The information below is floating around Facebook.  I thought it makes a good blog so I’m reposting and changing to focus on the disability community. It’s about how to be effective when advocating. Please heed this guidance from a high-level staffer for a Senator: You should NOT be both…

Matt Asner speaks to the Art of Autism about his move from Autism Speaks to Autism Society of America, his family and his vision for the future. By Debra Muzikar You are immersed in autism. How many children do you have and what ages are the ones on the autism spectrum? I have six kids. We are a bl…

Disability Rights are Human Rights The United Nations has proclaimed December 3 as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Today there are over 7 billion people on the planet. 15 percent of those people have a disability which makes over 1 billion people with disabilities. According to t…

I think we’ve developed a ‘patchwork’ sort of world in relation to Autism. By Jeanette Purkis I’ve been a diagnosed Autistic person for more than half my life. Here are some observations of where we were, where we are now and where we might be headed in terms of respect and Neurodiversity and other…

by Amy Gravino I first met Suzanne Wright in New York at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh, just before I spoke at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day in 2011. The panel on which I sat was sponsored by Autism Speaks, a fact that filled me with both gratitude and trepidation. I knew w…

A Call for Constructive Conversations with Each Other and with Ourselves By Keri Bowers and Debra Muzikar, Co-founders, The Art of Autism A tipping point: “The moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” Together, we have a combined 48 years’ experience in our roles as “a…

“You cannot fix what is not broken. Autism is not a disease. We are not incomplete puzzles—we are whole human beings. We are not tragedies—we are products of neurodiversity. Eliminating autism means eliminating us,” Chelsea Dub The Art of Autism celebrates Autistic Pride Day today. Autism prid…

By Keri Bowers and Debra Muzikar As part of the Art of Autism California Road Trip in May, The Art of Autism honored people who are unsung heroes in California. As we traveled up and down the state we had the opportunity to stop at people’s homes and their businesses. This is the second of a t…

“It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a child with autism to raise the consciousness of the village” - Coach Elaine Hall. By Keri Bowers and Debra Muzikar As part of the Art of Autism California Road Trip in May, The Art of Autism honored people who are unsung heroes in California. As…

Autism self-advocacy is an art form aimed at accentuating the beauty found in our humanity. Autism awareness and acceptance should be about expanding people’s exposure to the life of autistic people. That can’t be done with statistics; it can only be done with stories and story telling is an art. B…

Autistic people can find it very hard to break into the labor market. We might be extremely anxious about working or the job application process, have had a traumatic experience in the workplace, be very anxious around people or have low self-esteem. By Jeanette Purkis There are many reasons why peo…

All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism, the first anthology of its kind – a call for donations by Lydia Brown Leaving Evidence I am a proud autistic of color working with the Autism Women’s Network to create the first ever anthology of art and writings by autistics of colo…

By Mabz Beet 2015 is considered by many to be the year transgender people and the issues they are faced with were brought to mainstream attention. Transparent, a show that has employed more transgender people than any show in the United States, returned for a second season. Laverne Cox continued to …

Being autistic is not about living in a vacuum, sucking in everything around you, living in an existence shutout from your environment. If anything, the environment becomes more real, more painful, more evident. By Jocelyn Eastman Part 1 in a 3-Part Series TW/CW: Upsetting dialogue, discussion of p…