Standing Up for Autism

In my policy solution speech, I addressed how autistic individuals are being discriminated against when applying for and maintaining jobs. Now, I want to talk about how individuals are taking matters into their own hands to help solve some of the complications of this social issue. Many individuals that are concerned with discrimination against autistics are supporting multiple societies and organizations that help the advocacy of autistic individuals. For example, the Joseph Synder Autistic Fund is a private organization that collects donations to help children that have autism receive medical care and therapy so their symptoms won’t be as severe, therefore there would be less discrimination. Although this campaign supports the awareness of discrimination by trying to hide the symptoms, other organizations support efforts that make the public feel bad for discriminating. Societies such as Free Autism Training Association have goals to blame the public for this discrimination and to use pathos to make people feel bad. This organization wants to inform and educate people about autism so there is less discrimination in the employment field.  People who are interested in autism and want to be less discriminative will join this society to become more involved with autism awareness.

            Although each of these campaigns has different objectives, their main goal is to put the problem in the hands of the audience and to ask them to make a difference. I think that both of them do a good job at advocating the discrimination against autistics and allowing different methods of helping this social issue. One involves donating money, which is quick and easy. The other takes a more hands-on approach by educating yourself about autism and how to interact with autistic individuals. Each of these methods involves self-determination. You have to want to make a difference. To make these campaigns more effective, I would want to advertise their awareness in the media. I would have never found these organizations if I was just browsing the web, I had to actually look them up. Allowing the majority of the public become aware of this social issue will allow more people to want to get involved.