Aspies For Freedom

Aspies For Freedom

Formation	2004 (2004)
Founder	Amy Nelson, Gwen Nelson
Purpose	Disability advocacy
Website	http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/

Aspies For Freedom (AFF) is a solidarity and campaigning group that aimed at raising public awareness of the autism rights movement. The aim of Aspies For Freedom is to educate the public that the autism spectrum is not always a disability, and that there are advantages as well as disadvantages. For this purpose, the group organizes an annual Autistic Pride Day. AFF provides support for the autistic community and protests attempts to cure autism.

History

Neurodiversity paradigm
Philosophy Bodily autonomy Disability rights movement Independent living movement Self-advocacy
Organizations Aspies For Freedom Autism Network International Autistic Self Advocacy Network National Autistic Society
Events Autism Acceptance Day & Month Autism History Month Autistic Pride Day Autscape Disability Day of Mourning Weird Pride Day
Issues Ableism Anti-autism All in a Row Applied behavior analysis Augmentative and alternative communication Autism-friendly Autism Speaks Communication Shutdown Community integration Controversies in autism Deinstitutionalisation Disability-selective abortion Double empathy problem Ethical challenges to autism treatment Eugenics Facilitated communication Filicide Inclusion in education Inclusion as a right Judge Rotenberg Educational Center Ole Ivar Lovaas Social model of disability Societal and cultural aspects of autism Universal Design for Learning
People Alex Plank Ari Ne'eman Damian Milton Daniel Lightwing Devon Price Donna Williams govy Jim Sinclair John Elder Robison Judy Singer Julia Bascom Lydia Brown Mel Baggs Michelle Dawson Morénike Giwa Onaiwu Morton Ann Gernsbacher Roy Richard Grinker Shain Neumeier Stephen Shore Steve Silberman Temple Grandin William Davenport
Films Citizen Autistic Loving Lampposts Neurotypical
Criticism Pro-cure perspective National Council on Severe Autism Matthew Belmonte Manuel Casanova Jill Escher Michael Fitzpatrick Bruce Hall Thomas A. McKean David Miedzianik Jonathan Mitchell Jonathan Shestack Alison Singer
v t e

Established in 2004 by Amy and Gwen Nelson, AFF has received coverage from publications such as New Scientist magazine. As of August 2007, The Guardian estimated the group's membership at 20,000. Rob Crossan, writing for the BBC, mentioned their belief that higher functioning autistics are often in possession of extraordinary talents in the fields of mathematics, memory, music or arts.

Current activities

AFF provides a chatroom which provides support for autistics and their carers such as family members. AFF also helps organise and encourage meetups within the autistic community.

Activism

Gwen Nelson, the founder of Aspies For Freedom, has made internet parodies of Autism Speaks, saying that they were silencing opposing views. Aspies For Freedom petitioned the United Nations in 2004 to have members of the autistic community recognised as a minority status group. A statement was released from the group titled 'Declaration of the autism community'. This article detailed reasons for seeking such official recognition from the United Nations and the work towards achieving this. AFF was cited by The Guardian as a resource for autism employment assistance. Gwen Nelson and Aspies For Freedom have spoken out against prenatal genetic testing for autism spectrum disorders, portraying autism as a difference as opposed to a disease.

See also

• Anti-Psychiatry
• Autism friendly
• Controversies in autism
• Neurodiversity
• List of autism-related topics

External links

• Official website
• Aspies for freedom support chatroom