Mel Baggs

Mel Baggs was a well-known autistic activist blogger. Baggs created a website titled "Getting the Truth Out", a response to a campaign by the Autism Society of America. Sie claimed that the ASA's campaign made autistic people objects of pity. Sie also spoke at conferences about disabilities, and worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists that were researching autism.

In January 2007, Baggs posted a video on YouTube entitled In My Language describing the experience of living as an autistic person, which became the subject of several articles on CNN. Baggs also guest-blogged about the video on Anderson Cooper's blog and answered questions from the audience via email.

Baggs died on April 11, 2020 at the age of 39 in Burlington, Vermont; hir mother said that the cause of hir death was believed to be respiratory failure.