Nov. 1 is Autistics Speaking Day (ASDay). As a woman on the autism spectrum, I welcome opportunities to raise the profile of viewpoints by people who are on the spectrum.
ASDay began with a response by Corina Lynn Becker to Communication Shutdown in October 2010. The idea of Communication Shutdown was that on Nov. 1, people were encouraged to stay off social media to promote awareness of communication difficulties that people with autism face.
As explained in an ASDay FAQ:
“We don’t deny that the participants in Communication Shutdown meant well, but autistic people protested over various different things -- their motives, their methods, what they saw as the silencing of autistic people, the comparison between autistic people and people who don’t have Facebook accounts, the lack of knowledge of Facebook’s usefulness to autistic people, the lack of focus on the voices of autistic people, and even the organizations Communication Shutdown was partnered with. But now ASDay is about more than protesting Communication Shutdown. It is about autistic people raising their voices and non-autistic people listening, and many feel that the event has been helpful to them in some way.”ASDay is open to autistics, but also to friends and professionals. ASDay contributions are being posted at http://autisticsspeakingday.blogspot.com/.
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