Historicizing Jim Sinclair’s “Don’t Mourn for Us”: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity’s First Manifesto

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Pripas-Kapit, S. (2019). Historicizing Jim Sinclair’s “Don’t Mourn for Us”: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity’s First Manifesto. In Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement (pp. 23-39). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0_2

Publication date: 7 Nov 2019 Added to AutiHub: 16 Sep 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Sarah Pripas-Kapit *

Abstract

Abstract Jim Sinclair’s 1993 essay “Don’t Mourn for Us” has influenced the neurodiversity movement since its publication. Sinclair’s essay stands out as particularly radical when considered within the context of other autistic writings from the 1980s and early 1990s. While writers such as Temple Grandin and Donna Williams introduced mainstream audiences to the concept of autistic people narrating their own experiences, their works still relied on ableist ideas about autism promoted by non-autistic scientific “experts” and parents. They positioned autism as a tragedy. Sinclair, who was very familiar with parent-centric autism culture, upended those notions by challenging the notion that parental grief was the inevitable result of autism. In doing so, Sinclair played a major role in establishing the intellectual and cultural foundations of neurodiversity.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 20 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
14
With a DOI
4
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
10
2 / 14 (14.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
10 / 14 (71.4%)
References with detected author names
5 / 14 (35.7%)
Without detected author names
9
Without a structured title
10
Without a stable identifier
10
References with raw author names still to review
9
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
5
From DOI or external metadata
4
From validated raw bibliography text
1
Raw names already validated
1
Raw names still to review
10
2 / 5 (40.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 3 / 5 (60.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
2 / 5 (40.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 2 / 2 (100.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 4 (25.0%).
  1. D Williams (1993). Nobody, nowhere: The extraordinary autobiography of an autistic . Choice Reviews Online, 30(08), 30-4695-30-4695. American Library Association.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.5860/choice.30-4695 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1518180707
    Crossref OpenAlex
  2. Jim Sinclair * Sinclair, J. (1993). Don’t mourn for us. Our Voice, 1(3). http://www.autreat.com/dont_mourn.html .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  3. Jim Sinclair * (2010). Being Autistic Together . Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(1). The Ohio State University Libraries.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.18061/dsq.v30i1.1075 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1565875767
    AutiHub · Autistic Autism Scholarship Project Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  4. (n.d.). Darroch, G. (2008, July 30). Grief (Web log post). http://autisticdad.blogspot.com/2008/07 .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  5. Jennifer Cross (2017). NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity . Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 38(2), 119-119. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1097/dbp.0000000000000378 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2567564743
    OpenAlex
  6. (n.d.). thequestioningaspie. (2016, October 31). Revisiting Jim Sinclair—“Don’t mourn for us”: And (some of) my thoughts on the language of “cure” (Web log post). https://thequestioningaspie.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/revisiting-jim-sinclair-dont-mourn-for-us-and-some-of-my-thoughts-on-the-language-of-cure .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  7. S Silberman (2016). Neurotribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity . Choice Reviews Online, 53(08), 53-3753-53-3753. American Library Association.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.5860/choice.194735 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3152449083
    Crossref OpenAlex
  8. (n.d.). abfh. (2006, August 9). Don’t mourn, get attitude (Web log post). http://autisticbfh.blogspot.com/2006/08/dont-mourn-get-attitude.html .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  9. (n.d.). Morris, S. (2012, January 6). An open letter to Jim Sinclair (Web log post). http://sharon-theawfultruth.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-to-jim-sinclair.html .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  10. (n.d.). Thea ZebraMama. (2009, July 30). My response to “Don’t mourn for us” by Jim Sinclair (Web log post). http://roosclues.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-response-to-dont-mourn-for-us-by-jim.html .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  11. (n.d.). “Margaret M. Scariano”. (2013, June 30). Missoulian. https://missoulian.com/news/local/obituaries/margaret-m-scariano/article_3b1c4d9a-e196-11e2-b139-0019bb2963f4.html .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  12. (n.d.). Grandin, T., & Scariano, M. (2005, reissue). Emergence: Labeled autistic. New York and Boston: Grand Central Publishing.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  13. Sinclair, J. (1992). Bridging the gaps: An inside-out view of autism (or, do you know what I don’t know?). In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), High-functioning individuals with autism. New York: Plenum Press. http://jisincla.mysite.syr.edu/bridgingnc.htm .
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  14. Sinclair, J. (1999). Why I dislike person first language. http://www.larry-arnold.net/Autonomy/index.php/autonomy/article/view/OP1/html_1 .
    Type: Other
    Crossref