Take ASAN’S Pledge to Include Autistic Voices

Please join us and take The Autistic Self Advocacy Network's pledge to include Autistic voices in organizations, conferences and panels on autism. Would you support an organization that advocated for women or attend conferences about women if they failed to include women ? Of course not. Then, please, take a minute, sign this pledge and share widely. Join: Colin Meloy, Lead Singer, The Decemberists, Linda Walker Fiddle, Executive Director, Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Mike Elk, Labor Reporter, In These Times Magazine, Steve Silberman, Investigative Reporter and Author, Wired Magazine, Cecilia Breinbauer, Executive Director, Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders

Stop Combating Me – Why I Am Against Euthanasia

Today is “Stop Combating Me” flashblog. We are not the enemy but the way legislation is written puts us in real danger.

  • Image description. Hands holding up a white sign with pink text " I AM A STUDENT" Closed captioning text" I'm not the one who's lost with no direction, no"

I’m Not the One Who Is Lost

I am thinking you will understand more when you see the feeling . The feeling on my side.

  • A dark blue outline of a person with no distinguishable facial features curled up with arms resting on bent knees. Figure is surrounded by text that reads: "Am I okay? Am I really that different? Sometime I struggle. Do others struggle? Weaknesses? Strengths? Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. What makes me different? Are there others like me? I want to be me, and find what works for me. I am unique, and that is okay. I may have different needs, but I am not a burden."

Welcome to the Autistic Community

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Now Center have created "Welcome to the Autistic Community! " It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about autism.

  • 2014 Joint Letter to the Sponsors of Autism Speaks

2014 Joint Letter to the Sponsors of Autism Speaks

January 6, 2014 To the Sponsors, Donors, and Supporters of Autism Speaks: We, the undersigned organizations representing the disability community, are writing to urge you to end your support for Autism Speaks. We profoundly appreciate your interest in supporting the autism and broader disability communities. Our work is about empowering and supporting people with all disabilities, including adults and children on the autism spectrum, to be recognized as equal citizens in our society and afforded all of the rights and opportunities that implies. Unfortunately, Autism Speaks’ statements and actions do damage to that work and to the lives of autistic

  • Image description: Photograph of screenshot of C-SPAN a light skinned man with black hair. He is wearing glasses and a dark grey suit, light shirt and maroon tie. Ari Ne'eman Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The Importance of Supports

"If we invested a mere one-tenth of the amount of money that we currently pour into causation into empowering Autistic people to communicate, that young man and hundreds of thousands more like him would be able to communicate their needs to us today. I am not here today to speak for every Autistic person – that’s impossible. What I am here for is to argue for every Autistic person to have the same opportunity to communicate that I have come to enjoy thanks to the support that I have been lucky enough to receive in my life." Ari Ne'eman

  • a teenage light skinned boy with freckles, wearing a black jacket, blue and white striped sweater, pink collared shirt is standing in front of large columns and steps that lead to the Lincoln Memorial

All the people saw my intelligence. No test first.

My family saw. I had hopeful times . Tracy invited me home to Vermont to learn . I went to ICI to learn. All the people saw my intelligence . No test first. It was very free. I never had many people understand. To wait. To listen. Not outside home. I did not want to go back to people unknowing. I read more words from typers watching my movie to feel community. Full presentation here

Inclusion, Communication and Civil Rights

"Learning is easy when the teacher knows you can learn. " Henry Frost

ASAN President Ari Ne’eman on the DOE’s New Stance on Bullying Prevention

Comments from Autistic Self-Advocacy Network President Ari Ne’eman, delivered on August 20th, 2013 during a call with with stakeholders from the education and disability communities on the Department of Education’s new guidance on bullying prevention and IDEA. Presenters on the call included OSEP Director Melody Musgrove and White House Associate Director of Public Engagement Claudia Gordon.

How Will the Affordable Care Act Affect People With Disabilities?

The Thinking Person's Guide To Autism interviews Ari Ne'eman of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network about specific advantages, opportunities, and sticking points of the Affordable Care Act for People with Disabilities

Inclusion is a right not a privilege.

Inclusion is not only socially just, but research shows it improves academic outcomes for all students.

Seattle Children’s Hospital Pulls Bus Ads After Community Outrage

“Autism is a disability, but it is not a disease. It is not a life-threatening illness,” said Matt Young, co-leader of ASAN-WA. “The idea it’s a state to be wiped out has much negative impact on our lives.”

  • Boy with gray shirt running in grass

Advocacy Groups Call for Autistic Teen’s Killers to Be Charged With Hate Crime

How does it make you feel when you hear a story about a mother killing her child? Does hearing that the child had a disability change how you feel? For some people, it does. It changes how they feel enough so that they'll start speaking as if they support the parent's actions, citing unbearable stress and lack of supports and not being able to take the pain to see of seeing a child with disabilities in pain. We heard the media and public talk about this in Canada when Robert Latimer put his 12-year-old daughter Tracy, who had cerebral palsy,

  • White Rectangle With ASAN logo in left corner, large black text reads "ASAN " underneath smaller black text "Autistic Self Advocacy Network" . A narrow blue line separates the grey text that reads "Nothing About Us Without Us"

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run by and for Autistic people.

  • AUTISM ACCEPTANCE, A HUMAN RIGHT. The Ollibean Equal sign is in the middle,

Autism Rights Are Human Rights

Autism Rights are Human Rights Autism Rights are human rights. That’s something every Autistic activist knows. It is printed in t-shirts we wear and it is something we have to keep reminding the world because our rights are violated on a regular basis. We have to fight for the right to be heard, for the right to participate in the conversation about us. Young Autistics have to fight for the right to go to their neighborhood school, with their friends, to learn the same curriculum a non-autistic child learns. That’s why we say that the fight for autism rights

  • a teenage light skinned boy with freckles, wearing a black jacket, blue and white striped sweater, pink collared shirt is standing in front of large columns and steps that lead to the Lincoln Memorial

Listen Up

Listen Up! the PSA from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Autism Acceptance Month has been released!

Must Have Autism E-book

Great e-book for Autism Acceptance Month !

  • Autism Acceptance Month, Acceptance Is An Action

Autism Acceptance Month

"Acceptance is an action." Autism Acceptance Month from the brilliant folks at ASAN, is beyond incredible. We could read the About page again and again- and probably will. Check it out. Take the Pledge. What is Autism Acceptance Month? Autism Acceptance Month is about challenging ignorance, prejudice, fear, and hysteria about autism and autistic people. Autism Acceptance Month spreads the word that autism is both a neurological disability and a natural part of human diversity, and centers the voices of autistic people in the conversation about us. Autism Acceptance Month promotes acceptance of autistic people as family members, sons, daughters, spouses, friends, classmates, co-workers,

Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay Stand Up for Inclusion

Presented and discussed will be the importance of inclusion and friendship for youth with disabilities. The cast and of the acclaimed feature documentary, Wretches & Jabberers will be joined by The National Center on Inclusive Education’s Mary Schuh, PhD, and Tampa advocate, 13 year old, Henry Frost.

April and Autism Acceptance at Tampa Theatre

Get your advocacy on. April and Autism Acceptance is in Tampa. The rock stars of disability advocacy- Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette- are back.

ASAN Statement on Upcoming House Autism Hearing

“We’re profoundly concerned by the decision by the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform to convene a hearing on autism next week without the inclusion of any Autistic witnesses or representatives from organizations run by Autistic people. Jus

Inclusion in Tampa

' With a little help from his friends'. Henry's inclusion is truly a group effort led by this determined 13 year old self advocate .

14th Annual Autism Summer Institute August 6th -8th

Express Yourself: Supporting Communication through the Arts, Advocacy, and Education. Aug 6th -8th. Grappone Conference Center, 70 Constitution Avenue Concord, New Hampshire

The Loud Hands Project

Love this video published by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Share it, Post it, Donate at http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Loud-Hands-Project?a=351448 so they will make more:)

ASAN disappointed with President Obama’s choice for committee on disability

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the nation's leading advocacy group run by and for Autistic adults, today expressed concern and disappointment over President Obama’s announcement Tuesday of his intent to appoint anti-vaccine activist Peter H. Bell as a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. “Bell’s appointment shows such contrast to the forward motion the Obama administration has shown in the areas of autism and disability as a whole..

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