Self-Advocacy

Self-advocacy means taking control of our own lives. That can mean making choices about how we live our lives, like choosing what we do at home, at school, at work, or in our relationships. It can also mean working as a community to take control over how society views disabled people, how the media talks about us, and policies that affect our lives. ASAN works on both types of self-advocacy. We want to make sure that autistic people are included in all conversations about autism, whether those conversations are about our own lives or about autistic people as a whole in our society. 

Every disabled person is a self-advocate. There is no such thing as being “too disabled” to be a self-advocate. There are chances every day to self-advocate. Saying “No!” with your words or your actions is a kind of self-advocacy. We think everyone should get the tools they need to learn about all kinds of advocacy. Nobody should be denied the right to make their own choices.

Resources

Latest Posts

top-down view of snowy trees

⛄ASAN January Update ⛄

ASAN January Newsletter Dear friend, The new year may just be getting started, but we’ve been hard at work! Check out what we’ve been up to this month. You can start the year by sharing your voice and making your thoughts on autism research heard! You can submit your public comments to the Interagency Autism…

Read More »
a microphone with a blurry orange background

Julia Bascom’s Speech for ASAN Gala 2023

Hello and welcome everyone. I’m Julia Bascom, and I’m the outgoing Executive Director here at ASAN. Thank you all so much for joining me today as we celebrate self-advocacy and reflect on what our community needs in these turbulent times. This is our fourth year of holding our annual gala virtually, and I’m so grateful…

Read More »

Join Us for a Webinar on Important Health Care Policy Changes!

In September, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed updates to its Section 504 regulations. There have not been updates to the regulations since they started in 1977. This update is important because we have the chance to protect the rights of disabled people. We can make sure people with disabilities can access…

Read More »