In the early 2000s, activist campaigns started, mostly over the Internet.
2000s[]
- In April 2000, Autistics.org hosted an online counter-rally called "Hear Our Voices" to protest an autism rally in Washington, D.C. called "Hear Their Silence" that they disagreed with. [1] [2]
- In 2004, a Autistic Adults Picture Project was started in response to similar projects started by parents that only include pictures of children.
- In September 2004, the "Our Names are Autism Too" is a campaign that protested an article titled "My Name is Autism" that presented a view autistic activists found insulting.
- In October 2004, the Signatures of Intolerance campaign was started over controversy surrounding ABA in Canada.
- In 2004, the Petition to Defend the Dignity of Autistic Citizens was started to protest the use of insults to describe autism (such as "mad child disease").
- In 2004 Aspies for Freedom started a campaign against the use of electric shock devices on autistic children at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachussets, USA. This is an ongoing campaign by Aspies For Freedom and will continue until the use of such devices is stopped. The campaigns involves raising public awareness of this activity at the Center, an e-mail campaign, and protests are planned.
- Aspergian Pride's "Cure for Ignorance" campaign seeks to raise the visibility of pride and advocacy sites in searches for autism-related terms by distributing a list of links.
- In January 2005 the Lenny Schafer's Inquisition was started to protest Lenny Schafer's assertion that anyone who can speak, write or sign can't possibly be autistic but instead "Asperger's" and to protest his assertion that Asperger's Syndrome should be removed from the autism spectrum.
- In February 2005 autistics.org started the "Autistics speak" campaign to protest NBC's controversial website Autism Speaks.
Hashtags[]
- #REDinstead is for autism acceptance. It is a counter-campaign to #LightItUpBlue, which is run by Autism Speaks.
- #StopTheShock advocates for an end to the use of painful electric shock as punishment.