1. Ari Daniel Ne'eman is an American disability rights activist and researcher who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2006.
29 Facts About Ari Ne'eman
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On December 16,2009, President Barack Obama announced that Ne'eman would be appointed to the National Council on Disability.
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In 2015, Ari Ne'eman left the National Council on Disability at the end of his second term.
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Ari Ne'eman currently serves as a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union.
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Ari Ne'eman is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management of Harvard University.
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Ari Ne'eman was born to American-Israeli and Israeli parents and raised in Conservative Judaism.
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Ari Ne'eman grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey, where he attended East Brunswick High School.
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Ari Ne'eman displayed autistic traits at an early age, and eventually developed an interest in public policy.
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Ari Ne'eman engages in stimming, such as pacing and hand-flapping.
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Ari Ne'eman has sensory processing issues that affect his reactions to certain sounds and textures.
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Early in childhood, Ari Ne'eman was verbally advanced and socially isolated.
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Ari Ne'eman had to leave the Solomon Schechter Jewish day school around the fifth grade, which distressed him.
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Ari Ne'eman then attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he became a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Political Science as part of the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program.
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Ari Ne'eman attracted significant public attention for ASAN's successful campaign against the New York University Child Study Center's Ransom Notes campaign and the organization's long-standing criticism of Autism Speaks.
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On July 18,2016, Ari Ne'eman announced that he would step down as president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, to be succeeded by Julia Bascom.
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Ari Ne'eman subsequently joined the American Civil Liberties Union as a consultant on disability policy.
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Ari Ne'eman believes that society should focus on developing supports for autistics rather than searching for a cure.
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Ari Ne'eman urges scientists researching the genetics of autism to be cautious of the ethical implications of their studies.
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Ari Ne'eman believes that social pleasantry should be eliminated as criteria for hiring and a good job evaluation.
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Ari Ne'eman had been Vice Chair of the New Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force, and served on the New Jersey Special Education Review Committee.
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Ari Ne'eman led a campaign in Washington State to get a bus advertisement removed which advocated the "wiping out" of autism.
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Ari Ne'eman has advised several Democratic presidential candidates on disability policy.
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Ari Ne'eman supported the FDA's ban on electric shock devices at the Judge Rotenberg Center in 2020.
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Early in the pandemic, Ari Ne'eman urged states to allow early refills on prescription drugs.
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Ari Ne'eman articulated a series of recommendations to states to help ensure continuity of long-term care services for people with disabilities.
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In 2014, Ari Ne'eman co-founded MySupport, a technology platform that enables people with disabilities to find and hire support workers.
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Multiple media sources have claimed that Ari Ne'eman sees autism as a difference as opposed to a disability.
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Ari Ne'eman is against what he sees as the stigmatization of autism in the media and views autism self-advocacy as a civil rights issue.
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Ari Ne'eman married Rabbi Ruti Regan, a Conservative Jewish Rabbinical scholar and disability rights advocate, in July 2017.