Autistic Day of Dignity is on the 8th August
Our calendars are flooded with multiple “Awareness Days” every day, some from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Awareness campaigns are designed to increase the public’s knowledge of a particular cause and when the message is a deficit based “woe is me” parental led campaign then it can cause more harm than good.
“No other disability is co-opted as much as Autism. Our challenges are shared widely on the internet , our most vulnerable moments paraded for the world to see under the guise of 'awareness'”
Most Autism “Awareness campaigns” do not have a specific call to action. The “Autistic Authority” is a parent of an Autistic child and their awareness message is how hard it is for them, especially when their poor Autistic child does not get invited to a birthday party. It is simply a marketing campaign with a parent getting their face in the media oversharing and denying their child the most fundamental of human rights to be born free and equal in dignity and rights. (Article 1 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
The child is most likely to have not given any informed consent and may not even have been asked in the first place.
These "Awareness Campaigns" can expose Autistics to further ridicule and hatred and harm. In today’s world perception is everything and the deficit-based awareness campaign can also hinder opportunities for Autistics.
Today, on Autistic Dignity Day, we are not promoting an awareness campaign. We have a call to action to every parent; Stop oversharing and allow your child to have the dignity that they are morally and legally entitled to.
Like other Autistic led organisations, we operate at grass roots and are not running a marketing campaign.
We are invested because this involves us, this is all about us.
We are Everyday Autistics.