Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Autistic rights movement AI simulator
(@Autistic rights movement_simulator)
Hub AI
Autistic rights movement AI simulator
(@Autistic rights movement_simulator)
Autistic rights movement
The autistic rights movement, also known as the autism acceptance movement, is a social movement allied with the disability rights movement. It emphasizes the neurodiversity paradigm, viewing autism as a set of naturally occurring variations in human cognition, a cognitive difference with both strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a disease to be cured or a medical disorder. This paradigm contradicts and diverges from the medical model of disability, without opposing all aspects of it.
Central to the autistic rights movement's beliefs is the right to self-determine if one is part of the autism community, that autistic people should be seen as the primary voice for autistic people, and that autistic people have the final say in what language should be used when talking about autism. A common motto used by the autistic rights movement, borrowed from the disability rights movement, is the phrase "nothing about us without us".
Autistic rights movement advocates strive for widespread acceptance of people with autism, as well as the traits and behaviors (e.g. stimming, lack of eye contact, and special interests) associated with autism, for autistic people to socialize on their own terms, and to mitigate the double empathy problem. The movement seeks to reform, advance, and foster autism-oriented support services, interventions or therapies in accordance with neurodiversity principles to emphasize coping skills for challenging situations, promote adaptive skills, and promote psychological well-being and mental health, through incorporating voices and perspectives of autistic people in intervention reforms, advancements, and developments.
The movement criticizes therapies and interventions that—implicitly or explicitly, unintentionally or intentionally—encourage masking behaviors associated with autism and imitating neurotypical social behaviors, as higher tendencies of camouflaging, autistic masking, or passing as neurotypical are associated with worse mental health outcomes according to most recent studies and multiple systematic reviews and some autistic adults who experienced some forms of behavioral interventions reported adverse effects such as detrimental effects on their mental health due to increased or excessive camouflaging or masking. Limited but a few quantitative studies found that such adverse effects (e.g. reinforcement of masking, trauma, mental health worsening) appear to be experienced by a substantial proportion of autistic people who received these interventions.
The movement also advocates for autistic people to be recognized as a minority group rather than as having a disorder. Within the autistic rights movement, autism is often compared to different variations in human biology not categorized as disorders, such as homosexuality.
Jim Sinclair is credited as the first person to communicate the autistic rights perspective. In the early 1990s, Sinclair frequently participated in autism conferences led by parent-centric organizations but found them "overwhelmingly hostile from both sensory and emotional standpoints".[citation needed] In 1992, Sinclair co-founded the Autism Network International (ANI) with Donna Williams and Kathy Grant, an organization that publishes newsletters "written by and for autistic people."
The ANI newsletter, Our Voice, had its first issue distributed online in November 1992 to an audience of primarily neurotypical professionals and parents of young autistic children. The number of autistic people in the organization increased over the years, and ANI eventually became a communication network for like-minded autistic people. Sinclair wrote the essay "Don't Mourn for Us" (1993) in the ANI newsletter (Volume 1, Number 3) with an anti-cure perspective on autism. Some[like whom?] have considered the essay a touchstone for the autistic rights movement, and it has been mentioned in The New York Times and New York Magazine.
ANI established the yearly retreat "Autreat" in 1996. Autreat was a retreat and conference held in the United States specifically for autistic people and was held every year from 1996 to 2013, except in 2001. The theme of the first conference in 1996 was "Celebrating Autistic Culture", and it had close to 60 participants. It was hosted at Camp Bristol Hills in Canandaigua, New York. The success of Autreat later inspired similar retreats, such as the Association for Autistic Community's conference, Autspace, in the United States; Autscape in the United Kingdom; and Projekt Empowerment in Sweden.
Autistic rights movement
The autistic rights movement, also known as the autism acceptance movement, is a social movement allied with the disability rights movement. It emphasizes the neurodiversity paradigm, viewing autism as a set of naturally occurring variations in human cognition, a cognitive difference with both strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a disease to be cured or a medical disorder. This paradigm contradicts and diverges from the medical model of disability, without opposing all aspects of it.
Central to the autistic rights movement's beliefs is the right to self-determine if one is part of the autism community, that autistic people should be seen as the primary voice for autistic people, and that autistic people have the final say in what language should be used when talking about autism. A common motto used by the autistic rights movement, borrowed from the disability rights movement, is the phrase "nothing about us without us".
Autistic rights movement advocates strive for widespread acceptance of people with autism, as well as the traits and behaviors (e.g. stimming, lack of eye contact, and special interests) associated with autism, for autistic people to socialize on their own terms, and to mitigate the double empathy problem. The movement seeks to reform, advance, and foster autism-oriented support services, interventions or therapies in accordance with neurodiversity principles to emphasize coping skills for challenging situations, promote adaptive skills, and promote psychological well-being and mental health, through incorporating voices and perspectives of autistic people in intervention reforms, advancements, and developments.
The movement criticizes therapies and interventions that—implicitly or explicitly, unintentionally or intentionally—encourage masking behaviors associated with autism and imitating neurotypical social behaviors, as higher tendencies of camouflaging, autistic masking, or passing as neurotypical are associated with worse mental health outcomes according to most recent studies and multiple systematic reviews and some autistic adults who experienced some forms of behavioral interventions reported adverse effects such as detrimental effects on their mental health due to increased or excessive camouflaging or masking. Limited but a few quantitative studies found that such adverse effects (e.g. reinforcement of masking, trauma, mental health worsening) appear to be experienced by a substantial proportion of autistic people who received these interventions.
The movement also advocates for autistic people to be recognized as a minority group rather than as having a disorder. Within the autistic rights movement, autism is often compared to different variations in human biology not categorized as disorders, such as homosexuality.
Jim Sinclair is credited as the first person to communicate the autistic rights perspective. In the early 1990s, Sinclair frequently participated in autism conferences led by parent-centric organizations but found them "overwhelmingly hostile from both sensory and emotional standpoints".[citation needed] In 1992, Sinclair co-founded the Autism Network International (ANI) with Donna Williams and Kathy Grant, an organization that publishes newsletters "written by and for autistic people."
The ANI newsletter, Our Voice, had its first issue distributed online in November 1992 to an audience of primarily neurotypical professionals and parents of young autistic children. The number of autistic people in the organization increased over the years, and ANI eventually became a communication network for like-minded autistic people. Sinclair wrote the essay "Don't Mourn for Us" (1993) in the ANI newsletter (Volume 1, Number 3) with an anti-cure perspective on autism. Some[like whom?] have considered the essay a touchstone for the autistic rights movement, and it has been mentioned in The New York Times and New York Magazine.
ANI established the yearly retreat "Autreat" in 1996. Autreat was a retreat and conference held in the United States specifically for autistic people and was held every year from 1996 to 2013, except in 2001. The theme of the first conference in 1996 was "Celebrating Autistic Culture", and it had close to 60 participants. It was hosted at Camp Bristol Hills in Canandaigua, New York. The success of Autreat later inspired similar retreats, such as the Association for Autistic Community's conference, Autspace, in the United States; Autscape in the United Kingdom; and Projekt Empowerment in Sweden.
Recent media
Recent media