Aspies For Freedom

I've got an idea on how to make some real change. How to get some real media attention to self-advocating autistics, get people interested in what we've got to say.

We need a grassroots high school and college-based autistic pride movement.

I challenge you, I submit to you, all college and high school aspies, to be the pioneers of a new era in autistic rights. Here's how:

We start clubs at our schools. Get the autistics in the school together, and start a club. call it the Autistic Student's Society, or the Neurodiversity Council, or the Spectrum Club, or something or other. Hold weekly meetings. The meetings themselves can just be hanging out, or talking about issues pertaining the world at large or the autistic community in particular. Promote pride, self-esteem, and self-advocacy among the members. Then the serious stuff comes in; the community outreach.

Directly, as autistics, we can invite educators and community leaders to our meetings for special seminars on autism, from an autistic perspective. We can teach them howbest to interact with all levels of the spectrum. We can teach them what the autistic community thinks about all this autism jive in the media these days.

And during autism awareness month? Get more banners and pamphlets out there than CAN, Autism Speaks, and Safe Minds combined. Campain like hell to getpeople aware of autism- not as a disease, but as a condition of mind and of personality, and as a healthy thing. If we can do this, on a local and campus-wde basis, starting up across the country, and work really hard, we can get the national mainstream media to take notice of what autistic people have to say.

I'll be starting just such a group at my high schol, where I am currently a Junior, in central Minnesota. I submit to you that we should all start such organizations at our respective schools or colleges. With autism apparently on the rise, a new wave of autistic students will be hitting our institutions of higher learning soon. It is our duty now to build the future that these younger autistics shall live. Let them not face the crap we had to face.

Building on what you've said, I'd also like to suggest the following:

- Attend a couple meetings of your local Gay-Straight Alliance, if you have one.  There's a lot we can learn from the GSA and how they've gotten things done.  You can also set up an alliance of sorts between your group and the GSA, and if you have some other diversity groups at your school, you can hold joint "diversity celebrations".

- Run continuous awareness campaigns all year long.  These could be flyers or posters attached to school bulletin boards, a brief mention on the morning announcements, whatever.  Then do something big for autism awareness month, such as inviting a guest speaker or screening a movie or two.

- Even separate from the group, as an individual, take every opportunity to mention your group and their cause.  You might want to keep some flyers or pamphlets on your person at all times to hand to someone if you start talking about the group and they seem interested.

- "Don't feed the trolls" can be translated into real life, too.  If you are verbally or otherwise harassed by people who oppose your group, don't stoop to their level- it's ineffective and makes you look childish to your supporters.  Most schools will have some way of sorting out the problem and stopping the harassment, so you should tell an administrator or counselor.

Cool! I have such a group. These are all good ideas.

We actually have a thriving and vocal GSA at our school, but unfortunately we also have a large number of homophobic people at our school, including a few autistics. I'm not sure allying with the GSA would be good for us; the homophobes view everyone who tolerates the GSA as gay, and we don't need people seeing autism as a "gay disease". Plus, we might lose members. It sucks, I know. Two groups that face as much discrimination as the Spectrum and the GBLT should look out for eachother. I hate the homophobes. I've considered joining the GSA- but with the stigma already attatched to being autistic, and the stigma faced by homosexuals, do we need to form an alliance? We will have peer concern-sharing, and one of the rules will be to be accepting of all people, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, neurotype, etc. But unless the GSA extends a hand towards us, I don;t know if I could even convince the other autistics to unanimously accept the GSA.

Well, it's up to you ultimately.  There is also the issue of whether or not the GSA will be accepting of you.  Personally, I feel that it is unethical to avoid an alliance with a group based on your fear of how people will view you because of that alliance.  Isn't that what we are all campaigning against, after all?  If you act in the fear that people will perceive you as gay, you are giving in.  It would be like deciding not to make the Autism group in the first place because you are afraid of what people would think.

I think what the original poster was getting at was to use a little of the established GSAs' knowledge of liasing with the 'majority' - kinda like picking their brains.

Ultimately there will always be people who have nothing better to do than single out those who seem different to the norm, so whilst I can understand why someone said that it may just increase bullying of autistics... by the same extent, we're still different, so some of us will just get picked on at school anyway. Homophobes and other bigots will just hate whatever they want to hate, so let them do whatever they want to do. Its socially unacceptable (and legally unacceptable depending on your part of the world) to be homophobic (and heterophobic, before someone jumps in about political correctness) now anyway.

It'd be far better to give individuals somewhere non judgemental to feel safe, and I think thats where the linkage to LGBT groups has came from... a lot of schools, and most colleges/universities have some form of a LGBT group where kids there can go to feel safe. In schools I think that would be a really good idea for autistics, because it takes away from the stereotype of being disabled (for those who don't view themselves as having a disability) whilst not alienating ourselves from that community either. It also raises the profile of us as a minority group as opposed to belonging to the rather homogenous 'disabled' bracket.

Interesting way of looking at it; allying with the GSA could actually legitimize our complaints, if the GSA recognizes those complaints as valid. Of course, our school's GSA might not, because there are some GSA members at our school who are pro-cure. Funny, when I tried to explain to them that trying to "cure" autism would be like trying to "cure" homosexuality, they lost my point; they thought I was insinuating that homosexuality is a disease worse than cancer that must be eradicated with rpenatal screening. So now the GSA hates me. Still, my own school aside, it is a good idea for forming Autistic Pride groups to seek guidance from other groups who have been successful in campaining for minority-group rights.

I think you've explained yourself pretty well here - if you wanted to get back on the GSA's good side, a simple option would be to print out this thread and show it to them...

Offline groups have always been the plan

There is no autistic support group in either of the 3 main universities in my city, so I'm going to try and set one up where people from Glasgow Uni, Strathclyde and Caledonian can come along.

Likewise, no autistic interests group where I am yet. but I just took the first steps to starting one earlier today

How are you doing it IARM (I actually typed 'Rainman' then thought... whoops that doesn't sound right given the point of the name!)? I've got a couple of friends at GU, I'm at Strathy, don't know anyone at Caledonian... but I'm going to put up posters in the library definitely and around the student counselling/disability sections. I've got an argument going on with my (NT) girlfriend though - I said I didn't see the point of doing it in the student unions because a lot of us will avoid the unions with a passion, but my girlfriend says I should anyway because there will be closet Aspies who go there just to try and assimilate.

Any other ideas?

Juat as a side note, I think you should probably put one up anywhere there's the slimmest posibility of people being interested- even if it ends up not attracting anyone, it's worth it, just to cover all your bases.  After all, one more flyer/poster isn't very costly.

Thats what my girlfriend was saying... I can see her point (and yours) tbh. No idea where else to put it... maybe in the maths and science faculties? Even though I'm crap at them, might attract some closet Aspies that seem to be good at those subjects?

Thats really cool. I have a girl at uni who is big on the disability movement and equality, so I might talk to her about helping out.