Citizen Autistic

"Nothing about us without us" is the rallying cry of the Disability Rights Movement. Many autistic individuals are capable of speaking for themselves (otherwise known as self-advocacy). The documentary opens at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, MA, which employs highly controversial electric shock as an aversive therapy. It then zeroes in on Autism Speaks, which according to its website is the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization. This film asserts that when investigating expenditures of the organization, very little is spent on treatment for individuals with autism (three percent), while the majority of funds (36 percent and 25 percent, respectively) go to salaries and research. Research is crucial, but the DVD goes on to state that the organization's fundraising efforts portray autism as something to be cured and that individuals on the spectrum are a burden to society. Many individuals with autism feel that there should be representation on the Autism Speaks board by individuals on the spectrum.