Today, January 18, 2022, Finn Gardiner submitted comments to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) on behalf of the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and the Autistic People of Color Fund. The full comments with annotations can be read here, and an abridged version is provided below. We encourage the Committee to prioritize funding for research on the disparities and inequities in service provision and outcomes that autistic people of color, queer and transgender autistic people, and autistic immigrants and refugees face. All autistic people are at higher risk of unemployme ..read more

Dear Friend, I can’t believe that another year has come and gone and we’re less than two weeks away from 2023! AWN has had an incredible year, and as the executive director I am proud of what our team has accomplished in 2022. We’ve continued to grow our voice on the national stage and expanded the ways we serve our community — while at the same time inviting others to join us in moving the neurodiversity movement towards justice-centered work.  It has especially been a packed year with groundbreaking representation for and by the autistic community in federal policy work. In April I repr ..read more

AWN December Newsletter Dear Friend, My name is Kayla Maria Rodriguez, and I co-chair AWN’s Executive Advisory Board on Equity, Justice, and Representation. I am a disabled Latine autistic lesbian young woman living in the US South, diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, PCOS, ADHD, and other mental health disabilities. AWN has been a crucial community to me, and I’ve been proud to contribute to their work as an advocate and regular writer for their blog. I’m also incredibly excited that last month AWN revamped our entire website, including relaunching some of our most popular resources in Spanish an ..read more

Dear Friend, I am an autistic trans youth and I am writing to you today, Giving Tuesday, to ask your financial support for a resource guide the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network is creating to support other autistic trans youth. This guide is important to me because I want to be able to help other autistic transgender and gender non-conforming people get support and acceptance from their families and loved ones. When I came out to my parents a few years ago, I was met with acceptance, and I want other young people to know what that is like. Especially because so many trans kids do not hav ..read more

AWN November Newsletter Dear Friend, My name is Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán, and I am a board member of AWN and an autistic Puerto Rican trans woman. Right now, while some of us may be gathering with chosen family and friends, is also a time of both mourning and resilience for our community. Last weekend, the LGBTQIAP+ community witnessed the loss of five people and injuries to 25 others in a shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs motivated by anti-trans and anti-queer hate. This attack came only hours before November 20th’s observance of the Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to honor trans ..read more

“Mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones As organizations long led by many queer and trans autistic people, the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and the Autistic People of Color Fund teams are grieving the loss of five community members and allies and injuries to 25 others in this weekend’s shooting targeting Club Q in Colorado Springs. We have witnessed years of escalating hateful rhetoric and legislative attacks on the rights of queer and trans people. That kind of hate enables and encourages exactly this type of violence. We are in deep mourning for the ..read more

Read in English here.  “Las mujeres negras ya desconfían del sistema médico, y ahora, después de Roe v Wade, existe el temor de ser procesadas por recibir atención reproductiva.” Angelica Vega En honor al Mes de la Herencia Latine y considerando la reciente decisión Dobbs de la Corte Suprema que derogó Roe v Wade, conversé con una colega latina defensora de la justicia reproductiva y la justicia por discapacidad, Angelica Vega, para hacer una entrevista para este blog. Angelica es una afrolatina con discapacidades múltiples, quien en junio habló en una reunión en la Casa Blanca con activ ..read more

Sign up for our newsletter AWN October Newsletter Dear Friend, Happy October to everyone in the AWN community! I’m Rieko Shepherd, and I recently started working as Policy Manager at AWN. I have hit the ground running on many important health-related policy issues. This is personal to me because as a Black and Asian woman with multiple disabilities I really struggle to receive appropriate medical care – even with my level of education and privilege. I’m especially proud of my work ensuring AWN, in partnership with the Autistic People of Color Fund (APOC), had a voice in expanding Section 1557 ..read more

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Read in English here.  “Las mujeres negras ya desconfían del sistema médico, y ahora, después de Roe v Wade, existe el temor de ser procesadas por recibir atención reproductiva.” Angelica Vega En honor al Mes de la Herencia Latine y considerando la reciente decisión Dobbs de la Corte Suprema que derogó Roe v Wade, conversé con una colega latina defensora de la justicia reproductiva y la justicia por discapacidad, Angelica Vega, para hacer una entrevista para este blog. Angelica es una afrolatina con discapacidades múltiples, quien en junio habló en una reunión en la Casa Blanca con activ ..read more