Autism rights movement

The autism rights movement (ARM), also known as the autistic culture movement, is a social movement within the neurodiversity and disability rights movements that encourages people with autism, their caregivers and society to adopt a position of neurodiversity, accepting autism as a variation in functioning rather than a disorder to be cured. The ARM advocates a variety of goals including a greater acceptance of autistic behaviors; therapies that teach autistic individuals coping skills rather than therapies focused on imitating behaviors of neurotypical 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.

Autism rights or neurodiversity advocates believe that the autism spectrum is genetic and should be accepted as a natural expression of the human genome. This perspective is distinct from two other likewise distinct views: (1) the mainstream perspective that autism is caused by a genetic defect and should be addressed by targeting the autism gene(s) and (2) the perspective that autism is caused by environmental factors like vaccines and pollution and could be cured by addressing environmental causes.

The movement is controversial. There are a wide variety of both supportive and critical opinions about the movement among people who are autistic or associated with people with autism. A common criticism leveled against autistic activists is that the majority of them are high-functioning or have Asperger syndrome and do not represent the views of all autistic people, although some prominent figures in the movement (such as Amy Sequenzia) are nonverbal and have been labeled as low-functioning.

Jim Sinclair was the first individual to communicate the anti-cure or autism rights perspective in the late 1980s. In 1992, Sinclair co-founded the Autism Network International, an organization that publishes newsletters "written by and for autistic people". Other individuals involved in the creation of the ANI were Donna Williams and Kathy Grant, two autistic individuals who knew Sinclair through pen pal lists and autism conferences. The first issue of the ANI newsletter, Our Voice, was distributed online in November 1992, to an audience of mostly neurotypical professionals and parents of young autistic children. The number of autistics in the organization grew slowly, over the years, and it eventually became a communication network for like-minded autistics.

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