I've figured something out. We don't necessarily another service organisation for autists in South Africa, although ALL the service organisations could do with massive improvement (and it doesn't all depend on funding increases).
We need a DISABILITY RIGHTS ORGANISATION.
We need a DISABILITY RIGHTS ORGANISATION.
We need this because existing service organisations are not equipped to deal with human rights violations and in particular, the nature of the abuse that many autistic children and adults experience at the hand of caregivers.
They are not well structured and equipped to lobby for change and they are DEFINITELY not geared towards prosecutions and victim placements.
Their staff are generally not well informed about disability rights, and as organisations, their goals are not rooted in the human rights model of disability, which forms the basis of the #CRPD.
Now, although I have had a lot of conflict with some of these organisations, I am not cynical about their ability to change. I am merely convinced that change cannot be effectively brought about by becoming a member and trying to stir up change from the inside.
I believe in collaboration between entities, so that there is not a watering down of principles, goals and values, and so that directional shifts can take place based on step by step agreement and ad hoc alliances rather than on suppressing internal strife.
