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AWN is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit. We are committed to disability justice, gender & racial equity, neurodiversity & trans liberation with a focus on transformative and restorative justice in disability spaces.

Incorporating Transformative & Restorative Justice into Our Work

AWN is committed to the following principles of transformative and restorative justice in our work as a neurodiversity and disability justice organization.

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The AWN website is being archived by the Library of Congress in recognition of our contribution to women & gender studies.

Highlights

Paperback book with illustration of a Black parent and Black child holding hands. Book cover reads "A Neurodiversity and Gentle Parenting Journey...in Color by Morénike Giwa Onaiwu next to the AWNNetwork.org logo. To the right is a donation box with hearts coming out of it with text "Goal $6,000". Below it reads Donate Today!

Support Language Justice and Autism Acceptance!

This April, AWN is hoping to raise $6,000 to support the release of the forthcoming book A Neurodiversity and Gentle Parenting Journey…in Color by Morénike Giwa Onaiwu

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text: Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and Autistic People of Color Fund Statement on the Nashville Shooting

AWN & APOC Fund Statement on the March 27, 2023, Nashville Shooting

We acknowledge the pain, suffering, and trauma that the victims’ family, friends, and colleagues, as well as community members, are experiencing. At the same time, AWN and the Autistic People of Color Fund unequivocally condemn bigoted and hateful remarks about the shooter’s gender identity as a trans man and its purported relationship to his violent acts

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Text: From Sincerely, Your Autistic Child Celebration and acceptance of diversity begins in your own own home, with you. Haley Moss. Order Your Copy Today! Beacon Press

AWN March Newsletter

On March 30, we’ll be celebrating the two year anniversary of the release of AWN’s book Sincerely, Your Autistic Child. The book has now sold over 21,000 copies in paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats!

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Webinars

Crip Cultural Work: Disabled and Writing Literature

On May 18, 2022, AWN hosted a conversation with Cyree Jarelle Johnson, T. S. Banks, and The Cyborg Jillian Weise on the topic of being disabled and writing literature. In part of the conversation, each panelist also shared some of their work. Join us in conversation with Cyree, Cy, and T as we explore the…

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How do we survive to thrive?: Forced Sterilization, Eugenics, Disability

On July 24, 2022, AWN hosted a conversation with Cara Page and Ma’ayan Anafi on the topic of forced sterilization, eugenics, and disability. Laws in many states say that sometimes a doctor can sterilize a disabled person even when that person does not want it. These laws let judges, along with other people like family…

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Celebrating Pride & Organizing Communities in Disability, Gender, Queerness

On July 25, 2022, in honor of Disability Pride Month, AWN collaborated with The Curve Foundation and Beyond the Rainbow in a conversation with Jamila Hammami and Bridget Liang about the intersections of disability, gender, and queerness. The panel explored how disabled queer people imagine liberation, and what the LGBTQ movement can gain from actively…

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Health Justice is Disability Justice: Disabled Perspectives in Public Health Research, Policy, & Advocacy

In April 2021, AWN hosted a discussion with Nassira D. Nicola and Emily M. Lund on disability justice and public health, addressing disabled perspectives in public health research, policy, and advocacy. The COVID-19 pandemic helps reveal ableism in our laws, policies, and practices through health care rationing proposals, disastrous vaccine rollouts, and relief measures that…

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Disrupting Educational Ableism & Racism: Disability, Race & Trauma in Schools

“Schools and the legal system tend to label these children as disobedient, disorderly, and dis/abled while simultaneously ignoring the voices of the children themselves. This pathologization then is perpetuated through the labeling, surveillance, and punishment of unwanted students along with the silencing of their voices.” – Subini Ancy Annamma, in The Pedagogy of Pathologization: Dis/abled…

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Disability Justice & Crip Technoscience: Racism & Ableism in AI & the Future of Technology

AWN hosted a discussion with Damien Patrick Williams and Crystal Lee on disability justice interventions for racism and ableism in AI in April 2021. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are ubiquitous, affecting pretrial bail determinations, health care resource allocation, school admissions, credit reporting, hiring, and policing. For disabled people, technology has often both created and enabled…

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Disability Justice & Access-Centered Pedagogy in the Pandemic

AWN hosted a fireside chat with Aimi Hamraie and Mimi Khúc about access-centered pedagogy and disability justice in February 2021. Last spring, school went virtual for everyone from kindergarteners to grad students. Some college students had no safe place to go to. Parents and caregivers working in and outside the home have had to contend with competing and sometimes…

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Abolition, Deinstitutionalization, and Decarceration in the Pandemic

AWN hosted a discussion with Dustin P. Gibson and Shain M. Neumeier about connections between disability justice and abolition in January 2021. The pandemic has hit hardest and deadliest in institutions including jails and prisons, psych hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, and large-scale developmental disabilities institutions. This webinar discusses connections between disability justice and abolition,…

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Surviving Burnout from Ableism & Racism in the Pandemic

AWN hosted a discussion with Allilsa Fernandez and Dom Chatterjee about burnout and racism and ableism in the pandemic in January 2021. Disabled people in Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and mixed-race communities live and struggle against the trauma of racism and ableism every day. During the pandemic, our communities have witnessed and experienced constant violence – in the medical…

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Before You Go: Enabling Access for Autistic Trans People in Healthcare

The Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and the National LGBTQ Task Force hosted a panel with Kayley Whalen, Finn Gardiner, and Noor Pervez, with Victoria M. Rodríguez-Roldán moderating, about autistic trans access to healthcare in October 2020. The Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and the National LGBTQ Task Force are excited to share a brand new guide for trans autistic people called Before You…

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