Happy Postscript to a Disturbing Story

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people and their families, including violence against autistic children.

A previous post discussed Alfredo Morales, a homeless autistic child who touched the hood ornament of a Mercedes.  The driver slapped him.

Vivian Chow at KTLA-TV:

Cell phone video of the confrontation went viral on social media, leaving community members outraged. A police report was also filed by the family.

Alfredo’s family is homeless and lives out of a broken truck at a Sun Valley park. The boy’s father, Miguel Morales, recently lost his job at a restaurant and is struggling to make ends meet.

Following a successful GoFundMe campaign and fundraising event, the Morales family said they were overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of strangers.

On July 12, their broken pickup truck was towed to a local dealership, Airport Marina Ford, for a complete makeover.

“It’s situations like this when you see it and if there’s something you can do, it’s imperative to step up and do what you can,” said Dan Theroux, General Manager of Airport Marina Ford.

Alfredo and his sister ride the bus daily to make a food and grocery run for the family. They were taking their usual bus route on July 1 when the confrontation happened. Many community members resonated with the story and wanted to support the Morales family in any way they could.

...

A GoFundMe to help the Morales family can be found here.

Donor-Advised Funds and Antivaxxers

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.   And among those diseases could be COVID-19.

Antivaxxers are sometimes violent, often abusive, and always wrong

Walter Bragman and Alex Kotch at Important Context:

[Fidelity Charitable] gave roughly $1 million to Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by Robert Kennedy Jr. that sows doubt about vaccine safety, and two of its state chapters. Kennedy, who long promoted the debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism, has called the Covid shots an “ethnic bioweapon” and “a crime against humanity.” In a recent post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Children’s Health Defense claimed the mRNA jabs “contaminate” breast milk. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends pregnant and breastfeeding people stay current on their Covid vaccines, including the most recent booster.)

That same fiscal year, Fidelity Charitable also gave $235,000 to anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree’s Informed Consent Action Network — nearly twice the amount from the previous fiscal year. The group includes a section, “Vaccine Safety Debate,” on its website implying that the Department of Health and Human Services has not demonstrated the safety of Covid vaccines.

Fidelity Charitable is not alone in its anti-public-health spending. Throughout the Covid pandemic, big money flowed to groups supposedly promoting public health but in reality were peddling anti-vaccine misinformation, from some of the largest charities in the country, an analysis by Rolling Stone and Important Context has found. We tracked more than $15 million that donor-advised fund sponsors gave in 2020-22 to such groups — the lion’s share of the funds were distributed after the vaccines became available.

Donor-advised funds (DAFs) have become a popular vehicle for wealthy individuals and foundations to distribute cash — and remain under the radar. Functionally, these entities operate as passthrough organizations: Donors deposit money into an account managed by a DAF sponsor like Fidelity Charitable, which disburses it with the donor’s input. While donor clients “advise” the sponsor, the sponsor has full legal control of the money and where it ends up. Typically, the sponsors’ board of trustees has the final say.

Article on Autism Speaks

At The Daily Beast, Emily Shire writes about Autism Speaks:

Compared to other autism nonprofits, Autism Speaks spends a smaller percentage of its revenue on programming. A comparison of 2012 income tax forms found through the Urban Institute shows 70.9 percent of Autism Speaks’ revenue is devoted to program expenses, in comparison to 79.8 percent of the Autistics Self-Advocacy Network’s and 91.5 percent of the Autism Science Foundation’s. Autism Speaks declined to comment on its financial matters.

While Autism Speaks is much bigger and has a larger staff than both of those organizations, the difference in money spent on “current officers, directors, trustees, and other key employees” is striking. For these employees, Autism Speaks spent $2,252,334 in 2012, according to tax filings. In comparison, the Autistics Self-Advocacy Network spent just $65,000 on this class of employees. That was to cover the salary of its president, Ari Ne’eman. In comparison, the former president of Autism Speaks, Mark Roithmayr, had a salary of $436,314 in 2012 and Chief Science Officer Geri Dawson earned $465,671. Eleven other higher-up employees in Autism Speaks earned well into six figures that year. As the head of Autism Science Foundation, [Alison] Singer doesn’t take a salary.

The Chili's Controversy, Journalism, and "A Terrible Condition"

AP reports on the Chili's controversy:

To honor National Autism Awareness month, the restaurant chain had planned on donating a portion of its sales on Monday to the National Autism Association. The group, based in Attleboro Falls, Mass., says its focus is on safety issues for the autistic community. But a section of its website also states that it believes vaccinations can "trigger or exacerbate autism in some, if not many, children."

In another section of its site, the group says that "informed consent is critical and each parent should have the freedom and information necessary to make the best decision for their child."

The belief that the battery of vaccinations given to infants could lead to autism was spurred by a British study that has since been retracted. Repeated studies have discredited the link, but the issue has remained a point of contention in some circles. Seth Mnookin, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who wrote "The Panic Virus" about the fears triggered by the now debunked study, noted that the National Autism Association has a lengthy history of connecting vaccines with autism.

Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association, said in a phone interview that she was "shocked" by the backlash and "this group of individuals that is trying to pigeonhole us as anti-vaccine."

Fournier noted that the National Autism Association's doesn't have any programs related to vaccines.

"We haven't even looked at that page — it's been up there for years," she said of the section on the group's site that says vaccines can trigger autism.

"There has always been a lot of debate," Fournier said. "It hasn't been answered whether or not vaccines can cause autism."

For now, she said no changes would be made to the site because that might be criticized as well.

At The Los Angeles Times, Michael Hiltzik writes:

"Cause-related marketing" -- the term should give you a clue to what it's really all about -- has become an inescapable part of the marketing and ad campaigns of countless consumer businesses. An essential factor in these campaigns is that the consumer "participate" by making a purchase, a portion of which is paid over to the chosen charity.

Philanthropy experts are troubled by these campaigns. For one thing, the best-marketed charities, not necessarily the most deserving, garner the most attention. Another drawback is that when customers' donations are made automatically at the cash register, they don't do much, or anything, to examine the charity they're helping. Why should they? They're not actually paying for the donation.

The Chili's case shows the other side of that coin: The merchants don't feel much need to scrutinize those charities either. Chili's may merely have thought, "Autism Awareness Month = marketing opportunity." There's no evidence that its executives bothered to educate themselves about autism itself, though the chain said its intent was "not to express a view on the medical or scientific positions related to autism, but rather to support the families affected by autism." (We assumed they didn't really intend to fund vaccine deniers.)
...

UPDATE: I have been taken to task, properly, for referring to autism above as "a terrible condition for its sufferers and their families." That's a narrow and ill-informed way of looking at a condition that many people on the autism spectrum feel has benefited their lives. "I'm a good reporter because I have incredible focus," says Mike Elk, the superb labor reporter for In These Times, who identifies himself as having Asperger's syndrome and appreciates the diversity of those in the autistic spectrum. Those seeking to know more should turn to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, whose president, Ari Ne'eman, serves on President Obama's National Council on Disability. [emphasis added]

A Bad Autism Charity

A number of posts have discussed autism charities.  Most do fine work, but some are not on the level. The Tampa Bay Times reports:

Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation is one of the worst charities in America when it comes to spending large amounts of cash on for-profit solicitation companies.

But that fact has been obscured in documents filed with state regulators.

The Times and CIR took a closer look at the charity after readers suggested we investigate.

IRS tax documents show that from 2009 to 2011, the charity raised $7.6 million through its solicitors. More than 90 percent of that was paid directly to for-profit solicitation companies hired by the charity.

Its history of using high-cost fundraisers for most of its income would be enough to make Autism Spectrum one of the nation's worst charities. The Times/CIR rankings are based on the amount of money charities spend on fundraisers. But because state reports filed by one of the charity's solicitors understated Autism Spectrum's fundraising cost, it did not make the list.

The charity was founded in 2007 and is run by Michael Slutsky. The organization's mission is to educate the public about autism and provide financial assistance and educational material to help detect and treat the disease.

It provides scholarships for autistic children to attend camp, sends holiday gift cards and gives 'Early Detection Kits' to agencies that work with young children, according to its website.

But of the $7.6 million raised by solicitors, less than 3 percent has been spent on direct cash aid, tax records show.