Jim Sinclair is an
autism-rights movement activist who, with fellow
autistics Kathy Lissner Grant and
Donna Williams
Donna Leanne Williams, also known by her married name Donna Leanne Samuel (born Donna Keene; 12 October 1963 – 22 April 2017), was an Australian writer, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and sculptor.
In 1965, aged two, Williams was a ...
, formed
Autism Network International
Autism Network International (ANI) is an advocacy organization run by and for autistic people. ANI's principles involve the anti-cure perspective, the perspective that there should not be a goal to "cure" people of autism.
History
ANI was sta ...
(ANI) in 1992.
Sinclair became the original coordinator of ANI.
Biography
Sinclair has said that they did not speak until age 12.
Sinclair was raised as a girl, but describes having an
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...
body and, in a 1997 introduction to the
Intersex Society of North America
The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries.Matthews, Karen (Oct 22, 2000). Debate Grows Over Using Surgery on Infants with Amb ...
, Sinclair wrote, "I remain openly and proudly neuter, both physically and socially."
In 1989, American talk show host
Sally Jessy Raphael
Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American former tabloid talk show host known for her program '' Sally'' (originally called ''The Sally Jessy Raphael Show'').
Early life and education
Lowent ...
interviewed Toby (an alias of Sinclair), who was a then self-described androgynous and nonsexual person.
In 1998, Sinclair was a graduate student of
rehabilitation counseling
Rehabilitation counseling is focused on helping people who have disabilities achieve their personal, career, and independent living goals through a counseling process.
Rehabilitation Counselors can be found in private practice, in rehabilitation ...
at
Syracuse University in
Syracuse, New York.
They never found a job in the field despite possessing knowledge and qualifications, likely due to having a radical stance on autism and
neurodiversity
Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions.
It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept ...
.
Sinclair was the first person to "articulate the
autism-rights position".
[
]
Views
Sinclair wrote the essay, "Don't Mourn for Us" (1993) with an anti-cure perspective on autism. The essay has been thought of by some to be a touchstone for the fledgling autism-rights movement, and has been mentioned in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''[ and '']New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...
''.
You didn't lose a child to autism. You lost a child because the child you waited for never came into existence. That isn't the fault of the autistic child who does exist, and it shouldn't be our burden. We need and deserve families who can see us and value us for ourselves, not families whose vision of us is obscured by the ghosts of children who never lived. Grieve if you must, for your own lost dreams. But don't mourn for ''us''. We are alive. We are real.
—Jim Sinclair, "Don't Mourn for Us", ''Our Voice'', Vol. 1, No. 3, 1993
Sinclair also expresses their frustration with the double standard autistic people face, such as being told their persistence is "pathological" when neurotypical people are praised for their dedication to something important to them.
Sinclair is the first documented autistic person to reject people-first language
People-first language (PFL), also called person-first language, is a type of linguistic prescription which puts a person before a diagnosis, describing what condition a person "has" rather than asserting what a person "is". It is intended to av ...
.
Autreat
Sinclair established and ran Autreat
Autism Network International (ANI) is an advocacy organization run by and for autistic people. ANI's principles involve the anti-cure perspective, the perspective that there should not be a goal to "cure" people of autism.
History
ANI was star ...
, the first independent autistic-run gathering,[Ne'eman, Ari. "The Neurodiversity Movement." ''Disability'': ''A Reference Handbook'', by Michael Rembis, ABC-CLIO, 2019, pp. 99–104. Contemporary World Issues. ''Gale eBooks'', https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7901900016/GVRL?u=sain79627&sid=GVRL&xid=186bb814.] for fifteen years after attending conferences that mainly included parents of autistic children and professionals. They and other autistic adults described these conferences as isolating and dehumanizing. Autreat explicitly prioritizes autistic needs, with programs like an "Ask a Neurotypical" panel.
See also
*Autism Network International
Autism Network International (ANI) is an advocacy organization run by and for autistic people. ANI's principles involve the anti-cure perspective, the perspective that there should not be a goal to "cure" people of autism.
History
ANI was sta ...
References
External links
Website for Autreat and ANI
at Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Cultural Commentary: Being Autistic Together
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Jim
American health activists
Asexual non-binary people
Autism activists
Intersex non-binary people
Living people
Non-binary activists
People on the autism spectrum
Syracuse University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)