bread 🍞 cat 🐈 !

If you haven't heard already, ASAN (Autism Self Advocacy Network) has had to pull their support of Sesame Street's autism program. The reason for them pulling their support is because Sesame Street has been helping to promote harmful Autism Speaks advertisements that stigmatizes autistic people.

https://autisticadvocacy.org/2019/08/asan-has-ended-partnership-with-sesame-street/?fbclid=IwAR0K5zZqimh3AXv17y13NyPbjN_Mke1cyAa1J_WwmGIhjB_tTlQ_Ys0gohg

"Sesame Street has now decided to undo that progress. Its latest PSAs featuring Julia promote Autism Speaks’ “Screen for Autism” initiative and their resource for parents of newly-diagnosed autistic children, the 100 Day Kit. Like much of Autism Speaks’ recent advertising, these PSAs use the language of acceptance and understanding to push resources that further stigma and treat autistic people as burdens on our families. The 100 Day Kit encourages parents to blame family difficulties on their autistic child (“When you find yourself arguing with your spouse… be careful not to get mad at each other when it really is the autism that has you so upset and angry”) and to view autism as a terrible disease from which their child can “get better.” It recommends compliance-based “therapies” and pseudoscientific “autism diets,” but fails to educate families about communication supports. It even instructs parents to go through the five stages of grief after learning that their child is autistic, as they would if the child had died.

We discussed with Sesame Street, repeatedly and in great detail, what this decision would mean for the autistic community. We explained to them how these ideas harm autistic children and our families, and reinforce societal prejudice against autistic people. Our contacts acknowledged that the Autism Speaks resources were harmful and portrayed autistic children in a negative light — yet they were unwilling to reverse course in their plans to promote them. As a result, we have formally ended our partnership with Sesame Street."

Sesame Street needs to know that what they are doing they are doing is not okay. Please take the time to sign the petition to get Sesame Street to stop partnering with Autism Speaks. And if you feel up to it you could contact them directly through their website.

https://www.change.org/p/sesame-workshop-sesame-street-stop-partnering-with-autism-speaks

me: *looks off into the distance*

no way no fucking way....

Now, there’s a nightly tourist attraction that uses these lasers, sized up multiple times. There is nothing inherently offensive or dangerous about these tiny laser pens, mainly used for stargazing.

So what do the people do?

They come out, to the planetarium (another popular use for these lasers) and they all shine a spectacular laser show to:

1). show their dissatisfaction for baseless arrests

2). display that there’s nothing dangerous about these lasers

3). they try to set the entire planetarium on fire with the very vicious glare of multiple lasers (it did not work)

4). also to satisfy the urge to shine a flashlight at a planetarium and make shadow dogs out of their hands

5). they’ve also turned it into an impromptu disco with song requests being taken, neon beachballs being tossed around, a public karaoke session

6). They also attempt to set a newspaper on fire via the sheer offensive firepower of multiple lasers singled upon one target. Newsflash, it didn’t work.

7). They also attempt to light a cigarette, to no avail.

“Operation Clean Sweep” began August 2 after a county corrections officer was allegedly struck during a fight involving a number of people on “Methadone Mile,” a stretch of the city near Massachusetts Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard where there are a number of clinics and treatment centers. The area has a high homeless population, many of whom have been the target of the operation in the five days and counting it has continued.

The destruction of the wheelchairs is only the latest incident involving the trashing of the possessions of homeless people in the operation.

One of the destroyed wheelchairs was reportedly confiscated from a man named Jarrod who was hit by a car last month.

“It was heartbreaking to speak with Jarrod, who lost not only his wheelchair, but everything he owns that he keeps in his backpack,” said homeless advocate Cassie Hurd.