What is Autistic Pride Day?
Autistic Pride Day is a day where the autistic community hosts our city and fills it with Autistic Joy. This event comes from a 20‑year international tradition and is being brought to the Southeast for the first time. It isn’t a fundraiser or an awareness event. It’s a celebration of autistic culture, creativity, connection, and the way our joy looks when we get to shape a space ourselves. Come be immersed in a world built by autistic people, full of color, comfort, play, and the kind of joy that shows up when we finally get to be fully ourselves.
Who is this Event for?
This event is for everyone. Who ever comes to the library that day is welcome to participate in Autistic Pride Day
Is the Library Open that Day?
Yes. The library is open and operating as usual. Autistic Pride Day takes place inside the normal flow of the library. Anyone who comes to the library that day is welcome to participate. We are there to enhance the library experience, not interrupt it. Public third spaces like the library are a core part of autistic culture, and we are grateful to celebrate in a space that is accessible to everyone on the spectrum.
Is this Event Free?
Yes. Autistic Pride Day is completely free. Anyone who comes to the library that day is welcome to join in.
If you don’t pre‑register, you’ll get a standard lanyard when you arrive. It includes a communication passport and lets everyone know you’re a fellow adventurer in the day’s activities, including collecting your “Side Quest Buttons.”
What are Side Quest Buttons?
Side Quest Buttons are small collectible buttons you can earn throughout the day by completing simple, fun adventures around the library. They’re one of the most joyful parts of Autistic Pride Day. Each button marks something you explored, noticed, or enjoyed.
If you don’t want to complete the adventures and just want to walk around collecting buttons, you’re welcome to do that. There’s no wrong way to participate.
You’re also welcome to forge your own buttons on the 4th floor. It’s a quiet, creative space where you can make the buttons you missed or design your own additions to your lanyard.
Your lanyard becomes a record of your day — a little map of your own Autistic Pride adventure.
Can I bring my own trinkets and pebbles to trade?
Yes. We highly encourage trinket trading and pebbling. Pebbling is a part of autistic culture: the quiet exchange of small objects that feel interesting, comforting, or meaningful. It’s a way of acknowledging each other without the pressure of social rituals. You’re welcome to bring your own trinkets, pebbles, fidgets, stickers, or tiny creations to trade or gift throughout the day.
What else should I bring?
We follow the library’s guidelines for what can be brought into the building. Bags must fit within 14” W x 17” H x 20” L. Personal items like purses, laptops, and briefcases are fine. Please don’t bring firearms, weapons, fireworks, or anything dangerous onto library property.
Beyond that, bring whatever helps your body feel good. Comfort items are welcome: fidgets, weighted items, ear plugs, ear covers, sunglasses, stim toys, or anything that helps you regulate. You are encouraged to be visibly autistic. This is a space where your natural ways of being are expected and celebrated.
While the event is free, you may want to bring a way to pay if you’d like to enjoy lunch from Nerdy4Food, coffee from Kindred Coffee, or any of the adventure wares in our curated Market.
We’re also hosting a food drive. If you’re able, bring dried goods or bottled water to support our community.
What should I wear?
Wear whatever makes you comfortable. Autistic Pride Day is a celebration of showing up as yourself. Cozy clothes, sensory‑friendly layers, bright colors, muted colors, stim jewelry, soft textures — all of it belongs here.
Cosplay is absolutely encouraged. Chattooine will be cosplaying throughout the day, so no matter what you show up as, you’ll fit right in. If dressing up brings you joy, go for it. If comfort is your priority, that’s perfect too.
We follow the library’s general guidelines for attire, but beyond that, you are welcome to be visibly autistic in whatever way feels right for your body and your joy.
Where do I park?
The Downtown Library has several parking options, including free 2‑hour parking in the EPB Garage right next door. EPB provides 40 complimentary 2‑hour passes each day, available on a first‑come basis.
When you arrive, look for the sign outside the library entrance on 10th Street. • Green sign means passes are still available. • Red sign means they’re gone for the day.
If passes are available, park in the EPB Garage, then bring your license plate number to the library’s Circulation Desk. They’ll validate your 2‑hour parking. If you stay longer than 2 hours, you’ll just pay the garage’s normal rates.
If the passes are gone, you can either stay in the garage and pay the posted rates or move your car to avoid charges.
There are also metered spots around the library that accept coins, cards, or the ParkMobile app, as well as nearby paid lots on Broad Street and Carter Street. CARTA’s free electric shuttle is another option for getting around downtown.
What do I do if I get overwhelmed or the day is too much for me?
Most of our ushers and guides are also autistic — we get it. There is no reason to feel embarrassed if you need a break, need help, or if the day becomes too much. Autistic Pride Day is built with that reality in mind.
You are always welcome to let an usher or guide in a yellow vest know if you need support. They can help you find a quieter space, navigate the building, or just walk with you until you feel settled again.
The entire 3rd floor is designed as the quiet floor. You’re welcome to spend as much time there as you need. You can lounge, rest, breathe, or simply exist without expectation. There’s gentle movement with our yogi, Kari Flowers, a calm space to browse the Actually Silent — Silent Auction, and Uncle Iroh’s tent where you can escape the bright lights and enjoy a cup of tea.
You can come and go from the quiet floor at any point in your adventure. Your comfort comes first.
What's the schedule for the day?
The event officially opens at 11am. We’ll start registration a little before that so you can get your lanyard and communication passport without missing the Opening Ceremony in the auditorium.
The auditorium is the only space that follows a schedule. That’s where you’ll find the Stimming Contest, the Entertainment Purposely Only Peer Review Autism Assessments, and our panels. Everything else in the building is choose‑your‑own‑adventure and can be explored at your own pace.
We’ll gather again in the auditorium around 2:30pm for our Closing Ceremony, giving everyone time to say our goodbyes as the event wraps up at 3pm.
What if I want to host a table or vend at this event?
We have very limited space left, but we may consider last‑minute applications. If you want to support the event without selling items, please fill out the form for a community table. If you would like to vend, please join our vendor waitlist.
Can I support this event?
Yes, absolutely. We can always use more support. If you’d like to help, please visit our SignUpGenius and choose the role that fits you.
Autistic Pride Day is not a fundraiser. Most of what makes this event possible has come from community members who donated their time, talent, and resources by underwriting an adventure. That generosity is the heart of this day.
There is a cost to putting on an event like this, and most of our financial support has come from private donations rather than sponsorships. If you’d like to help strengthen this year’s event — and make the next one even better — there are still opportunities to sponsor or contribute.
Who is making this day happen?
Autistic Pride Day is brought to you by Autistic Pride Chattanooga, a 501(c)(3) autistic‑led grassroots organization. Our mission is simple and bold: We Amplify, Center, and Empower Autistic Voices — not only in conversations about autism, but in every conversation where humanity, justice, and imagination belong.
We are a small team of autistic and neurodiverse organizers, volunteers, and community members who believe in building community shaped by lived experience. Everything you see today — every adventure, every sensory moment, every bit of joy — exists because autistic people and our community partners poured in their time, talent, creativity, and care.
We’re honored to welcome Chattanooga into a community created by us, for all of us.
Is this event conntected to the LBGTQ+ Pride movement?
Autistic Pride Day is its own movement with its own history. It was first celebrated in 2005 by autistic organizers and was inspired by the broader tradition of Pride movements, including LGBTQ+ Pride, in reclaiming identity and rejecting shame.
While the movements are not formally linked, the communities overlap in a way that’s impossible to ignore. Studies show that up to 70% of autistic people identify as LGBTQ+, which means these movements can’t — and shouldn’t — be separated in practice. The connection isn’t symbolic; it’s lived in the identities of the people who shaped Autistic Pride from the beginning.
So Autistic Pride Day stands on its own as an autistic‑created and autistic‑led tradition, while sharing deep roots of visibility, dignity, and liberation with LGBTQ+ Pride because the LGBTQ+ community is a large part of our community.
Why June 2oth?
The international date for Autistic Pride Day is June 18th. This year, the closest Saturday fell on June 20th, so we chose that date for our first celebration in Chattanooga.
Because this is our first Autistic Pride Day here, we’ll be looking to our community to help decide when we hold it next year. We also want to acknowledge that many important dates in the United States fall around this time — including Juneteenth and Pride Month — and we want to be thoughtful about how Autistic Pride Day fits into that landscape in the future.
Is there anything else I should know?
Yes. We are guests of the library, and we want to honor the space that’s hosting us. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the library’s Code of Conduct and general guidelines. Following their expectations helps us keep Autistic Pride Day welcoming, safe, and accessible for everyone who walks through the doors — including the people who are simply visiting the library that day.