Applications for the 2025 Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Leadership Academy are now open. This year’s program will be held from July 14th to July 20th, 2025. This year’s program will be held virtually.
Download the application as a PDF here or as a Word document here!
Please email a completed application by midnight on Sunday, March 9th, 2025 to Dean Strauss at dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.
ACI helps autistic students learn to make their college campuses better for people with disabilities. ACI participants learn about making student groups, understanding disability policy, and talking to people in power. After the Academy, students get help from ASAN to meet their advocacy goals at their college.
Past students have learned new skills and information about:
- Developmental Disability Policy
- SMART Goals and Action Plans
- Meetings and Facilitation
- Building Your Student Group
- Building Relationships and Campaigns Using Intersectionality
- Strategic Relationship-Building
- Campaign Strategies
- ASAN Policy Goals
- Sharing Your Story For a Political Purpose
- Effective Debunking
If you have any questions about ACI, please contact Dean Strauss at dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.
Watch the video of our alumni sharing their experiences!
Testimonials from Alumni:
ACI was the first time in which I got to be in a space by autistic people for autistic people. It was an absolutely empowering and life-changing experience! I’ve finally found an autistic community that has given me friendship and support before, during, and after ACI. You will find a chosen family. I learned so much about activism, public policy, and identity. You don’t learn just about what activism and public policy are; you learn how to do them. I’m so honored that I had this opportunity and would recommend it to any autistic person who seeks to bring about systemic change.
— Ezra Star, ACI 2018 Alum
It was a very transformative experience in which I learned the importance of creating autistic space, fostering a neurodiverse learning environment, and meeting other non-speaking autistic people in higher education. Since this experience, I have become more confident in my self-advocacy and community advocacy. I continue to look at the workshops from ACI for guidance while creating and founding a disability rights group on my campus.
— Huan Vuong, ACI 2018 Alum
More Information
To apply for Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI), you must:
-
- Be autistic.
- You do not have to have an official autism diagnosis to apply.
- You can be self-diagnosed as autistic.
- Be a student at a college or university with at least one year left before you graduate.
- Students in TPSID (Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities) programs can apply.
- Students in 2-year community colleges can apply.
- Students in 4-year colleges can apply.
- Students in graduate school can apply.
- Live in the United States, Canada, or Mexico.
- You do not have to be a citizen of the US, Canada, or Mexico, you only need to live there.
- The US here means all 50 states and all US territories.
- Canada here means all provinces and all Canadian territories.
- Mexico here means all states and all Mexican territories.
- (Please note: ACI is presented entirely in English and the policy sections of ACI will only talk about the United States).
- Be autistic.
We especially encourage students of color, LGBT students, low-income students, students with intellectual disabilities, AAC users, and students from other marginalized communities to apply.
ACI is made possible by a generous donation from Nicole Cliffe.