Jim Sinclair

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    Jim Sinclair
    Date of birth October 1940
    Place of birth Lamesa, Texas
    Nationality American
    Pronouns unknown
    Gender identity neuter
    Occupation activist

    Jim Sinclair is an autism rights activist who, with fellow autistics Kathy Lissner Grant and Donna Williams, formed Autism Network International (ANI) in 1992.[1]

    In 1993 Sinclair wrote the essay, "Don't Mourn for Us", articulating an anti-cure perspective on autism.[2] The essay has been thought of as a touchstone for the fledgling autism-rights movement, and has been mentioned in The New York Times[3] and New York Magazine.[4]

    Sinclair established and ran Autreat, the first independent autistic-run gathering,[5] 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.[6]

    Jim is also intersex and was subjected as a child to conversion therapy in attempts to make them conform to their assigned gender. In 1997 Jim wrote that they were "proudly neuter, both physically and socially."[7]

    Links[edit | edit source]

    References[edit | edit source]

    1. Shapiro, Joseph (26 June 2006). "Autism Movement Seeks Acceptance, Not Cures". NPR. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
    2. Sinclair, Jim (1993). "Don't mourn for us". Autreat. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 2014-08-11. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
    3. Harmon, Amy (2004-12-20). "How About Not 'Curing' Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 2007-11-07. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
    4. Solomon, Andrew (2008-05-25). "The Autism Rights Movement". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 2008-06-28. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
    5. 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.
    6. Pripas-Kapit, Sarah (2020), Kapp, Steven K. (ed.), "Historicizing Jim Sinclair's "Don't Mourn for Us": A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity's First Manifesto", Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline, Springer, pp. 23–39, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0_2, ISBN 978-981-13-8437-0, archived from the original on 2023-06-08, retrieved 2020-02-04CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) on 17 July 2023
    7. Sinclair, Jim (1997). "Self-introduction to the Intersex Society of North America". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009.
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