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On August 1, 2011 Kevin Healey devoted an entire blog post to me and the Midnight In Chicago initiative, with a passing reference to Co-Creator, Thomas D. Taylor. Some very important people sent me some email messages regarding this post. Were it not for them, I would not have known about it.
Once I was made aware of it and once I had read it, my first observation was that someone else had edited — and perhaps written the blog — for Kevin Healey as the common spelling and grammatical errors that are part of Kevin Healey‘s writing were absent.
Unfortunately, the author of the piece – whoever he or she may be – got many things wrong in an attempt to make Kevin Healey look above reproach. This blog article will set some of the more glaring errors right for those in the Autism community.
FACT: Kevin Healey did not come across me last year when I “started to blog” about Kevin Healey, as he claims in his most recent blog post.
FACT: During the first 2 weeks of January 2011, Kevin Healey attempted on several occasions — under various aliases — to be added to a couple of my social networking site lists. He was refused and blocked. No one has the right to bully themselves ON to someone else’s friends’ list on any social networking site if that individual does not want to associate themselves with that person. It was my right then as it continues to be my right, to refuse and, if need be, to block such individuals.
FACT: On January 10, 2011 I wrote a blog article entitled, “The Latest Trend On Social Networking Sites” which can be read HERE.
FACT: On January 20, 2011 I wrote a blog entitled, “The Next Trend On Social Networking Sites” which can be read HERE. This was the first time Kevin Healey was mentioned in an MIC blog article and it was because Kevin Healey continued insisting on being added to my social networking site friends’ lists even though he knew I did not wish to be associated with him in any way whatsoever.
NOTE: In the first 7 days after publication of the article, there were over 120 hits from one of Kevin Healey’s IP address to the MIC blog site alone. Cliff O’Sullivan aka cliffsull, however, misrepresented this fact as evidenced by an excerpt from his entry dated January 28, 2011: “[quote] Then there’s a fantastical claim about Kevin using multiple addresses – in fact – up to 120 different IP Addresses which would make any Hacker feel shame … [end quote].”
FACT: The Midnight In Chicago initiative and its volunteers are well-known in a number of disability communities, not just the Autism community.
FACT: Contrary to what Kevin Healey would like readers to believe with regards to a handful of Autism advocates, warriors, campaigners, ambassadors, et al, Midnight In Chicago has not attacked them but rather, has consolidated publicly available information about them into easy to read posts on the MIC blog. Furthermore, there really aren’t “allot [sic] more” than the small list Kevin Healey has provided in his most current blog post. Some of those whom Kevin Healey has mentioned are board members of autism organizations whose current and past behaviours give serious cause for concern.
FACT: Certain Autism advocates and campaigners have purposely and maliciously chosen to repeatedly misrepresent the Midnight In Chicago initiative. The Midnight In Chicago initiative always has been, and continues to be, a 100% volunteer run initiative.
FACT: Dave Wilde (David J. Wilde, DJ Wilde, thewildeman2) was the first to misrepresent the initiative and Kevin Healey and his followers are the most recent to misrepresent the initiative. Midnight In Chicago has never been, or claimed to be, a non-profit organization or charity.
NOTE: To further clarify this point, the “Beat The Odds Institute” is an initiative of the Center For The Future Of Arizona. The initiative was established in 2007 and grew from a project that was started as a research study in 2005. Midnight In Chicago is an initiative of Elyse Bruce and Thomas D. Taylor. The initiative was established in 2006 and grew from an awareness project that was held earlier that year.
FACT: Midnight In Chicago makes use of social networking sites for the purpose of disseminating information, providing free podcasts, creating awareness and fundraising events, etc., for registered non-profit organizations and charities. The initiative is underwritten entirely by the MIC volunteers. We measure our success by what is achieved rather than on how many followers and/or friends are on various social networking site lists.
FACT: Cliff O’Sullivan aka cliffsull, a Kevin Healey follower and Gary McKinnon activist, wrote a blog post on his blog site http://www.cliffsull.wordpress.com/.
FACT: The discussion was moved – as announced on the cliffsull blog — to the Mel Johnson aka melaspie blog site at http://www.midnightinchicag0.wordpress.com/. Melaspie claimed ownership of the blog site.
FACT: Shortly after http://www.midnightinchicag0.wordpress.com/ was started, the mic_mac1 Twitter account was started. MIC Twitter followers were contacted with the following message: “BIO: im the real mic mac http://t.co/pSs097D the only official site on the net!” The link took Twitter users to http://www.midnightinchicago1.wordpress.com/.
FACT: Twitter deleted the mic_mac1 account for violation of Terms of Service.
WordPress also deleted the midnightinchicagO account for violation of Terms of Service (see above WordPress screenshot).
FACT: Shortly after Mel Johnson aka melaspie’s fake MIC blog site was deleted by WordPress, the owner of the midnightinchicago1 Wordpress account deleted that blog site.
FACT: When Jayne Jackson (formerly Jayne Bruce) aka usaautism created her Twitter account, it was claimed that “her” previous micro blog on Twitter was deleted because of Midnight In Chicago. The deleted mic_mac1 Twitter account was the only account that Midnight In Chicago reported for violation of Terms of Service. This means that Jayne Jackson aka usaautism, by “her” own admission, was mic_mac1.
FACT: Nearly 100% of Jayne Jackson aka usaautism Tweets over the months have been to defame, libel, misrepresent and impersonate Midnight In Chicago.
FACT: Nearly 100% of Mel Johnson aka melaspie Tweets over the months have been to defame, libel, misrepresent and impersonate Midnight In Chicago.
FACT: Kevin Healey has posted publicly about his many non-profit organizations contrary to his claims in his latest blog entry.
FACT: Knowing the backgrounds of those who purport to represent vulnerable persons in society requires more than just a clean driving license, a CRB check and a police record check. That being said, some of the individuals Kevin Healey listed in at the onset of his blog post actually do have criminal records. Such information is vital when making decisions as to which individuals should be accepted and marketed as advocates, campaigners and ambassadors for a segment of society representing vulnerable persons.
FACT: Gary McKinnon has admitted to criminal activity with regards to hacking nearly 100 U.S. government and NASA computers. Just as it is Kevin Healey’s right to defend Gary McKinnon’s activities, it is the right of others to speak out against Gary McKinnon’s activities without fear that Kevin Healey and his followers will start fake Twitter and WordPress accounts for the express purpose of defaming, libelling, misrepresenting and impersonating those who speak out against Gary McKinnon’s activities.
FACT: Kevin Healey and a small handful of supporters abused the Shorty Awards nomination process to cyberbully Elyse Bruce. Due to their behaviour, Gregory Gallant of Saw Horse Media has re-structured how nominations are handled going forward to safeguard against similar activity in the future.
FACT: Midnight In Chicago‘s success is not gauged solely on “contacts on social networking sites” but rather on its positive impact on various government policies around the world. Midnight In Chicago focuses on making strong connections with people and organizations that have demonstrated integrity and ethics rather than making connections with anyone and everyone. This is to safeguard against making connections with people who may be considered dangerous or unethical.
FACT: Kevin Healey has a history of attempting to “name and shame” Elyse Bruce and the MIC volunteers who disagree with him. An example of this is seen in this screenshot from a Facebook group.
NOTE: Among those who agreed with Kevin Healey’s idea to use my photo as the “main bully on the national poster” was Zoey Roberts whom Kevin Healey refers to as Zoe Roberts in his blog post. In fact, she thought it was a great idea as long as they weren’t “caught.”
FACT: Kevin Healey claims in his most current blog entry that “Autism Action UK (AAUK) is not a charity either. Have I ever said it was Ms Bruce? NO! AAUK is a non-for-profit [sic] campaigning organisation.” Midnight In Chicago has the following screenshots from Facebook to prove Kevin Healey has, indeed, alleged that Autism Action UK is a non-profit group.
And here on January 29, 2011. Note that the group’s description is under “Company Description.” Also note Annie Byton’s name for future cross-reference.
Let’s not mince words. A company has a company overview and a “campaigning organisation” only means that Autism Action UK is not a “service provision organisation.” Kevin Healey has marketed and promoted this latest venture as a non-profit group. The Charity Commission does not appear to have a listing on their site for such a group. Autism Action UK is not marketed or promoted anywhere online or in print materials as an initiative of the Staffordshire Autistic Adults Society (SAAS).
FACT: Kevin Healey has referred to Autism Radio UK alternately as a non-profit organization and a project of the Staffordshire Autistic Adults Society (SAAS). In his most recent blog entry, Kevin Healey claims that Autism Radio UK is a project of the Staffordshire Autistic Adults Society (SAAS).
FACT: The Charity Commission does not appear to have any information available through their website for Kevin Healey’s group founded in 2001 known as the North Staffordshire Asperger & Autism Association (NSAAA) or for Kevin Healey’s group founded in 2005 known as the North Staffs Healing Centre (NSHC).
FACT: Midnight In Chicago and its volunteers acknowledge that Kevin Healey’s opinion that “Elyse Bruce & her partner Thomas D. Taylor both misleads [sic] & bullies, stalks, harasses & a [sic] cyber bullies! who [sic] both do not serve the Autism community any justice at all!”
FACT: Midnight In Chicago was the first blog – and not Aspieweb as is a common misconception – to break the story of Dr. Nick Dubin’s arrest.
FACT: Midnight In Chicago does not support people such as Dr. Nick Dubin, former board member of GRASP, long-time Autism Advocate and published author, who was arrested and charged by the FBI in early October 2010 for downloading, possession and distribution of child pornography.
The MIC volunteers find such behaviour alarming and are concerned for the welfare of vulnerable individuals in the Autism community who come under the influence of such individuals. Kevin Healey has taken no such stand against these sorts of individuals and, in some cases, it would appear that he supports certain activities by other autism organization board members
FACT: Midnight In Chicago is also the first blog to provide factual information about board members of other autism organizations who are not as they wish to appear to those in the Autism community. This includes such individuals as ASAN Board Secretary, Meg Evans (aka Bonnie Ventura aka Ventura33) HERE and HERE and HERE; AWN Board Member, Carolyn Fuentes HERE and HERE; GRASP Chapter Leader and former ASAN Chapter Leader, Mark Haller HERE and HERE; Marc Rosen, Heather E. Sedlock, Amy Caraballo, Harry X. Williams aka Socrates and Dave Wilde HERE; Dave Wilde aka DJ Wilde aka David Wilde aka thewildeman2 HERE; and others.
To date, Kevin Healey has not objected to the activities or claims made by such individuals who purport to be Autism Advocates like himself, which leads one to wonder if this is a case of Kevin Healey not objecting to, or approving of, such behaviours by Autism Advocates.
FACT: Midnight In Chicago will not be bullied or cyberbullied into silence just because those Autism Advocates, Campaigners, Warriors and Ambassadors who are not transparent in their dealings object to the fact that Midnight In Chicago writes and publishes factual information with links and screenshots.
Midnight In Chicago will not be bullied or cyberbullied, threatened or intimidated into turning a blind eye to questionable practices and/or criminal behaviours and/or criminal activities of disability Advocates, Campaigners, Warriors or Ambassadors.
This blog article would like to finish with 3 last facts for readers to strongly consider.
1) Mel Johnson (aka) and Jayne Jackson (aka Jayne Bruce aka ) share the same spelling, grammar, verbiage and syntax with Kevin Healey.
While no volunteer at Midnight In Chicago is claiming that melaspie, usaautism and Kevin Healey are the same person, many volunteers at Midnight In Chicago find it remarkably extraordinary that the three “personas” write so identically, right down to the same spelling errors.
2) Kevin Healey does not provide screenshots or links that can be verified to support his comments in his blog entries.
3) Midnight In Chicago always provides screenshots and links that can be verified by third parties. What’s more, the screenshots and links provided are from public sources only.
UPDATE (August 2, 2011): Kevin Healey announced — as of 2 AM EST – that the Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society (SAAS) Facebook group page is no longer available.
Elyse Bruce
Founder and Creator
MIDNIGHT IN C HICAGO
