I'm not sure how I feel about this

[inever]

John Elder Robison, author of Look Me In The Eye:My Life With Asperger's, has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory and Scientific Treatment Board of Autism Speaks.On the one hand, I'm glad they are consulting with, and taking seriously, an actual autistic. On the other hand, I think they mistreat autistics and misportray them constantly in the

Comments

[gremy]

[emerald_skies]

I'm still incredibly suspicious of Autism Speaks, so this sort of smacks of "publicity stunt" to me, but I respect John Robison a lot so I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to change things for the better.

[nekusagi]

On the one hand they could be doing this to shut up any complaint that they don't include autistics on their board.

On the other hand, maybe they're finally starting to change.

I'm cynical so I'm going with the former.

[codeman38]

Just from reading the description of his role, it does sound a bit token-ish to me. But maybe that's just me.

I hope this is a sign of Autism Speaks changing for the better, but I'll believe it when their marketing stops being so doom-and-gloom.

[conuly]

Most likely it means nothing in the day-to-day running of That Organization. If things start to really change, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[sr_rivka42]

I follow his blog and read his book, and I strongly dislike him and many of his views. I think he's entirely too willing to make friends with the pro-cure crowd. (Have you seen his posts discussing his own "cure" through some kind of magnets on his brain?) So this is not terribly shocking. I'm guessing he'll fit into the organization as it is rather than change it.

[for_u_alone]

"Have you seen his posts discussing his own "cure" through some kind of magnets on his brain?"

*headdesk*

[sr_rivka42]

It's actually through a study being done at Harvard--which doesn't, of course, mean that it isn't quackery.