from the medical model to the social model of disability has real-world advantages: for instance, some software companies now adjusting their job interview processes to be more accessible to autistic applicants rather than applying pressure on the applicants to "act neurotypical". this has strengthened the industry's pool of applicants while also reducing unemployment for autistic people. autistic people are considered to have neurocognitive differences which give them distinct strengths and weaknesses, and are capable of succeeding when appropriately accommodated and supported. this is not to belittle the challenges that autistic people face, but rather to point out that many of these challenges are due to structural inequities that can be remedied through equal access and acceptance of autistic differences. in the workplace, creating systems that support autistic employment and success through mechanisms such as organizational transparency, justice, and flexibility, benefits all employees there is no leader of the neurodiversity movement and little academic research has been conducted on it as a social phenomenon. as such, proponents of the neurodiversity paradigm have heterogenous beliefs, but are consistent in the view that autism cannot be separated from an autistic person. advocacy efforts may include: opposition to therapies that aim to make children "indistinguishable from their peers", advocacy of accommodations in schools and work environments, and lobbying for the inclusion of autistic people when making decisions that affect them. neurodiversity advocates are opposed to research for a cure, as this aim is a form of eugenics, and instead support research that helps autistic people thrive as they are. only a small percentage of research funding goes towards the quality of life needs of autistic adults. recent research found evidence that autistic self-advocates are disadvantaged in many disability / autism rights organisations, they are rarely involved in leadership or decision-making within organisations. studies also show that poverty, unpaid positions at disability organisations and lack of support are major barriers for most autistic people, including autistic people with an intellectual disability who wish to do self-advocacy. advocacy groups that focus primarily on acceptance and accommodation include autism network international, autism national committee, asan, and autistic women & nonbinary network. perspectives autism rights perspectives the autistic self-advocacy network (asan) uses a seven-colored heptagonal symbol to represent both the autistic spectrum and the idea of diversity. autism is classified by psychologists as a disorder. however, some fundraising organizations have referred to caring for autistic individuals as being comparable to treating a patient with cancer, though extended over the duration of a normal lifespan. autistic children have also been described as being held hostage to a psychiatric disorder. boyd haley, an anti-vaccine activist and early promoter of the debunked claim that thimerosol causes autism, labeled autism as "mad child disease" (akin to mad cow disease), which some autistic individuals and their parents have found highly offensive. margaret somerville, founding director of the mcgill centre for medicine, ethics and law, said that with activism there is a direct goal and it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice complexity and nuance to make a point, but some autistic activists do not believe desperation justifies the rhetoric. bennett l. leventhal said he understands concern about comparing autistic children to hostages and notes it is a misnomer to call autism a "disease" that will consume children if untreated. autistic self-advocates also reject terming the reported increase in autism diagnoses as an 'epidemic' since the word implies autism is a disease and point out that the increase is due to an expansion of diagnostic criteria itself, rather than an epidemic. attempts have been made to place a figure on the financial cost of autism, addressed to both scholarly and popular audiences. these efforts have been criticized by some autism rights advocates, who compare them to similar calculations about "persons with bad heredity" made by the eugenics movement in the early 20th century. michelle dawson has pointed out that no effort has been made to examine the cost of 'eliminating the disease' to autistic individuals, and she, as well as others, have also pointed out the valuable contributions autistic individuals can, and have made to society. dr. temple grandin has speculated that an autistic caveman probably invented the first stone spear, and that if autism were eliminated, society would lose most of its scientists, musicians, and mathematicians. autism as a spectrum some argue that while some autistic people can function "normally", that any impairments not due to prejudice are insignificant or nonexistent and deserve to have their condition viewed as a difference (akin to being left-handed), other autistic people are severely impaired and should be counted as having disabilities (akin to having a broken leg). however, many autistic activists refute this perspective, saying that it is not easy to distinguish between "high" and "low" functioning and that these labels do more harm than good. the majority of autistic individuals oppose the distinction between the low and high functioning labels as well as the medically abandoned distinction between autism and asperger syndrome, and believe that functioning labels are not important in helping individuals get proper consultation and treatment. autism does not need to be cured opinions are divided on the use of a jigsaw-puzzle piece to represent autism, with some parents liking it, and the majority of autistic adults disliking it. research has found it has negative connotations. "curing" autism is a controversial and politicized issue. doctors and scientists are not sure of the causes of autism yet many organizations like autism research institute and autism speaks have advocated researching a cure. members of the various autistic rights organizations view autism as a way of life rather than as a disease and thus advocate acceptance over a search for a cure. michelle dawson wrote that common therapies for the behavioral and language differences associated with autism, like applied behavior analysis, are not only misguided but also unethical. the "anti-cure perspective" endorsed by the movement is a view that autism is not a disorder, but a normal occurrence—an alternate variation in brain wiring or a less common expression of the human genome. advocates of this perspective believe that autism is a unique way of being that should be validated, supported and appreciated rather than shunned, discriminated against or eliminated. sometimes called a "strengths-based" diagnosis, it means that each individual's challenges and strengths should be equally recognized and the quirks and uniqueness of autistic individuals should be viewed inclusively, as with the differences of any minority group, and that efforts to eliminate autism should not be compared, for example, to curing cancer but instead to the antiquated notion of curing left-handedness. the arm is a part of the larger disability rights movement, and as such acknowledges the social model of disability. within the model, struggles faced by autistic people are viewed as discrimination rather than deficiencies. jim sinclair, a leader in the movement, argues that autism is essential to a person, not a disease secondary to the person. sinclair says that wishing that an autistic person be cured is equivalent to wishing that they disappear and another completely different person exist in their place. visions for a future where autism has been eradicated, sinclair believes, is the desire to end the autistic culture. most autistic self-advocates agree that autistic people should not be made to act exactly like everyone else, but that society should accommodate their disability and that autism services should focus on quality of life, rather than conformity. simon baron-cohen, a professor of developmental psychology at trinity college, cambridge, and an autism researcher, expressed the latter view. baron-cohen said: i do think there is a benefit in trying to help people with autism-spectrum conditions with areas of difficulty such as emotion recognition. nobody would dispute the place for interventions that alleviate areas of difficulty, while leaving the areas of strength untouched. but to talk about a 'cure for autism' is a sledge-hammer approach and the fear would be that in the process of alleviating the areas of difficulty, the qualities that are special – such as the remarkable attention to detail, and the ability to concentrate for long periods on a small topic in depth – would be lost. autism is both a disability and a difference. we need to find ways of alleviating the disability while respecting and valuing the difference. autistic people have their own culture autistic art representing the natural diversity of human minds. some autistic activists suggest that life with autism is very much like being born among people who speak a different language, have a religion or philosophy one does not share and live a lifestyle that feels alien. to put it differently, autistic people have an individual culture that's often very different from their environment. social media, meetups and even specific professions are all spaces where autistic people connect and may share common language or a common culture. this perspective is often voiced in opposition to the pathologisation of autistic modes of thought and social "rulebooks", as there are many people without autism who either claim that autistic people all think the same (on account of their similarities with each other and distinctions from members of the general public) or are completely different from each other and share no more than a label (on account of their individual life experiences, differences, and differences across the spectrum) or the suggestion that the existence of similar talents within autistic people are merely compensatory factors for a group of people who (according to non-autistic people) express severe disability or lack originality. autistic people require inclusion in the autism debate a common theme expressed among autism rights activists and neurodiversity groups is that they are different from parent- and professional-led organizations and conferences that dominate the autism scene. michelle dawson criticizes the norm of allowing parents to speak on behalf of their autistic children at conferences to the exclusion of autistics. "with the happy and proud collaboration of governments, courts, researchers, service providers, and funding bodies," she says, "parents have succeeded in removing autistics from the vicinity of any important discussions or decisions." this exclusion results in policy and treatment decisions being made solely by individuals who do not directly experience autism. jim sinclair states that autism conferences are traditionally geared toward neurotypical parents and professionals, and that to an autistic person they may be quite "hostile" in terms of sensory stimulation and rigidity. in defiance of the common complaint that anti-cure advocates' ability to articulate complex opinions in writing—which some critics see as being impossible for autistic people—autistic adults such as amanda baggs use their own writing and videos to demonstrate that it is possible for severely disabled autistics to be autism rights advocates. she says that when the critics assume that intelligent and articulate autistic people do not have difficulties like self-injurious behavior and difficulty with self-care, they affect the opinions of policy makers and make it more difficult for intelligent and articulate autistic people to get services. baggs cites an example of an autistic person who was denied services when it was discovered that she could type. autism therapy is often unethical further information: autism therapies aspies for freedom (aff) stated that the most common therapies for autism are unethical, since they focus on extinguishing harmless stimming, forcing eye contact and breaking routines. aff argued that aba therapy and restriction of stimming "and other autistic coping mechanisms" are mentally harmful, that aversion therapy and the use of restraints are physically harmful, and that alternative treatments like chelation therapy are dangerous. the united nations (un) has also called out many autism treatments as "ill-treatment or torture". michelle dawson, a canadian autism self-advocate, testified in court against government funding of aba therapy. an autistic person named jane meyerding criticized therapy which attempts to remove autistic behaviors because she says that the behaviors that the therapy tries to remove are attempts to communicate. autistics for autistics (a4a), a canadian group, has outlined some of the main objections to aba from autistic self-advocates. autism genes should not be eliminated autism rights activists are opposed to attempts to eliminate autism genes, and argue that doing so would decrease human genetic diversity. in particular, there is opposition to prenatal genetic testing of autism in fetuses, which some believe might be possible in the future. on 23 february 2005, joseph buxbaum of the autism genome project