autistic community

A woman holding a sign that says "The Loud Hands Project"

The Loud Hands Project

The Loud Hands Project, a publishing effort by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, is working towards the creation of our first and foundational anthology and accompanying website. “Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking” features essays, long and short, by Autistic authors

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Happy Holidays from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network

From our Navigating College handbook to our Symposium with Harvard Law School on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Autism Research, this has been an exciting year for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. We celebrated our fifth anniversary, engaged in advocacy on critical issues

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Thank You! For a Great Evening…

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s 5-Year Anniversary Celebration was a wonderful event for all who attended, including those who made the evening possible. Many thanks to our sponsors and supporters!

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ASAN’s 5-Year Anniversary Celebration

The five-year anniversary of the founding of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network is right around the corner, and we’re inviting our supporters to join us for a celebration and fundraising event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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Reflections on Autistics Speaking Day

An essay by Ari Ne’eman. With a puzzle piece, a ribbon, a donation, or a Facebook or Twitter app, an average citizen does their duty, checks the autism box on their charitable instincts and moves on, never having to talk to, experience, work, live, learn with or otherwise acknowledge those Autistics they pass by every day.

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Wired.com Interview

ASAN President Ari Ne’eman gave an exclusive interview to Wired.com editor Steve Silberman about the shift in the national dialogue on autism toward issues of civil rights,…

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Parents in the Autism World

An essay by Elesia Ashkenazy. A parent’s main concern is going to be to help their child by utilizing whatever means are available. Good Parenting 101 = Help Your Child No Matter What. Parents will naturally lean toward autism-focused groups and/or organizations offering help and support. Inspecting the inner-workings of such groups and organizations may be the last thing on a parent’s mind when they are knee-deep in making sense of the new course or path their life has taken.

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Reverse Van Winkle

An essay by Mark Stairwalt. For all that I’m still learning something new every week about what’s been happening with autism in society over the last decade or so, that fact itself provides me with a perspective that is likely unique from that of just about anyone else writing on the subject. Until a few months ago when I went out looking again, my picture of this world I’m writing about now was frozen in time, hardly updated at all since about 1999.

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Treading the Muddy Waters: The Divided Communities of Autism

An essay by Stephanie Allen Crist. It’s human nature to disagree. It’s human nature to degrade. It’s human nature to let prejudice, assumptions, and ignorance sway our thoughts and emotions. It’s human nature to have to fight for the rights and worth of minority groups. … I do not believe human beings, as a species, will ever get passed these fundamental flaws.

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“The A Word” from ASAN Australia

The decision to use the word Autistic is a deliberate and political one – whilst it can be acknowledged that person first language has had an impact upon the way people who experience disability are viewed it has also performed the role (in people’s minds) of extracting that which can not be extracted from a person…

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