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PSY.D., BCBA-D, LBA (NY)
Dr.Nicole DeRosa,
Kelberman Chief Clinical Officer

Four “A’s” for Autism: Awareness, Acceptance, Advocacy & Alliance

Beginning in the 1970’s the month of April
was designated as Autism Awareness
Month by the National Autism Society. Decades later, the United
Nations General Assembly pronounced April 2nd as World
Autism Awareness Day. However, over the past several years
we have observed a shift in our language from “awareness” to
“acceptance.” This shift began in 2011 when the Autism Self-
Advocacy Network began referring to April as Autism Acceptance
Month to improve upon our understanding and recognition
of individuals with Autism as meaningful members of the
community at large. Several years later, the Autism Society of
America made a definitive replacement of the word “awareness” with “acceptance” while urging
others to do the same and just this year, President Joe Biden formally designated April 2nd as
World Autism Acceptance Day.

The rationale behind the shift from “awareness” to “acceptance”
is an important one. Although there continues to be a need
for on-going awareness and education regarding autism, we
have a long way to go in order to truly embrace those with
autism as meaningful members of our society. In this article,
I’ll briefly discuss the importance of four “A’s” for Autism:
Awareness, Acceptance, Advocacy, and Alliance. Each of these
“A’s” plays an integral role in creating supportive and inclusive
communities for individuals with autism and their families. While
some may see working one’s way from awareness to alliance as a progression towards inclusion,
it may be that we need to attend to all four “A’s” fluidly and continuously as we continue to learn,
understand, and embrace neurodiversity.
The movement towards awareness of autism stems from
a need for people to have knowledge about what autism is
and how an individual with autism may think or behave. This
is undoubtedly an important step towards understanding the
spectrum of symptoms associated with an autism diagnosis.
Awareness can provide us with better information about how
to best support an individual with autism and engage with
autistic individuals in a welcoming, respectful manner. However,
simply being knowledgeable about a diagnosis may fall short
of embracing individuals with that diagnosis as meaningful contributors to our society. Thus, in
addition to being educated about autism we also need to adopt a mentality of acceptance.
By focusing on acceptance, we can move from knowing about autism to committing to a
deeper understanding of and respect for individuals with autism and their families. Acceptance
opens the space to readily welcome neurodiversity into our society without question or a second
thought. Inclusive actions can readily develop from acceptance; actions that allow us all to
recognize how to adequately make everyone feel as though they belong regardless of their
neurodevelopmental functioning, rather than making individuals with autism feel as though they