Mary Temple Grandin is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Grandin is a consultant to the livestock industry, where she offers advice on animal behavior, and is also an autism spokesperson.
Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.
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.
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a private research university with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, United States, in the Miami metropolitan area. The university consists of 14 total colleges, offering over 150 programs of study. The university offers professional degrees in the social sciences, law, business, osteopathic medicine (DO), allopathic medicine (MD), health sciences, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, education, occupational therapy, and nursing. As of 2019, 20,576 students were enrolled at Nova Southeastern University, with more than 210,000 alumni. With a main campus located on 314 acres in Davie, Florida, NSU operates additional campuses in Dania Beach, North Miami Beach, Tampa Bay-Clearwater and campuses throughout the state of Florida. There are also campuses in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Denver, Colorado.
Autistic art is artwork created by autistic artists that captures or conveys a variety of autistic experiences. According to a 2021 article in Cognitive Processing, autistic artists with improved linguistic and communication skills often show a greater degree of originality and attention to detail than their neurotypical counterparts, with a positive correlation between artistic talent and high linguistic functioning. Autistic art is often considered outsider art. Art by autistic artists has long been shown in separate venues from artists without disabilities. The works of some autistic artists have featured in art publications and documentaries and been exhibited in mainstream galleries. Although autistic artists seldom received formal art education in the past, recent inclusivity initiatives have made it easier for autistic artists to get a formal college education. The Aspergers/Autism Network's AANE Artist Collaborative is an example of an art organization for autistic adults.
Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins and currently works for the same team since 2014 as a special advisor. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, earning first-team All-American honors in 1981. Marino was the last quarterback taken in the first round of the famed quarterback class of 1983. He held or currently holds dozens of NFL records associated with the quarterback position, and despite never being on a Super Bowl-winning team, he is recognized among the greatest quarterbacks in American football history.
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.
Kirsten Miller is a South African novelist, writer and artist with six full-length books published between 2006 and 2021.
Autism Speaks Inc. is a non-profit autism awareness organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. It was founded in February 2005 by Bob Wright and his wife Suzanne, a year after their grandson Christian was diagnosed with autism. The same year as its founding, the organization merged with Autism Coalition for Research and Education. It then merged with the National Alliance for Autism Research in 2006 and Cure Autism Now in 2007.
The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation (DJF) is a national all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that focuses exclusively on adults with autism-spectrum disorder. The DJF mission is to develop, advocate for and support programs through grant awards that enrich the lives of adolescents and adults with autism. The guiding principle of Foundation is to honor the individuality of each person with autism-spectrum disorder so that each may participate throughout their lifetime in vocational, recreational, educational and residential opportunities that are suitable, stimulating and sustainable and allow for maximum integration in the community.
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.
HollyRod Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by actress Holly Robinson Peete and retired NFL quarterback Rodney Peete that provides "medical, physical, and emotional support" to individuals living with Parkinson's disease as well as families of children with autism. The HollyRod4kids initiative assists families affected by autism through providing resources to help improve the lives of children diagnosed with the disorder. Concurrently, the foundation provides aid for Parkinson's Disease patients through its HollyRod Compassionate Care Program in partnership with the Center for Parkinson's Research and Movement Disorders located at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) describe a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the DSM-5, used by the American Psychiatric Association. As with many neurodivergent people and conditions, the popular image of autistic people and autism itself is often based on inaccurate media representations. Additionally, media about autism may promote pseudoscience such as vaccine denial or facilitated communication.
Autism-friendly means being aware of social engagement and environmental factors affecting people on the autism spectrum, with modifications to communication methods and physical space to better suit individual's unique and special needs.
Kathleen Seidel is an American researcher and weblog publisher from Peterborough, New Hampshire, best known for investigations and writing on autism. Her inquiries into the work and conduct of Mark Geier and his son David Geier regarding chelation therapy and a hormone-altering drug called Lupron, led to medical board actions in multiple states that suspended Mark Geier from medical practice, and caused David Geier to be arraigned for allegedly practising medicine without a license.
Anna Kennedy is a disability/ neurodiversity campaigner who has worked to provide improved education and other services and support for children and adults described as being on the autism spectrum as well as other neurodiverse conditions. In pursuing these activities she has helped establish two schools, a college, a respite home and a website with over 100,000 international followers.
Howard C. Shane is director of the Autism Language Program and Communication Enhancement Program at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, former director of the Institute on Applied Technology, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. He is internationally known for his research and development of augmented and alternative communication systems to support the communication needs of people with neuromuscular disorders, autism and other disabilities.
Kendra Erika Fulmer, known professionally as Kendra Erika, is an American musician.
Mark Rosenbloom is an American medical doctor, author, speaker, entrepreneur, and coach. He is the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of LIFEFORCE Medical Institute. He is also the Founder of The Unicorn Children’s Foundation, for children with development and communication disorders and Founder and CEO of PEPID, LLC, a point-of-care medical and drug reference software.
