The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities.
Neurodiversity is a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity of human cognition as a biological fact. The neurodiversity paradigm argues that diversity in human cognition is normal and that some conditions classified as mental disorders are differences and disabilities that are not necessarily pathological.
The post-autistic economics movement, or movement of students for the reform of economics teaching, is a political movement that criticises neoclassical economics and advocates for pluralism in economics. The movement gained attention after an open letter signed by almost a thousand economics students at French universities and grandes ecoles was published in Le Monde in 2000.
The autism rights movement, also known as the autistic acceptance movement, is a social movement allied with disability rights that emphasizes a neurodiversity paradigm, viewing autism as a disability with variations in the human brain rather than as a disease to be cured. The movement advocates for several goals, including greater acceptance of autistic traits and behaviors; reforms of services – i.e. services that focus on improving quality of life and well-being instead of suppression and masking of autistic traits that are adaptive or not harmful or imitations of social behaviors of allistic (non-autistic) peers ; the creation of social networks and events that allow autistic people to socialize on their own terms; and the recognition of the autistic community as a minority group.
Autistic Pride Day is a pride celebration for autistic people held on 18 June each year. Autistic pride recognises the importance of pride for autistic people and its role in bringing about positive changes in the broader society.
Self-advocacy is the act of speaking up for oneself and one's interests. It is used as a name for civil rights movements and mutual aid networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The term arose in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and is part of the disability rights movement. Today there are self-advocacy organizations across the world.
People-first language (PFL), also called person-first language, is a type of linguistic prescription which puts a person before a diagnosis, describing what condition a person "has" rather than asserting what a person "is". It is intended to avoid marginalization or dehumanization when discussing people with a chronic illness or disability. It can be seen as a type of disability etiquette but person-first language can also be more generally applied to any group that would otherwise be defined or mentally categorized by a condition or trait.
Societal and cultural aspects of autism or sociology of autism come into play with recognition of autism, approaches to its support services and therapies, and how autism affects the definition of personhood. The autistic community is divided primarily into two camps; the autism rights movement and the pathology paradigm. The pathology paradigm advocates for supporting research into therapies, treatments, and/or a cure to help minimize or remove autistic traits, seeing treatment as vital to help individuals with autism, while the neurodiversity movement believes autism should be seen as a different way of being and advocates against a cure and interventions that focus on normalization, seeing it as trying to exterminate autistic people and their individuality. Both are controversial in autism communities and advocacy which has led to significant infighting between these two camps. While the dominant paradigm is the pathology paradigm and is followed largely by autism research and scientific communities, the neurodiversity movement is highly popular among most autistic people, within autism advocacy, autism rights organizations, and related neurodiversity approaches have been rapidly growing and applied in the autism research field in the last few years.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy organization run by and for individuals on the autism spectrum. ASAN advocates for the inclusion of autistic people in decisions that affect them, including: legislation, depiction in the media, and disability services.
The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is an international human rights organisation founded in Hungary in 2002. It is headquartered in Budapest.
Ari Daniel Ne'eman is an American disability rights activist and researcher who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2006. On December 16, 2009, President Barack Obama announced that Ne'eman would be appointed to the National Council on Disability. After an anonymous hold was lifted, Ne'eman was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Council on June 22, 2010. He chaired the council's Policy & Program Evaluation Committee making him the first autistic person to serve on the council. In 2015, Ne'eman left the National Council on Disability at the end of his second term. He currently serves as a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union. As of 2019, he also is a Ph.D. candidate in Health Policy at Harvard University.
Autism Cymru was Wales' national charity for autism with offices in Cardiff, Wrexham, and Aberystwyth. The charity was established in May 2001 through an initial 3-year grant provided by The Shirley Foundation. The founder chair of the Trustees was Dame Stephanie Shirley of the Shirley Foundation.
The history of autism spans over a century; autism has been subject to varying treatments, being pathologized or being viewed as a beneficial part of human neurodiversity. The understanding of autism has been shaped by cultural, scientific, and societal factors, and its perception and treatment change over time as scientific understanding of autism develops.
Lydia X. Z. Brown is an American autistic disability rights activist, writer, attorney, and public speaker who was honored by the White House in 2013. They are the chairperson of the American Bar Association Civil Rights & Social Justice Disability Rights Committee. They are also Policy Counsel for Privacy & Data at the Center for Democracy & Technology, and Director of Policy, Advocacy, & External Affairs at the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network. In 2022, they unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 7A, losing to state delegate Kathy Szeliga and delegate-elect Ryan Nawrocki.
Julia Bascom is an American autism rights activist. She is a former executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and replaced Ari Ne'eman as president of ASAN in early 2017 before stepping down at the end of 2023.
Olivia Cattan is a journalist and author. She is also a campaigner. Cattan is president of "SOS autisme France" and honorary president of the campaigning feminist organisation, "Paroles de femmes" which she established.
Approximately 12 million French citizens are affected by disability. The history of disability activism in France dates back to the French Revolution when the national obligation to help disabled citizens was recognized, but it was "unclear whether or not such assistance should be public or private." Disabled civilians began to form the first associations to demand equal rights and integration in the workforce after the First World War. Between 1940 and 1945, 45,000 people with intellectual disabilities died from neglect in French psychiatric asylums. After the Second World War, parents of disabled children and charities created specialized institutions for disabled children for whom school was not accessible. In 2018, the French Government began to roll out a disability policy which aimed to increase the allowance for disabled adults to €900 per month, improve the digital accessibility of public services, and develop easy-to-read and understand language among other goals.
Jessica L. Benham is an American politician and disability rights activist serving as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 36th District. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ woman and first openly autistic person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. She cofounded the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy in 2014.
The Disability Day of Mourning is observed annually on 1 March to commemorate disabled people who were murdered by their caregivers, especially their parents. First observed in 2012 and propagated by disability rights organizations such as Not Dead Yet and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the day aims to bring attention to the issue of filicide of disabled children and adults and the degree to which such murders are treated as different from or more socially acceptable than similar murders of abled people.
The history of autism in France is marked by the strong influence of psychoanalysis, and by the persistence of institutionalization practices that violate the fundamental rights of autistic people. According to estimates at the end of 2016, 0.7 to 1% of the French population has an autism spectrum disorder, most of which is undiagnosed, leading to varying degrees of disability.
