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Embracing Autism Acceptance Month: A Journey Towards Inclusion and Understanding
Key Takeaways
- April is Autism Acceptance Month. In recent years, the focus has shifted away from awareness toward acceptance: celebrating the autistic community and amplifying their needs.
- Self-advocacy plays a key role in autism acceptance and is an important skill for autistic adults to learn.
- Family support is vital to the well-being of autistic individuals. However, family members may also find themselves in need of support. Family therapy and support groups are viable options for improving the well-being of autistic adults and their family members.
- Public policy impacts autistic individuals and their loved ones. Though recent legislative successes have been made for the community, concerns that require further legislative action remain.
- Recent autism research and the neurodiversity movement seem to support the shifting conversations around autism––it’s a state of being, and we’re just beginning to understand how it manifests.
April is Autism Acceptance Month––a time to shift focus from mere autism awareness to genuine acceptance and inclusion of autistic individuals.
In 2011, the Autism Self-Advocacy Network, in collaboration with the autistic community, began commemorating Autism Acceptance Month instead of Autism Awareness Month since Autism Awareness Month centered on traditional narratives that emphasized deficits and championed the eradication of autism.
Autism Acceptance Month, however, offers a chance to embrace and celebrate the strengths and diversity of the autistic community. Autism acceptance advocates acknowledge autism as not just a diagnosis but an identity and a state of being. By prioritizing acceptance over awareness, we focus on the experiences of autistic individuals and allow for honest discussions of societal changes that may help alleviate some of the challenges faced by those individuals.
Instead of calling for cures and eradication, we celebrate how embracing neurodiversity enriches our society, encourages supportive environments and empowers autistic individuals to thrive as their authentic selves.
The role of self-advocacy in autism acceptance
Self-advocacy is crucial for autistic adults because it empowers them to speak up about their rights, needs and personal experiences, ensuring they’re involved in conversations that directly impact their lives. Through self-advocacy, autistic individuals can challenge stereotypes, influence policies and help shape inclusive practices in education, healthcare and beyond.
Self-advocacy and autism acceptance
The Autism Society defines autism acceptance as “making deliberate choices that help the people around you feel welcomed and safe.” Self-advocacy means that autistic people decide what those choices should be. As the Autism Self-Advocacy Network reminds us, autistic individuals are the autism experts–experts on the challenges we face and how to solve them, as well as experts on how we want people to talk about us and our experiences.
Wherever decisions about autism are made, autistic people need a seat at the table––and self-advocacy is how we make that happen.
Developing self-advocacy skills
Becoming a self-advocate can feel daunting. Luckily, self-advocacy is a skill that can be learned and practiced. Here are some ways to develop self-advocacy skills:
- Know your rights: Autistic individuals have legal rights and protections. The Americans with Disabilities Act provides legal protections to disabled individuals, including those on the autism spectrum. However, other protections exist under the law. Familiarizing yourself with your legal rights is an important first step to knowing when those rights are being violated.
- Set goals and trust yourself: You are the expert in your life. Think about your needs, how you’d like them to be met, and what will change once they are. Trust that you know what your needs are and feel confident in your ability to ask for them to be met
- Keep records: When you request accommodations, some agencies or individuals will ask for paperwork. Keep your diagnostic report, medical records and any other documentation relevant to autism. Make sure they’re organized and readily accessible.
- Connect with self-advocacy groups: Connecting with advocacy groups and other neurodivergent individuals will help you build a community and deepen your advocacy. Being part of a larger group may empower you to seek changes beyond your personal life and push for larger cultural shifts surrounding autism and neurodiversity.
Navigating family support for autistic individuals
Family support is another key component of autism acceptance. A supportive family unit helps autistic individuals feel empowered and understood, which is a goal of the autism acceptance movement.
Support for families of autistic individuals
Being supportive of an autistic family member is important, but it can be difficult. Research suggests that parents with autistic offspring tend to feel a greater stress regarding supporting the person in their care compared to caregivers of neurotypical children.
Differences in communication styles, sensory experiences and social habits can lead to misunderstandings and frustrations for both neurotypical and neurodivergent family members. Fortunately, resources exist to help all family members receive the support they need.
Family therapy
Just like therapy can be beneficial for autistic individuals themselves, families can attend therapy together to navigate autism as a team. In family therapy, families can learn about autism spectrum disorder, learn about available resources, improve communication between family members and process struggles together.
Support groups
Support groups provide an opportunity to learn more about autism and to connect with others who also have autistic family members. They’re also a great place to learn about coping skills, advocacy and how to address the needs of an autistic loved one while still caring for your own mental health. The Autism Self-Advocacy Network has options for virtual support groups, local support groups and resources for finding groups outside their network.
The impact of autism policy changes on individuals and families
Public policy has a huge impact on the lives of autistic individuals and their families. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides blanket legal protection for autistic individuals.
The ADA prohibits employment discrimination and discrimination by all local and state public entities against autistic individuals. It also requires private establishments to be accessible to those with disabilities and requires telecommunication companies to accommodate disabled individuals.
This ensures that autistic individuals can work, attend school and participate in public life, all while accessing necessary accommodations. Other recent policies have impacted autistic people and their families, and there are further needs that can be addressed through new laws.
Recent policies
In 2024, congress reauthorized the Autism CARES Act, which is a huge win for the autistic community. The CARES Act provides 2 billion dollars in funding for autism research over the next five years. The act also identifies co-occurring conditions and requires the development of treatments for those conditions. It also requires training for medical professionals to identify and diagnose autism.
The Autism CARES Act expands not only access to diagnosis and early interventions but also provides funding for critical research related to the autism community and their needs. Because of that, autistic individuals will likely see their quality of life improve.
Future policy goals
Though the reauthorization of the CARES Act was a huge step toward autism acceptance, the Autism Society recognizes that additional policies are needed to address the concerns of the autistic community adequately. These concerns include:
- Helping autistic individuals get support with communication needs
- Provide respite care and training to parents and family members of autistic children
- Increased research into complex medical conditions that impact autistic individuals with
- Improved public advocacy efforts to address discrimination and injustice perpetrated against autistic individuals and the autistic community as a whole
- Calls to prevent proposed cuts to Medicaid, as many disabled people rely on Medicaid to help pay for healthcare.
Exploring autism research and the neurodiversity movement
Our knowledge of autism and how we think of it is constantly evolving. New research, autism acceptance and the neurodiversity movement are changing how we interact with autism.
Recent research findings
2024 was a busy year for autism research. Researchers made strides in painting a more complete picture of diagnostic trends, socioeconomic factors and the link between autism and gut health.
- One study found that infants with an autistic sibling were more likely to be diagnosed with autism if their families were from marginalized groups. This research will lead to further conversations about how social inequalities impact overall health.
- Further, in a time where the discussion around autistic women is coming to the forefront, a study found that diagnostic rates are rising for women and girls, but that they are still being diagnosed later in life.
- New research has found that autistic children may have a gut microbiome distinct from their neurotypical peers, which shows promise for gut health as a possible diagnostic tool.
The neurodiversity movement
The neurodiversity movement is a movement that recognizes neurological differences, such as ADHD and autism, as natural variations of the human brain rather than conditions to be cured or fixed. It is a social justice and civil rights movement focused on addressing the needs of neurodiverse and disabled individuals while amplifying disabled and autistic voices. Proponents of the movement do not view autism as a defect or personal shortcoming, but they do recognize it as a disability with a unique set of challenges. When surveyed, autistic people tend to support the neurodiversity movement.
The neurodiversity movement and the advocates behind autism acceptance are united in their mission: to encourage autistic people to live boldly and authentically while encouraging society to be more accommodating and inclusive.
How Prosper Health can help
Though autism is not a personal deficit, it does come with its own set of unique challenges. Those challenges are amplified by living in a world built for neurotypical people. If you’re an autistic adult struggling with your mental health, Prosper Health is here to help.
Our expert clinicians are neurodiversity-affirming and treat autistic clients with dignity and respect. They will apply scientifically proven therapy techniques to each session while meeting each client's individual needs. If you haven’t been diagnosed but think you may be autistic, Prosper Health can conduct a virtual evaluation. Receiving an autism diagnosis can open up doors to self-exploration and new accommodations.
Many of our clinicians are neurodivergent themselves, and we work with most major insurance companies. Contact us today to get started!
Sources
https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(12)00493-5/abstract
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7644552/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4927906/#sec0025
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7213
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39291753/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38181181/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-024-01739-1
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635690/full
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