Once upon a time, this post contained a list of sites I chose as examples of what impressed me as being some people climbing into the autism industry wagon. I didn’t state it was what they were doing, but rather I phrased my thoughts as a question to arouse others to think about what’s going on. I also had asked if there was nothing left that someone wasn’t trying to corner the market on.
Even though we all have the right to speak our thoughts and/or feelings, even at the expense of offending someone (it’s impossible for anyone to not be offensive in some way to someone at times), it doesn’t mean exercising those rights are always necessary.
Just because I removed the entire list that was here does not mean that I did so to bow down to please one particular businesswoman. The list was removed because I realized it wasn’t necessary for me to be pointing my finger towards others to get my message across. There are plenty of sites selling all kinds of products ‘for autism’ online for people to make their own conclusions on this matter.
Industry is the organized action of making of goods and services for sale; the people or companies engaged in a particular kind of commercial enterprise.
A commercial enterprise can be a nonprofit industry. A nonprofit entity has a mission that benefits the “greater good” of the community, society, or the world. It does not pay taxes, but it also cannot use its funds for anything other than the mission for which it was formed. Nonprofit organizations can and do make a profit, but it must be used solely for the operation of the organization or, in the case of a foundation, granted to other nonprofit organizations.
Because nonprofit organizations are known for their ‘missions’ that are supposed to benefit the “greater good” of the community, society, or the world, it’s easy for them to scam people. People want to support noble causes, but what most people don’t want to pay attention to is the growing prevalence of fraud. This is a serious problem during our economic crisis.
It’s a given fact that there are some people in positions of high authority who are managing large nonprofit organizations (including autism) and are spending money irresponsibly by doing such things as using private jets, claiming luxuries as necessary expenses, and then billing those expenses to their nonprofit organization.
The only people who deserve to have their ‘charitable’ affairs kept private are those who keep money out of it, restrict their charitable acts to good deeds only, and then trust that the recipients of those good deeds will pay it forward. God is the only one who should receive the glory for the charity passed around. Because people love to look good in the eyes of others, the temptation to credit themselves for something another person did is always a possibility. Whenever those kinds of shameful deeds are done, the vengeance must rest in God’s hands.
Those who aren’t interested in doing good deeds by having recipients pay them forward and would rather sell products for the good of mankind should always be under as close supervision as possible and be made to be accountable for every cent received from the sale of any product or service sold. The government not only can’t handle such high levels of supervision, it is not motivated to do so.
It’s up to each individual to investigate what others are doing whenever something seems to be ridiculous. We should be wondering how some people can afford extravagant lifestyles,¹ especially if they’re not like a rocket scientist, brain surgeon, or an entrepreneur like Bill Gates.
Even though it’s not the intention of most people to exploit something like autism, those who do have those intentions also have grand opportunities for doing so by being skilled in knowing how to play upon the concerns others have. That’s why it’s socially responsible behavior to question the financial affairs of others periodically.
¹There are many who live an extravagant lifestyle that don’t believe they’re doing so. That’s because they tend to be greedy and want more, so they compare themselves to those who do have more. The gap between what someone needs versus what they think they need has been blown way out of proportion thanks to society being brainwashed by what the media portrays. For example, the home remodeling shows are notoriously pushing that envelope all the time (a kitchen is in sore ‘need’ of updating even though all its appliances, cabinets, floor, lights, counter, etc. are still performing their functions?!?!).
