Autism Acceptance Not Awareness: A Perspective Shift is Needed
written by Nancy Doyle, published on Forbes Magazine
Unlike some other awareness campaigns Autism Awareness month is not universally liked by the Autistic community. If you follow the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag on social media, or any of the prominent advocates, you will most likely encounter posts throughout the month of April on this subject. I encourage you to read it direct from the source and learn the history that has created so much friction around this annual event. This video from Autistic advocate Sarinah O’Donoghue on the BBC sums it up well.
A large part of the problem is that awareness has not proven effective at improving the lives of Autistic people. In fact, these awareness drives often lead to the widespread dissemination of misinformation and outdated perspectives, causing further difficulties for people in the community. With no one ensuring the accuracy of the content that gets shared we frequently see harmful myths getting more traction than the truth, and non-autistic voices speaking over Autistic ones. Here’s a link to an article signposting Autistic AAC writers (augmentative and alternative communication devices) and here’s a link to a blog explaining why some Autistic people find Autism Awareness Month triggering and traumatic.
I’ve watched the April Autism season unfold with a flurry of talks, webinars, articles and social media. I’ve kept relatively quiet, listening to voices in the Autism community and considering how best to amplify the sentiments in my writing. Here’s my advice.