Our Mission

The Autistic Voices Oral History Project aims to provide a safe, welcoming and accessible space for Autistic individuals to share our stories, our perspectives, our struggles, and our joy. The project will increase representation of the diversity of our community, serve as a tool for self-advocacy, and create a primary source archive of Autistic voices for current and future generations. The project will create a resource for researchers, journalists, policymakers, healthcare providers, families, educators and the public to gain a better understanding of autism and the Autistic community, our history, and our experiences. 

 

The Autistic Voices Oral History Project seeks to address the narrow lens through which autism has been understood by the public. While the project aims to capture stories across the widest possible spectrum of the Autistic experience, the project will give special attention to ensuring that the stories of people historically marginalized from dominant representations and understanding of autism are preserved. Research and diagnoses of autism have historically focused on a narrow demographic, primarily focusing on young white cis boys whose Autistic traits are externally-presenting, leaving generations of women, non-binary and trans people, people of color, and other Autistic individuals who have been socialized/forced to mask their Autistic traits, undiagnosed and without the support they could have received if identified at an early age. Media representation of Autistic people has also been incomplete or inaccurate, leading to a lack of understanding of the diversity of the Autistic community. Further, the project will center and amplify the voices of actually Autistic people, countering dominant narratives and agendas of non-Autistic-led organizations, researchers, and others advocating for a “cure” for our neurotype.  By archiving the stories and lived experiences of Autistic individuals, the Autistic Voices Oral History Project hopes to provide an accurate and authentic primary source for individuals seeking to understand the Autistic experience better.

 

The project was created by Casey Davis, a late-identified Autistic archivist, oral historian and memory worker with over a decade of experience in the field of audiovisual preservation and access, oral history, and project management.