Autism rights movement

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The autism rights movement is a civil rights movement arguing for greater acceptance of autistic spectrum conditions such as autism and Asperger's syndrome as normal and acceptable ways of being rather than as mental disorders or disabilities.

Organizations active in the autism rights movement include Autism Network International,[1] the Autistic Self Advocacy Network,[2] and Aspies For Freedom.[3] Autism rights is part of the larger autism advocacy movement, which promotes greater awareness and understanding of autism, but autism rights groups strongly disagree with other autism advocacy and research groups such as the Autism Research Institute[4] and Autism Speaks[5] on issues of prevention and treatment.

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[edit] Neurodiversity

The autism rights movement promotes the concept of "neurodiversity", a diversity of neural patterns, and opposes the more common understanding (both within and outside the medical community) that there is a "normal" mental standard and that aberrations from this standard (including autism, Asperger's syndrome, and sometimes also non-autistic neurological conditions) are disorders which must be treated or prevented. Autism rights and neurodiversity advocates see the traditional conception of normal and abnormal conditions as an example of privilege and discrimination, and draw parallels with other movements for greater acceptance of diversity, such as the LGBT rights movement.

The neurodiversity movement has grown beyond autism rights and been embraced by people with other conditions, including OCD, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette's syndrome and bipolar disorder,[6] seeking acceptance of these conditions as normal rather than dysfunctional ways of being.[7]

Neurodiversity proponents do not deny that many autistic individuals require specialized support because of their autism, or that autism can be a disabling condition. Instead, they argue that this support should treat autistic people's experiences and self-expression with respect, rejecting interventions that train autistic people to "pass as neurotypical" by suppressing traits that are not actually harmful to themselves or others.

[edit] Attitudes to classification, treatment and research

As well as opposing the classification of autism as a disorder, autism rights groups also oppose research into the causes of autism, especially research aimed at preventing the incidence of autism, sometimes even comparing this to genocide. Some within the autism rights community oppose various kinds of treatment and therapy for autistic people (or even all kinds), seeing these as unnecessary attempts to normalize autistic behaviour.

When autism researcher Dr Joseph Buxbaum predicted in 2005 that there could be a prenatal test for autism within the next ten years, an autism right advocate responded by publishing an "Autistic Genocide Clock" on their website, which counted down the "estimated time remaining before prenatal testing and routine abortion".[8] This clock became a popular talking point within the autistic rights community, but has now been removed since the prenatal testing Dr Buxbaum predicted has not yet been achieved.

[edit] Awareness and Acceptance Months

Another example of the schism between the autism rights movement and other autism advocacy groups is the campaign and counter-campaign to mark April as a day of autism awareness and acceptance.

World Autism Awareness Day, on 2 April, has been observed since 1990 when it was established by a United Nations resolution. World Autism Awareness Day promotes greater education and understanding of autism, but also greater concern about it as a growing world public health crisis. It is supported by groups such as Autism Speaks, who now promote it with the phrase "Light It Up Blue" and have designated April as Autism Awareness Month in the United States.[9]

Autism rights groups such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network oppose World Autism Awareness Day's focus on autism prevention and cure, and also perceive its messages about autism as patronizing and demeaning to autistic people. Instead they campaign to "take back April" as Autism Acceptance Month, a time to celebrate autism as a natural variation and autistic people for their contributions to society.[10]

[edit] Neurotypicality and allism

"Neurotypical" (NT) and "allistic" are both terms originating within the autism advocacy and autism rights movements to refer to non-autistic people. "Neurotypical" is the more common term, at least outside the autism rights movement, and the more self-explanatory since it refers to people who are neurologically typical. However, many autism rights advocates feel that this term marginalizes autistic people and reinforces the idea that they are defective and sub-normal.

"Allism" is a term coined in 2003 by Andrew Main, an autistic individual who wrote a parody medical paper identifying allism as "a congenital neurological disorder adversely affecting many areas of brain function".[11] By reversing the accepted views and presenting autism as the norm and allism (i.e. neurotypicality) as the disorder, he challenged the way society views autistic people. Regarding the etymology, he explained:[11]

The word "allism", invented for this article, is intended to precisely complement 'autism". It is based on the Greek word "allos", meaning "other", just as "autos" (in "autism") means "self".

The term "allism" has become very popular within the autism rights movement, and also caught on elsewhere in the world of identity politics and social justice advocacy, as a nonjudgmental way of defining people's neurological condition. The ironical attitude to the issue which Main promoted is still perpetuated in websites such as Allism Speaks (a parody of Autism Speaks), a blog which sarcastically mocks and patronises allistic people and their "struggles with allism".[12]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Autism Network International
  2. Autism Self Advisory Network
  3. Aspies for Freedom
  4. Autism Research Institute
  5. Autism Speaks
  6. Bipolar - A Neurodiversity Approach
  7. Kathyrn Boundy, "'Are You Sure, Sweetheart, That You Want to Be Well?': An Exploration Of The Neurodiversity Movement, Radical Psychology, Volume 7, 2008.
  8. The Autistic Genocide Clock, Ventura33, now archived (via Wayback Machine).
  9. Autism Speaks: World Autism Awareness Day
  10. See Autism Acceptance Day blog and Autism Acceptance Month website.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Allism: an introduction to a little-known condition", Andrew Main, 2003
  12. Allism Speaks (Tumblr)
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