Thread by @EricMGarcia

A lot of people are tweeting about Jack Black supporting Autism Speaks. Rather than digging at Jack Black for supporting it, I think it's important to explain WHY Autism Speaks has become so prominent and why so many autistic people find it dispiriting.

Given, I've written a book about this and went a bit into Autism Speaks's history, so I kind of know what I'm talking about. It's important to remember that Bob Wright, the former head of NBC Universal, after the his grandson was diagnosed as autistic. 2/
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As @jpitney writes in his book the Politics of Autism, parent lobbying was not that lucrative, even after movies like Rain Man increased autism's presence in the public consciousness. 3/

Autism Speaks's entry into the public sphere VERY much takes a philanthropic perspective. Bob Wright's platform as head of NBC Universal (and this was also around the time he launched the Apprentice with Donald Trump, but I digress). 4/

This very much launches the autism philathropic industrial complex. Finding "treatment" and a "cure" for autism becomes a very noncontroversial thing that supposedly everyone can support. The original sponsors of the Combating Autism Act of 2006? Chris Dodd and Rick Santorum. 5/

It's also important to recognize that this came JUST as people were worrying about an increase in autism cases due to better diagnostic criteria and better services in schools. But many news articles abounded the increase in autism cases and an autism "epidemic."

The rise in autism diagnoses made people think there was actually an increase in the instances of autism. Here's an article from 2006 about too much TV leading to autism diagnoses 7/ cbsnews.com/news/tv-implic…

Of course, this was also around the time that Andrew Wakefield was hawking his bullshit about vaccines. This context matters to understand Autism Speaks's prominence. It was meant to be a charitable function for elites and noncontroversial. 8/

Notably, this type of parent advocacy was very different from the early parent advocacy of folks like Ruth Christ Sullivan, who wanted better servants for their kids. 9/

But notice who wasn't included in this? Autistic people. This is because they were previously ignored, institutionalized or flat-out undiagnoses. As a result, they were not really included in Autism Speaks' paradigm. 10/

But Autism Speaks's rise to prominence JUST so happened to coincide with that first generation of #ActuallyAutistic people who benefited from better diagnostic criteria and services growing up. 11/

This generation largely pushed back on the idea that autistic people deserved to be objects of pity or inspiration. But it took time to take root. It's finally moved a bit in politics, particularly in the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton consulted autistic people 12/

It moved in earnest in 2020 when everyone from normie Democrats like Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris to progressives like Bernie Sanders, Julian Castro and Elizabeth Warren all released disability policies and consulted with autistic people. 13/ prospect.org/politics/berni…

So this leaves us with Jack Black. I should say, I LIKE Jack Black. School of Rock is one of my all-time favorite movies (Surprise Surprise!). But Hollywood, ever since Rain Man, has always kind of gotten autism a bit wrong. 14/

I don't think Jack Black is a bad guy for supporting Autism Speaks. Rather, I think it shows how Hollywood still sees autism as a feel-good charitable cause rather than a group of people who have a set of rights (and more importantly for Hollywood, can be consumers) 15/

Most people don't know the history of Autism Speaks. Jack Black is not William Shatner. This is likely due to the fact most people in his circle see it as a charitable cause. 16/

Most people don't know that autistic people feel about Autism Speaks feel the same way many #BlackLivesMatter activists feel about say, Shaun King. These things take time and they require shifting the way you look at autism and autistic people.

Furthermore, even as #Neurodiversity enters the public lexicon more and more, Autism Speaks still has plenty of money. They still are one of the top searches you find when you Google "Autism. 18/

It doesn't surprise me when someone like Jack Black gets on board with Autism Speaks. What matters more is finding ways to move and persuade prominent figures about how the paradigm has changed and what autistic people need. I don't think boycotting Jack Black is the avenue 19/

A lot of autistic people consider Autism Speaks as a hate group. I can't tell autistic people what to think, especially people who feel it spread harmful messages (which it did). But I think it's important to give people the room to change their minds about autism 20/

Some people might hear that Autism Speaks is a hate group and worry, "am I being a hateful person?" So it's important to bring new information to their attention while being clear you don't think they are bad people for supporting a certain group. 21/

About 90 percent of people with puzzle piece bumper stickers don't mean any harm. They are going with what they know. It's incumbent upon believers in #Neurodiversity to take that genuine and sincere fervor and redirect it to what autistic people say they need. 22/

It sucks that's the case. And it sucks that autistic self-advocates don't have the same resources. But there is already a paradigm shift. The fact that Sia's disaster of a movie Music failed was a result of pushback. Presidential candidates listening is a success. 23/

So it is possible to be disappointed while also recognizing many figures like Jack Black don't know the whole story. It's possible to redirect people. It takes time. But they are changing. Anyway, if you like this annoying thread, please buy my book 24/ harpercollins.com/products/were-…