World Autism Awareness Day: Let’s Talk About What I Actually Hate

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day, and as an autistic person, I figured I’d share a list of things I hate.

1. Autism Speaks
   …that’s it.
   Thank you for reading!

Okay, joking aside Autism Speaks is genuinely harmful, and a lot of people still don’t know why. If you’ve never heard of them, honestly, good for you. But if you Google them, you’ll see something like: “a non-profit autism awareness organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States.” Sounds great on paper. The reality? Not so much.

Why Autism Speaks Is a Problem

Autism Speaks has a long history of framing autism as a tragedy, a burden, or something to be “fixed.” That alone is enough to make many autistic people uncomfortable, but it goes deeper:

• They treat autism like a disease instead of a disability. Their messaging has often focused on fear, loss, and suffering basically everything except the actual lived experiences of autistic people.
  
• They lack autistic leadership. For years, they made decisions about autistic people without including autistic people.
• They pour money into “cures” instead of support. Most autistic people aren’t asking to be cured. We’re asking for accessibility, acceptance, and resources.
• Their fundraising often uses fear. Emotional manipulation brings in donations, but it also spreads harmful stereotypes.
• They don’t prioritize marginalized autistic people. Low‑income families, non‑white autistic people, and those with higher support needs often get left out of the picture entirely.

And the wildest part? They profit off the same community they don’t want to be associated with. They use our existence to raise money, but they don’t center our voices or our needs. It’s like they want the brand, not the people.

Why I Won’t Support Them

There is no cure for autism, and there doesn’t need to be. What we need is understanding, accessibility, and respect not organizations that profit from fear.

So on World Autism Awareness Day, I’m choosing to raise awareness of something important: not all autism organizations are created equal, and some do more harm than good.

I’m linking the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) here, because they actually provide real resources, education, and places where you can learn, support, and hear directly from autistic people not people trying to “fix” us. They have helped me a lot to understand not only for myself but others.