Dear Readers,
The Aspergian team would like to thank you for helping to make us a leading voice in neurodiversity advocacy and information. Your input, support, readership, donations, and feedback has helped to solidify The Aspergian as a respected and well-recognized name.
Our traffic has grown more than 2000% since late March, and a lot of exciting developments are in the works. The Aspergian began impulsive idea in September of 2018, but our growth and the honesty and quality of our content is a testament to the collaborative, creative, and powerful spirit of the autistic community.
With an all-volunteer team and no advertising budget or income (until we started accepting donations earlier this month), we managed to build something unprecedented– and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our readers.
We have updated our Frequently Asked Questions page but decided to post its contents here, as an article, in case anyone missed the update. Thank you, profoundly, for contributing to our world-changing efforts:
Who can contribute to the content at The Aspergian?
Our primary purpose is to document the autistic experience through the lens and work of autistic individuals. For this reason, we primarily accept autistic contributors. At times, we will feature a parent, carer, advocate, activist, ally, professional, or other neurodivergent person who has unique insight.
If you are interested in contributing as a guest or becoming a long-term part of our team, please use our contact form to write us.
Can I donate?
Yes, please. We work hard to bring you quality content with no subscription costs, ads, or gimmicks. Our contributors are all volunteers. You can click here to donate in one of two ways. You can give the site, which is partnered with NeuroGuides, a 501(c)3 charitable organization. That donation is tax-deductible and you will be receipted by our partner, NeuroGuides.
The Aspergian contributes 10% of all donations to NeuroGuides to help with the administrative costs of being a non-profit and to support the amazing work being done there. We do the most with the fewest resources and evaluate every penny spent for maximum impact.
Or, if you would prefer, you can give to an individual contributor as a gift. Simply follow the instructions to do that on the link (viewable here). Unfortunately, gifts to individuals are not tax-deductible.
Can I translate this article to another language?
Yes, we would love if our multi-lingual readers helped to make our content more accessible. We ask that poetry not be translated without express permission from the author. We have a few guidelines:
1. Let us know you’re translating an article and which article(s) you plan to translate.
2. The article must state at the top the author’s name and at it was originally published in English with a link back to the original article on The Aspergian. For print sources, please include a link to our website at TheAspergian.com.
3. The article must be published for free without subscription costs to read it. If subscriptions are required to view the content, the author of the article must be reasonably compensated according to how other contributors to your publication are compensated.
4. We will add an alternative version of the article on our site with your translated version.
Is this site aspie-exclusive?
No. Emphatically not. This site is for ALL autistic people as writers and as readers.Read the “About Us” section to learn about the name of the site.
Our writers represent the fullness and diversity of the autism spectrum as does the subject matter of our articles.
Why do you write like you speak for “severe” autistics?
First, we reject function labels. Second, many of our writers have learning disorders and/or have been diagnosed as “intellectually disabled,” though we also reject the constraints of neurotypical-normed ability measurements.
We have contributors who are non-verbal, selectively non-verbal, or were non-verbal for much of their youth. We have contributors with physical disability, contributors who are living in residential facilities, and contributors who require assistance or facilitators to be able to communicate their thoughts into articles.
Just like every major publication, our site has editors. Behind the scenes, we often work collaboratively to flesh out our articles and help each other find the words to express ourselves. Some of our contributors help in less-visible ways, like with the tech end of the site.
Where can I hang out with The Aspergian contributors?
We have a new group on Facebook called “The Aspergian has an article for that” where most of us can be found. Not all of our contributors are “open,” so you may not recognize them by name.
Most authors interact with commenters on our Facebook page, @TheAspergian
Interact with us on Twitter @theAspergianCom
How can I request a certain topic be covered?
Just use the “Contact” button at the top of the page and write to us. Someone from the team will follow up via email. If you want a specific blogger to cover a topic, you can always ask in the comments of an article by that person.
What kinds of projects do you have planned or how are you looking to expand?
We are in the process of starting a podcast, and thanks to some generous donations from our readers, we were able to purchase mics for some of our contributors.
We’re excited to be defining and expanding our roles as new partners with NeuroGuides and helping NeuroGuides to expand its advocacy horizons and the scope of services offered.
We’re putting together valuable guides and resources for individuals, businesses, and organizations, and you should see our resource page up within the week.
We just started a YouTube channel and are planning to add audio versions of our articles to be more inclusive. It’s pretty empty right now, but we’d love it if you’d subscribe. We aren’t able to use many features until we have enough subscribers.
How else can readers support The Aspergian?
Like and share our articles on social media… all the social media! Reddit, local groups, Flipboard, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Share our Facebook page, too. We need more “likes” to have access to more features. If you haven’t yet, please like our Facebook page.
Leave thoughtful feedback for our authors. Many of them have never written or published before, and it takes a tremendous amount of effort and courage to put such personal information out into the world.
Follow us on social media and click our articles when you see them even if you don’t have time to read them. It helps us to rank up in search engines.
Take our surveys when we post them (coming soon).
Send us your ideas or suggestions by using the “Contact” form at the top of the page.
Can I volunteer?
If you have a special skill set or expertise which might be helpful to our mission in supporting and empowering autistic people and growing our platform so that we become the authority on ourselves and what it means to be autistic, please write us and let us know how you’d be willing to help.
The truth is, you might be more aware of what we need than we are. Let us know how you can help.
Examples: publishing, disability and inclusion rights, search engine optimization, marketing, IT/web design, sound engineer, business management, accounting, psychology/psychiatry, research, non-profits, podcasting, professional editing, consulting, etc.
Can you tell me more about NeuroGuides?
NeuroGuides is our partner organization, a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization that serves autistic people, businesses, organizations, and allies in two ways:
-
- NeuroGuides provides tailored services to autistic clients depending on the needs of the client. Because each autistic individual is so different and each have different needs, NeuroGuides performs an assessment with new clients to determine their needs, strengths, desires, and circumstances in order to build a custom plan for providing supports to help the individual along the path to a sustainable, rewarding life.Supports for each individual are highly-specific and unique, but may include social, career, academic, financial, wellness, or relational coaching and assistance.
- NeuroGuides provides consultation services to individuals, institutions, businesses, corporations, local governments, non-profits, universities, religious organizations, and school systems to help them be more accommodating to their neurodivergent and disabled students, clients, congregations, customers, employees, and the broader community.NeuroGuides, already operating as a firebrand in autistic advocacy and empowerment, has increased its purview and deliverable services by partnering with The Aspergian which has a network of experts including four clinical psychologists specialized in neurodiversity, educators from early childhood development through college professors, consultants, social workers, psychotherapists, counselors, neuroscientists, an industrial and organizational psychology consultant specialized in diversity and inclusion, and over 100 autistic and neurodivergent individuals with other relevant expertise.Whether you’re looking to expand your workforce, provide more effective services, review your materials for bias and efficacy, hire a keynote speaker for a corporate or educational event, undergo change management in your workplace, set up a sensory-friendly safe space in your organization, or simply to be a better advocate and ally for a loved one, NeuroGuides is equipped to provide you with those services.
click here to leave a tip, click here to gift my child, or let me know your thoughts in the comments.
- My family’s autism services are working for us, so we will probably lose them - May 24, 2023
- What autistics mean when we say this world is not made for us: How fun activities push autistics into the margins - December 23, 2022
- Being a Great Parent to Your Autistic Child at Fall Festivals and Halloween Events - October 31, 2022
