Thanks to your generosity, Autism Speaks Canada has been able to deliver critical resources such as the Autism Response Team and My Autism Guide, while also investing nearly $5 million in Community Grants to strengthen access to community-based programs. Together with our partners including SickKids, DNAstack and McGill University we have also made important advances in research and science. Together, we have made strides in understanding autism, improving interventions, and successfully advocating for National Autism Strategy in parliament in 2024.
After almost 20 years of dedication to building an inclusive Canada and after much consideration, Autism Speaks Canada will conclude its operations on January 31, 2025. The intentional decision to conclude was not taken lightly and has been weighed against responsible stewardship through and through. To honour donor intent, commitments, mission and values, ASC is proud to have maintained a responsible conclusion to this part of its story. We have, and continue to, advocate for increased funding of autism services, advocacy and research to serve this important and growing population.
Looking ahead, Autism Speaks operations in the United States will continue fostering key collaborations with Canadian institutions and other global partners. This ongoing work will build on our shared legacy of impactful research and partnerships, advancing innovative, research-driven solutions to enhance the lives of individuals with autism worldwide.
Once again, heartfelt thank you for the meaningful impact you’ve made in so many lives. For more information, on services and resources, please visit autismspeaks.org.
Don't actually visit that link for information on services and resources. You know why.
I was officially diagnosed in the summer of 2009, and in 2010 I began to get involved with advocacy. Back then, Autism Speaks completely dominated the narratives around autism in the American blogosphere, and they were drowning advocates out regularly, burying our stories and our calls for equity and understanding. I couldn't imagine how different things would be nearly 15 years later. Autistic-led organizations have grown so much stronger and more organized than ever, even non-autistic people are realizing that ABA is fundamentally harmful and abusive, and now Autism Speaks has to shut down in Canada.
A reason hasn't emerged yet publicly, but my guess is that said reason is financial. This is particularly interesting because it means that AS isn't doing too well on the monetary side of things. They've lost a lot of their former partnerships over the years (Lindt comes to mind, but there are many others), and they aren't dominant in autism discussions the way they once were. Less and less people talk about us as diseased. Canonically autistic characters are appearing in media and being treated as human instead as of some sort of "other." There's been a prolonged shift in the direction of acceptance, and the people who talk about us as an epidemic are being left behind. Demographic groups who were underdiagnosed are being caught up. People who were missed are self-diagnosing or getting official diagnoses they needed. Autism is simply part of the human condition.
There's a lot of fighting left to do. We're not out of the woods by far, and at least in the United States, there's going to be a lot of misinformation coming out with RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine crusading. We have to prepare for the battles ahead. But that doesn't mean we can't stop for a moment to celebrate a victory on this scale. We can't sit on our laurels, but we can cherish the fact that we've made enough progress for this to happen.
Be proud of yourselves today. We all worked together to reach this level of acceptance. Onward and upward!
