OT: Please support our Who's Fooling Who campaign

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

April 2 is Autism Awareness Day and April is Autism Awareness month. However,

the lack of awareness of how to treat autism is staggering, especially

considering that 61,570 UK school children alone are now affected, and rates

continue to rise all over the world. Treating Autism is a charity based in the

UK and run by parent volunteers. We may lack political muscle but we have a

powerful message: autism is a treatable condition.

As you are well aware, it is not just us who know this. Medical professionals,

researchers, and parents around the world are proving that autism is a full body

disorder that can be treated. Thousands upon thousands of children are

experiencing much improved quality of life, sometimes even complete recovery,

because of biomedical treatments. Sadly and shockingly though, most people

remain unaware of cutting edge research and amazing clinical outcomes—it is

clear a great deal is left to be done.

We know that with the right attitude, approach and funding, all children with

this complex condition would receive the help they deserve. We don't think

that sounds so foolish, do you?

We are asking for your help to help build the right attitude and, appropriately

we think, we begin this campaign April Fool's Day. More of the same old autism

awareness is not going to help our children. We don't need to raise awareness,

we need to raise the bar in regard to good information, and from there ensure

that people are taking action. On April Fool's Day, 24 hours before Autism

Awareness Day, we want people to ask the question, " Who's fooling who? "

We will be running a part of this campaign through the Treating Autism Facebook

page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Treating-Autism/) and our Twitter account

(@TweetingAutism). We are asking all of you on Facebook to be sure to visit

our page early on April Fool's Day. Once you are there, it will be clear how

you can help. We want you to share each component of the campaign (they will

be posted over the course of the day) with all of your friends. We hope your

friends will get on board and share with theirs, until thousands of people have

been reached.

For those of you who tweet, please do make sure you're following us on

@TweetingAutism, as we will be running the same campaign content. Please do

retweet our messages. We hope with your help we can get the topic

#whosfoolingwho? trending.

Everyone, please be sure to make your friends aware of how much their efforts

will mean to you. There are tens of thousands of children affected today, and

unless something changes considerably, those numbers will only continue to rise.

As you know, the stakes are literally incalculable. Say what you need to say to

make your friends want to help.

As a final aspect of this campaign, we are asking you to make your own " Who's

fooling who? " contributions. Have you ever felt like you've been treated the

fool because you are advocating for your child? Or been dismissed as a fool

for stating that your child's medical problems need attention? Or have you

even wondered why you are wasting your time dealing with fools who ought to help

you, but don't? Please do share your " Who's fooling who? stories on Facebook

or Twitter and make your voice heard.

On April 1, help our charity help the children. We want people to stop and

think. Let's force those who still believe the myths to examine some of the

foolishness that has been standing in the way of better lives for our kids.

On behalf of the entire Treating Autism Team,

Anita

Chair, Treating Autism