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"So who is Alison, & why does the mention of her name get me so wound up?" [Singer has/held pivotal roles with the IACC, Autism Speaks, & the Autism Science Foundation.] "She’s got some fingers in some pies, then. This is not a person who is coming across as powerless or silenced or anything." 4/

"Alison gained a lot of praise for not being anti-vax & for quitting Autism Speaks for pursuing research to that end. 'A voice for science,' she was called. By Nature no less. (To be clear, Alison is not a scientist—nor does she have a background in science. Her qualification is business admin.)" 5/

"If you’ve heard of Alison it might be because you’ve seen a short film called Autism Every Day in which she discusses when she felt desperate enough to drive her car off a bridge with herself and her autistic daughter inside it. I’ve spoken about this before because it upsets me a great deal." 6/

"Alison has responded to the criticism saying that if she made the film again, she would try to be clearer in what she meant saying, 'I certainly did not mean to offend anyone or suggest that Jodie’s life or anyone else’s was not valued.'” 7/

She said she was describing the desperation that is out there, and the thing is she’s right. Families of autistic kids are desperate. Alison was talking about a day when she’d been to view a possible school for her daughter, and it was seeing the state of that place that pushed her to her limit. 8/

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The reason why that clip upsets me so very much is not because it’s a mother describing a brief fleeting moment of hitting rock bottom, of having a thought that probably made her feel like the worst person to ever exist. No, I can actually empathize with that. 9/

I was so upset because she articulated this so casually right in front of her young daughter, entirely in the assumption that [her daughter] did not understand what was being said, and I don’t claim to know what Jodie did or did not understand. 10/

But to broadcast this as a part of autism advocacy, parents talking so candidly right in front of their very young kids—who by the way, might be taking things a little bit more literally than their parents intend—it normalizes the idea that autistic kids just aren’t listening, don’t understand. 11/

this one has nothing to do with the child taking things more literally, bc her mother LITERALLY smiled and said she had thought about killing her daughter, but didn't go through with it bc she had another child.