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Many autistic people have at least some language skills, and have started to speak and/or write for themselves about their experience. Along with neurotypical allies, they have started the autism rights movement to advocate the rights of autistic people. The use of the Internet has made it possible for autistics to present their perspective when they do not have the communication skills to do so offline. Even some mute autistics, such as Jasmine O'Neill, still write very well and present a case for societal acceptance of autism. These autistics do not desire a cure, but rather to be given opportunities to use their unique skills and perceptions in useful ways.
The position this movement considers most fundamental is the position that autism is not a disorder at all but simply a different way of being. They believe a cure for autism would destroy the original personality of the autistic person and replace them with a different (neurotypical) person. This movement has made ethical challenges to applied behavioral analysis (ABA) and psychiatric hospitals. The movement wants to include autistic adults in autism societies and provide services for autistic adults. They also wish to challenge descriptions of autism that they consider to be pitiful, insulting, and/or incorrect.
The anti-cure perspective
Many autistics believe autism is not a disorder at all, but simply a variation in neurological hardwiring. They believe that autism is a fundamental part of who they are and that autism is something that cannot be separated from the person. For this reason, they prefer the word "autistics" or "autistic person" instead of "person with autism" or "person who has autism" because "person with autism" implies that autism is something that can be removed from the person. Autistics with this perspective oppose the idea of a cure for autism because they see it as destroying the original personality of the autistic individual, forcing them to imitate "normal" behavior (which is not normal to an autistic), simply to make mainstream society feel less threatened by the presence of people who are different. Anti-cure autistics believe quirks and uniqueness of autistic individuals should be tolerated as the differences of any minority group should be tolerated. When people talk about visions for a future where autism has been eradicated, anti-cure autistics usually see this as a wish for the genocide of their culture and way of being.
The most quoted person with this perspective is Jim Sinclair who has written an article titled Don't Mourn for Us (http://www.autistics.org/library/dontmourn.html) which has been widely distributed over the Internet. Websites such as autistics.org, Graphic Truth (http://www.graphictruth.com) and Aspies for Freedom (http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com) also present this view.
People who hear autistics opposing the idea of a cure have assumed it is because their difficulties are very mild. Autism rights activists responded to this by pointing out that the reason they oppose a cure for autism is not because they are so high functioning that they do not need a cure. Autistics who oppose a cure experience extreme difficulties on a daily basis. They simply believe autism is a fundamental part of who they are. Anti-cure autistics usually do wish they had less difficulties in life, and they do find some aspects of autism (like sensory issues) painful, but they don't want to have to sacrifice giving up their personalities, values, and basic identities in order to make life easier. Anti-cure autistics wish society would be more tolerant and accommodating instead of pushing a cure.
Anti-cure autistics are in favor of helping make the lives of autistic people easier, but they prefer the word "education" over "treatment" and they support programs that respect the individuality of the autistic person and only try to teach them things instead of change them.
Role of parents in the movement
Although this movement is sometimes quoted as consisting only of autistic people, there are actually many parents involved in the movement. These parents value their children's autism as part of their uniqueness and individuality. They still wish to help their children but wish to do so without the desire for a cure. Autistic autism rights activists wish to attract more parents to the movement and strongly value their parent allies.
There are many programs intended as treatment for autism available. However, autism rights activists feel these treatments do not actually help autistic people but instead harm them. In particular, applied behavioral analysis (ABA), mental institutions, and drug therepy have been challenged. Michelle Dawson is one such person who has challenged ABA in Canada's supreme court in 2004. This is discussed in more detail in the article on ethical challenges to autism treatment.
Adult issues
Adult inclusion
Many in the autism rights movement believe the status quo of autism issues focuses too much on children and parents, and tends to disclude autistic adults. This can be easily seen from various autism organizations that have a child as a logo and parents having more power than autistic adults in autism organizations. Autistic people oppose this because they feel autistics, not parents, should be the primary focus of autism organizations. They also believe there are a lot more services for autistic children and their parents than for autistic adults, and some advocates of adult inclusion believe that the services and resources that are claimed to be for autistic children are really just for the parents (such as respite).
Accuracy of information about autistic adults
Autism rights activists believe many people considered autism experts publish false information about what happens to autistic children when they become adults. Most autistic adults in the autism rights movement greatly succeeded pessimistic predictions that had been given to them when they were children. Because of this, autism rights activists believe pessimistic things autism experts are saying to the parents of autistic children of today are also false.
Adult diagnosis
Autistic adults often find that autism diagnosis are designed for children so have a difficult time getting a diagnosis. Because they are different as adults than they were as children, they no longer fit the model of what an autistic child is like. In addition, autism diagnosis is sometimes taken less seriously when it is made in adulthood rather than childhood because some people claim if autism were "severe", it would have been noticed in childhood. Some autistic adults respond to this by claiming that when they were children there was much more ignorance about autism than there is in the present.
A common reason why autistic adults seek a diagnosis is to get services and/or accomodation for difficulties associated with autism. Some, however, only seek a diagnosis for the sake of a personal identity -- as a confirmation of why they feel "different" in a neurotypical society. Sometimes autistic adults find a self-diagnosis to be sufficient for this purpose (even though some prefer to get the "official" diagnosis for extra confirmation).
Services and accomodation
The autism rights movement wants there to be more services and accomodation for autistic adults. They also want autistic adults to have equal opportunity in employment and education.
Against an insulting view of autism
 The puzzle piece ribbon is used by some autism societies. Many autistic adults find this ribbon offensive and insulting. It is the opinion of many autism rights activists that autism societies present an insulting view of autism. One of the goals of the movement is to expose and challenge these claims they find insulting.
Some things autistics rights activists find offensive the comparison of autism to a national tragedy or fatal disease. Statements people make such as "autism is worse than cancer and 9/11 combined" are infuriating to autism rights activists. Other commonly made statements autistics find offensive is claims that autism is a death sentence, or statements like "autism is worse than cancer because people with autism have a normal lifespan." Even some pro-cure advocates believe some of these statements go too far.
Dr. Boyd Haley, chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky, recently termed autism "mad child disease" in speaking about children whose autism was apparently caused by mercury poisoning. This term offended many autistics as well as parents of autistic children, and the petition to defend the dignity of autistic citizens (http://www.neurodiversity.com/mothers_for_dignity.html) was started to protest this.
Autism rights activists also reject terming the reported increase in the autistic population as an "epidemic", since the word "epidemic" implies autism is a disease. The "autism epidemic" idea is controversial in any case; anti-cure activists have the opinion that the reported increase in autism may be due to the fact that more people are being diagnosed as autistic.
Many autistic adults find the puzzle piece ribbon offensive. In response to this, oddizms (http://www.geocities.com/autistry/oddizms.html) has created a rainbow ring (http://www.geocities.com/autistry/mobiuslweb.jpg) to symbol autism awareness and replace the puzzle piece ribbon.
Autism rights activists find offensive a recent trend where people attempt to make people aware of autism by discussing how much money autistic people allegedly cost. These campaigns sounds to autism rights activists like they are claiming autistics are a burden on tax payers and a waste of money, and compare this to arguments Nazis used to support Adolf Hitler's T-4 Euthanasia Program.
Misconceptions over autistic traits
Autism rights activists believe many characteristics described as being autistic traits are really only misconceptions. People in this movement desire to educate the population about what they believe are the real reasons these alleged misconceptions occur.
It is considered characteristic of autism for autistic people to lack a "theory of other minds", that is, for autistic people to be unaware that other people don't necessarily think or know the same things that they do. Many people feel that autistics are only perceived to lack a theory of mind because autistic people don't necessarily communicate with others in the same ways neurotypicals do. Not only would this prevent others' knowing whether autistics have a theory of mind or not, but lack of communication might make autistics less likely to have knowledge of other people's thoughts and knowledge. Autistics often believe neurotypicals are insensitive to their perspective and use this as evidence that neurotypicals lack theory of other minds.
It is reported that 75 to 85% of autistic people are mentally retarded. Many people believe autistics are incorrectly diagnosed with mental retardation because of lack of an ability to communicate what they know.
Although many people believe autistic people have no emotions and no sense of humor, there are those who challenge this by saying that autistic people have emotions and find things funny, but are more likely to keep their emotions to themselves or might not laugh when they do find something funny. Also, autistics may be amused by things that non-autistics would not find funny.
Functioning Labels
High and low functioning
The terms high functioning and low functioning are applied to people with an autism diagnosis. The actual disctinction is somewhat ambiguous. One common criteria is for high functioning to be used to describe those who have language skills and low functioning to be used to describe those who do not have language skills. Another common criteria is to describe those who score an IQ above 70-80 as being high functioning, and those who score an IQ below 70-80 as being low functioning.
The use of these terms is controversial. Some people believe that those who are described as high functioning -- those who can read, write, and speak -- are fundamentally and obviously higher functioning than those who are described as low functioning -- those who can't read or speak and may need constant care.
Others believe that autistics vary greatly in their strengths and skills, so that a one-dimensional, "high" or "low" functioning level is too misleading. They point out that there are some autistic people who have some characteristics considered "high functioning" and other characteristics considered "low functioning". For example, many autistics have excellent written language skills but no oral language skills at all. Others may have high intelligence and no language skills but still need constant care or who injure themselves. They also point out that not all nonverbal autistics are incapable of self-care. There are also autistics who have language skills some of the time but no language skills at other times.
Some autistic people find high and low functioning labels problematic when they have combinations of skills which are classified as high and low functioning, because having a characteristic considered high functioning makes it harder for them to get support for their more profound difficulties which are considered "low functioning".
Some people believe the autism rights movement (especially the anti-cure perspective) might make some sense if it only included autistic people described as high functioning or Asperger's. Autism rights activists have responded to this by claiming it isn't easy to distinguish between high and low functioning and pointing out that some of them have been called low functioning.
Political and Social Implications of the terms
While it's generally difficult for autistics of any kind of find services and accommodations which actually help them, persons with an Asperger's label often have more difficulty finding services and accomodation for difficulties associated with autism, than those with a "low functioning" label. Because people with Asperger syndrome can speak and often write well, many laymen and professionals still consider them to be not really autistic.
In addition, people see autistic adults doing things they don't believe children described as low functioning will ever be able to do and are offended and/or confused that they share a label with people they do not perceive as being disabled; they believe autism is strictly a disability and should be treated as such.
Autistic adults described as high functioning have responded to this by saying a "high functioning" label or the ability to speak and write doesn't mean their difficulties are mild. Autism is often called the "invisible disability" because the difficulties are not obvious and difficult for neurotypicals without personal experience to understand. It is especially difficult for people to understand how someone with high intelligence and verbal skills can have difficulty with social functioning, as many people with Asperger syndrome do.
Controversy over the terms in the Michelle Dawson controversy
In the Michelle Dawson controversy these terms were part of a controversy over ABA. In response to this controversy, ABA supporters claim that the people protesting ABA have Asperger syndrome and are not "really" autistic, so shouldn't be allowed to speak for autistic children. Some of them claim that Asperger's and autism are so fundamentally different that Asperger's should be removed from the autistic spectrum completely.
Anti-ABA activists responded to this by pointing out that many of them have a diagnosis of autism and not Asperger's. They also believe that their opponents use the word "high functioning" or "Asperger's" as an excuse to ignore the opinions of people who disagree with them, while using the word "low functioning" as an excuse to say autistics with that label cannot speak for themselves and give pro-cure advocates an excuse to speak for them.
Noteworthy events in the movement
- On December 20, 2004, Amy Harmon published an article in the New York Times titled "How about not curing us? Some autistics are pleading" which covered the anti-cure perspective.
Social Minority Group Status
It has been proposed that the Autistic community are a social minority group and therefore should be considered as such by the United Nations.
This would give certain protection against the forcible use of cures and therapies, either now or in the future. If the fact that people on the autistic spectrum are different in their own right was accepted worldwide, without being simply a faulty version of "normal" people, it could give greater freedom to the whole community. Without the stigma or pressure to have to communicate in the same way as neurotypicals, but instead be able to form social bonds in ways that suit autistics.
It is often the case that typing or signing is easier than talking, and that there is a huge comminty of autistics on the internet, many of whom are socially isolated in real life.
The statement from the autistic community on recognition for minority status is on the Autistic community page.
Speculation of possible famous autistic people
There has been speculation that well known contemporatory and historical people may have had some form of autism. Those who are most commonly discussed are Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Isaac Newton, Steven Spielberg, and Thomas Jefferson. Although this is brought up frequently in the autism rights movement, it is controversial outside the autism rights movement as well. Some people considered autism professionals have contributed to this speculation.
Arguments in favor
People who believe the allegations that many of these people are autistic claim that people had no knowledge of autism at the time these people were alive so the fact that autistic people in that time period were undiagnosed doesn't mean they are not autistic, it simply means their autism was not known. The arguments for each alleged famous autistic person vary from person to person. People point out that Einstein (the most frequenly quoted as alleged to be autistic) was a late speaker, did poorly in school, was a loner as a child, and needed his wives to act as parents when he was an adult; factors people claim make him "obviously" (or at least stereotypically) autistic.
Arguments against
Some people claim these people only represent very mild cases. Some people believe alleged famous autistics only have a few autistic traits but not enough for an autism diagnosis. Others claim it is simply not possible to diagnose the dead so nothing can be said about spectulation over historical figures. Some people claim Einstein actually did well in school and the belief to the contrary is only a myth.
Motivations for speculation
This speculation may simply be an attempt to create role models for autistics and to show people that autistics can do constructive things and contribute to society. This issue is discussed by autism rights activists often to show people what a loss to society there would be if autism were cured. Others in the autism rights movement, however, dislike this argument, because they feel autistics should be able to value their uniqueness without the desire for a cure even regardless of whether or not people like Einstein were not autistic.
Internet campaigns
In the early 2000s, activist campaigns started over the Internet.
- In April 2000, Autistics.org (http://www.autistics.org) hosted an online counter-rally called "Hear Our Voices" (http://www.autistics.org/library/reply.html) to protest an autism rally in Washington D.C. called "Hear Their Silence" that they disagreed with.
- In 2004, a Autistic Adults Picture Project (http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/AuSpin/a2p2.htm) was started in response to similar projects started by parents that only include pictures of children.
- In September 2004, the "Our Names are Autism Too" (http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/AuSpin/ournames.htm) is a campaign that protested an article titled "My Name is Autism" (http://www.asohalton.org/My%20Name%20is%20Autism.pdf) that presented a view autistics' rights activists found insulting.
- In October 2004, the Signatures of Intolerance (http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/AuSpin/sig.html) campaign was started over controversy surrounding ABA in Canada.
- In 2004, the Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens (http://www.neurodiversity.com/mothers_for_dignity.html) was started to protest the use of insults to describe autism (such as "mad child disease").
- In 2004 Aspies for Freedom (http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com) started a campaign against the use of electric shock devices on autistic children at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachussets, USA. This is an ongoing campaign by Aspies For Freedom and will continue until the use of such devices is stopped. The campaigns involves raising public awareness of this activity at the Center, an e-mail campaign, and protests are planned.
See also
Specifically related to autism rights movement
Autism in General
External links
In general/ resources
- WrongPlanet.net (http://www.wrongplanet.net/) A community site for those with Asperger's and Autism
- AS-IF (http://www.as-if.org.uk/index.htm) Information, resource links, and links to discussion groups
- Jypsy's "Oops, Wrong Planet" site (http://www.isn.net/~jypsy) Autism information, advocacy, and a large collection of resource links
- Autism Assembly (http://www.autism-assembly.com) A coalition of members of the autistic community who seek acceptance for those on the autistic spectrum, who aim to educate about autism, and who are not seeking a cure for autism
- University Students with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome (http://www.users.dircon.co.uk./~cns/index.html) Helpful information and advice for autistic students
Personal (activist) websites
Activism
Neurodiversity
- Neurodiversity (http://neurodiversity.com)Promoting the concept of neurodiversity
- Aspies.co.uk (http://www.aspies.co.uk) site about AS - I don't believe aspies should be "cured" or forced to be "normal"
- Celebrate Autism Today (http://www.celebrateautismtoday.org) "Autism is a difference, not a disease."
- Word Spy on Neurodiversity (http://www.wordspy.com/words/neurodiversity.asp) The Word Spy discusses the emerging concept of neurodiversity
- Curing Neuro-Bigotry (http://www.khazaddum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=249972) "Autism is not a 'tragedy.' It is diversity."
- Sideways Minds (http://www.tshirtrebel.com/Sideways) Advocating acceptance of neurological differences
- Neurodiversity.com (http://www.neurodiversity.com) Promoting the concept of neurodiversity
- Neurodiversity Now (http://www.neurodiversitynow.net) Essays and a link to a livejournal discussion
Autistic culture
- Aspergian Pride (http://www.aspergianpride.com) Celebrating the accomplishments of autistic people
- Aspergia (http://www.aspergia.com) Promoting the development of an Aspergian cultural identity
- Aspergian Island (http://www.musicmademe.com/asp/) Unofficial discussion board of Aspergia
- SpectrumHaven (http://www.spectrumhaven.com) Information and chat for all people on the autistic spectrum
- Reflections by Elmindreda (http://www.pseudohacker.org/~elmindreda/reflections) Writings discussing the autistic experience
Graphics and humor
Other Autism Links essays about autism written from the anti-cure perspective.
Aspergian Pride's Cure for Ignorance Campaign
Aspergian Pride's Cure for Ignorance Campaign seeks to raise the visibility of pride and advocacy sites in searches for autism-related terms by distributing a list of links. A copy in html format can be obtained by visiting the Cure for Ignorance page (http://www.aspergianpride.com/Portal/index.php?page=4) on the Aspergian Pride site.
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