Run by and for autistic people. ASAN advances disability rights and pushes for policies that include autistic people in the decisions that affect their lives. Its motto: Nothing About Us, Without Us.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Autism Acceptance|Action Guide
How toActually Help:Autism Acceptancein Practice.Listening comes first. Then supporting autistic-led organizations, advocating for autistic employment, and making everyday choices that center autistic people's own expressed needs.
Start by Listening
The most consistent piece of advice from autistic self-advocates is also the simplest: listen to autistic people. Not to family members speaking on their behalf. Not to researchers summarizing their data. To autistic people themselves, in their own words and on their own terms.
This matters because autism advocacy has historically been driven by non-autistic people. Parents, clinicians, and charity administrators have shaped the public conversation about autism for decades. The priorities they set, awareness over accommodation, cure research over quality-of-life support, have not always matched what autistic people themselves say they need.
"Nothing About Us, Without Us."
Autistic Self Advocacy Network motto, from the broader disability rights movement
Practical ways to listen: follow autistic writers and advocates on social media and in newsletters. Read work published by autistic-led organizations. When your employer, school, or community organization makes decisions that affect autistic people, ask whether autistic people were meaningfully involved in making them. When they were not, say so.
Listening also means accepting that the autistic community is not monolithic. Autistic people disagree with each other on language, on the usefulness of a diagnosis, on the value of various therapies, and on many other questions. That disagreement is healthy. No single autistic voice speaks for all autistic people. Seek out a range of perspectives, and be especially attentive to voices that are structurally marginalized: autistic women, autistic people of color, autistic people with high support needs who have historically been excluded even from autistic advocacy spaces.
Listening is not passive. It is the active, ongoing work of making your frameworks responsive to autistic experience rather than comfortable for non-autistic observers.
Support Autistic-Led Organizations
Where you direct your money and time matters. Autistic-led organizations, those run by and for autistic people, tend to prioritize the things autistic people say they need: policy advocacy, peer support, mutual aid, and acceptance-centered education. Below are organizations we have vetted and listed with honest context where it is warranted.
Autistic-led organizations are listed first. Broader service and research organizations follow. All are listed as dofollow links because helping these organizations rank higher in search serves the community.
Autistic-Led Organizations
An autistic-led network providing community, support, and resources for autistic women, girls, nonbinary people, and others of marginalized genders - voices too often left out of the autism conversation.
501(c)(3) public charity
A neurodivergent- and disabled-led foundation offering mutual aid and learning resources built on lived experience, the social model of disability, and a deep library on neurodiversity.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Other Reputable Organizations
The following organizations are not autistic-led but are broadly respected and provide meaningful services to autistic people and families. Where relevant community context exists, we note it plainly.
Rockville, Maryland
One of the oldest grassroots autism organizations in the U.S. Through roughly 75 local affiliates it connects autistic people and families to services, support, and acceptance programming in their own communities.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Organization for Autism Research
Arlington, Virginia
Funds practical, applied research that answers everyday questions for autistic people and families, and runs the Hire Autism employment portal plus scholarships for autistic students. Highly rated by Charity Navigator.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
New York, New York
Designs and funds programs that improve daily life for autistic people, with a focus on adulthood, employment, and community. Channels grants to autistic-led and community-based projects nationwide.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
New York, New York
The largest and most visible autism organization in the U.S., funding research and offering family resource toolkits.
Included for completeness. Parts of the autistic community have historically criticized Autism Speaks over its messaging and spending; the organization has since revised its language toward acceptance and added autistic voices to its leadership. We list the facts and leave the choice with you.
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Support Autistic Employment
Employment outcomes for autistic adults are one of the starkest gaps in autism acceptance. Studies consistently show that autistic adults are unemployed or underemployed at rates far higher than the general population, often not because of capacity, but because hiring processes and workplaces are built around neurotypical norms.
If you have any influence over hiring, management, or workplace policy, the following actions have a concrete positive impact:
- 1. Ask your HR team whether your hiring process accommodates different communication styles, and push for change where it does not.
- 2. If you manage people, evaluate performance based on output rather than neurotypical social norms around eye contact, small talk, or facial expression.
- 3. Support organizations like OAR's Hire Autism portal, which connects autistic job seekers with employers.
- 4. Advocate for reasonable accommodations such as flexible scheduling, quiet workspaces, and written communication options.
- 5. When your organization lists job requirements, audit them for anything that is a norm rather than a genuine necessity.
Even if you are not in a position to change hiring policy, you can amplify autistic job seekers in your network, mentor autistic colleagues, and call out neurotypical gatekeeping when you see it. Small individual actions compound when many people take them.
Everyday Allyship
Most of acceptance happens in ordinary moments, not grand gestures. Below are specific practices grounded in what autistic self-advocates consistently ask for.
Respect sensory needs
Offer quiet alternatives at events. Do not draw attention to someone wearing ear protection or sunglasses indoors.
Amplify autistic voices
Share content by autistic creators and writers. When someone talks about autism, ask whether autistic perspectives are centered.
Challenge harmful content
Speak up when autism is used as a punchline, a character quirk for laughs, or a metaphor for something sinister.
Learn the language
Use identity-first language by default. Retire outdated terms. Follow what autistic self-advocates ask for, not what feels comfortable.
Presume competence
Do not assume an autistic person cannot understand, participate, or decide for themselves based on how they communicate.
Support Autism Acceptance Month
April is Autism Acceptance Month. Support autistic-led events, not just large awareness walks that may not center autistic voices.
Acceptance is not a one-time declaration. It is a set of recurring choices.
Autistic advocates, widely expressed
A Note on Puzzle Pieces and Custom Puzzles
Puzzably makes custom puzzles. We are aware that the puzzle piece carries weight in the autism community. Our position: we are a puzzle company that stands for acceptance, not a cause organization that uses puzzles as merchandise. We donate a portion of proceeds from autism-month orders to autistic-led organizations, and we listen to feedback when we get things wrong.
If you want to make a puzzle in the spirit of acceptance, the /create page is where to start. If you want to understand more about the neurodiversity framework behind our editorial stance, read our neurodiversity explainer.