Ari Ne'eman

Ari Daniel Ne'eman (born December 10, 1987) is an American autism rights activist who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and sat on the National Council on Disability for two terms from 2010 to 2015.

Quotes

Andrew Wakefield: autism inc

Quoted in The Guardian by Alex Hannaford (6 April 2013) Available Online

• In America we've spent over a billion dollars on autism research. What have we got for that? We've not seen anything that's appreciably impacted the quality of life of autistic people, regardless of their place on the spectrum. Quite frankly, we've spent $1bn figuring out how to make mice autistic and we'll spend another $1bn figuring out how to make them not autistic. And that's not what the average person wakes up in the morning aspiring to. They think: am I going to be able to find a job, to communicate, to live independently, either on my own or with support? Those are the real priorities.

Could a gene test change autism?

Quoted in Newsweek by Claudia Kalb (15 May 2009) Available Online

• There's a misperception that autism is some thief in the night that takes a normal child and places an autistic child in its place. That's not true.
• You come out of a meeting and you've put on a mask, which involves looking people in the eye, using certain mannerisms, certain phrases. Even if you learn to do it in a very seamless sort of way, you're still putting on an act. It's a very ex-hausting act.

Just Asking: Ari Ne’eman, co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Quoted in the Washington Post by Joe Heim (13 March 2015) Available Online

• If research is society’s investment in its future, our society does not prioritize the future of autistic people.

CBC Canada intervew

Quoted by CBC News (26 October 2009) Available Online

• Autism is a disability insofar as we’re disabled by society. A society that is often very hostile to our ways of communicating, to our ways of being that often is structured in such a way that makes it difficult for us to access places of public accommodation and services and countless other things. It creates an education system where autistic people are often abused and do not have our communication and other needs met.

The Autism Rights Movement

Quoted in the New York Magazine by Andrew Solomon (25 May 2008) Available Online

• I like to say that neurotypical social interaction is a second language. It’s not as if we can’t learn it. It’s just that it doesn’t necessarily come easily to us.