This month marks Autism Acceptance Month, our chance to celebrate our community and what makes us unique [[link removed]] . We’re celebrating through sharing some of the resources and leadership work we’ve completed to make sure our community has access to a range of self advocacy tools. Our community makes all of our projects possible.

In the year since last Autism Acceptance Month, we’ve:

Hosted a virtual hill day [[link removed]] and training [[link removed]] to teach people how to talk to their representatives about #StopTheShock

Held our 11th annual and third virtual Autism Campus Inclusion summer leadership academy

Advocated for the omnibus bill [[link removed]] with a provision that gives the FDA the right to ban contingent electric shocks used for behavior modification

Held multiple webinar series to teach self-advocates, nonprofit workers, and government employees how to write in plain language and Easy Read [[link removed]]

Released new resources, including a plain language webinar series, [[link removed]] about voting

Responded to harmful Supreme Court decisions in Dobbs and Cummings with new resources [[link removed]] explaining the decisions and their impacts on our communities

Released accessible toolkits [[link removed]] about issues that affect our community, like COVID-19, LGBTQ+, reproductive justice, the criminal legal system, and the HCBS Settings Rule

Created a new section of our action center [[link removed]] focused on bodily autonomy

And more!

So this month, we’re celebrating our community’s hard work to advance autism acceptance. But April is also a hard month for our community, and it can be difficult to take care of ourselves and each other. As we gear up for another Autism Acceptance Month, let’s encourage one another to take time for not only self care, but community care. Whether it’s fighting for our rights or caring for each other, we’re stronger together.

This year, we’re putting a spotlight on our amazing donors [[link removed]] , who make it possible for us to continue fighting for all autistic people. The folks in our membership program [[link removed]] make a regular donation to ASAN, and get perks in exchange, such as a giftcard to the ASAN shop or a copy of one of our books! We named the tiers of possible donations after different special interests — including gamers! You can become a Gaming Giver here.

We’ve also swapped out our membership program’s digital rewards with game-themed wallpapers for your phone or laptop. [[link removed]] If you’d like to download them, you'll have to check out our membership program! Signing up is easy, quick, and has options for a variety of budgets (as well as scholarships for self advocates who are low-income). This is a great way to support ASAN’s disability rights work, and get fun perks as a thank-you from us.

Thank you for all you do to support us — we wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without you!

Sincerely,
The team at ASAN

P.S. - Our scholarship memberships, for self-advocates who can’t pay for membership, aren’t going anywhere! Autistic people and those with other developmental disabilities can get our digital perks for free - contact [email protected] to get signed up.


Autistic Self Advocacy Network
PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035
United States
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