ASAN's Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Autism Research Symposium Goes

[Guest guest]

From Ari Ne'eman, President of ASAN ..

- H.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Dear Friends:

This week, the media reported that over $1 billion has been spent over the

course of the last decade on autism research funding. During a time of constant

budget cuts and increasing fiscal pressures on government, this is an

astonishing sum. What have we purchased for this investment? How successful has

the autism research agenda been in making the American dream a reality for

Autistic people and our families? Has our society discussed the ethical, legal

and social consequences of how autism research findings may be used? We think

these questions are worth asking, and with your help, we think it is past time

to get more people involved in the discussion.

Last December, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network joined with the Harvard Law

Project on Disability and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy,

Biotechnology and Bioethics to hold a symposium on the Ethical, Legal and Social

Implications (ELSI) of Autism Research. Supported by a grant from the

Administration on Developmental Disabilities, the ASAN ELSI Symposium served as

the launching point for a robust conversation about changing the way our society

approaches autism research. From our partnership with federal research funders

to get self-advocates on grant review panels to growing attention to ethical

issues on topics like prenatal testing, self-determination in service-provision

and more, the need to introduce values into our national autism research

dialogue remains stronger than ever.

Over the course of the month of April, we will be releasing captioned videos of

December's ELSI Symposium. The first is already available on our YouTube

channel. You can help us get the word out by watching it alone or with your

friends and colleagues, sharing it on facebook and twitter, and starting to talk

about these things in your own community. The time has come for our voices to be

heard.

Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Ari Ne'eman

President

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

ASAN Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Symposium: Panel 1