Sayer Russell supports Autistic Pride Day and autistic representation

Good morning.

My name is Sayer Russell.

For folks who need a visual description, I'm a black, Hispanic, trans, masculine person.

I've got short curly hair, wearing a blue shirt.

I live in Brooklyn.

I'm an autistic person, and I'm the founder of Autistic Adults NYC.

We're an autistic-run nonprofit, and we serve the autistic community here.

I'm here today in support of recognizing June 18th as Autistic Pride Day in New York City.

Thank you, the council, for hearing this resolution to everyone who supported it.

The past four years, my nonprofit has held annual Autistic Pride Day celebrations.

It's something that's meaningful to many of our community members, but also very meaningful to me personally.

When I was growing up, my family and I knew I was different, but I wasn't formally recognized as autistic until I was in graduate school.

And I think about how different things might have been if I'd grown up with a better understanding of autism, seen more positive representations of autistic people.

Or autistic people who look like myself.

Instead, I had a very limited deficit-based understanding of what autism meant.

And that experience has shown me how much representation and understanding can shape how we see ourselves.

Autistic Pride Day encourages autistic people to be open and vocal about our lives, sharing our unique experiences without being made to feel ashamed of who we are.

It pushes back against messages that portray autism as a tragedy, something to fear, or something that needs to be fixed.

And importantly, it was a day started by autistic people for autistic people and centers autistic voices and gives us the opportunity to speak for ourselves.

Not only is that important for representation, but it's also important for our communities and for the city's role in shaping autistic lives.

Autistic people face barriers in almost all aspects of our lives, from education to health care to employment to housing to accessing supports.

Too often, decisions are made without our input, leading to systems that misunderstand our needs or fail to provide meaningful support.

We cannot address these barriers without listening to the people that experience them.

So I hope Autistic Pride Day is recognized in New York City as a day for autistic people to be visible and not just talked about, and as an opportunity to promote positive representation rather than negativity around autism.

And I also hope the city embraces the spirit of Autistic Pride Day by involving autistic people in decisions about our community, including services for autistic people, training about autistic people, and public messaging campaigns.

Without autistic input, messages can often be infantilizing, focus exclusively on deficits, or rely on outdated symbols that don't reflect our community.

Recognizing this day is an opportunity for New York City to acknowledge autistic people's experiences, celebrate our contributions, and take our perspective seriously.

And I hope it helps move us towards a city where autistic people are not just talked about, but heard and understood.

Thank you.