)!
Here are the brands/companies/associations that I mention in my video above:
