Abstract
Patient advocacy organizations emerged in the 1950s to collectivize patient power and promote patient’s shared interests and rights. Since that time, patient advocacy organizations have grown in number and influence, filling an assortment of roles that include increasing public awareness, providing support to patients and families, building community, and advocating for research. It is their role in political activism that McCoy et al. consider in this issue of the Journal, offering an analysis of the autism community and a divide that has emerged between self-advocates and parent-advocates.