Autism Acceptance Month Kick Off: A Celebration

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, PhD(c), MA, who uses she/her/they/them pronouns, is an educator, writer, public speaker, parent, and global advocate whose work focuses on meaningful community involvement and leadership, disability, racial, and gender equity, dismantling stigma, and inclusion and empowerment. In addition to being a co-editor and contributor to AWN publications Sincerely, Your Autistic Child and All the Weight of Our Dreams, Morénike is the Equity, Justice, & Representation Chair for AWN’s Executive Advisory Committee. Often drawing from personal background as a person of color in a neurodiverse and serodifferent family, a late-diagnosed adult on the autism spectrum, and relevant educational and professional experience, Morénike is a highly sought-after presenter, research consultant, and subject matter expert who resides in the US Gulf Coast with a spouse and and six amazing disabled biological and internationally adopted pre-teen to young adult children.

Victoria M. Rodríguez-Roldán is the Senior Policy Manager for AIDS United, where she brings her own unique intersectional specialties to the fight against the HIV epidemic. Particular areas of expertise and focus are the intersections of issues affecting people living at the intersections of transgender identity, disability and mental illness through a social justice lens. She frequently speaks on discrimination issues impacting the trans and disability communities. She has been profiled in multiple national media outlets and has been published in multiple academic journals. Prior to joining AIDS United, she was senior policy counsel at the National LGBTQ Task Force where she led the Trans/GNC Justice Project and the Disability Justice Project. She currently serves on the board of directors of multiple disability, LGBTQ and social justice non-profit organizations. Victoria holds a B.A. in psychology with honors from the University of Puerto Rico, and a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. She has lived in the DC area since 2014.

Kassiane Asasumasu is a multiply neurodivergent Hapa (biracial Asian) longtime autistic activist. You may know her work from the acclaimed Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, Parenting Autistic Children with Love and Acceptance, or any one of several anthologies. Kassiane is also the reluctant mastermind of the project We Are Like Your Child. When not causing a social media crisis, Kassiane practices aikido, studies neuroscience, makes sure kids are included in neighborhood recreation programs, and cuddles her three cats (but not all at once). She seeks to drag the rest of the world to autism acceptance & disability justice, even if the rest of the world kicks & screams the whole way.