Declaration of the Autistic Community as a Minority Group Deserving of Civil Protections

Authored by Amy Nelson of Aspies For Freedom:

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 recognize 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 recognized to avoid the frequency of criticism 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 recognized 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 acknowledgment that autistic parents may have autistic children, and differences in the children are not due to poor parenting, but the innate differences 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 counseling before conception. We have grave concerns of the possibility 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 someoneвs skin colour, we feel that our differences need to be respected and our minority group to be protected.

We support the movement of the Autism Community in this endeavor.