Autistic Pride Day

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Is anyone here doing anything for Autistic Pride Day on June 18th? The day was initially nominated by Aspies for Freedom, and though some of us here might not agree with all of their views, I think that the idea of a day to celebrate pride in our strengths and accomplishments is great. I'm organizing a public event with help from the school I work at. There's a facebook page for it named "Autism Pride Day" (my school coordinator suggested the change), which includes a full-color poster I designed. I'd be happy to see people RSVPing as attending, even if they're not coming to my specific event. This will help show that lots of people are proud of who they or their friends and relatives are, and you're welcome to leave a comment to the effect that you're only attending in spirit.

I'm going to put on a Kinks T-shirt, walk to the mall, by myself, and show everybody that I'm not going to hide away from the public.

I never even knew there was such a thing

It would so awesome if they held an event or a convention here celebrating autistic pride, I have really never heard of thing happening, it'd have my full support though.

But sure, I'll be there in spirit

For Autism Pride Day I shall spend the whole thing reading about my obsessions on a Linux computer while rocking and flapping

Lmfao!

I also did not know about Autism Pride day but I will make sure to spread that around and I will have to celebrate in my own way.

Thanks for posting, I'll be on the look out.

Didn't know about this!

I do not celebrate it due to not really supporting the two individuals that claimed to have found that day or the site that it stemmed from (Aspies for Freedom), I will not support a group that tends to take an elitist and militant view on Aspies vs. NTs. I do believe in autistic pride but not in the origins that day came from and those individuals that created it.

The concept is positive, but I'm not sold on the term 'Autism Pride Day', its bland, generic and has 'fund raiser' written all over it. Too many people are going to think it's just an offshoot of The Special Olympics, and that's precisely the image we need to overcome, not celebrate. How elitist can we be when the world thinks we're a bunch of flapping, drooling, tantrum-throwing imbeciles?

I like Geek Week better.

OK, perhaps it's me, but what's to celebrate? You wouldn't think about having 'Bad Back Day' or 'Stammerer's Day' so why promote this particular disability?

Vanilla_Slice

I am doing nothing. I am being me.

There's plenty to celebrate. Autism is not just about disability; it tends to be about uneven development and over-specialization. So while all autistic people have deficits in some very important areas, many of us are also gifted in other ways. I do not believe that these gifts are there in spite of autism; in many cases I think that they are a direct result of it. Autism is not like having a bad back or a habit of stammering. It is a set of neurodevelopmental differences that changes every aspect of a person. I have something of a bad back myself, but I don't give it much credit for shaping who I am and the way I think. However, if not for Asperger's Syndrome I very likely would not possess the rare abilities in math, science, writing, and memory that I am lucky to have, nor would I have delved so deeply into the topics and activities I enjoy. It seems to me that there is plenty to celebrate.

Perhaps you know some things about the Aspies for Freedom people that I do not. However, if this elitism is part of their history, it is certainly not part of their explicit platform. The following is directly copied and pasted from aspiesforfreedom.com :

* To oppose all forms of prejudice and bigotry.

Many problems associated with autism are caused, or worsened, by prejudice. The root of this is prejudice itself - if we deal with only the forms of prejudice that currently relate to autism, another form of prejudice will rise up to replace them.

Because of this, Aspies For Freedom chooses to oppose all forms of prejudice and bigotry.

It includes forms of bigotry related to autistic culture, such as:

* The idea that being neurotypical (i.e. not autistic, or another psychological neurotype) is "better" than being autistic. (Note: this doesn't relate to talking about specific abilities, just to the idea of general "betterness")
* The idea that being autistic is "better" than being neurotypical. (Note: again, this doesn't relate to talking about specific abilities, just to the idea of general "betterness")
* The idea that some labels on the autistic spectrum are acceptable, but others are tragedies.
* The idea that Asperger's Syndrome or PDD-NOS shouldn't be part of the autistic spectrum.
* The idea that people have no right to self-identify as autistic

I'm a member of ACI (the Autistic Community of Israel), and we're organizing an event.

I'm not really a fan of "X Pride Day" events. So you're gay/autistic/etc.? That's nice, but it doesn't need a special day. How can the world accept you if you keep singling yourselves out?

Incidentally, Autistic Pride Day is the same day Gay Pride starts in Portland.

BTW, I'm going to a museum with an ASAN group on 6/18.