Pietro Cirrincione Biography

Born on 8 August 1971 in Italy, he is an autistic self-advocate, disability rights activist, and expert in accessibility, digital inclusion, and autism policy. He serves as a board member and former Vice-President of Autism-Europe (AE), where he has actively contributed to numerous European projects and initiatives.

Since 2022, he has been a member of the Board of the European Disability Forum (EDF). He also participates in EDF’s Information and Communication Technologies Expert Group and has represented Autism-Europe at the European Day of Persons with Disabilities (EDPD) and the European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities (EPPD) conferences since 2010.

He was an invited expert to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), contributing to both the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) and the Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force during the development of WCAG 2.1.

At the European level, he serves as an external expert for EU Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions under the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. He is also a lay representative for people on the autism spectrum at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and a member of the pool of experts for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), promoting the social model of disability and ethical approaches to healthcare and research.

He is a co-author of a scientific article on autism research published in Cell in 2023 and of a systematic review on assessment tools for quality of life published in 2024.

In Italy, he is Vice-President of Gruppo Asperger, a national organisation promoting the rights of people on the autism spectrum, and is actively involved in FISH, a member organisation of the Italian Disability Forum.

He promotes inclusive sport through the Romulea Autistic Football Club, an amateur football club bringing together people both on and off the autism spectrum, as well as through athletics inclusion initiatives with Atletica Roma Acquacetosa.

He participates in the National Observatory on the Condition of Persons with Disabilities under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, contributing to the drafting of Italy’s Three-Year Action Plan for the Promotion of the Rights and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. He is also a lay member of the panel at the Higher Institute of Health responsible for developing the Italian Scientific Guidelines for Adults on the Autism Spectrum and has contributed to national work on life-planning models based on quality-of-life principles.

Professionally, he is a computer science expert working with African embassies. He was also a member of LEM, a cooperative focused on employment and vocational training for people on the autism spectrum. Earlier in his career, he was involved in an international human rights organisation and participated in projects across Europe, Africa, and Latin America.