Inspiring, neurodiversity-affirming autism quotes for Autism Acceptance month! Get excited because the month of April gives us the chance to collectively partake in one of the most important societal milestones. Autism Acceptance Month.
As we know, every autistic person is an individual, just as every neurotypical person is unique in their own way. However, this amazing group of people has been marginalized for way too long.
So today, I won’t share quotes from a bunch of people who’ve never lived as an autistic person. Rather, I’d like to use my tiny place in this world to help amplify autistic voices. I hope to shine the light on those who have done the hard work of fighting to survive in this world.
Today, I’m sharing 40 inspirational quotes about autism by autistic people. Let’s do this, Friend!
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Autism Acceptance is Here!
Something needs to change. Historically, we’ve failed and marginalized autistic people.
Look at it this way. When you do a search for “Autism Quotes”, the top results feature the voices of a group of people who are not autistic.
- Parents of autistic children
- “Experts” who have no lived experience as an autistic person
- Researchers of psychological science whose focus has been to pathologize autistic people
While well-meaning in their message, they’ve never lived a day as an autistic person. Shouldn’t we look to autistic people when we’re looking for insight into the autistic experience?
In April, we’ll celebrate Autism Acceptance Month. Not Autism Awareness necessarily, but Autism Acceptance Month.
As an educator with a Master’s Degree in Teaching, and an undergraduate degree in Psychology, I know the autistic community has been marginalized for too long.
As such, I’m doing everything I can to learn from real autism experts, those with lived experience. Autistic adults.
40+ Inspirational Autism Quotes
So, today, I won’t share quotes from a bunch of people who’ve never lived a day as an autistic person.
Rather, I’d like to use my tiny spot in this world to share autistic voices. Here are 40 quotes from autistic voices around the world. May we hear with minds and hearts willing to change.
1. Autism from Autistic People
“It’s important that people learn about autism directly from autistic people.”
– Casey “Remvrov” Vorner, Connecting with the Autism Spectrum
2. Language Matters
At the end of the day, the words we use are powerful.
Person-first language gets used to hurt autistic people. It says that autism is only a small part of us, and doesn’t make us who we are. But autism is a big part of our lives, and is an important part of who we are!
Lar Berry, Welcome to the Autistic Community!
3. Double Empathy Problem
To be defined as abnormal is… to be seen as ‘pathological’ in some way and to be socially stigmatized, shunned, and sanctioned. Then if there is a breakdown in interaction, or indeed a failed attempt to impose upon or align toward expressions of meaning, then a person who sees their interactions as ‘normal’ and ‘correct’ can denigrate those who act or are perceived of as ‘different’.
-Dr. Damian Milton, Autistic Researcher, The Double Empathy Problem
4. Proud to be Autistic
It’s important to like and value yourself and reject any thought that you and your autism need to be fixed. This idea of liking and valuing yourself when you are an autistic person is often called ‘Autistic Pride.’
-Yenn Purkis and Tanya Masterman, The Awesome Autistic Go-To Guide
5. None of My Business
My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.
– Sir Anthony Hopkins
6. Autism is a Way of Being
Autism is a way of being. It’s not possible to separate the person from autism. Therefore, when parents say, ‘I wish my child did not have autism’, what they’re saying is, ‘I wish the child I had did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead.’
-Jim Sinclair, Autistic Autism Human Rights Advocate
7. Unlimited Potential
While we’re a long way from global recognition of the inherent worth of every human being, we each can do our part. Let’s find the gifts in every person.
The potential of Autistic people is unlimited. Just like everybody else.
-Dr. Stephen Shore, Autistic Adult and Advocate
8. Believe in You
There are enough people in the world who are going to write you off. You don’t need to do that to yourself.
-Susan Boyle
9. Two Myths About Autism
There are two dominant myths surrounding autistic people in the workforce. First… that they are unable to work…(Or) people view autistic people as being hypercompetent in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as if we should all be coders in Silicon Valley.
-Eric Garcia, We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation
10. Meet More Autistic People
If you’ve met one autistic person, you should meet more. We’re pretty awesome.
-Erin Human, E is for Erin
Quotes About Supporting Your Autistic Child’s Success
Learning from the autistic community has been foundational to supporting my own children.
11. Allow Autistic Children to Be Autistic
My proposed solution is simple: Don’t waste a lot of time and money pushing kids in directions they don’t want to go. Instead, find out what weirdness they excel at and encourage them to do that. Then get out of the way.
-Seth Godin
12. Freedom
Wanting to be free. Wanting to be me. Trying to make people see. And accept the real me.
-Scott Lentine
13. Embrace Your Child’s Independence
“In childhood, many autistic people may not learn to become their own advocates, make decisions, and develop the level of independence that will be necessary for adulthood… a lack of freedom and an over-reliance on other people to make choices for oneself is part of the problem. We won’t become good at making choices if we never have an opportunity to practice.”
– Patrick Dwyer, Autistic Advocate, and Developmental Psychology Ph.D. Candidate
14. Understand Autism, Stop Trying to Change It
Parents of children need to remember this. Though autistic children often develop differently than non-autistic kids, they’re supposed to be different. They’re supposed to develop on their own time as is every child.
Celebrate your autistic child’s small victories. Each one will lead to another.
We need to understand autistic people better, not try to change who they are.
-Chris Packham
15. Autistic People are Individuals
Autistic people are individuals. We are not all math geniuses and we don’t all like trains. I am hopeless with technology and much prefer painting. There is no “typical Autistic.” But, I think we all like to be respected and validated.
-Yenn Purkis
16. Perception
…A particular neurodivergence does not make people inherently disabled, but they feel disabled because of the generally overstimulating environments of dominant neurotypical culture and settings.
-Jenera Nerenberg, Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World that Wasn’t Designed for You
17. Embrace Natural Autistic Traits
My natural traits, Autistic social skills, and communication style are different — and that’s ok.
From Neurowild’s illustrated post about becoming “Moretistic”
18. Bullying
Seeking social equality for disabilities doesn’t come from bullying or militancy. (It) comes from… acknowledgement of each person’s reality.
-Paul Isaacs
Educational intervention can only be effective by listening to autistic voices.
Autism Quotes About Autistic Social Skills
In this section, we hear from Autistic individuals on their take on social skills. For example, why is a “normal child” the goal?
19. Looking at Eyeballs is Social?
I don’t really understand why it’s considered normal to stare at someone’s eyeballs”
– John Elder Robison, Look Me in The Eye
20. You’re Really “Normal”
As Rosie King tells us, there’s no such thing as normal people. In her 2016 Ted Talk, she reminds the world that the most interesting people are those who seek anything but normalcy.
What is normal? Imagine if that was the best compliment you ever received. Wow! You are really normal… Why are people pouring their brilliant individual light into a mold?”
-Rosie King, Autistic Advocate
Who Wants to Spend Their Whole Life Being “Normal”?
Listen to autistic teen advocate Rosie King’s inspiring Ted Talk.
21. Autistic Social Skills
People think we don’t have social skills. We actually do! They’re different from neurotypical social skills. Autistic social skills may include infodumping, connecting through shared interests, interacting without much eye contact…
-Em, Autistic Advocate and SLP, Neurowild
22. Different Way of Seeing the World
Perspective is everything. Often it takes a new way of looking at someone to realize we’ve been stuck in our own world of limiting beliefs.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes from The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida.
Our expressions only seem limited because you think differently from us.
Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump, p. 31
Autism Quotes About Language
The mental health statistics for the autistic community are tragic.
According to a recent Psychology Today article, autistic people’s lives are hanging in the balance with autistic individuals at high risk of anxiety, depression, isolation, and suicide.
The autism community has suffered from tragic oppression and marginalization. As we’ve learned throughout history, language matters.
23. No More Hate
We are a community with a long history of resilience in the face of overwhelming hatred. The history of the autistic community has always been shaped by violent prejudice against disabled people, and these prejudices have always gone hand-in-hand with violent racism. This history of violence includes institutional abuse, forced sterilization, and murder.
–Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, regarding Hans Asperger‘s involvement with the Nazi regime
24. Not Broken
“Most scientists tend to focus on determining how autistic brains are broken, while they should be focusing on how an autistic brain works instead.
-Michelle Dawson, Autistic Adult, and Scientific Researcher
25. Functioning Labels Need to Go
The difference between high-functioning autism and low functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low-functioning means your assets are ignored.
– Laura Tisoncik, on the dangers of functioning labels.
26. Not ASD
On why the term Autism Spectrum Disorder is hurtful.
Imagine a bunch of apples met an orange… Instead of just saying it’s an orange, they called it an “apple deficiency syndrome” fruit. That’s kind of what it feels like being autistic.
-Wendy Graves
Quotes About ABA & Behavior Modification
Unfortunately, when a child is diagnosed as autistic, most doctors recommend ABA services as the only effective treatment to deal with a child’s “challenging behaviors”. Parents are frequently pressured to send their children to ABA treatment sessions for often 40 hours a week.
ABA therapy is a behavior modification with the ultimate goal of making young autistic children “indistinguishable” from non-autistic children.
27. Take His Word
Here’s how the founder of ABA therapy described autistic children.
You start pretty much from scratch when you work with an autistic child. You have a person in the physical sense — they have hair, a nose, and a mouth — but they are not people in the psychological sense. One way to look at the job of helping autistic kids is to see it as a matter of constructing a person. You have the raw materials, but you have to build the person.
– O. Ivar Lovaas, the founder of ABA, Lovaas Center
Parents, please do your research before following the “experts.”
28. The Autistic Scholar
According to Patrick Dwyer, of The Autistic Scholar,
If the autistic community is ever to trust ABA professionals, ABA reformists would need to engage in dialogue with the autistic community and develop some standards everyone can agree on.
– Patrick Dwyer, The Autistic Scholar
If you’re looking for effective support options for your child, check out this article with recommendations on creating a neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based team for your autistic child.
Autism Quotes About AAC
Supporting all communication. Nonspeaking autistic people deserve access to (AAC) Augmentative Alternative Communication.
29. The Freedom of AAC
I have autistic friends who are not able to use a letter board because no one taught them how... Have any of you gone to a country where you can’t speak the language? It’s awful to feel like you can’t explain your ideas to anyone. For autistic people who are nonverbal, they must deal with this isolation all their lives. Worse is that too many people assume that autistic people can’t understand because they can’t speak, so they use baby talk or weird phrases like “go car” or “no big noise.”
-Ido Keller, Ido in Autismland
30. I Think
I cannot speak. For whatever reason God has intended for me to be mute. Many people might believe that I cannot think, but despite their thinking, I can. What’s more, is that I listen.
– Neal Katz
31. Don’t Withhold Access
Never limit a child’s ability to communicate… Never withhold or decide against acquiring a communication tool because you want the child to talk instead.
-Not An Autism Mom
Autism Quotes About Education
Perhaps rather than spending so much time forcing autistic kids to act non-autistic, why don’t we start early intervention programs for neurotypical children to better understand and embrace neurodiversity?
What if we teach the educator, the politician, the board-certified behavior analyst, and even those in clinical psychology new skills related to neurodiversity? The brain and behavior?
Every child’s life matters.
32. Neurotypical People Need to Use Flexible Thinking
There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child CAN DO instead of what he can not do.
– Dr. Temple Grandin
33. Educational Systems Fail Autistic Kids
To truly help… Autistic students, you need to know what Autistic traits are through the neurodiversity paradigm and know what constitutes a strengths-based goal. To truly shift how you think and process the Autistic perspective, you need to study the aims of the Autistic community… You need to listen to Autistic clinicians and Autistic parents of Autistic children. You need to listen to Autistic children. Listen, not speak for or over, and amplify.
-Rachel Dorsey, Autistic SLP and Advocate
34. Trust is Essential
There’s no point in your school saying “the welfare of our students is paramount” if you’re not making it easier for them to actually trust you with their welfare.
– Chris Bonello, Autistic Not Weird
35. Unmet Needs Need to be Met
Meltdowns are not a standard, unavoidable part of autism. Do they happen? Yeah. They happen when significant needs have not been met. If they are happening repeatedly, that tells us that this child is repeatedly in a position where their significant needs are not being met.”
-Em, Autistic, and ADHD Speech Language Pathologist, Illustrator, & Advocate, Neurowild
36. There is a Purpose
Autistic behaviors only seem weird until you understand the reasoning behind them. Uncoventional behaviors like flapping, spinning, opening and closing doors, and repeating the same words over and over may appear nonsensical, but they serve the purpose of helping autistic people regulate in a neurotypically-designed world.
– Rachel Dorsey, Autistic SLP, DorseySLP.com
Embracing Autism as the Gift it Is
The last few quotes about autism encourage us to seek the good in people. More importantly, to celebrate the unique gifts of each person.
37. Problem-Solvers
Problem-solving techniques can vary, but neurodivergent people are known to see the world from another perspective, and, in turn, see alternatives that other people have overlooked.
-Hayley Moss, Autistic Advocate and Attorney
38. Autism Awareness vs Autism Acceptance
Autism awareness is when you know who I am. Autism acceptance is when you’re glad to see me.
-Kaelynn Partlow, Autistic Advocate
39. Autism as a Rainbow
Everyone experiences dark times in their lives, but as always, perspective is powerful.
Autism is like a rainbow. It has a bright side and a darker side. But every shade is important and beautiful.
-Rosie Tennant Doran
40. Autism isn’t a Tragedy
The tragedy isn’t autism. The tragedy is a lack of understanding of autism. Lack of resources. Interventions not being met with the person in mind.
– Paul Isaacs
41. Keep Lifting Autistic Voices
When enough people care about autism or diabetes or global warming, it helps everyone, even if only a tiny fraction actively participate.
-Seth Godin
Recap: Autism Quotes of Autistic Voices
In the end, autistic or non-autistic, culturally there’s something about Dr. Seuss that connects us.
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Isn’t this the truth?
It’s time to embrace all people and rather than pathologize differences, see our different abilities as the gifts they are.
Rather than seek to constantly change kids into some distorted image of a better child, why can we not look for their unique gifts?
Trying to shove a square peg into a round hole does NOT create a round peg. It creates a broken square. We’ve got to stop fighting against our kids’ wiring and work with it.
What do you think, Friend?
About the Author:
Lindsay is a trauma-informed educator with a Master’s Degree in Teaching. Her mission is to support moms to equip neurodivergent kids (ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Anxiety) to thrive as exactly who they’ve been created to be. Wait until you hear the story that led to it all…
Lindsay!!! Thank you for this article! I’ve been an autism mom for 13 years, but the last year I’ve really been wondering about autism in myself and these quotes are SO eye opening and encouraging! THANK YOU, FRIEND!!