The intersectional Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous Collaboration community grows organically, at human scale, at a human pace, one trusted relationship at a time, in the form of self-organising small groups that collaborate on specific initiatives, contributing to the wellbeing of Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent and intersectionally marginalised people.
Our evolving web of relationships, mutual aid, and peer support initiatives is best understood in terms of emergent Ecologies of Care beyond the human.
Introduction
Laws and social norms in industrialised societies have been shaped by the metaphor of society as a factory and the metaphor of people as machines more than most people realise. In the emerging technoverse, biological life is perceived as becoming irrelevant. The many ways in which atomised nuclear families depend on abstract institutions is considered normal, and all those who depend on assistance from others in unusual ways are pathologised. Social power can be understood as the privilege of not needing to learn. As we live through the current human predicament we are well advised to understand capitalism as a collective learning disability that actively contributes to human and non-human suffering.
This interview with Eva Henje conducted by our friends at Local Futures outlines the alienating and dehumanising social experiences created by the global mono-cult in which we find ourselves:
The neurodiversity, disability, and indigenous rights movements are part of the cultural immune system of human societies, responding to the mechanistic, hypercompetitive, and rule based approach to social arrangements imposed by the learning disabled mono-cult with a holistic social justice approach. The key element that holds together all the threads, which has been systematically eroded in Westernised societies is the notion of trust, including the role of trustworthy, sacred relationships within the context of life affirming ecologies of care.
Whether A♾tistic dreamers are able to establish alternative ecologies of care beyond the human is no longer up for debate. We have nothing to lose. We deeply appreciate the wonder of life, and we can clearly see the global mono-cult for what it is.
We are A♾tistic. We are fully human. We are alive.
We are co-creating a comprehensive support model for Autists and otherwise neurodivergent and intersectionally marginalised people, with a focus on adults, informed by our collective lived experience, by the conversations following our initial call for participation in 2022, and by the results of our ongoing participatory research.
Become a sponsor of the Autistic Collaboration Trust (reg.no. CC59262).
Your support keeps us going! 🙏🏽
For an Autistic person the pathway towards good company is distinctly different from the life trajectory mapped out by the expectations of mainstream culture. The most appropriate pathway for an Autistic person depends significantly on the surrounding social environment and the stage of life.
Joining AutCollab peer support
A conversation between Anne Borden King and Jorn Bettin:
The power of international neurodivergent collaborations
The intersectional Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous Collaboration community grows organically, at human scale, at a human pace, one trusted relationship at a time. You can use the form below to register your interests and articulate the commitments you can make towards co-creating ecologies of care.
All our efforts are entirely volunteer based.
If you are a mental health professional or professional counselor, please consider the Ecologies of Care model as an opportunity for omnidirectional learning, and consider becoming an active sponsor of our efforts via a regular donation that is in line with what you can afford to give.
Your donations go a long way to keep us going and support our community co-creation efforts.
Registration of interest
In the form below, think of 1 spoon = 1 hour as the unit of committed energy to give towards community co-creation and peer support or expected to receive as part of peer support.
Peer support only works when everyone has at least one spoon to give, and when overall the number of spoons offered is equal to or exceeds the number of spoons needed by participants. We will use the information you provide to ensure that this criterion is applied when coordinating and scheduling specific workshops or circles of care. This is our commitment to sustainable capacity building and our commitment to minimising the risk of burnout for all participants.
We will contact you about specific events and activities that match your needs, availability, and profile in tandem with our organically growing collective capacity to deliver peer support.
Registration sent.
By using the above form to register, you confirm that you understand that currently AutCollab is only equipped to maintain psychological and cultural safety in facilitated workshops and circles of care amongst participants who are not in survival or acute emergency mode.
If you need professional mental health support, please seek appropriately equipped professional advice in your geography.
Participants may form peer support buddy teams independently of AutCollab, but again, to prevent vulnerable and highly traumatised people from exposing themselves to potential harm, AutCollab does not encourage this for anyone who finds themselves in survival mode or in an acute emergency.
Isolated adult who is unaware of being Autistic
Amongst the adult population of those currently over 30 years old, this is probably the largest category of Autistic people. People in this category are often depressed, possibly burnt-out or even suicidal, and potentially misdiagnosed and medicated.
Potential hints:
- Never truly understanding why people are interested in cultural status symbols and in pursuing social status
- Idiosyncratic ways of performing specific activities or jobs, usually based on extensive experimentation with different approaches, and resistance to simply following the ways in which others perform similar activities or jobs
- Valuing truth much more than the need to be seen as successful or popular by others
- An innate sense of individual agency that is much stronger than any desire to conform to social norms
- Always interested in sharing knowledge, and not understanding why anyone might be reluctant to share knowledge
- Many experiences of being surprised by the level of dishonesty of other people
- When in traditional leadership or managerial positions, experiencing strong feelings of never really fitting in anywhere, struggling to cope in general, and experiencing severe physical symptoms of stress
- Feeling extremely exhausted following all meetings with three or more people, especially if the people in question are not familiar friends or colleagues, or when being forced to engage in smalltalk
For this group of people the Communal Definition of Autism and watching the AutCollab TV channel can be a first step towards recognising their own Autistic traits and related experiences.
Isolated adult who learns about potentially being Autistic
People in this category have learned about being Autistic either via a diagnosis or via hints from colleagues, friends and family. Some people react with disbelief or denial, to avoid having to acknowledge many traumatising experiences in society.
Autistic people in this group tend to try hard to mask their Autistic traits well enough to meet cultural expectations in many situations – they may not even know what masking is, and may confuse the effort of masking with the effort of applying hard-won social skills.
However the effort of masking comes at a high cost, and can only be maintained continuously for limited periods of time. Individuals in this category are on their way to Autistic burn-out. People at this stage are particularly vulnerable to relationship breakdowns, as their frustration starts to show, often increasing the isolation.
For this group of people, beyond the Communal Definition of Autism and watching the AutCollab TV channel, engaging with Autistic communities, and comparing notes, for example via our quarterly NeurodiVerse Days of Solidarity online events, can be first steps towards learning to appreciate their own Autistic traits.
AutCollab support modalities:
1. Focus on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis.
2. Focus on the here & now, to complement emergency mental health support.
Isolated Autistic adult
Isolated Autistic adults tend to avoid social interaction to retain sanity and to minimise the mental energy loss of masking. Many people within the adult Autistic population fall within this category.
People in this category may have never tried to reach out to the Autistic community, or they have had a few disappointing experiences in connecting with other Autistic people, perhaps surprised by the level of diversity amongst Autistic people.
Isolated Autistic people no longer seek to meet all cultural expectations, and minimise Autistic burn-out by avoiding places or social contexts that may trigger sensory overload. They are at great risk of economic exploitation and bullying at work.
If you are being bullied at work, you can use the Bullying Alert System on this website to report your situation in anonymised form to the Autistic community.
Some people in this category have internalised the pathology paradigm, and a few feel threatened by the neurodiversity paradigm, as it suggests that it may actually be possible for Autistic people to develop healthy trusted relationships with other people, and this suggestion contradicts their own experience.
For this group of people the way forward is to find the courage to again reach out to Autistic communities, by contacting helpful openly Autistic advocates and members of the neurodiversity movement, either directly, or in small and welcoming non-public online groups, and away from the often toxic public places on online social media platforms.
Mica’s in-depth video on misinformation, diagnosis, and Autistic advocacy provides a brilliant overview that will help many who are ready to explore the path towards Autistic community and improved overall wellbeing.
Regional / local centres of Autistic culture:
- Autistic Collaboration Trust, Aotearoa New Zealand and global
- Te Hapori Whai Takiwātanga o Aotearoa, Aotearoa
- Autistic innovation at the Dandenong Mechanics’ Institute, Victoria, Australia
- Neuroclastic, United States and global
- Stimpunks, United States
- Autistic Peer Leadership Group (ApLEG), United States
- Autonomous Press, United States
- Divergent Labs, United States
- Neurodivergent Consulting, United States
- Autistic Doctors International (Facebook), global
- Neurodivergent Infinity Network of Educators, Canada and global
- Autistic Strategies Network, South Africa and Africa
- Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Neuro Diverse Self Advocacy, United Kingdom
- Autism Rights Group Highland, United Kingdom
- Autism Dialogue, United Kingdom
- Existential Autist, United Kingdom
- National Autistic Taskforce, United Kingdom
- Participatory Autism Research Collective, United Kingdom
- The Future is ND, United Kingdom
- Edinburgh & Lothian Asperger Society, United Kingdom
- Autism-Informed Therapy Institute, Ireland
AutCollab support modalities:
1. Focus on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis.
2. Focus on the here & now, to complement emergency mental health support.
Adult who is discovering Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous communities
Autistic adults who are starting to engage with intersectional Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous online communities are exposed to a broad range of experiences – everything from validation and exhilaration, to potentially confusing sources of information, and the irritation of having to deal with trolls.
People in this category are at risk of becoming confused by the many options, and are likely frustrated by the lack of local centres of Autistic culture and locally available peer support.
Discovering the lack of local support for Autistic adults is disillusioning. Most available government funding is usually eaten up by the Autism Industrial Complex. This makes it difficult for Autists to find venues for coordinating peer support and mutual aid.
Mica’s in-depth video on misinformation, diagnosis, and Autistic advocacy provides useful guidance that will help many who are exploring Autistic communities.
For this group of people, beyond watching the AutCollab TV channel and reading our articles, attending our quarterly NeurodiVerse Days of Solidarity online events and connecting with one or more of the groups listed above can be first steps towards building enduring connections with other Autists, away from the often toxic public places on online social media platforms.
AutCollab support modalities:
1. Focus on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis.
2. Focus on the here & now, to complement emergency mental health support.
Adult who has found Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous community
A growing minority of Autistic adults have learned to developed enjoyable relationships with Autistic peers, but many do not dare to openly identify as Autistic due to widespread discrimination in wider society.
People in this group have understood the fundamentals of Autistic cognition, mask only when critical for survival, are actively learning about Autistic culture, and incrementally start to develop an individual peer-to-peer support network, which is a multi-year journey that likely involves some successes but also many failures along the way.
A useful next step for people in this category is to compare notes about Autistic forms of collaboration and about the ways in which Autistic people find ways of developing and nurturing trusted relationships.
For this group of people, our quarterly NeurodiVerse Days of Solidarity online events offer a safe space for omni-directional learning and deepening connections with other Autists.
AutCollab support modalities:
1. Focus on the year(s) ahead, to rediscover the beauty of collaboration at human scale.
2. Focus on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis.
3. Focus on the here & now, to complement emergency mental health support.
Adult engaged in Autistic, Authentic, Autonomous collaboration
Amongst the adult Autistic population, at this point in time (2024), this is probably still the smallest category.
People within this category will have discovered some of the principles for building trusted relationships that underpin the NeurodiVenture operating model, in particular techniques for creating a collective interface to the wider society that
- optimises for collaboration between Autistic people, and
- minimises the need for interacting with wider society on terms that are detrimental to the mental and physical health of Autistic people.
Autists are acutely aware that good company is constructed one trusted relationship at a time – this is the essence of fully appreciating diversity. Autistic people relate to specific people, and primarily to other Autistic and intersectionally marginalised people, and not to abstract group identities. All groups that are genuinely inclusive of relationships with Autistic people are small in size, they are comprehensible – human scale.
Collectives of collaborating Autistic people can benefit significantly by connecting with other groups of Autistic people, and from knowledge sharing and building trusted relationships with other Autistic people, for example as part of our quarterly NeurodiVerse Days of Solidarity online events. The future of Autistic collaboration involves establishing cosmolocal ecologies of care.
AutCollab support modalities:
1. Focus on the year(s) ahead, to rediscover the beauty of collaboration at human scale.
2. Focus on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis.
3. Participate in comprehensible local ecologies of care beyond the human.
4. Focus on the here & now, to complement emergency mental health support.
Isolated youngster who is unaware of being Autistic
Children and adolescents in this category are traumatised by their experiences in the social world, often including by the expectations placed on them by parents and teachers. Unless someone picks up on their Autistic traits, they are on track to becoming isolated adults who are unaware of the existence of other people experiencing similar challenges with sensory overload and with bullying in the social world.
Isolated youngsters may be baffled by the socially constructed gender identities of their peers, and they may neither identify with male nor with female gender “norms”. Isolated Autistic adolescents are at risk of drug and alcohol abuse, seeking calm, and not really understanding how they can possibly fit into an apparently insane social world.
For this group, developing areas of deep interest and expertise, and receiving support on their journey towards discovering Autistic community, initially online, can be life saving.
Autistic youngster with non-autistic parents
When non-autistic parents seek assistance from the autism industry, and as a result subject their Autistic child to various normalisation “therapies”, especially under the heading of “early intervention”, they are subjecting their child to additional trauma and institutionalised bullying, resulting in depression, suicidal ideation, and PTSD.
Rather than therapies to “reduce autistic behaviours”, Autistic children need to be supported in the full development of their unique Autistic potential, and need to be encouraged to follow their intrinsic motivations to explore the world.
The most valuable step that non-autistic parents of Autistic children can undertake is to connect with and learn from the adult Autistic community – and without any delay, to facilitate access of their child to Autistic peers and adult mentors.
Quinn’s video on What makes a good therapist for your Autistic child provides essential guidance.
Autistic children can be introduced to Autistic ways of being via the Communal Definition of Autism, and via age appropriate related learning resources developed by the Autistic community rather than by the autism industry.
Autistic youngster with at least one Autistic parent
Autistic children and adolescents with one or two Autistic parents are ideally positioned for becoming thriving Autistic adults – provided that their parents have the financial resources to provide a healthy home and educational environment.
Autistic parents are encouraged to join Autistic communities as outlined in the previous sections, to learn from other Autistic parents – there are many of us!
There are many examples of multi-generational Autistic families. Autistic adults choose Autistic partners at rates that are 10 times greater than random choice. This perhaps is the strongest indicator that social progress in terms of Autistic rights and self-determination is overdue.
AutCollab support modalities
In the coming months we aim to incrementally roll out complementary mutual aid and support modalities that cover the full range of human scale time horizons. Key elements of the approach, which integrates neurodivergent experiences from all walks of life, are outlined below.
Across all our collaborations, the ability to offer appropriate levels of cultural and psychological safety is important. The topic of safety is complex and nuanced, transcending simplistic rules.
If you are interested in actively supporting our efforts, we invite you start by regularly participating in the quarterly NeurodiVerse Days of Solidarity, which are facilitated by our volunteers.
Acute Emergency
Acute Emergency: Focus on the here and now, to complement emergency mental health support, to listen to those in distress, and help them regain the capacity to engage in mutual aid networks
Our goal is to facilitate a genuinely safe environment for Autistic, Artistic, and otherwise neurodivergent people, considering the impact of the specific life situations that Autistic, Artistic, and otherwise neurodivergent people may currently be in. Acknowledging that at any given point in time different participants may have different priorities in their life – and that this is part of a healthy ecology of care.
Conscious Neurodiversity Group Meetings
Experiencing safety and learning mutual trust
- Regular monthly meetings
- Limited to those who are committed to collaboration
Peer Support Buddies
Extending trust and being trusted
- Depowered dialogue
- Access to two experienced mentors
Surviving
Surviving: Focus on the here and now, on the mutual aid needed to cope on a daily basis, within the current social operating model
Conscious Neurodiversity Group Meetings
Experiencing safety and learning mutual trust
Our goal is to facilitate a genuinely safe environment for Autistic, Artistic, and otherwise neurodivergent people, considering the impact of:
- The extent to which many Autistic, Artistic, and otherwise neurodivergent people have been traumatised. Accepting the impact of trauma in our life on ourselves and others, and assisting each other in incrementally unlearning trauma responses that are unhelpful in a safe environment.
- The specific geographic and cultural context that Autistic, Artistic, and otherwise neurodivergent people are embedded in. Geographic and cultural contexts impose constraints on healing journeys that may slow the rate of healing. Reducing or eliminating constraints may require significant environmental re-engineering.
- Accepting the toxic WEIRD cultural bias that is inherent in the Western notion of the “self” and associated notions of “self-reliance” and “independence”, and replacing it with the notion of interdependence at human scale and the associated notions of human scale cultural organisms and cultural species.
- Regular monthly meetings
- Limited to those who are committed to collaboration
Peer Support Buddies
Extending trust and being trusted
Our approach to peer support is based on the principles of evolutionary design and the evolving language for co-creating ecologies of care. The knowledge that we are all trying to do our best and that we all care deeply about each other keeps us going. As needed we assist each other in slowing down to prevent burnout.
- Depowered dialogue
- Access to two experienced mentors
- Advice process
Podcast on Conscious Neurodiversity
Dialogues based on the lived experiences we are curating
- Regular monthly dialogues
Education course on Neurodivergent Ways of Being
Scope:
- Autistic ways of being
- Normality
- Trauma
- Internalised ableism
- Rejection sensitivity
- Addictions
- Psychological safety
- Depowered dialogue
- Autistic communities & Autistic culture
- Survival in a hypernormative society
Evolving
Evolving/de-powering: Focus on the year(s) ahead, to rediscover the beauty of collaboration at human scale and the timeless patterns of human limitations
To achieve levels of care, healing, and wellbeing that allow humans to feel alive, and part of an ecology of care, requires us to collectively apply our capacity for culture to (re)imagine an existence beyond survival mode, and to collectively take concrete steps in this direction. By definition this involves questioning and as needed rejecting the institutional landscape of “normality”, drawing on the uniquely valuable perspectives and lived experiences of those who occupy vantage points on the margins of society.
Peer Support Buddies
Extending trust and being trusted
- Depowered dialogue
- Access to two experienced mentors
- Advice process
NeurodiVenture Open Spaces
Catalysing NeurodiVentures
- Regular (quarterly) Open Space
- Limited to those who are committed to collaboration and have spoons beyond survival mode
The concept of ako describes a teaching and learning relationship, where the educator is also learning from the student and where educators’ practices are informed by the latest research and are both deliberate and reflective. Ako is grounded in the principle of reciprocity and also recognises that the learner and whānau cannot be separated.
The ability to co-create and operate a NeurodiVenture depends of the ability of letting go of the illusion of control and the illusion of power.
Education course on NeurodiVentures
Scope:
- Modern addictions
- Autistic culture
- The limits of human scale
- Cultural diversity at human scale
- Creative collaboration in Open Space
- Collaborative niche construction
- Collective neurodivergent entrepreneurship
Thriving
Thriving: Focus on the 7 generations ahead, integrating lived experiences from the last 7 generations, to participate in comprehensible local ecologies of care beyond the human, and to live meaningfully, compassionately, and courageously no matter what
Our life is best understood in terms of the life-long relationships with humans, non-humans, mountains, oceans, and other sacred sources of life – that we depend upon and nurture throughout our lives.
Through the lenses of evolutionary biology and cultural evolution, small groups of 20 to 100 people are the primary organisms within human society – in contrast to individuals, corporations, and nation states. The implications for our civilisation are profound. Regardless of what route we choose, on this planet no one is in control. The force of life is distributed and decentralised, and it might be a good idea to organise and collaborate accordingly.
Ecologies of Care Open Spaces
Catalysing cosmolocal Ecologies of Care beyond the human
- Regular (quarterly) Open Space
- Omni-directional learning
- Helping each other in co-creating local ecologies of care
- Limited to those who have been engaged in collaborative niche construction for at least 12 months, and are committed to transcending the artificial barrier between professionalised work and the rest of life
Local Ecologies of Care Open Spaces
Coordinating local Ecologies of Care
- Regular (monthly) Open Space
- Omni-directional learning
- Coordination of activities between households
- Coordination of economic activities with the external world
- One Open Space for each local ecology of care, limited to those who are actively operating a local ecology of care
Podcast on Ecologies of Care
Daily Appreciation of Life at human scale
- Regular monthly dialogues based on the lived experiences we are curating
Cultural and psychological safety
The journey towards a healthier relationship with the ecologies which we are part of starts with the most powerful tool at our disposal, the introduction and consistent use of new language and new semantics.
Across all our collaborations, the ability to offer appropriate levels of cultural and psychological safety is important. The topic of safety is complex and nuanced, transcending simplistic rules. A bit like riding a bicycle, depending on the specific situational terrain a group is in, the group needs the ability to shift into the most appropriate gear, in a multi-dimensional safety gear space.
The appropriate Safety Gearing is determined by the scope of the Circle of Care that is in focus, by the compatibility and diversity of the Sensitivity Profiles of those who are part of the Circle of Care, and by the Salient Time Horizon that defines the situation at hand.
Dimensions and sub-dimensions of safety:
Circles of Care
The relational complexity of life can’t easily be condensed into words. Instead a visual language provides more possibilities for describing the nuances and the context of specific constellations in succinct diagrams. Each of our relationships is a feedback loop that can be visualised as a circle, and each of these circles are part of a larger evolving systems of concentric Circles of Care at larger scales:
- Intimate life partner
- Household
- Human scale ecology of care
- Bioregional ecology of care
- Planetary ecology of care
Open Space is an essential self-selection tool for Circles of Care to evolve into thriving cosmolocal Ecologies of Care.
Sensitivity Profiles
The extent to which our different relationships are based on compatible interests and sensitivities shapes the evolution of our Circles of Care.
Compatibilities and variabilities in sensitivity profiles can be understood as the diversity of the Cultural Species and Cultural Organisms within and across bioregional Ecologies of Care. Note that intersecting dimensions and categories of sensitivities may vary between bioregions. The dimensions below reflect reflect the social power dynamics encountered in WEIRD cultures:
- Neurodivergencies and disabilities
- Sexual orientations and gender identities
- Trauma histories
- Ethnic affiliations
- Economic orientation
- Religious orientation
- Languages
- Age
Safety Gearing
The most appropriate Safety Gearing for a particular situational terrain depends on the Salient Time Horizon that defines the situation and safety needs of those present.
Acute emergency – Addressing the need to feel safe to speak / communicate
Surviving – All of the above, plus the need to be genuinely understood
Evolving – All of the above, plus feeling safe to ask for help, take action, and ask questions to deepen levels of shared understanding and nurture an emergent ecology of care
Thriving – All of the above, plus feeling fully supported by a reliable ecology of care, knowing that everyone is doing their best, and being at peace with the limits of what is possible at human scale
In small human scale societies without abstract formal authorities, everyone learns from everyone, primarily by observation, imitation, and asking for assistance. For small children in human scale societies the household and extended family provide a rich environment for omni-directional learning.