Autistic Pride Day was created on June 18, 2005 by Aspies for Freedom and is now an event celebrated by Autistics globally.
It is significant because it is a day that is led by the Autistic community and is a celebration of diversity and not deficit based.
It is also the day The Autistic Realm Australia launched officially two years ago. We have three Facebook groups TARA, Fully Spectral and the newly named Parenting Autistically
We are a 100% Autistic organisation with a vision of a world where all Autistic people are free to be our Authentic selves, respected, accepted and in control over our own lives and choices.
This year we celebrated by connecting with our Autistic LGBTQIA+ Community at the Intersectional Identities: Autism, gender, sexuality symposium co-hosted with Reframing Autism.
The Symposium featured keynote speakers Dr Emma Goodall and Dr Wenn Lawson as well as a mix of Autistic presenters and panels. Each speaker told their stories through the lens of Authentic Lived Experience. It was personal, engaging and informative.
We couldn't connect in person due to covid restrictions but because the day was organised, run and managed by Autistics we all felt part of something greater.
We are proud to be part of such a diverse and vibrant people and today our community has many things to celebrate.
"The people I've met in the Autistic community are the most genuine and engaging people I've ever met. Overwhelmingly, I find Autistic people tend to be far more passionate, well-informed, open to new information and kind than many who label us as being deficient in empathy and having highly restricted interests. We are broken, burned out - but hopeful, resilient. I am so proud to be part of this community." Kathy Isaacs - Co-Founder and Chair The Autistic Realm Australia Inc.
"Everything I am good at, all my learnt skills – in particular, social and emotional skills – my acquired academic knowledge, and my hobbies and interests, have been filtered through my brain. My autistic brain. And I love my brain. I’m damn smart too. And all of those things are mediated by my autism. My drive to systematise, the ability to deeply focus on details, my drive (compulsion, really) to learn and assimilate information, my extreme empathy – and my creativity – are heightened because I’m autistic." Anna Colbasso - Co-Founder and Secretary The Autistic Realm Australia Inc.
"I am proud of my Autistic Identity, who I am and what I stand for. But I was not always like that. Life had left me damaged and I was always waiting for someone else to come along and open my cage. Only when I embraced my Autistic identity did I discover that I had the key all along. The healing began when I met my Autistic Community. And today I had the privilege to learn from some of our trailblazers, the ones that paved the way to enable us to do what we do at TARA". Kylieanne Derwent - Co-Founder and Vice Chair The Autistic Realm Australia Inc.