Here is a sample statement that we could use to make our official declaration -

Members of the autism community, comprising those with conditions on the autism spectrum, such as autism and asperger's, are hereby declaring that we are a minority group and wish to be accorded the legal protection and freedom from discrimination that is shown to other minority groups.

We recognise ourselves as a minority group based on the following factors-
People on the autism spectrum have their own way of using language and communication that is different from the general population, is often misunderstood and can cause a bias against us.
Autism spectrum conditions are scientifically proven to be largely genetic and heritable. Many of those on the autism spectrum who have children bear children who are also on the spectrum, this needs to be recognised to avoid the frequency of criticsm of autistic parents and discrimination that is suffered as to misunderstanding of the different needs, and communication between family members on the spectrum.
People on the autism spectrum have a unique social network, this is primarily using communication with text on the internet. It is an invaluable community for many of us. There should be increased availability and recognition for this autism community online so that isolated spectrumites can join and participate.
People on the autism spectrum have our own cultural differences, unique habits, such as stimming and different perspectives than the norm. We feel it is essential that this is recognised as these "traits" are the things that some children and adults are forced to stop by some harsh and intensive therapies. We should have the right to be ourselves, without the pressure to conform and change our cultural differences.
We experience discrimination in various forms, often because of our different use of language and communication, habitual differences such as stimming, and lack of acknowledgemnt that autistic parents may have autistic children, and differences in the children are not due to poor parenting, but the innate differneces of our minority group.
The members of the autism community are facing an imminent threat of possible cure, in whatever fashion that may transpire, pre natal testing for autism that could mean a form of eugenics, and total prevention from genetic counselling before conception. We have grave concerns of the possibilty of being forced to accept a cure, of parents being forced to cure children, and of there being great pressure put on parents on the spectrum to have genetic tests, or pre natal screening. In the same sense that this would be entirely unacceptable to cure someones skin colour, we feel that our differences need to be respected and our minority group to be protected.

We could also include this in a working statement by way of explanation-
The classic definition of prejudice is the one put forth by the famous Harvard psychologist, Gordon Allport, who published The Nature of Prejudice in 1954: "Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group".
THE DEFINITION OF MINORITY GROUPS (OUT-GROUPS):

1. They are oppressed or persecuted at the hands of a dominant group, and as a result of the power differential that develops, they are disadvantaged, and the dominant group is advantaged.
2. They are distinguished by physical or cultural traits that distinguish them from the dominant group, allowing them to be easily "lumped" together and "placed" is less desirable locations.
3. They are self-conscious, with an idea of one-ness or peoplehood, based upon the perception of common suffering and burdens.
4. Membership is not voluntary, but is instead an ascribed position where the person is born into this status.
5. By choice or necessity, they usually marry within their own group (endogamy).  It is by choice to preserve a unique cultural heritage or by necessity because the dominant group scorns or discourages intermarriage.

Please reply and say if there should be changes, omissions, or additions, as we would like to implement this as soon as possible and approach official bodies with it.

Amy,
I like it a lot.

We could make it clear thought, that we cannot think of autism to be an illness that can be cured. We believe this is about diversity of people, and a cure is not possible, which is different from getting help. Rather, there is a change that cure is racism in the name if science.

It is a good statement, I like ot a lot.

Thanks for your important work, Amy!

Those ideas will be a great addition, keep the suggestions coming in.

When it is prepared I would like to make it an official statement and send it to every autism site and try to access all members of the community that we can.
Also inform the UN and governments on national level, if they turn it down we will ask for an explanation and work from there.
But as long is it is recognised within the community that can be our basis.

If we want to get it read by goverments, we could also make two versions:
a) a human readable text
b) a lawyer readable code

What about that?

Do you mean a legal document? I dont know who would prepare such a thing. I wonder if we start with the basic statement and then someone who works in a legal area could prepare a legal one too.

Great idea, Amy, and I agree with attention-tunnel that the word "cure" should not appear in the document, except in the context of an explanation that a "cure" would be equivalent to genocide.

As for the wording, we should be able to find legal precedent in the recognition of other dispersed minority groups such as, for example, the Roma (gypsies) who have been accorded legal protection by various European governments.

We should research how they made their case, what sort of evidence they presented, and what language was used in their declarations.

The easy way of doing that is to research the UN documentation on similar cases and see what they presented with.
However I think that such groups have had a lot of help along the way, and probably started like we are, so if we go with it, and its basic, at least we are making a start, someone may step forward and offer proper legal advice, we can also do a press release on it.

This looks like the site that can give us a lot of relevant legal information, I'll try and study it and anyone else if they can, and talk about any ideas coming from it-

http://www.unhchr.ch/minorities/

Well, amy you've put alot of work into this! But i must say that there are always consequences about 'sending the letter to the UN'. Think about it? It means that a gouvernment has to accept people on the autistic spectrum, as a minority group, with the privileges tied to it. That means that there is a right to gather in groups, building a community having subsidies from the gouvernment. Won't some people find this bulloks (sp?)? Wont our mister Cohen, the major, laugh reading the letter? I think NT wil think that AS is a mental disorder, but after reading the letter, maybe NT wil think AS as a mental retardness or whatever...
THink about it, why should they care anyway? People on the autistic spectrum are firstly diagnosed and accepted as 'different' by psichiatrist. Nt's will first start investigating this 'ASforFreedom' by gathering information by psychiatrist, who probably would say that it's an (uit de hand gelopen) hobby of some repetitive OCD patient, so it should be ignored?

And btw, there are mayor differences between declaring an ethnic community and declaring the existence of an autistic minority. It's really nonsence to make comparisons between countries like, in Indonesie (ambon, timor, atjeh...), Tibet, Sri lanka. The minorities living in the countries are indeed fighting for freedom of 'repression', but they are also trying to achieve indepedence. The majority, like Indonesie, should stay away from the minority group and their indigious LAND. Aspergia is a beautiful place...

The point of being a minority is that people dont care, we already know that, thats why standing up for ourselves and declaring our existence and rights is so important.
I dont think that Governments will agree with us and do what we want, it is a struggle and will continue to be so, but while we are silent and accepting the vast majority of people think its alright to give certain treatments, and to aim to cure us.
Every minority group started unknown and unaccepted, thats the whole point.

One reason to declare ourselves a minority:

anyone here want to be able to have kids someday? anyone here already a parent or planning on becoming one?

ponder on that...

Amy your link doesnt work!!!

A few more thoughts:

We'll have to document and footnote all assertions of fact made in the declaration.  Also, we're going to need expert testimony in support of the claim that AS/autism is an inherited genetic difference, not a disease.  (Maybe Baron-Cohen or Attwood could be persuaded to give a statement?)

It may be preferable to use the term "Aspergian" to describe our population, for the same reason Edan chose it: because it sounds like an ethnic minority, whereas "autism" sounds like a medical condition.  (We definitely don't need the X-Men mutant nonsense, though.)  If we go this route, we'll have to add a definitional paragraph explaining that the Aspergian population includes all people perceived as being on the autistic spectrum, not just those with Asperger's syndrome.

I wouldn't use the word "spectrum" anywhere else in the declaration because of its medical connotations.  Racial minorities don't describe themselves as being on a spectrum, after all.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:t...es/+&hl=en

Try that TheASman

Thanks for that Brighty  

Bonnie- "It may be preferable to use the term "Aspergian" to describe our population, for the same reason Edan chose it: because it sounds like an ethnic minority, whereas "autism" sounds like a medical condition"

The difficulty with that is that those with autism feel excluded by terms that originate from the word asperger, such as apsies, aspergian etc, we had complaints when we set up aspies for freedom that the name was exclusive, as we had already set the site up and purchased domain names etc it was too late to change everything, but I certainly appreciate their point of view.
Autism relates to asperger's, but asperger's doesnt mean those with low-functioning autism.
We cant do anything about the fact that it sounds medical right now, but with different usage and positive aspects considered we could present it from our more pro active view point.
At the moment we still have to work with language that is readily recognised internationally so I think clarity and communication must override in importance at first.
I dont see autism spectrum in any way as a negative term, I dont know how others feel about it.
It would be very good to have a statement from an expert in the field, once we prepare something, we can ask them to view it, as they would not provide a comment to something half done in case the meaning was eventually altered.