The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network is a non-profit organization run by and for Autistic people. ASAN's supporters include Autistic adults and youth, cross-disability advocates, and non-autistic family members, professionals, educators and friends. ASAN was created to provide support and services to individuals on the autism spectrum while working to change public perception and combat misinformation by educating communities about persons on the autism spectrum. Our activities include public policy advocacy, community engagement to encourage inclusion and respect for neurodiversity, quality of life oriented research and the development of Autistic cultural activities and other opportunities for Autistic people to engage with others on the spectrum.

------

ASAN Dallas-Ft. Worth was started to bring together those within the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. We are building a community to help introduce the concept of Neurodiversity and help Autistic adults learn to advocate in their homes, at schools, at work or in the community. In the future, we will go forward to advocating within the state to help all Autistic people.

Our philosophy is simple. Acceptance, Accommodation, and Accessibility is our mantra. Accessibility to treatments, health care, transportation or even living out of institutions should be a standard. Instead, many Autistics never have those standards of living. Accommodations in school, home or work are essential to independence and meaningfully contributing to our communities. Acceptance should be the simplest of all but rarely happens. Educating our communities to understand our differences and our difficulties is key to being accepted. We will work tirelessly to pursue these principles.