Awareness Events & Acceptance Dates
Every autism and disability awareness date, acceptance month, and advocacy anniversary. Each event links to history, context, and how to participate.
A worldwide initiative to transform how neurodivergent individuals are viewed and supported, challenging stereotypes and...
A month to raise awareness of the needs and potential of people with developmental disabilities, including autism, intel...
A month honoring social workers who support individuals and families with disabilities, including autism. Social workers...
A month promoting awareness of assistive technology, tools that help people with disabilities live, learn, and work more...
A month highlighting the importance of early intervention services for children from birth to age three with development...
A month raising awareness of feeding differences and ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder). Feeding difficul...
A month dedicated to promoting acceptance of autistic people, not just awareness. The emphasis on acceptance reflects th...
A United Nations-designated day to promote understanding and acceptance of autistic people worldwide. While it began as ...
A month recognizing occupational therapists and their work supporting people with disabilities in daily life, sensory pr...
A day within Autism Acceptance Month specifically focused on nonspeaking and minimally speaking autistic people, a group...
A day honoring sibling relationships, particularly meaningful in autism families, where siblings often navigate unique e...
A global day celebrating the human voice in all its forms, including alternative forms of voice and communication used b...
A day within Autism Acceptance Month dedicated to the principle of presuming competence, assuming that every autistic pe...
A day recognizing evidence-based autism research and science literacy, and the value of rigorous, ethical research that ...
A reframe of traditional autism awareness campaigns, promoted by autistic self-advocates. The distinction between awaren...
A month recognizing the importance of communication and the professionals who support it, particularly relevant to the a...
A day raising awareness of Pathological Demand Avoidance, an anxiety-driven profile associated with autism. PDA is often...
A day focused on digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities. Accessible websites, apps, and digital tools...
A week focused on the mental health needs of children, including anxiety, which a 2011 meta-analysis found in 39.6 perce...
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we use it to focus on anxiety. Anxiety is one of the most common co-occurring ...
A day created by and for autistic people to celebrate autistic identity, culture, and community. Unlike awareness campai...
A day within Pride Month celebrating neurodivergent identities, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurological...
Pride Month offers a natural opportunity to highlight the significant overlap between autism and gender diversity. Resea...
A month to celebrate the disability community, honor the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and promote dis...
The anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, landmark civil rights legislation that prohibits ...
A day raising awareness of the experience of being diagnosed autistic in adulthood. Many people diagnosed late, particul...
A month honoring therapeutic recreation specialists who use recreation and leisure as tools for improving health, functi...
A month recognizing the self-advocacy movement, the movement of people with developmental disabilities speaking for them...
A day dedicated to raising awareness of autistic burnout, a state of profound exhaustion that research links to chronic ...
A month dedicated to raising awareness of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, the tools, strategies, and technol...
An awareness day focused on Augmentative and Alternative Communication, highlighting the intersection of autism and comm...
A US observance recognizing the contributions of workers with disabilities and the importance of inclusive employment. M...
The anniversary of Rosa's Law, signed in 2010, which replaced the term 'mental retardation' with 'intellectual disabilit...
A global day for raising awareness of mental health issues. For the autism community, mental health is particularly rele...
A month recognizing learning disabilities including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, conditions that can co-occur ...
A week to raise awareness of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which co-occurs with autism more often than in the general p...
A month dedicated to raising awareness of ADHD, one of the most common co-occurring conditions in autism. Research estim...
A month honoring physical therapists, who support autistic individuals with motor skills, proprioception, coordination, ...
A month raising awareness of sensory processing differences, which are part of the diagnostic criteria for autism. Under...
A month celebrating people with Down syndrome and promoting inclusion. Some families navigate both Down syndrome and aut...
A month encouraging businesses, venues, and organizations to create sensory-friendly environments, reducing overwhelming...
A week focused on educating families about Individualized Education Programs, the cornerstone of special education servi...
A month dedicated to raising awareness of epilepsy, a neurological condition that often co-occurs with autism. Understan...
A month dedicated to learning about disability history, the history of institutionalization, the disability rights movem...
A global day promoting kindness and compassion. For the autism community, kindness means more than surface niceness, it ...
A day recognizing the often invisible work of caregivers, including parents of autistic children who navigate complex sy...
A day marking the anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law guaranteeing st...
A United Nations observance promoting the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities worldwide. The day calls at...
A week celebrating the progress schools have made in including students with disabilities and promoting the work that re...