Thread by @ShamusWrites

THREAD: As you’ve seen, I was… Less than happy when earlier this week @PowerMorphicon (PMC) unveiled their schedule and it included a panel for “Autism Speaks.” I guess this is my first time saying this publicly but earlier this year I realized I’m on the autistic spectrum. 1/?

Its been a journey getting to that point, but along the way I learned the history of “Autism Speaks.” In the autistic community it’s universally known as, “the group where almost no autistic people are in leadership and most of its money goes to the CEOs. Not autistic people.”

I was at first livid that @PowerMorphicon would even consider allowing a panel with them. But, I tried to put myself in their shoes. If you aren’t in autistic circles, it’s understandable you might not have heard the bad things.

Autism Speaks is one of the biggest organizations out there associated with autism. I can easily imagine the underpaid (or not paid at all) @PowerMorphicon schedule organizer going,

“Oh, something about autism and a Ranger actor (Tracy Lynn Cruz) from a popular season will be talking about her experience with her autistic kids? Sure, that’s fine.”

I wanted to give @PowerMorphicon the benefit of the doubt.

So I reached out in a long email, laying out the many problems of Autism Speaks as an organization and why it was a poor choice to be endorsing them as a convention.

After all, Power Rangers fandom has a large amount of autistic people and thus a panel called “Autistic Speaks” not involving any of them is obviously a bad call, right? I also left a comment on their Facebook page, not quite as long, but summing up the same points.

The leadership of @PowerMorphicon responded to that FB comment with,

“I was not aware and we have removed them.”

Uhhh, was he not aware of Autism Speaks’ reputation or the panel itself? The first one I sort of get, as stated above, but not aware of the panel?

This was clarified when another FB post called out @PowerMorphicon for having an Autism Speaks panel and the leadership responded,

“I was not in charge of the panel that was a panel that Tracy Lynn Cruz requested, and I never paid any attention to it.”

This was not a good sign, leadership publicly pushing the responsibility onto someone else on staff instead of taking responsibility for it. But that’s all internal @PowerMorphicon politics. At least the panel was removed… Right?

For two days I checked to see if @PowerMorphicon website had removed the panel and it hadn’t. This isn’t a surprise, PMC’s website notably still prominently features the schedule from PMC 2022 in one of their easiest to find links.

However, after digging through the confused mess of the website I discovered the panel hadn’t been removed from the schedule. The title had simply been changed to…

“Power Rangers and Autism” with Tracy Lynn Cruz the only confirmed panelist.

This is where any goodwill and understanding was gone. It was obvious that the content of the panel would remain largely the same, only that the “Autism Speaks” branding had been removed. You may think, “well, at least @PowerMorphicon isn’t endorsing Autism Speaks anymore!”

Perhaps not. And hey, that panel topic would actually be a welcome one at @PowerMorphicon. Like I said, there’s a major cross section of autistic people and PR fans and it’d be well worth hosting a panel where they can discuss that overlap and speak to their experiences.

But no, we have “Power Rangers and Autism” lead by a non-autistic Ranger actor where she, in much the same way “Autism Speaks” does, will speak over autistic fans. You only have to look at her official bio on PMC social media to see how she frames her own story, including...

“In addition to empowering her own children, Tracy has also managed to beautifully maintain and grow her relationship with her husband of 24 years despite the daunting rollercoaster of finding, adjusting and managing the comprehensive care for their children.”

Why is that there? If she’s speaking to help raise awareness for autistic people, why is a big chunk of her story focused on how SHE’S dealt with the “daunting rollercoaster” of having autistic kids?

This is the Autism Speaks playbook. They’re not speaking up for Autistic people. They’re trying to get money out of non-autistic parents by focusing on their struggles instead.

(There is very much a place for, say, non-autistic parents with autistic kids to have a space to discuss their experiences, but a “Power Rangers and Autism” panel is not it.)

I once again raised my concerns to the leadership of @PowerMorphicon. I explained that, at the very least, multiple autistic fans should be included on this panel. This comment went ignored… Or so it seemed.

The following day, a post went up on the @PowerMorphicon website (which is still one of the posts near the top) that had an explanation of what the panel would be… along with a new name.

“Tracy Lynn Cruz- A Mighty Morphin' Power Journey.”

From the title alone I could see what was happening. PMC knew they’d messed up and instead of taking appropriate action went, “oh, someone doesn’t like the panel TITLE? Let’s just change that and hope no one notices.”

This is made more obvious when the post was not shared on social media. You can only find it on the poorly designed @PowerMorphicon website, as if to hide the fact it was happening from onlookers concerned about this panel.

Well, okay, it’s just turned into a solo Tracy Lynn Cruz panel, that’s… Fine??? (It was not fine.)

The panel description reads, “How my life Morphed from actress to advocate. Autism is a super Power! Introduction to Nurolux. The who, what, when, where, why and how Nurolux can help come alongside you on the Journey to finding you and/or your loved ones super power!”

I didn’t know until doing some research (with the help of friends) and Nurolux, effectively, is just reskinned Autism Speaks. Their website “services” states that a key part of their curriculum is, “Making the most of ABA or behavioral therapy.”

ABA therapy would deserve an entire essay about it but to sum up, it basically encourages autistic people to, “hide their pain and distress, and rewards autistic children for “fitting in” to neurotypical norms.”

Effectively ABA teaches autistic people to “mask” who they are, which leads to trauma and poor mental health.

You can read more about it here: autisticscienceperson.com/why-aba-therap…

Despite two attempts to rebrand, it’s clear the content is basically the same. But now @PowerMorphicon staff knows it’ll be controversial and thus the panel description ends with this, “Due to the sensitivity of personal information. NO RECORDING OF ANY KIND will be permitted!”

Is this so @PowerMorphicon is less likely to face blowback for a panel about autism not featuring a single autistic person? I’m forced to assume so because it lines up with everything they’ve done to address the initial problem.

Instead of simply realizing their mistake and getting rid of the panel, PMC has attempted to rebrand it twice but only in surface ways to try and take the heat off them. Over the words and concerns of autistic fans, PMC instead prioritized one of the following,

1) Pleasing a former Power Rangers actress so she’ll continue to appear at @PowerMorphicon and related events. The money she brings in is worth spreading misinformation and hateful rhetoric about autistic people.

2) Not doing the work to change the panel. They could have rebranded and made the panel about the experience of autistic fans. One led from their perspective!

But that would take work and eh, we’d rather be spending time making sure our others esteemed guests including, *checks notes*, the original Red Ranger who openly advertised selling t-shirts with Hitler quotes on them, are happy.

3) Replacing the “Autism Speaks” panel with ANYTHING else. If @PowerMorphicon gets rid of this “Autism Speaks” panel, what would replace it? It’s not like there’s ten zillion Power Rangers fan series and fan groups at the con who would be glad to put on a last minute panel.

I tell this story because I was planning to go to @PowerMorphicon this year. Despite its many problems, it’s an event I’ve enjoyed in the past and there’s so many people there I’d love to see and reconnect with. I in fact went last night to pick up my Press Badge. I was ready.

But the more I reflected on how @PowerMorphicon has handled this whole situation, and what it says about their feelings on autistic fans, the more I can’t support them.

The worst part, aside from allowing the panel to happen in the first place, is the obvious attempts to disguise it in order to avoid controversy and please a single guest.

(Also, side note, Tracy Lynn Cruz gets a solo panel while the cast of the most recent season doesn’t? You were not hurting for panel options here, @PowerMorphicon.)

I’m still learning a lot about my own autism and I worry it’s not my place to speak up about this. But I have to. I have to say something.

I considered going to the panel on Sunday and trying to intervene. To hand out information about the negative impacts of Autism Speaks. Perhaps crowbar my way onto the panel and share the experiences of my fellow autistic friends and fans.

I still might, but also… Why am I doing @PowerMorphicon's work for them? Why am I having to put myself in the line of fire and face the ire of guests and other attendees?

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a known problem at @PowerMorphicon, even though I’ve never been on staff. A known abuser was part of the PMC staff for years and leadership was told about him yet nothing was done.

So I confronted this abuser… While he was speaking with the head of @PowerMorphicon and the then current executive producer of Power Rangers.

In a better run convention this would have been a time to connect with the producer and share my love of his work. Instead I ignored him and laid into the abuser. I told him he had no place here, that his actions would not stand and I wouldn’t allow him to hurt anyone else.

Yet still, even with this confrontation in front of the head of @PowerMorphicon, this abuser was allowed to stay on staff. It was only because of the work of many fans behind the scenes, effectively forcing PMC’s hand, that this abuser was not allowed back.

That experience drained me. It cut into my soul. I spent hours consoling a friend who’d been hurt by this abuser.

All on a weekend that was supposed to be my vacation.

In a space that should be built to let myself and other fans share our love and passion for a special interest, why must it become a battleground?

Why is @PowerMorphicon a place where I step inside, not excited to see friends, but wary of the dangers that await? Of having to summon all my courage to get the leadership to understand the harm they’re causing?

I don’t know… But I can’t do @PowerMorphicon's job for them. I’ve already drained myself this week trying to handle it and I’m done.

I want everyone attending @PowerMorphicon to know the convention does not have your best interests at heart. If you encounter a problem there, one that makes you feel unsafe? Don’t expect it to be solved.

At best it’ll be swept under the rug, the staff more concerned with the headache of social media backlash than the well being of a large portion of its attendees.

It would have been a fun time, @PowerMorphicon. Alas.

If you want an example of what an Autism panel at a Power Rangers convention could be like, I highly recommend this video. A wonderful and thoughtful discussion of autism, representation, and spandex-clad superheroes. END THREAD.