Celebrating Two Years, with the Global Autism Community

Discover what’s possible when community becomes family.  This week we are celebrating the 2-year anniversary of our podcast, as well as the 1-year anniversary of our online community!  It’s been an eye-opening journey that continues to surprise, inspire, and move us. We’ve learned so much from self-advocates sharing their experiences, family members talking about accepting their children’s diagnoses, and professionals discussing best practices in the field of autism services.  We’ve covered a wide range of topics, such as ableism, masking, the neurodiversity movement, intersectionality, disability rights, cultural humility, and international collaboration. A huge thank you to all of our guests for openly sharing your stories and educating us with your perspectives.  Our online Global Autism Community has been alive and growing for one year! Whether they’re autistic individuals, family members, or service providers, our community members have the possibility to share insights, learn different perspectives, and gain momentum to create real change in their own communities. Most importantly, they continue to build strong relationships with each other and feel that they’re not alone.  Today you’ll hear about how the vision for the community came to be, along with direct testimonials from our community members about how they’ve benefited from engaging in our online space.  Thank you to our community moderators who monitor posts daily to ensure that our online space remains safe and respectful. This last year, our moderator team included David Sharif, Jeff Snyder, Kia Burton, and Liz Castillo.  Other team members who help make this podcast happen are our visual creators, Trang Tran and Anh Ngoc, and our sound designer and editor, Marc Aliana.  I’d like to take this moment to reset our intentions for the podcast. There are countless meaningful stories we still want to share with you. We’re going to continue elevating autistic voices and do our best to make sure their perspectives are heard. The world needs access to these important messages so that, together, we can spread awareness, acceptance, and hope.  We want to thank you for your continued encouragement. And, if you’re a new listener, Welcome!  We’ll be re-releasing older episodes throughout the next few months so that you can catch up on any episodes that you might have missed.  ----more---- Are you a self-advocate willing to share your experiences and educate others? Are you a professional seeking to hear directly from autistic voices and improve your practice? Are you a family member hoping to support and empower your loved one?  Whatever your role related to autism is, you can join our online Global Autism Community to connect and collaborate with people all over the world.  Sign up today at community.globalautismproject.org. Let’s work together to transform how the world relates to autism.  ----more---- We appreciate your time. If you enjoy this podcast and you’d like to support our mission, please take just a few seconds to share it with one person who you think will find value in it too. Follow us on Instagram: @autismpodcast Join our community on Mighty Networks: Global Autism Community Subscribe to our YouTube channel: Global Autism Project We would love to hear your feedback about the show. Please fill out this short survey to let us know your thoughts: Listener Survey