Do not Support S. 843, the Combating Autism Act

As you (hopefully) know already, the Senate HELP Committee has recently passed the Combating Autism Act by a unanimous vote. While facing overwhelming support for this legislation, our voices of opposition must not be silenced.

The following is a sample email to send to your Senator, urging him/her to have nothing to do with this legislation and see that it never sees the light of day in the senate. Feel free to modify the letter to add your own personal message (i.e., why you care), but make sure to send it as soon as possible. The Senate needs to hear from the REAL autism community what we have to say about all of this, not just what others say about us. Please keep in mind that most of these links lead you to a contact form on each senator's website, you can use the text box on the page to formulate what you have to say, copy it, and paste it into the comment box on their website, unless it is an email address.

Please Do Not Support the Combating Autism Act (S. 843)

Dear [Senator you are sending this to],

Please personalize your message

I urge you to not support S. 843, the Combating Autism Act of 2005, when it comes before the U.S. Senate in the coming weeks.

This legislation, while it is important in awareness, is not conducive to supporting the individual with autism. Instead, it would likely lead to glorified genocide, under the guise of being good for the society, with the added bonus of maybe helping the person.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects an individual in the areas of social interaction and communication. Children and adults with autism are often unable to communicate, have difficulty with social interaction, and, in some cases, may be aggressive or self-injurious. However, autistics are people with the right to choose to remain who we are. Would you want to have a personality transplant and be told it was because you were not acceptable before when all is said and done?

Despite the serious physical, emotional, and economic impact of autism, there is still much we don't know about this serious condition. Autism is often undiagnosed, leading to significant delay in treatment and intervention. However, we believe this legislation is not the route we need to take in order to counteract the ignorance abound in the country.

The Combating Autism Act is a critical piece of legislation that addresses this problem by authorizing more than $1 billion in federal funding for autism related research, early detection, and intervention, but does absolutely nothing for awareness in American Society. A revised plan of action for this legislation needs to be made in order for it to benefit the autistics currently in society, instead of merely being a tool of those seeking to eradicate them. By curing autism, there would be a loss of an abundance of creative and unique individuals that contribute to the greater good of society, each in their own ways, whether or not it is acknowledged is another matter entirely.

We, the autistic people, their families and friends, beg you to reconsider supporting this act if you already do so. No justification can be made for eliminating a vein of inspiration to many who surround us, as we are told, and many of us do not realize how truly "refreshing" most other individuals of society find us.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,

Whoeveryouare

Alabama Richard C. Shelby, Jeff Sessions

Alaska Lisa Murkowski, Ted Stevens

Arizona John McCain, Jon Kyl

Arkansas Blanche L. Lincoln, Mark L. Pryor

California Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer

Colorado Wayne Allard, Ken Salazar

Conneticuit Christopher J. Dodd, Joseph L. Lieberman

Delaware Joseph R. Biden Jr., Thomas R. Carper

Florida Mel Martinez, Bill Nelson

Georgia Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Isakson