Editing Autism rights movement (section)

===Neurodiversity and autistic self-advocacy movement===
{{main|Neurodiversity}}

Judy Singer coined the term ''neurodiversity'' in the late 1990s as a middle ground between the two dominating models of disability, the [[Medical model of disability|medical model]] and the [[Social model of disability|social model]], dismissing both of them as insufficiently capturing the solution for—and cause of—disability.<ref name=":2" />{{sfn|Singer|2017|p=10}}

Steve Silberman describes neurodiversity as seeing the virtue of different conditions while taking into consideration that the conditions also convey challenges.<ref name=".ca">{{Cite web |last1=Teitel |first1=Emma |last2=Silberman |first2=Steve |date=2015-08-25 |title=Steve Silberman on autism and 'neurodiversity' |url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/science/steve-silberman-on-autism-and-the-neurodiversity-movement/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803145501/https://www.macleans.ca/society/science/steve-silberman-on-autism-and-the-neurodiversity-movement/ |archive-date=3 August 2019 |access-date=2019-08-03 |website=Maclean's |publisher=Rogers Media |location=Toronto}}</ref> Autistics for Autistics, a self-advocacy group, describes neurodiversity this way: "Neurodiversity means that—like biodiversity—all of us have a role to play in society ...and we should be valued for who we are. Included in public life, such as school and employment. For nonverbal autistics, this also means equal and fair access to communication, such as AAC."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://a4aontario.com/2019/04/27/raising-the-neurodiversity-flag-at-toronto-city-hall/|title=Raising the Neurodiversity Flag at Toronto City Hall!|last=a4aontario|date=2019-04-27|website=A4A Ontario|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-16|archive-date=16 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116232330/https://a4aontario.com/2019/04/27/raising-the-neurodiversity-flag-at-toronto-city-hall/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The autistic self-advocacy movement, made up of autistic individuals, works from a social model of disability perspective. For example, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network describes its mandate as "to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism".<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=26 May 2011 |title=About ASAN |url=https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809175020/http://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/ |archive-date=9 August 2019 |access-date=2019-11-16 |website=Autistic Self Advocacy Network |language=en-us}}</ref>

Autistic people are considered to have neurocognitive differences<ref name="Bloomsbury">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PV95DwAAQBAJ|title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophy of Psychiatry|last=Chapman|first=Robert|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2019|isbn=9781350024069|editor-last=Tekin|editor-first=Serife|pages=371–387|chapter=Neurodiversity Theory and Its Discontents: Autism, Schizophrenia, and the Social Model of Disability|editor-last2=Bluhm|editor-first2=Robyn|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PV95DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA371|access-date=5 August 2019|archive-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728095050/https://books.google.com/books?id=PV95DwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> that give them distinct strengths and weaknesses, and they are capable of succeeding when appropriately accommodated and supported.<ref name="Solomon" /><ref name="Different">{{Cite web |last=Silberman |first=Steve |date=2016-04-04 |title=Autistic people are not failed versions of "normal." They're different, not less |url=https://ideas.ted.com/autistic-people-are-not-failed-versions-of-normal-theyre-different-not-less/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803145504/https://ideas.ted.com/autistic-people-are-not-failed-versions-of-normal-theyre-different-not-less/ |archive-date=3 August 2019 |access-date=2019-08-03 |publisher=TED (conference) |language=en}}</ref> According to Ludmila Praslova, author of ''The Canary Code'', creating systems that support the [[employment of autistic people]] and their success through organizational transparency, justice, and flexibility benefits all employees.<ref name="auto1" />

There is no leader of the neurodiversity movement, and little academic research has been conducted on it as a social phenomenon. As such, proponents of the neurodiversity approach have heterogeneous beliefs<ref name="Bloomsbury" /> but are consistent in the view that autism cannot be separated from an autistic person.<ref name="Solomon" /> The movement opposes therapies that aim to make children "indistinguishable from their peers".<ref name="Solomon" /> Instead, they advocate for accommodations in schools and work environments<ref name="Future">{{Cite web|url=https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/does_neurodiversity_have_a_future|title=Does Neurodiversity Have a Future?|last=Nerenberg|first=Jenara|date=2016-11-21|website=[[Greater Good Science Center|Greater Good]] |access-date=2019-08-03|archive-date=3 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803145502/https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/does_neurodiversity_have_a_future|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Nothing About Us Without Us|including autistic people]] when making decisions that affect them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/position-statements/|title=Position Statements|website=Autistic Self Advocacy Network|date=28 May 2011|language=en|access-date=2019-08-03|archive-date=16 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416032240/http://autisticadvocacy.org/policy-advocacy/position-statements/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Neurodiversity advocates oppose researching a "cure" for autism, and instead support research that helps autistic people thrive as they are.<ref name="Solomon" />

An analysis of data from the [[United Kingdom|UK]] and [[Hungary]] in 2017 found evidence that autistic or intellectually disabled self-advocates are rarely involved in leadership or decision-making within organisations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petri |first1=Gabor |last2=Beadle-Brown |first2=Julie |last3=Bradshaw |first3=Jill |title='More Honoured in the Breach than in the Observance'—Self-Advocacy and Human Rights |journal=Laws |date=16 November 2017 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=26 |doi=10.3390/laws6040026 |doi-access=free }}</ref> It also showed that poverty, unpaid positions at disability organisations, and lack of support are significant barriers for most autistic people, including autistic people with an intellectual disability who wish to self-advocate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petri |first1=Gabor |last2=Beadle-Brown |first2=Julie |last3=Bradshaw |first3=Jill |title='Even a Self-Advocate Needs to Buy Milk' – Economic Barriers to Self-Advocacy in the Autism and Intellectual Disability Movement |journal=Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research |date=5 July 2021 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=180 |doi=10.16993/sjdr.738 |doi-access=free }}</ref>