What does the “Autistic Community” mean?
Many different people with manifold and different aims, some of which
conflict, many that overlap:
- Non-profit advocacy groups such as Autism Speaks, Autism Society of America.
- Non-profits with specific aims such as promoting employment of autistics, such as The ARC, AHRC, Specialisterne, Autism Alliance of Michigan, or Music for Autism, a group that provides arts for autistic people and their families
- Social media groups run by autistics like Autistic Allies, Neurodivergent Rebel on Facebook and Twitter
- Social media groups run by parents of autistic children
- Government agencies at the national, state or municipal level
- Autistic Individuals and authors of renown like Temple Grandin, Carly Fleischmann or John Elder Robison
- Non-autistic Authors like Steve Silberman of “Neurotribes”
- Business Resource Groups (BRGs) or Employee Resource Groups like ASDaaS, our community in IBM, and IBM Autism Reseach Alliance (AURA)
- Business run by or for autistic individuals, such as ULTRA testing, the NonPareil Institute, The Precisionists, or GirlAgain!/YesSheCan
I created an internal website in IBM to promote autism hiring specifically. Up until that
time I knew about Temple Grandin, Specialisterne, and maybe Autism
Speaks.
Since I created the community I have learned of the
different organizations listed above and many more. The scope of the
community has changed to include support, news, and a gathering place
for all of us with this interest.
From all of these groups – and the one I created – I have learned
many things: the idea of neurodiversity, the paucity of resources
available to parents in some places and the wellspring in others, the
disdain that some autistics have toward some organizations, and the
various companies and nonprofits engaged in helping autistic people from
children to adulthood. Each offers some clue to reaching the aim that
we all have in common – helping autistic people find productive and
happy lives in the world.
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