Main Content

Tag Archives: statement

ASAN Issues Joint Statement on Universal Human Rights

| Ianthe Dempsey

Joint Statement on the Universal Civil and Human Rights of People with the Most Significant Developmental Disabilities   People with disabilities have the same civil and human rights as their peers without disabilities. Those rights are not modified, lessened, or “balanced” against other considerations because of their support needs. Every...

Read More »

ASAN Denounces President’s Remarks on Mental Health

| Zoe Gross

This past weekend, mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio killed at least 30 people and injured over 50 more. These mass shootings, the 16th and 17th in the United States this year this year, took place amidst a continued crisis of white supremacism in the US;...

Read More »

ASAN Has Ended Partnership With Sesame Street

| Ianthe Dempsey

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network condemns Sesame Street’s decision to further stigma against autistic children and adults in their new Public Service Announcements.  For several years, ASAN consulted with Sesame Street on their See Amazing project and the development of their autistic character, Julia. Until this summer, the content...

Read More »

Congress Must Stop Scapegoating People With Mental Health Disabilities

| Ianthe Dempsey

The House has voted to pass HR 1112, a bill that would close the “Charleston Loophole”, which currently enables some people who have failed criminal background checks to purchase guns. While we would like to applaud this effort to enforce existing common-sense gun laws, an unrelated amendment introduced by...

Read More »

ASAN Condemns Trump Administration’s Attack on Transgender Americans

| Ianthe Dempsey

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration is considering adopting a federal standard which would exclude transgender and intersex people from the protections of many anti-discrimination laws and policies. There is a significant overlap between the autistic and transgender communities – and since autistic people first...

Read More »

ASAN Condemns Proposed ‘Public Charge’ Immigration Regulations

| Ianthe Dempsey

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network strongly condemns the Administration’s proposed “Public Charge” regulation, which discriminates against disabled and low-income immigrants and makes pathways to American citizenship contingent upon wealth and the absence of disability. “Public charge” clauses have existed in US immigration law since 1882 and are a clear...

Read More »

ASAN Opposes Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

| Ianthe Dempsey

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network opposes the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. As a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Kavanaugh has opposed the rights of people with disabilities to make our own choices. He has said that he might want to strike...

Read More »

ASAN Condemns Family Separation

| Ianthe Dempsey

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network forcefully condemns the Trump Administration’s unconscionable policy of separating immigrant families at the border, and the subsequent incarceration and warehousing of infants and children. This policy is not mandated by law, but is a deliberate act of cruelty the Administration has chosen to inflict...

Read More »

ASAN Comments on Proposed Delay of Significant Disproportionality Rule

| Ianthe Dempsey

This letter is available as a PDF here. May 11, 2018 Johnny W. Collett Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5107 Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-2500 Dear Secretary Collett: The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)1For more...

Read More »

ASAN Statement on 2018 CDC Prevalence Data

| Ianthe Dempsey

Today, the Centers for Disease Control released the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network report, which estimates the prevalence of autism in certain areas. The results indicate that better recognition of autism, and an encouraging reduction of racial and gender disparities in diagnosis, have caused rates of diagnosis...

Read More »

More information