Autistic Self Advocacy Network(ASAN)

About Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Founded in 2006 by Ari Ne'eman and Scott Robertson, ASAN was built on a core conviction: autistic people must lead the organisations and movements that shape policy affecting them. At a time when most autism organisations were founded and run by parents and professionals, ASAN represented a radical shift — autistic people speaking for themselves about their own lives.

ASAN is a membership organisation with chapters across the United States. The national office is staffed primarily by autistic people, and the Board of Directors is entirely autistic.

What they do

ASAN engages in policy advocacy at the federal and state level on issues including Medicaid home and community-based services, employment rights, education, guardianship reform, healthcare discrimination, and criminal justice. They submit comments on proposed regulations, testify before Congress, and work in coalitions with other disability organisations.

ASAN is a prominent critic of the medical/deficit model of autism and opposes the use of functioning labels ("high-functioning" / "low-functioning") as reductive and harmful. They advocate for a social model approach that focuses on removing barriers rather than normalising autistic people to neurotypical standards.

They publish policy briefs, toolkits for autistic people navigating systems, and guides on topics like healthcare transition, supported decision-making, and emergency preparedness.

Key programs and resources

• ASAN Policy & Advocacy: Federal and state policy work including Medicaid, education, employment, and legal rights
• Thinking Person's Guide to Autism: Community resource (associated project) offering evidence-based, perspective-diverse autism information
• Self-Advocacy Online: A project making self-advocacy accessible to autistic people with intellectual disabilities
• Publications: "Autistic People Should Lead the Autism Rights Movement" and numerous policy papers

Who they serve

Autistic people of all ages and support needs, including those with co-occurring intellectual disabilities or complex communication profiles. ASAN explicitly works to include non-speaking autistic people and autistic people with high support needs, pushing back on a tendency in some advocacy circles to focus only on independently functioning autistic adults.

Why it matters

ASAN represents a philosophically grounded, autistic-led voice in policy spaces where autistic people have historically been spoken about but not heard. Their advocacy has influenced federal guidance on autism services, Medicaid policy, and educational rights. For autistic people navigating systems — or families and professionals supporting them — ASAN's resources and policy positions offer an autistic perspective grounded in lived experience and civil rights principles.