By Sparrow R. Jones
February 27, 2013 (MMD Newswire) -- This Saturday, scores of Autistic people from around the globe wrote poetry and essays to protest the negative image of autism reflected in the autocomplete options offered by the Google search engine.
The popular search engine attempts to complete the sentence "Autistic people should ..." with such phrases as "be killed" and "be exterminated." The protest, called a Flash Blog, hopes to give Autistic people an opportunity to have their voices heard, increase positive awareness of autism, and counteract the negative suggestions of Google's autocomplete function. A second follow-up Flash Blog, focused on the equally negative Google results for "Autistic people are ..." is planned for next Saturday, March 2nd.
"We, Autistics, want and deserve to live our lives with dignity and respect," writes Amy Sequenzia, noted Autistic poet. "Autistic people should have communication, inclusion and civil rights," writes Henry Frost, an Autistic student who recently attained fame for his successful campaign through change.org for his right to attend the public school in his neighborhood. "We ALL benefit when we work toward ending oppression and respecting every person's right to exist," writes Ariane Zurcher, Huffington Post blogger and mother of Emma, an Autistic pre-teen.
Links to all writing from last Saturday's Flash Blog can be found at http://autisticpeopleshould.blogspot.com and the results of next Saturday's Flash Blog will be published at http://autisticpeopleare.blogspot.com. Autistic advocates and their allies hope that this project will bring much-needed attention to the many positive attributes of Autistic people.
Contact
To learn more about this protest and the follow-up protest, contact:
Autistic People Should
http://autisticpeopleshould.blogspot.com
Autistic People Are
http://autisticpeopleare.blogspot.com
AutisticFlashBlogs@gmail.com
Rose Jordan, Rose198172@yahoo.com
Sparrow R. Jones, sparrowrose@gmail.com, (208) 232-5784
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