Organisations around the world celebrate Autistic Pride Day, with events around the world, to connect with one another through autistic events and demonstrate to allistic people (those not on the autism spectrum) that autistic people are unique individuals who should not be seen as cases for treatment. New Scientist magazine released an article entitled 'Autistic and proud' on the first Autistic Pride Day that discussed the idea. The rainbow infinity symbol is used as the symbol of this day, representing 'diversity with infinite variations and infinite possibilities'.
it is not a day for other charities or organisations to promote themselves or stifle autistic people. According to Kabie Brook, the co-founder of Autism Rights Group Highland (ARGH), 'the most important thing to note about the day is that it is an autistic community event: it originated from and is still led by autistic people ourselves', i.e. AFF modelled the celebration on the gay pride movement. Autistic Pride Day was first celebrated in 2005 by Aspies For Freedom (AFF), who selected 18 June because it was the birthday of the youngest member of the group at that time.
