NOXO Autism Aid....are you f*****g serious?

TW: Satire, curism, obligatory mention of Autism Speaks
 
   Been a rough summer.  I'll get into that eventually.  But what inspired me to dust off this blog after uhhhhh... 4 months?  (seriously it feels like I made my last post yesterday).

  I woke up and checked my twitter feed for something to break me out of my morning doldrums.  Leyland quitting the Tigers..... /yawn?  Never liked him anyways.

  But what is this?

  Finally, the cure to all of my woes!  The answer to all of my questions, delivered to me in the form of a balm!  A magazine for autism parents has posted evidence of a cure for autism symptoms!  Must be legit! However, I had to investigate, I had to know for sure.


   The article on Yahoo finance the tweet tells us of how one mom used NOXO lip balm on her two autistic children.  She states that it makes them "mellow" and she was able to stand in a line with them at a fair.  It works for up to 5 hours! That's it!  One mom, two Autistic boys, one line at a fair.  TEH CURE!  That's all the information I should need.  Let's get this out to the world.

 "NOXO’s solution provides unprecedented hope for children and families affected by Autism. NOXO Autism Balm(TM) stops the frequency of behavioral issues that trouble children with sensitivities by stopping sensory issues including odors and inducing a calming effect. The Autism Balm provides quick relief to the overstimulated child and allows families to enjoy public settings with fewer worries.

NOXO Autism Balm(TM) is similar to a lip balm but is applied just below the nostrils on the upper lip. Allowing the natural formula to be inhaled and take effect. NOXO’s solution is safe, easy to apply and non-invasive. It works on your body’s natural processes and responses. It is the first successful product to address behavioral issues triggered by sensitivities."

  That's great!  No more awkward stimming.  No more stares and chuckles.  I have been freed of my naughty, perverse nature at last.  All I have to do is put on some of this lip balm.

  But wait....damn you autism, damn you cynical, anxious nature.  Damn you all to hell.  I must know.  What are the wondrous natural ingredients of NOXO?  Where is the science and the studies behind it all.  Surely they exist!  Yahoo finance posted this article, and an autism mag.  It must be true.  They even provided a link to their website for more info.  

  Uhh waiit.  OK, their "wellness" solutions are "based on Nobel Prize science".  What Nobel Prize and what science pray tell?

  

  We have more statistical evidence that seems to suggest that the makers of NOXO Autism Balm have, in fact clicked on the front page of Autism Speaks website.

  

  1/88 ......Check

  2 million Americans..... Check

  Hypersensitivity.... Check

  

  Good job folks!  I was hoping for more information though.  Like the studies and research that shows that the product works.  

 Never mind that.  NOXO was developed by a biochemist and formal Naval commander that has been developing......wait.  No it wasn't!  Lets read this paragraph carefully.

   Advanced biochemist and former Naval Commander, Dr. V. Ruth Pinney was tasked with developing an alternative to Tear Gas for crowd dispersal. With the development of this “Stink Bomb” came the need for our own forces to have odor protection and be able to be effective in controlling dangerous crowds. The result was Noxo Odor Defense Pro™ and NOXO Autism Aid™, now in its fourth generation; More powerful than ever before for personal use under the nose and other inconspicuous places, it's odor protection that travels with you. NOXO has been providing people with protection against odors since 9/11

 

  Lets summarize.  A Naval scientist invented a stink bomb as an alternative to using very harmful tear gas for crowd dispersal situations.  NOXO developed a balm that supposedly counteracts the effect of this stink bomb, then engineered it into a panacea that will prevent Autism stimming.  A decorated Naval biochemist did not invent NOXO Autism Aid according to this article.  Just want to have that clear.  

  My heart sinks to the floor.  My hopes beginning to dash.  No study, no science, no information.  Just carefully hidden woo.  What are the ingredients?  Perhaps I could investigate what makes up NOXO on my own to salvage the possibility of a purchase.

   Ingredients: A special proprietary formulation of Phytonutrients and Phytochemicals taken from plants, flowers, roots and seeds. All ingredients are in a medical grade Petrolatum base that is FDA approved. 

  In other words....none of your damn business what your putting on your kids' lips.  But the petrolatum that carries the Colonel's secret recipe of herbs and spices is FDA approved. My soul shatters, my wallet closes and I am resigned to another day of flapping and fidgeting at the train station.

   In all seriousness, Autism Parenting Magazine should be ashamed of themselves for tweeting this worthless crap on desperate misinformed parents.  

  

Humanity 101: AS and the free market

Trigger Warnings: Autism Speaks

   Back about a week ago on The Caffeinated Autistic there was a debate in the comments section over whether AS and its negative rhetoric was responsible for discrimination and hate crime against Autistics in on this post (which is a rather excellent post).  You can scroll down to read the debate.  I typed up a rather satirical reply towards the end of the debate.  I decided not to post it at that time though, especially on someone elses blog in the wee hours of the morning.  Its a bit rough.  At that time it was rougher than it is now even.  I pasted it over here and waited until April Fears Day.  It sums up what is wrong with this organization.


   Humanity 101: Sensationalism sells.  I get that.  In order to do the charitable and merciful works that AS does they have to raise funds.  One raises funds by being sensationalist and controversial.  AS should be forgiven for their exploitative fund raising videos because the ends justify the means.  Mistakes in marketing strategy happen in a free market economy.  AS makes a name for themselves riding the wave of their "autistic tsunami", tugging on the hearts of maligned caregivers and challenged educators looking for answers on how to teach people with a different neurotype from their own, raking in donations with which the take care of themselves (quite comfortably), invest a large part into keeping their machine running with more fundraising campaigns, then funnel the rest into research geared to ending autism.  Some of the methods they research may be medically valid, some may not.  Some internet bloggers get angry with the ableist portrayal in the videos and raise a stink.  It gets bad press so AS pulls the videos.  It gets bad press because the internet bloggers make sensationalist complaints.  That's humanity 101.  Mistakes happen in a free market society.  AS is a charitable organization, they mean well therefore they are well.  The ends justify the means in a free market society.  The videos have been pulled.  No penance required in our Nation under God.  AS does good.  They have smiling little kids lounging on beanie bags on their facebook wall, and 1 million caregivers clicked like.  It is a positive place.  They are a charitable organization, they do good.  They are good, even when they do things that are not good because in a free market society, the ends justify the means.  Again, the ends (raising cash to support themselves and their effort to cure the autism epidemic) justify the means (exploiting millions of autistics, spreading life threatening rhetoric and restricting our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness). 

Did I pass Humanity 101?

How it came to this, Autism Speaks

  Trigger Warnings: Autism Speaks, Autism Every Day video

    As I gathered information about autism on the internet, I came across many divergent opinions and theories from people on the web, both with and without Autism.  Some saying I should be fixed, some saying I should love and accept myself and be happy, and some saying I need to fight.

  Amongst those with autism, having similar lives, feelings and experiences as mine there is much disagreement and debate.  However I noticed one unifying theme:

 Autism Speaks sucks

  I am not one to jump on a bandwagon, so I did not take up the fight against this organization immediately.  However due to the criticism from my Autistic peers that have more knowledge and experience, I dismissed them as a source of reliable information.

  One of the standout reasons for outrage was a video called "Autism Every Day", in which I was informed a neurotypical mom discussed her urge to kill herself and her Autistic child, and did so in front of her child.  I decided to spare myself this sight and take my spoons and research elsewhere.

  I started blogging under the "be happy" philosophy of the three I above listed.  I was (and still am) deeply in self discovery mode.  I read other blogs.  I liked the activist ones.  I felt empathy.  I wanted to get involved, but wasn't sure how, or if I was welcome.

  ASAN's view "Nothing about us without us" is logical.  Why shouldn't people represent themselves?  I made a donation.  I bought "Loud Hands".  I cried

  I learned about the "Autistic People Should" and "Autistic People Are" flash blogs from Yes, That Too.  I decided that was a good place for me to step in.  I was late with my entry because I had no idea what I was doing.

   I was disgusted by that autosearch.  I revealed my self diagnosis to NT friends.  I linked texted them to check that autosearch.  I linked Yes, That Too to them.  They told me not to get involved.  I linked Radical Neurodivergence Speaking to them.  I have not heard from them since.

  I had always been "other", but I had always tried not to be.  When I made it clear that I was no longer interested in contorting myself into one of "them", I became less than other.  "They" do not want me to exist.  People I have laughed and cried with even had a fling with turned their back on me for simply admitting that I had a different brain type.  They erased me. 

  I realized I was in a fight, and my options were to press on, or return whence I came.  Forget this blogging thing, forget activism, forget autism.  Go back to living in the shadows, pretending to be what people wanted me to be.

  I won't lie.  I have considered option B.  I have questioned myself and why I am getting involved.  As Tolkien wrote, "It's dangerous business, going out your door".  It is easy to be a coward.  It kills you, but it is easy.

  The flash blog was a success.  Google vowed to fix the autosearch.  I felt great for a minute.  Then Autism Speaks erased me again.

  They posted a story about the autocorrect on their Facebook wall on 2/28 but gave no credit to the activists.  A lot of Autistic people worked a lot harder than I did on that project.  (Story was updated on 3/6 after a week of protesting)

 For me, it was validation of the belief.  The theory became law:

  Autism Speaks sucks

  I watched that atrocity "Autism Every Day".  I was prepared for Alison Singer's filicidal fantasies.  I was not prepared for the dozens of other ways that video would make me want to vomit.  I was not prepared to listen to an overprivileged mom lamenting the loss of her morning bagel dates because of her autistic child.  I was not prepared for the amount of fearmongering I would witness.  I was not prepared to watch people exploit their children for charitable donations.

  Mothers in a video saying they need help because of their child's autism, they can't socalize because of their child's autism, they can't hold a job because of their child's autism.  And dong this for a charity that provides next to no help (4% of their budget) for families with Autistic children, but provides plenty of rhetoric for hating Autistic children. 

  Yes, you are a sham.

  You could have gotten the support of someone like me.  A guy with a job that hes overqualified for.  A guy looking for support and answers.  A smart guy that doesn't quite get it in social settings.  A guy that is into weird things.  A guy with odd physical gestures.  A guy that is tough enough to survive in a world that does not want him to survive.  A guy with a voice, who is going to use it now against you.

   This is my first Autism Awareness Acceptance Month.  The only thing I'm going to be lighting up this month is your hot bullshit, and it doesn't burn blue.  Trust me.    

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Blog Nation.

      

 

    

Question the algorithm

  This breathtaking post from Musing of an Aspie for the Autistic People Should... flash blog inspired a lot of deep thought in myself and others.  It quite frankly inspired me to contribute to the blog when I was not sure it was my place to.
   Deceivingly Normal observed that the phenomenon of extremely negative automatic suggestions with Google was not limited to Autism, but seems to occur with any group of people you type in there (Whites too).  I am not posting screenshots, but the results are consistent, feel free to try for yourself.  Google search suggests that we all get our acts together or be purged.
   Google is a business. Its business is dominating social media, and business is good.  Hell, Google owns the service I am making this blog on.  Are we to believe that the internet is dominated by trolls searching for ways to insult, marginalize and even kill every ethnic group they are not a member of, and that is why these auto completes return such shocking results?
   Or perhaps, some racist/sexist/ableist trolls sparked a match, and Google drove up next to the match with a full tanker of unleaded gasoline.

Sensationalism sells  

Death sells

Controversy sells

  "Autistic people should get hugs" will not generate as much attention as "Autistic people should be exterminated".  We question the experts, we question the haters, we question the stereotypes.  It is time to question the machine feeding them.  I argue that the algorithm Google and other search engines use searches for and feeds negative buzzwords into autocomplete in order to generate hits.  And while generating hits and revenue, it also feeds the hatred and bigotry that Autistics, and every minority has to put up with, because hatred sells.   

Reality crafting

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Violence against women 

 This is going to be a blog mostly about autism that I hope someday somebody reads once I figure out what the hell I am doing.  However I am going to go way off topic and talk about a story from the sports world today because I think it is pertinent to this recent post I made, this post on Radical Neurodivergence Speaking and to the plight that many minorities in general face.

  Today I woke up to the disheartening news that double amputee olympian Oscar Pistorius has been arrested for shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp 4 times fatally.

"Blade Runner" Pistorius charged with murdering girlfriend

  Pistorius was presented to the public as an inspiration by the global media and became a huge sensation over the last few years as he strove to compete in London last summer, and succeeded.  At face value it is an inspirational story.  An inspirational story that generates a lot of sales and views on sports media sites, and a lot of ratings for the Olympics.

  I could hardly fault mass media if Pistorius did this out of the blue.  But, Policewoman Denise Beukes told the reporter :
    
"I can confirm that there has previously been incidents at the home of Mr Oscar Pistorious, of allegations of domestic nature,"

  So wait a minute!  You mean to tell me that in the countless hours the media has spent "presenting" this man's inspirational tale over the past several years, not a single reporter discovered that he has a history of violence against women?  In this day and age where TMZ can tell us how many times Miley Cyrus used a public toilet in the last 2 weeks and the exact locations, no journalist could dig this information up?

   Woman beating kind of creates a problem when you are trying to craft the heroic legend of the "Blade Runner".  Media turns a blind eye to the truth when the truth complicates or completely negates the end story they are trying to manufacture.  
  
   Pistorius did a night in jail in 2009 for slamming a door on a woman.  Charges were dismissed as a "misunderstanding".  No leading sports journalist could bring this up on one of the hundreds of times he has been interviewed?

   The media loves to build you up until they can't sell you anymore.  Then they tear you down with equal passion.  The article mentions several times his not so often previously reported love for firearms and his competence handling them, painting the picture that he is absolutely guilty of a crime.  There is a chance, a slim chance that this was a tragic accident.  His defense was that he mistaken her for a burglar.  Crime rates are obscene in South Africa.  Facts need to come out and there needs to be a trial.  Instead of defending their golden boy though, the media is already passing a guilty verdict in this case.  And they do so by reporting details of his life that they conveniently omitted when creating a hero.  

   Finally, this article's ending is extremely mysogynistic.  
  
"Oscar is a good guy, an upstanding neighbor, and if he is innocent I feel for this guy deeply,"

   So he is a good guy and an upstanding neighbor whether or not he beat women in his home or shot Reeva on purpose or not?

  My deepest condolences to Reeva Steenkamp and family.

Shaping the World in Their Vision

   Throughout history, minority groups that do not fit into the status quo of a society have been discriminated, marginalized and eliminated.  The struggle of autistics to gain acceptance is not a new struggle, it is as old as humanity itself.  Some minority groups have advocated and survived.   Some have even joined it.  When enough people become fed up with the status quo, it can even change (American Revolution).  But as we now see in America, a new status quo is developed and over time it becomes a new means to the same end.
   Most people in life choose a voluntary ignorance.  They go on with their daily struggles and leave societal judgements and decisions in the hands of leaders and the media while they go on with their day.  These statements are presented and accepted as fact by the public.   Facts and data can be manipulated or omitted to create the picture the media wants to sculpt.  Journalism is art.  Just as a sculpture is made from the manipulation of real stone,  journalism is crafted from the manipulation of real facts.  In the hands of those looking to preserve their status, it is a dark art.
  So who determines the status quo of our society?  The public itself?  I don't believe so.  I believe the norm is established through media and art and accepted as canon by most people.  Those who create forms of media to be consumed by the public have the power and make the rules. That is good because American media and most of the global media is free now, right?  Nope.  The media is not free at all.  It is controlled.
   I read this infographic on a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with autism. I then realized that it has absolutely everything to do with the struggles of autistics.  Six corporations control 90% of what you see, read and watch every day, and many of them have shared agendas.  All of them want to preserve their source of power, influence, affluence and cash.  That source is the reality we live in.  The rhetoric of tragedy sells, and keeps a community of people that number in the millions.  A community that already has a problem communicating with language absolutely silent.  It is also a community that tends towards free thinking and unique perspectives.  A community that threatens the status quo.