Nickelodeon has received backlash for partnering with Autism Speaks

Nickelodeon has received backlash for partnering with Autism Speaks. Nickelodeon has received a lot of online backlash after partnering with an autism non-profit organization that hates autistic people. April 2nd is reserved as Autism Awareness day. It was supposed to be a date to raise awareness and celebrate every person with autism. Since Autism Speaks is the most popular organization for autistic people, they wanted to partner with a big company to spread the word. While this may not seem like a huge problem, a lot of autistic people dislike the organization and consider them a hate group. Autism Speaks published a video that is now deleted, which caused controversy. There were voice-over warning viewers that autism will bankrupt you, make your marriage fail, and rob you out of your childhood dream. They also believe that autism is a disease that needs a cure. The company has created a reputation for being a disguised hate group

Nickelodeon, knowing their reputation, still decided to partner with the organization despite the history of the company. They posted on Instagram a picture with a hashtag Autism Speaks. Within the first hour, their comments were filled with criticism. The post was soon deleted, but screenshots were already taken. The Autism community took their response to Twitter. One tweet read,” My guess is AS reached out to them, and Nick just took the deal without really looking into the organization. They clearly had the best intentions. We just have to hope they get the message.” The Autism community also started a petition for Nickelodeon to end their partnership with Autism Speaks. One Twitter user posted,” I usually don’t share petitions, but this seemed worthy to make an exception. Help Autistic people voice concerns and solutions to Nickelodeon, regarding Autism Speaks. “ Hopefully, Nickelodeon will apologize and learn from their mistakes.