Julia Bascom is an American

autism rights The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

activist. She is the current Executive Director of the

Autistic Self Advocacy Network The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy organization run by and for individuals on the autism spectrum. ASAN advocates for the inclusion of autistic people in decisions that affect them, including: le ...

(ASAN) and replaced

Ari Ne'eman Ari Daniel Ne'eman (; born December 10, 1987) is an American disability rights activist and researcher who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2006. On December 16, 2009, President Barack Obama announced that Ne'eman would be appoin ...

as president of ASAN in early 2017.

Advocacy work

Bascom previously worked on the New Hampshire State Developmental Disabilities Council. She also serves on the boards of Advance CLASS, Inc. and the Centene National Advisory Council on Disability. She was the Deputy Executive Director of ASAN, and replaced

as president of ASAN in 2017. Bascom was one of the experts consulted to create an autistic character,

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

, for the children's show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. As an advocate, Bascom stresses the importance of letting autistic people speak for themselves on issues that relate to their health, rights and well-being. She states that it is important to recognize that autistic people are different and that there "is nothing wrong with us". On April 2, 2018, Bascom addressed the "state of women and girls with autism" at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Loud Hands Project

Bascom organized and founded the Loud Hands project. Loud Hands was designed to be a "transmedia project", that is, one that uses "multiple forms of content--written words, videos, visual art, the internet, and more". The project was launched in December 2011 as

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign to create an anthology of essays written by autistic people.Zurcher, Ariane
"A Conversation With the Talented Writer, Blogger and All-Around Amazing Julia Bascom"
''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', September 1, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2016. The resulting anthology, ''Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking'', was described as "groundbreaking" in

Steve Silberman Steve Silberman is an American writer for ''Wired (magazine), Wired'' magazine and has been an editor and contributor there for 14 years. In 2010, Silberman was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS "Kavli Science ...

's ''

NeuroTribes ''NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity'' is a book by Steve Silberman that discusses autism and neurodiversity from historic, scientific, and advocacy-based perspectives. ''Neurotribes'' was awarded the Samuel Johnso ...

''. The project has put together over 20 years of culture, history and writing by and about autistic people.

Bibliography

*''Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking'' (8 December 2012) (editor) *''And Straight on Till Morning: Essays on Autism Acceptance'' (28 March 2013) (editor) *''The Obsessive Joy of Autism'' (21 May 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bascom, Julia Autism activists American disability rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)