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Increasing Autism Awareness and Reducing the Stigma of Autism in China
Autism Awareness Month, mandated by the United Nations (UN), provides an opportunity for scholars, community service providers, and the broader public to come together to increase community knowledge of autism. These events may help to reduce the stigma that surrounds this complex...
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How Stigma Creates Invisible Barriers for Autistic Individuals in Healthcare
As more individuals are diagnosed with/identify as autistic, societal awareness continues to grow. With the neurodiversity perspective, which views neurological differences as natural variations rather than deficits, also gaining recognition (Pellicano & den Houting, 2022), the U.S. healthcare...
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Insights from Amy Gravino: Autism and Sexuality Awareness and Advocacy
For millennia, sexuality has remained one of the most stigmatized and overlooked topics in the autism community, particularly when it comes to autistic adults. This stigma largely stems from decades of misinformation and a lack of understanding. In this interview, I speak with leading autism...
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The Mental Health Effects of Autism Stigma
Autism, in itself, is not a disorder of mental health. Yet autistic people are disproportionately affected by depression, anxiety, and suicidality. The connection is not biological alone — it is social. Much of the psychological distress experienced by autistic individuals stems from how they are...
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Wellbeing as a Protective Factor: Reducing Stigma and Centering Joy
There’s a deeply ingrained belief in our society, rarely said aloud but often reinforced, that autistic people can’t be happy. It shows up in lowered expectations, social exclusion, and systems that treat disability as a barrier to flourishing. This message is at the core of stigma, and it’s...
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Combating Stigma Through Community: AABR’s Program Without Walls Builds Inclusion and Purpose
At AABR, we envision a world where people of all abilities are beloved and respected — a world built not on separation but connection. Our Program Without Walls (PWW) is helping shape that world by placing adults with autism and developmental disabilities in real-life community settings where...
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Natural Supports: A Lifeline for Families Like Mine
In 2024, my world changed forever. I lost my father to prostate cancer—a man whose strength and love defined the very foundation of my family. He fought with everything he had to stay alive long enough to care for my mom, who was battling dementia. Even as his own health declined, he dedicated...
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The Neurodiversity Movement: Promoting Acceptance and Understanding
Diversity is a cornerstone of human society, encompassing the range of identities, experiences, and backgrounds people bring to their communities. This includes differences in ability, race, gender, age, and more. For people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD), diversity also...
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Medicaid Cuts Will Put People Like Me at Risk
My name is Jimmy Tucker. I have a learning disability, and I am on the autism spectrum. In school and in adult life, I never felt like I fit in. I’ve always felt different, and that made things harder for me. But Medicaid-funded programs have helped me find my way. These are the supports I rely...
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A Two-Way Street: Society and the Neurodiverse Community
Over 50 years ago, there were several theories in the area of social psychology put forth that I have been thinking more about lately. Like vinyl records, Polaroid cameras, and fanny packs, they can be worth pulling out and reexamining in order to help illuminate the complicated process of how...
