Join us on October 30 for an evening of celebration and community! We’re so excited to share our 2024 Gala with disability community members and allies from across the country and around the world, including our incredible awardees.

We’re happy to announce this year’s awardees! Our community does remarkable work in research, community building, and more, and we want to honor as much of that work as we can each year. We’re always excited for more opportunities to recognize the work of self-advocates in our community!

Receiving our Nothing About Us Without Us Award is CommunicationFIRST!

CommunicationFIRST is transforming the national conversation about the rights and lived experiences of people who need and use expressive communication tools and supports. They are ensuring conversations at the federal and state levels around policy issues that impact people who cannot rely on speech alone (e.g., communication access in public and private entities (including education, health care, and the court system), guardianship, restraint and seclusion, institutionalization, and more) include their voices and address their interests. They are ambitious and unrelenting disabled advocates who believe in radical inclusion and acceptance. They are fighting to change hearts and minds, and to build a world that centers justice, community, dignity, and humanity. 

Receiving our Creating Community Together Award are Long COVID Justice and Pauline Bosma, Founder & Coordinator of Rainbow Groups of MASS!

Long COVID Justice leads collective efforts to confront the Long COVID crisis, centering racial, social, economic and disability justice. Their work is done by and for chronically ill and disabled people, their families and communities.

They are network-builders, communicators and mobilizers. Their areas of focus include: strategic communications and narrative change, local and federal advocacy around Long COVID and associated conditions (LCAC), resourcing BIPOC leaders through fellowships, and creating accessible resources for health education and movement building. Long COVID Justice is a project of Strategies for High Impact (S4HI), and they are fiscally sponsored by Allied Media Projects.

MASS is an agency that helps to empower self-advocates through education so people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can make choices that improve and enrich their lives.

Pauline is building a living legacy by working with her passion to create a better world for others. Pauline is the founder and coordinator of the Rainbow Groups of Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong (MASS), a network of support groups that started in October of 2004 for LGBTQ+ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She continually finds new ways to grow the network by supporting people across the state as well as nationally and on occasion, internationally. Pauline also delivers sexuality training and teaches staff and agencies about supporting people with IDD who identify as LGBTQ+. Pauline loves helping her peers and others to learn about and celebrate gender and sexual diversity. When she assists in starting new local Rainbow Groups, she emphasizes human rights: the need for people to learn their rights, especially their rights to liberty and freedom of choice. Pauline gets the “big picture” and she patiently works to see her many ideas come to fruition. She is not afraid to take risks and is confident in achieving her desired outcomes. 

Receiving our Mel Baggs Down In The Valley Award is L. "Dax" Daxer!

Dax lives in southwest Ohio, USA. They graduated from Wright State University and work as a volunteer for their local library. When they're not wrangling large stacks of books back onto shelves, they enjoy raising foster kittens, playing tabletop RPGs, and reading about science. They have been doing research and writing for the Disability Day of Mourning website since 2014.

Receiving our Loud Hands Award for Autistic Storytellers is Ashley Storrie!

Ashley Storrie is a multi BAFTA award nominee, comedian, writer and actress from Glasgow. Ashley most recently co-created and co-wrote Dinosaur, which she also stars in, produced by Fleabag producers Two Brothers Pictures, released on Hulu in the US and BBC1/iPlayer in the UK in 2024. The show was nominated for 4 Scottish BAFTAs including two nominations for Ashley in the categories of Actress (Television) and Writer (Film/Television).

Receiving our Harriet McBryde Johnson Award for Nonfiction is Katherine Gilyard!

When Katherine Gilyard first arrived at Howard University, her plan and dream were simple: pursue her love for science, major in biology, go to medical school, work in medicine like the three generations of women before her, and become a resource for her community. However, after experiencing sexual assault in her freshman year, navigating the criminal justice, mental health, and medical systems as she awaited her offender’s trial, and receiving an autism diagnosis, her dream evolved. Her community now included survivors of assault, people with disabilities, and those who had been left out of important conversations. Her plan shifted to reflect this change.

For over 10 years, Katherine’s work has focused on deeply exploring the intersections of equity, power, systems, and culture, centering the stories of disabled and marginalized communities, and making health and wellness information accessible to all. She currently does this work as a multimedia health equity reporter, victims’ counselor, and disability and accessibility advocate, always looking for new ways to learn and progress in her mission.

Last but not least, receiving our Ally to the Autistic Community 2024 Award is Shannon Des Roches Rosa!

Shannon Rosa is senior editor of Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, an autism information and advocacy nexus. Her writing can be found in The Washington Post and the anthology Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement, among other places. She lives near San Francisco, California, with her husband and adult autistic son.

We look forward to honoring these awardees at our annual gala and hope that you can come celebrate with us! 

Join us for the award ceremony to honor their work and celebrate our community. Pick and choose which events to attend, or join us for the whole evening — your ticket is good for all events. As the gala gets closer, we’ll send you links to join our panels and award ceremony.

Gala tickets are on a sliding scale this year, so you can pay whatever you are comfortable with. Proceeds from this event every year support our advocacy work and programs for the coming year, and allow us to continue working to empower disabled people across the country. If you are not able to donate, we’re just happy to have you celebrating with us! But if you are able, please consider donating to support our work.

Make sure to save your spot, and RSVP on Facebook so you don’t miss a thing. We’ll be announcing some amazing panelists soon!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035

 

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