Here at Jan Moore, we have never met a kindness campaign that we didn’t want to be a part of! So when we were researching ways to acknowledge and support World Autism Day, we were excited to see what Autism Speaks has been up to! Autism Speaks has a vision of a world where all people on the spectrum can reach their full potential. They work to fund research, support advocacy and promote services for families in the community. We were excited to learn about their Autism Kindness Campaign.
Or so we thought. Friends, this is where advocacy work can get tricky. After speaking with a trusted friend, we now realize that maybe Autism Speaks is not quite the stand-up organization we thought they were. At best, we can say with assurance that they have had their share of missteps. We are not going to sling their name through the mud because there are people who work there who have made it their life mission to support our autistic community. There are families who believe in their vision and so we are not going to throw their work under the bus. That is not our place.
So where does this land us? We are not totally sure. But what we do know is that before we move forward with our words and our dollars, we are going to dig a little deeper into their organization and perhaps move our support to another nonprofit. What we do know for sure is that we are here to be a voice for marginalized communities. By now our readers know that we are here to amplify the voices of the oppressed. And with that, we are planning to celebrate Autism Awareness Month by highlighting organizations that are doing it right. Stay tuned.
