Ari Ne'eman Quotes

United States, Activist
December 10, 1987

Ari Daniel Ne'eman (/neɪəˈmɑːn/) is an American autism rights activist who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2006. On December 16, 2009, President Barack Obama announced that Ari Ne'eman would be appointed to the National Council on Disability. After an anonymous hold was lifted, Ne'eman was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Council on June 22, 2010. He chaired the Council's Policy & Program Evaluation Committee. Ne'eman has a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, which made him the first autistic person to serve on the council. In 2015, Ne'eman left the National Council on Disability at the end of his second term. He currently serves as a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union

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.

Ari Ne'eman
The rush to attribute culpability to a minority after an act of mass murder is a rush to exonerate the general public – how can we specify the ways in which the killer was not “one of us”? When the shooter comes from a racial or religious group, this is a relatively simple if despicable enterprise. When they are just another white male, the only remaining option is to locate a disability diagnosis.

Ari Ne'eman
- Diagnosis
- Killer
- Shooter

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.

Ari Ne'eman
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.

Ari Ne'eman
- People
- Act
- Mask
If research is society’s investment in its future, our society does not prioritize the future of autistic people.

Ari Ne'eman
Community living is about having the same rights and choices as everyone else.

Ari Ne'eman
- Community
- Same
- Living
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.

Ari Ne'eman
- Priorities
- Spend
- Autism