Autistic Pride Day

Autistic Pride Day is a celebration of the neurodiversity of people on the autism spectrum on June 18 each year. Autistic pride is pride in autism, about shifting views of autism from "disease" to "difference". Autistic pride emphasises the innate potential in all human phenotypic expressions and celebrates the diversity various neurological types express.

Autistic pride asserts that autistic people are not sick; rather, they have a unique set of characteristics that provide them many rewards and challenges, not unlike their non-autistic peers. Researchers and people with high-functioning autism have contributed to a shift in attitudes away from the notion that autism is a deviation from the norm that must be treated or cured, and towards the view that AS is a difference rather than a disability. New Scientist magazine released an article entitled "Autistic and proud" on the first Autistic Pride Day that discussed the idea.

Autistic Pride day is an Aspies for Freedom initiative, an autism rights group that aims to educate the general public with initiatives to end ignorance of the issues involving the autistic community. June 18 was picked as Autistic Pride Day because it was the birthday of Aspies For Freedom's youngest member (Matthew Schimmel). Families around the world celebrate in numerous public events; there are also gatherings of autistics via IRC so that many can communicate together in real time.

Philosophy
Advocates of autistic pride reject the notion that there is an ideal, and thus desirable, structure to the human brain. This notion leads many practitioners of psychiatry to assume that any deviation requires a "cure" to achieve conformity to the 'neurotypical' norm. Some supporters believe a form of ethnic cleansing is being imposed by advocates of a cure for autism. All believe that, at a bare minimum, there should be greater consideration shown for members of the autistic community as unique individuals.

Advocates of autistic pride point out that homosexuality was once classified as a form of mental illness that could be treated medically with libido-reducing hormonal therapy. Only after political agitation from the gay rights movement did this classification become obsolete. One of the enduring expressions of this movement is gay pride. The Autistic Pride Day hopes to start the same process of education of this view and activism, with the goals of promoting the basic human rights of autistics and finding a valued home for their individual voice and talents in modern society.

Themes
The main event of 2005 was in Brasília, capital of Brazil. The main events of 2006 were an Autistic Pride Summer Camp in Germany, and an event at Scienceworks in Melbourne, Australia. There is no information available to suggest that any Autistic Pride Day events took place in 2007, nor any evidence to suggest that there are any events planned for 2008.


 * 2005 Acceptance not cure
 * 2006 Celebrate Neurodiversity
 * 2007 Autistics Speak. It's time to listen