April is Autism Acceptance Month!

Being a neurodiversity affirming speech language pathologist and clinic means I listen to the Autistic community and culture. Autism Acceptance Month is in April and it is time we advocate and listen! I do not “light it up blue” or use the puzzle piece in regards to Autism anymore because the autistic community does not approve of Autism Speaks and their campaigns due to poor treatment and abuse of autistic people. Autism Speaks is led predominantly by non-autistic (allistic) individuals and does not have a single person diagnosed with autism on their board of directors. this lack of representation means that they are not properly informed about the needs and concern of the autistic community and they have a history of using adversarial language when speaking about Autism. Autism is not a disease that needs to be cured as proposed by this organization and reinforces harmful stereotypes about Autism. The Autistic community as a whole prefers the infinity symbol and does not approve of the puzzle pieces to represent Autism. The puzzle pieces symbolize a negative stigma meaning that Autism is puzzling and needs to be fixed or solved. The puzzle piece is often referred to as a hate symbol to the Autistic community due to the harmful messages that Autism Speaks has portrayed with regards to Autistic people. So what do we do instead? We can wear red instead, or gold for Autism. We can listen to Autistic voices and consider our own ableism and judgement. We can use the infinity symbol or rainbow infinity symbol that represents neurodiversity. We can stop comparing neurodivergent people to neurotypical people as if one is “ better” than the other. We can support organizations that focus on empowerment, acceptance and understanding of Autistic people as a natural variation of human diversity , promote a positive view of Autism and neurodiversity. Here are some organizations that do just that:

Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)

Autism Women’s Network (AWN)

National Autism Association

Autism National Commitee (AUTCOM)

Autistic People of Color Fund (APCF)