For autistic founders, pride meant special interests and the joy of each other

The last question Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, put to the entrepreneurship panel at the 2023 Autistic Pride Day Symposium was what autistic pride meant to each of them. The answers came from people who had spent the session describing barriers in business, and they kept returning to two things, the pleasure of special interests and the experience of finding other autistic people.

One panellist set the mood before the question was asked. It was, the panellist said, an amazingly awesome time to be autistic. People were now getting diagnosed and could find their tribe, because events like this existed and because the internet had ways of pulling people together. The opportunity, the panellist said, was to find each other, work on problems together and help each other rise. The panellist admitted it sounded a bit cheesy and said they were excited about what the community could do together for the neurodivergent community and beyond. Someone then remarked that Australia might be too early in talking about pride, though looking at the world it was just the right time.