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Autism Speak Research Paper

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The nonprofit organization Autism Speaks is perhaps one of the most well-known in the realm of disability charity and welfare promotion for autistic people. Oftentimes, when working with disabled youth and adults, autistic people will frequently be seen as part of the patient population. As I am looking to become a social worker, I will be working closely with these patients and need to familiarize myself with the organizations that are commonly and frequently pointed to when it comes to looking for help with funding and the improvement of quality of life for people with certain disabilities. Autism Speaks is one of the most prominent autism focused organizations in the United States, yet also maintains a notoriously negative reputation amongst …show more content…
In one instance, “[t]wo prominent figures at Autism Speaks... resigned in 2009 because they objected to the organization's complicity in perpetuating the groundless urban legend about vaccines and autism,” with one warning in his resignation letter that ““[i]f Autism Speaks' misguided stance continues, there will be more deaths”” (Evans par …show more content…
Autism spectrum disorder can be classified as a disability and thus organizations contributing to research, care, treatment, etc. of those with autism could be subject to government regulation and state control, since it is technically a medical condition; however, Autism Speaks, and many other nonprofit organizations experience many freedoms away from regulation, labor and social control, etc. from the government. Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell explain that, with processes like roll-back neoliberalism, in which “the active destruction and discreditation of Keynesian-welfarist and social-collectivist institutions” encourages privatization, organizations like Autism Speaks are allowed to exist away from much government regulation (37). This continues to allow the deliberate mismanagement of funding in which less than 4% of a nonprofit charity’s budget will be actually given to its intended

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