Autism – The Devil?

13 Oct 2009: An American Autistic organisation called ‘Autism Speaks’ has released a very controversial video to raise awareness about Autism.

In the video which pictures real home video’s of children with Autism, a satanic sounding man is speaking as the ‘voice’ of Autism, saying things like – “I am visible in your children but if I can help it, I am invisible to you until it’s too late”, “I know where you live and guess what? I live their too”, “If you were happily married, I will make sure your marriage fails”, “Your money will fall into my hands and I will bankrupt you for my own self gain”, “I don’t sleep, so I make sure you don’t either”, “I will make sure that every day you wake up, you will cry, wondering, ‘who will take care of my child after I die?’” and “The truth is, I am still winning and you are scared and you should be. I am Autism; you ignored me, that was a mistake”.

Then it has the voices of all the parents of the children that feature in the video saying positive things like – “I am a parent riding towards you and you can push me off this horse time and time again, but I will get up, climb back on and ride on with the message (of united support)”, “Our capacity to love is greater than your capacity to overwhelm” and “We are a community of warriors”.

It’s a very powerful video and a lot of people have taken offense to it, with it’s release being protested by the Autism Community.

I think people can take this video two ways, it can either be seen as - Autism taunting everyone it affects and that there’s nothing anyone can do about it, or it can be taken as an aide to help bring people around the world together, to raise awareness to people who are unsure what effect Autism has on families, and to hopefully one day, find a cure, or at least more understanding on how to effectively treat Autism.

To view the entire video, click here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDdcDlQVYtM&feature=player_embedded
Once you've watched the video, i'd like to hear your thoughts...