Knowing your rights can help you advocate for yourself. Here are some general resources and US-specific resources.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 – Car Autism Roadmap – https://www.carautismroadmap.org/the-americans-with-disabilities-act-of-1990-ada/
- Job Accommodation Network – https://askjan.org/
- Inclusive Schools Network – https://inclusiveschools.org/
- Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy – https://www.wrightslaw.com/
- Olmstead Self-Assessment – https://www.olmsteadrights.org/self-helptools/assessment/
- How to Make a Supported Decision-Making Agreement – ACLU – https://www.aclu.org/other/how-make-supported-decision-making-agreement
- National Disability Rights Network – https://www.ndrn.org/about/ndrn-member-agencies/
- Information on the ADA – https://www.ada.gov/
- International Disability Alliance – http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/
- International Disability Rights – Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund – https://dredf.org/legal-advocacy/international-disability-rights/
- Pacific Alliance on Disability Self-Advocacy (PADSA) Resources
- Welcome to the Autistic Community
- Accessing Home and Community-Based Services: A Guide for Self Advocates
- Real Work For Real Pay: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Employment Policy
- The Right to Make Choices: International Laws and Decision-Making by People with Disabilities (Easy Read and Families versions)
- Getting and Advocating for Community-Based Housing
- Accessing Home and Community-Based Services: A Guide for Self Advocates
- Voting Resources
- AutismAndHealth.org: Primary Care Resources for Adults on the Autism Spectrum and their Primary Care Providers
- SARTAC: Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center
- Everybody Communicates: Toolkit for Accessing Communication Assessments, Funding and Accommodations
- A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Medicaid
- Civic Engagement Toolbox for Self-Advocates
- Affordable Care Act Toolkit for Self-Advocates
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities. We work to empower autistic people across the world to take control of our own lives and the future of our common community, and seek to organize the autistic community to ensure our voices are heard in the national conversation about us. Nothing About Us, Without Us!
Self-Advocacy
We have worked together for many years, and we made the disability rights movement. The disability rights movement is when disabled people fight back against ableism. We work to change society to be better for disabled people, and fight for our rights as people with disabilities.
Self-advocacy isn’t just speaking up for yourself. It can also mean speaking up for your whole community. The self-advocacy movement is when we all speak up together. The self-advocacy movement is part of the disability rights movement, where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities fight for our rights.
Welcome to the Autistic Community
We still have a long way to go, since disabled people still get treated unfairly. We can’t always choose where we live or what help we get. We don’t always have the right to vote. We might not get to choose how we want to spend our money, or have control over who cares for us. But we are still fighting for our rights.
Welcome to the Autistic Community
Make sure I know my rights.
In a perfect world, we would all be guided by the presumption of competence, not just in regard to disability but in all human interaction. But we do not live in a perfect world. In the real world, no matter what skills I acquire—be they social, emotional, physical, or educational—there will be a sizable number of people who will presume me to be incompetent. Brace me for it. Make sure I know my rights. Let me know over and over again that I am so much more than the box some small-minded person wishes to fit me into. Practice with me the interactive tools I need to stand up in the face of those who do not believe in me.
Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. Sincerely, Your Autistic Child (p. 6). Beacon Press.
Nothing About Us, Without Us
A motto of the self-advocacy movement is “Nothing About Us, Without Us!”. Lots of people talk about us without letting us talk. We should always be part of the conversation, and be in charge of our lives.
Welcome to the Autistic Community
People with disabilities need to make policies ourselves.
SHARING YOUR STORY FOR A POLITICAL PURPOSE
We should get to use our stories to help change the world.
Nothing about us, without us!
Disability systems rely on artificial economies of scarcity.
Disability systems rely on artificial economies of scarcity. Programs are underfunded, so caregivers, teachers, social workers, and disabled people themselves are all pushed to project their needs as necessary and virtuous.
I Shouldn’t Have to Dehumanize My Son to Get Him Support
You have the right to food money Providing of course you Don't mind a little Investigation, humiliation And if you cross your fingers Rehabilitation Know your rights These are your rights Know Your Rights by The Clash
Revolution rock Yeah so, get that cheese grater going Against the grains Wearin' me down Pressure increase Everybody! Revolution Rock by The Clash
