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Join us for a special virtual edition of our annual celebration and fundraising event every Tuesday in November! We’re so excited to share the gala with disability community members and allies from across the country and around the world, who usually wouldn’t be able to attend in-person. The events have begun, and we hope to see you next week at our panel, “As If Your Life Depends on It” Voting and the Disability Community.

Today, we’re happy to announce several more new awards to recognize the work of self-advocates and allies of our community!

Natasha Nelson is a Certified Positive Discipline Educator (CPDE), veteran, military spouse, small business owner and Autistic mother to two autistic Black girls. Natasha has over seven years of exemplary leadership in the United States Army, over 5 years using Positive Discipline, and over a decade of experience in public speaking, community service, and facilitating in and out of the military. Natasha's small business Supernova Momma LLC. is an education resource for Black and Neurodiverse families to break generational curses from systemic racism and ableism in households, schools, and offices to receive support in a mutually caring, empathetic, and respectful environment. Natasha prides herself on making Positive Discipline, gentle parenting, and Conscious Parenting accessible and relatable specifically to Black and/or Neurodiverse Families with her NEED system: Network, Educate, Empathize, Demonstrate. One of the products of this system is Natasha's The Cool Calming Corner, a Time-In printable poster set that features Black and/or multicultural children of different shades and hair styles, and teaches them emotional intelligence and coping strategies through a love of hip hop.

We’re also happy to announce that We Move Together is receiving the Harriet McBryde Johnson Award for Nonfiction!

We Move Together is a bold and colorful exploration of all the ways that people navigate through the spaces around them and a celebration of the relationships we build along the way. A 2022 silver medal recipient for the International Latino Book Awards' Best Educational Children's Picture Book and selected for the Ontario Library Association’s Best Bets List of Top 10 Canadian Children’s Picture Books for 2021, the book follows a mixed-ability group of kids as they creatively negotiate everyday barriers and find joy and connection in disability culture and community. We Move Together is the result of a creative collaboration between Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire and Eduardo Trejos, who came to this project from their unique and varying perspectives as disabled people, parents, disability activists, and disability studies scholars.

Finally, we’re happy to announce that Unsilenced is receiving the Ally to the Autistic Community 2022 Award!

Unsilenced is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that serves victims of institutional child abuse. Founded in 2021 as an organization of over 50 survivors and allies, Unsilenced is committed to promoting appropriate, healthy, and effective alternatives to programs within the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI). To foster better health outcomes without placement in the largely unregulated industry, the organization advocates for constructive alternatives that circumvent institutionalization for children and youth who are struggling with mental health and educational challenges. Utilizing education, awareness, survivor/community support, policy change, and strategic partnerships with other organizations fighting in similar spaces, Unsilenced aims to protect the civil, social, and human rights of youth.

We ask that our gala attendees donate if they are able, but no donation will be required to attend our virtual gala events. Proceeds will support our advocacy work and programs for the coming year, and allow us to continue working to empower disabled people across the country.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035

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