If you are one of the many thousands who are in one or both of My Facebook social networks, and have not hidden me in your Newsfeed, you no doubt are aware of my Change.org petition. I began this petition in early May of this year and as of this writing, this petition campaign is about six months old and I have over 1400 signatures on the petition itself. Many of these signatures come from those in my networks but a good number come from those outside my networks, who learned of my petition through others sharing it with them or through finding out about it through my posts of my link on group pages or fan pages. I cannot stress enough that I'm grateful to each and every person who has taken a few minutes to visit the Change.org site at: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw or at my widget at my website (under construction) at this following link: http://caringenoughtomakeadifference.com. I value your support, your signatures and especially, those of you who join me in circulating this petition and calling on others outside my networks to sign it!
As I have many thousands of people in my networks and not all the signatures have come from those in my networks, this means that probably some 1000 of the signatures come from those in my social networks; this means that the majority of those whom I have shared this petition with have not seen fit to visit my website or the Change.org site to sign the petition, much less to circulate it. I am not judging those many in this majority of thse people who have not signed this petition. I can only ask myself: What are they thinking? What are they missing? What do I need to do to motivate them to support this effort? And, especially, I ask myself these questions when those in the autism community itself, who would stand to directly benefit from the success of this petition, decide that they are not going to sign or circulate this petition. I have been given reasons as to why people in AND out of the autism community are not signing and others I have come up with through common sense and circumstantial evidence and observations of people's behavior.
1). I have signed many petitions; what good do petitions do anyway and do they REALLY make a difference? I fully sympathize with all of you who feel this way! I, too, am asked to sign many, many a petition on a daily basis. I have signed many of those petitions that I have been asked to sign and have circulated those which I consider to be vitally important and involve the well-being of people or individuals whose cases touch me most. Lately, though, with the current condition of the slow loading of my computer and the sheer volume of petitions that are posted on my Facebook, I now sign only a few. However, I sign petitions when personally asked and I think many other people are the same way. As for the question about whether petitions actually make a difference, take the example of the Change.org petition to a motion picture association to lower the ratings on the "Bully" movie. A 17-year-old girl has created this petition and she came to the attention of celebrities and the media; she appeared on four TV shows, including on CNN's Anderson Cooper. As a result of her petition "going viral" and coming to national attention, politicians paid attention and, as a result, the "Bully" movie has no rating; it is "Unrated." This is one example of a HUGELY successful petition. However, this girl's petition could not have succeeded without the support of many caring citizens. This is the case for any petition, campaign or cause.
2). This has no effect on my life or my family's life and this is not my passion or cause. I have observed, in person and online, that so many people have no desire to get involved in any cause and don't see how they can make a difference. And I have also noticed that many advocates are "hardcore," one-cause, one-issue advocates who do not support anything else that will "take the focus off" their causes or cases. Being such an advocate is far superior to not advocating for anything at all and from the standpoint of many causes, maybe such single-mindedness is needed. I have seen a number of people post things like, "Stop posting your causes or petitions on my Facebook. I'm here to finding missing people (or to solve a certain case) and your causes just take the focus off what I'm trying to do." One person has posted, "Stop posting your causes and petitions that I'm not passionate about." In the cases of such hardcore, one-issue people, I may invite them personally and attempt to relate my petition, if possible, to their cause or trying to educate them about autism and how it affects all of us. Sometimes this works and more often, these persons do not pay attention. As for those who desire no involvement in any cause, there is little that I see fit to do that can change their minds and I have mentally let go of any notion of getting the support of these persons in my social networks. If you are one who are reading this and wonder what difference you can make and would like to make a difference, you can! You can sign my petition at: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw or you can sign it at my website at: http://caringenoughtomakeadifference.com. You will make a difference!
3). Why autism and not any other disability group? I have been asked why I have not made this petition more inclusive and include ALL adults with developmental disabilities. I can understand the reasoning behind this one and why many would feel left out. But I focus on autism because it is a relatively new field and because adults with autism are often forgotten in the quest to help children with autism. And adults with autism are the most unemployed disability group of them all, over 70 percent. Even adults with Down's Syndrome or other intellectual or mental challenges have more support services and awareness. I wonder if this is why some disability advocates have not shown support for me in any way. I'm sorry for this but when creating a petition, it is most effective when it is specific and focused. I do not mean to ignore other disability groups but to focus on the group with the least awareness and which is tied into my own personal experience. And people with autism often have other disabilities, including epilepsy, leaning disabilities and even Down's Syndrome, among other developmental disabilities. For this reason alone, all disability advocates are wise if they sign and circulate this petition.
4). My child will are has "outgrown" autism; I'm trying to find a cure, so don't tell me that children with autism become adults with autism! I do not want to get into the politics and controversies in autism, only as I have seen that it affects the willingness of many in the autism community, parents with children especially, to sign my petition. One person has cited this as his reason for not supporting this petition. I have no doubt that early childhood intervention can help some children so completely that they show few or virtually no autistic traits as they get older. I have heard of a few of such cases. But there is evidence that most adults with autism, even if they are fortunate enough to have had and made much progress in early childhood intervention, still need services as adults for the rest of their lives. I can understand why many parents would like to think that their children will "ourgrow" a condition that they do not link with happiness, but the evidence is that autism is a lifelong, neurological condition and its "symptoms" can be modified and controlled, but they will not really be "outgrown" or disappear. Even if you are one of those fortunate parents/guardians whose loved one seems to have grown out of all autistic traits, would you begrudge the majority of other families the safety net of services for their grown children, to ensure their peace of mind? Would you begrudge society the benefits of the contributions of many adults who now live "on the public dole" and would much rather know the dignity of gainful employment or their own businesses? You, too, need to sign this petition because you are a part of society.
5). The petition creator (myself) lacks sufficient credibility because I lack an official diagnosis or am employing questionable tactics in promoting this petition (bullying, spamming): The content of a petition should be the reason for supporting a petition or a cause, not your feelings about the advocate or the petition creator. Yes, I know that in a way, it is impossible to separate an advocate from his or her work and I FULLY agree that any advocate ought to establish credibility. I have always sought to do this and with most, I seem to have credibility. A couple of weeks ago, a person in the autism community saw my status on my petition, posted in his Facebook group, where I was venting about lack of support and had capitalized a few words for emphasis. He challenged me to take an online survey of adults with autism and to ask them what they though of the petition. So I took this challenge and I posted my request to adults with autism to honestly share their concerns, thoughts and even objections, to my petition. I had thought that I would be asked to edit the content in my petition title or the letter. I was NOT prepared for the person who posted a request, saying something like: "You need to go out and get yourself an official diagnosis before telling your own story as anything you say is based not on facts or evidence but on your opinion or speculation" When I posted about my obstacles in getting that diagnosis, this person said: "Then you need to stick with facts and evidence. You should remove yourself and your own story from it and just present yourself as a parent with a child with the diagnosis and what this would mean for your daughter's future." This hurt me deeply as I felt that it said that my own life and story carry no value in helping others or redeeming my own life. And in the same thread, that evening, a person mentioned my bullying tactics and my "rudeness" in wording certain things the way I did or capitalizing words. On another day, another person agreed with my critic. I have been accused of peer abuse by two other persons, in my network on my second account, and have been told, "Good luch in gathering signatures!" Another person had complained, saying: "I don't like getting multiple invites." To all such people, I say: Yes, I agree that I should be a credible advocate. I am fighting to get an official diagnosis and have an appointment scheduled for early January and not just for this petition, but for myself. I try to avoid spamming and limit the number of invites I send to people a day in any format on any of my materials. And I have always gone out of my way to be helpful and accommodating to people and encourage, not scold or badger, anyone into supporting me; always, I thank my supporters when I learn that someone has signed and I am able to thank them. Yes, I know that I have no doubt made mistakes but I assure these persons that I'm doing the best I can and that they need to pay attention to my petition's actual content and why I have created it and its purpose, not my delivery style.
6). I'm not in the US, petitions hack profiles, I don't want my signature public, and so forth. I can understand all these concerns as Change.org automatically assigns each signer an account when he or she first signs a petition on the site. And they do request, among other things, each signer's address. And the option to sign petitions located in the US does not always show up to those outside the US. But, more recently, on my petition, the option for those outside the US to sign has been introduced for those outside the US who may be interested in signing and showing support. I have not, or have ever heard of, anyone ever getting their sites or their pages hacked because they have signed a petition at the Change.org site. Correct me if I'm wrong on this or am missing something. Anyone who is at least 13 and has a valid email address is allowed to sign petitions, at least at the Change.org site. Though you are asked for your address, your address is NOT made public. Only your name, the date you signed and your zip code are made public. But if you want to keep your name private, you can uncheck the box that says "Display My Name Publicly." And your information will not show; it will only be seen by the targets of the petition, who, in the case of my petition, are the US President, both Houses of the US Congress, my Missouri Governor and both Houses of the Missouri Congress. The only people, in my opinion, who truly have a valid reason or excuse to not take a few minutes to add their signatures to my petition, are those with no computer access, who have no email accounts, who are under age 13, or who are currently in life and death circumstances (medical emergencies, etc.). And if you really want to make a difference and show support, you can! If you have not signed my petition, you can visit the Change.org site at my shortened link: http://tiny.cc/mrsahw or visit my website and sign it on the widget: http://caringenoughtomakeadifference.com. Once you have signed or if you have already signed (thank you!), you can use the "share" options at the site or my site, and circulate my petition. For this is not really MY petition; it is OUR petition. It will not succeed with YOU!
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