Autistics.Org and Finding Our Voices as an Activist Movement

Abstract

Autistics.org was the first explicitly political website of the early autistic community. Launched in 1998 by Laura Tisoncik, its mission was to speak truths not spoken. For example, a popular section called the Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical satirized autism’s diagnostic criteria and assessments by spoofing them for neurotypical (NT) people. It designated “Neurotypic Disorder” or “Neurotypical Syndrome” for NTs, with elements such as the description of symptoms (e.g. suffering from socially dictated sheep-like behavior), a screening test (e.g. “Could I be NT?”), and sections of papers and abstracts that parody academic papers. Content like this exposed the stigmatizing deficit focus and power relations inherent in documents drawn up by medical authorities and elsewhere, and implied that diagnostic categories result from their cultural context.