Autistic Pride Day

Autistic Pride Day is celebrated on June 18 of each year, starting in 2005. It is a celebration of the neurodiversity of Autistic spectrum individuals, to promote the concept that those identified as autistic are not suffering from a pathological disease any more than those with dark skin are suffering from a form of skin disease.

Autistic pride advocates believe the notion of racial purity, in terms of the human race as a whole, permeates medical science, which seems to reflect a belief that every human brain should be identical. Advocates of autistic pride claim the notion that there is an ideal, and thus desirable, structure to the human brain leads many practitioners of psychiatry to assume that any deviation requires a "cure" to achieve conformity to the neurotypical norm. Some supporters believe a form of ethnic cleansing is being imposed by advocates of a cure for autism. All believe that, at a bare minimum, there should be greater consideration shown for members of the autistic community as unique individuals.

Advocates of autistic pride point out that homosexuality was once classified as a form of mental illness that could be treated medically with libido-reducing hormonal therapy. Only after the gay rights movement achieved its goal of social tolerance towards diversity of sexual orientation did this classification become obsolete. One of the enduring expressions of this movement is gay pride. The Autistic Pride Day hopes to start the same process of education and activism, with the goals of promoting the basic human rights of autistics and finding a valued home for their individual voice and talents in modern society.

Autistic Pride day is an initiative by Aspies For Freedom. This autism rights group aims to educate the general public with such initiatives to end ignorance of the issues involved within the autistic community.

See also

• Autistic community
• Autistic culture
• Autism rights movement
• Ethical challenges to autism treatment
• Neurodiversity

External links

• http://www.autisticprideday.com Official site for Autistic Pride Day information
• http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com
• http://www.autistics.org
• http://www.neurodiversity.com
• http://www.autism-assembly.com
• Neurodiversity Now Essays and a link to a livejournal discussion
• No Autistics Allowed: Explorations in Discrimination Against Autistics - Michelle Dawson
• Autism Network International A self-help and advocacy organization
• Celebrate Autism Today "Autism is a difference, not a disease."
• Aspies.co.uk site about AS - I don't believe aspies should be "cured" or forced to be "normal"
• Sideways Minds Advocating acceptance of neurological differences