More Than $98,000 Raised from The Apprentice Finale Will Go Toward Research into Growing National Health Crisis
(New York, New York – December 20, 2005) – Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of autism and raising funds for critical autism research, was a big winner on the season finale of the hit NBC-TV show The Apprentice.
In the program’s final task, assigned by Donald Trump, a team of contestants led by eventual winner Randal Pinkett was assigned to produce an event to benefit Autism Speaks. The event, a celebrity charity softball game, was rained out, but Randal’s team still managed to raise
Suzanne and Bob Wright of Autism Speaks with winning Apprentice team member Josh Shaw (right) at celebrity auction fundraiser an impressive $11,000 for Autism Speaks.
In addition, Yahoo! Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig announced at the live broadcast that Yahoo!, a sponsor of the program, would donate $50,000 to Autism Speaks.
Following the Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 Apprentice programs, Autism Speaks, which has seen traffic skyrocket on its website, raised an additional $37,000 from donations via www.autismspeaks.org . During the period of December 15-18, the number of visitors to the web site was up 494% over the same period two weeks earlier.
“Millions of Apprentice viewers are now aware of the critical nature of the autism health crisis and the effect it is having on families,” said Alison Singer, senior vice president of Autism Speaks.
“The funds raised by Randal’s team, as well as the generous donation by Yahoo! and the strong donation response from viewers, will greatly aid our efforts to support critical research.”
Mark Burnett Productions selects the charities that participate in The Apprentice, and Mr. Trump makes all decisions about contestants.
ABOUT AUTISM SPEAKS
Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of autism and to raising money to fund scientists who are searching for a cure. It was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright. Bob Wright is Vice Chairman and Executive Officer, General Electric and Chairman and CEO, NBC Universal. Autism Speaks and the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) recently signed a memorandum of understanding to combine operations and bring together two of the leading organizations dedicated to accelerating and funding biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism spectrum disorders; to increasing awareness of the nation’s fastest growing developmental disorder; and to advocating for the needs of affected
families. To learn more about Autism Speaks, please visit www.autismspeaks.org.
Media Contact: Adam Pockriss, (202) 843-8286, apockriss@rubenstein.com
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Note/Warning:
Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid.
ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.
The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work.
What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.
The ‘cure’ for Autistics not born yet is the prevention of birth.
The ‘cure’ is a choice to terminate a pregnancy based on ‘autism risk.’ The cure is abortion. This is the same ‘cure’ society has for Down Syndrome.
This is eugenics 2021. Instead of killing Autistics and disabled children in gas chambers or ‘mercy killings’ like in Aktion T4, it’ll happen at the doctor’s office, quietly, one Autistic baby at a time. Different approaches yes, but still eugenics and the extinction of an entire minority group of people.
Fact: You can’t cure Autistics from being Autistic.
Fact: You can’t recover an Autistic from being Autistic.
Fact: You can groom an Autistic to mask and hide their traits. Somewhat. … however, this comes at the expense of the Autistic child, promotes Autistic Burnout (this should not be confused with typical burnout, Autistic Burnout can kill Autistics), and places the Autistic child at high risk for PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions.
[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]
Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.
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