From One Survivor to Another

littlemissmutant:

A lot of the data that I’ve seen circulating on Autism Speaks’ spending is from the 2008 Annual Report or earlier, and I wanted something up-to-date for my upcoming protest. The problem is, this data is super hard to find because they very confusingly bury it in forms.

Therefore! Tonight I analyzed the FUCK out of the most recent Autism Speaks 990 non-profit tax exemption form thingy. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, as I was forced to resort to mathematics, but I have prevailed! For lo, I have produced THIS, an up-to-date pie chart graph displaying the allocation of Autism Speaks’ budget.

As always, once you dig up the data, it speaks for itself.

(Image description to follow once my spoons regenerate)

[image description: pie-chart on Autism Speaks’ Budget (from their 990 Non-Profit Tax Exemption Form, 2010). In order from largest to smallest: Research (44%), Fundraising (22%), “Awareness” & Advertising (21%), Administrative Costs & Salaries (5%), Family Services (4%), and Other (4%).]

Since not everyone knows about Autism Speaks’ shittyness, one of the biggest criticisms laid against them is that they spend a disproportionate amount of money and energy on searching for a “cure” for Autism instead of helping out families in need. At the same time, they cast Autistic people as pitiable and messed up and needing “fixing”. This is a problem when a lot of Autistic people don’t feel like they have anything wrong with them (they are just different) and they don’t want to be cured, period. This chart reflects that critique pretty well.