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SEE ANSWERS TO OUR FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROJECT, DONATIONS, AND THE ANTHOLOGY HERE!
A visual transcript of the video can be found on youtube.
Our Story:
The Loud Hands Project is a transmedia publishing and creative effort by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, spearheaded by Julia Bascom. Currently, we are raising money towards the creation of our first and foundational anthology (Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking) and accompanying website.
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking features submissions by Autistic authors speaking about neurodiversity, Autistic pride and culture, disability rights and resistance, and resilience (known collectively by the community as having loud hands). Submissions guidelines can be found here. The anthology is the first of a projected series featuring contributions from Autistic writers stressing the preservation and celebration of Autistic culture and resilience. The website will host shorter and multi-media submissions along the same lines, along with additional materials and videos, and serve as a focal point for the project and community. Future anticipated facets of The Loud Hands Project include
*community- and youth-organizing components
*an archive of our community’s foundational documents
*the development of materials for newly-diagnosed people of all ages and abilities explaining their diagnosis and welcoming them into the community
*specific responses campaigns to instances of bullying and abuse
*additional and longer videos
*a means for members of the Autistic community to provide feedback and guidance and share their vision for what they would like to see next from the project
*community-generated texts in answer to questions such as what does autism mean to you; why does Autistic culture matter; what do you wish you had known growing up Autistic; and how can the Autistic community cultivate resilience?
With an overarching commitment to undoing the cultural processes and ghettoization that make autistic people strangers to ourselves and spectators in our own stories. Put another way, The Loud Hands Project consists of multiple prongs organized around the theme of what the Autistic community refers to as "having loud hands"--autism acceptance, neurodiversity, Autistic pride, community, and culture, disability rights and resistance, and resilience. We focus on cultivating resilience among autistic young people and empowering the Autistic community writ large in building communities and cultures of ability, resistance, and worth. To quote Laura Hershey: “you weren’t the one who made you ashamed, but you are the one who can make you proud.”
Onward and upward!
The Loud Hands Project is thrilled to announce that after just nineteen days of fundraising, we not only met but surpassed out stated goal of $10,000. The anthology is officially a GO! Check out our submissions guidelines. We'll let you know as soon as a firm publication deadline is set.
Our initial goal has been met, but indiegogo is still encouraging us to keep fundraising for the next 60 days. We made over $10,000 in just nineteen days. How much do you think we can accomplish with the two months we have left?
We've got some ideas.
Here's the deal. We've set three incremental benchmarks. As we meet each benchmark, we'll be able to fund additional components of The Loud Hands Project. After all, as you can see from our description above, the anthology has always been just the beginning. The Loud Hands Project is a lot more expansive than a single book, and we have an opportunity to start putting down roots much earlier than we'd hoped. Take a look at what we're thinking of:
Benchmark 1: $15,000 "About us, without us"
"About us, without us" is a video about the Autistic community and our place in the conversation around eugenics and the prevention of autism. If we make the $15,000 benchmark, we'll be able to pay for Julia to go on the road and collect interviews and footage, and cover production, editing, and initial distribution costs.
Our initial goal has been met, but indiegogo is still encouraging us to keep fundraising for the next 60 days. We made over $10,000 in just nineteen days. How much do you think we can accomplish with the two months we have left?
We've got some ideas.
Here's the deal. We've set three incremental benchmarks. As we meet each benchmark, we'll be able to fund additional components of The Loud Hands Project. After all, as you can see from our description above, the anthology has always been just the beginning. The Loud Hands Project is a lot more expansive than a single book, and we have an opportunity to start putting down roots much earlier than we'd hoped. Take a look at what we're thinking of:
Benchmark 1: $15,000 "About us, without us"
"About us, without us" is a video about the Autistic community and our place in the conversation around eugenics and the prevention of autism. If we make the $15,000 benchmark, we'll be able to pay for Julia to go on the road and collect interviews and footage, and cover production, editing, and initial distribution costs.
Benchmark 2: $20,000 "Welcome to the Autistic community"
-With these funds, we can rush website development and have the Loud Hands project website complete, fully accessible, and ready to launch on April 2, 2012--Autism Acceptance Day.
-With these funds, we can rush website development and have the Loud Hands project website complete, fully accessible, and ready to launch on April 2, 2012--Autism Acceptance Day.
-Use the website to commence the development of materials tailored to all ages and abilities explaining autism and welcoming the autistic person to the community.
-Initially, this will take the form of a letter drive, blog carnival, and pamphlet-design competition, with ongoing further refinement and eventual publication of materials.
-Initially, this will take the form of a letter drive, blog carnival, and pamphlet-design competition, with ongoing further refinement and eventual publication of materials.
Benchmark 3: $25,000: Connecting to Community Together
To begin, we will produce a DVD incorporating video and written content from across the history of the Autistic community, establishing our historical context. Then, to explore the state of the movement today, we will use the funds raised to establish a Conference Scholarship fund for Autistic self-advocates to use to attend Autistic and disability rights related conferences and events connecting to the larger theme of disability culture. Scholarship recipients will participate in a second video documenting Autistic community and culture.
Our Impact:
The Loud Hands Project is a structured, multi-faceted response by the Autistic community to the systematic disenfranchisement, bullying, and abuse experienced by autistic youth, adults, and self advocates.
The Loud Hands Project is about survival, resilience, and pride. The Loud Hands Project is necessary because autistic youth face systematic oppression, abuse, and bullying every day. It does not “get better” for us--typically, upon graduation, it actually gets worse. This must change.
Autistic adults exist, though we’re rarely talked about. We’ve been here all along, complete, complex human beings leading rich and meaningful existences and deserving dignity, respect, human rights, and the primary voice in the conversation about us. Through The Loud Hands Project, we are raising our voices, speaking out, and coming together to rewrite the world into one where we all can belong, be safe, be valued, and contribute.
