The Loud Hands Project

We did it!

We did it!

After 80 days, several interviews, too many tumblr posts, an ambitious blog carnival, hundreds of shared facebook updates and tweets, thousands of emails to families, friends, coworkers, and arch-nemeses, and a constant, concerted effort by the Autistic community to keep the momentum rolling and the energy building, fundraising for the Loud Hand Project’s first anthology and website ended at 11:59 pm PST with $15,610 from 224 separate donations.

We did it.

It feels unreal, but we did it.

We did it.

The original fundraising goal for the project was set at $10,000. We didn’t think we’d make it, but we figured that 80 days might give us enough time to come close enough, and perhaps a few people would hear about us and we could start laying down roots.

19 days later, we met our goal. Then we exceed it. Then we started to realize that maybe, just maybe, there was a more pressing need and a *hunger* for this project than we’d realized.

Maybe we weren’t alone.

61 days later, the timeline for our campaign on indiegogo ended. We spent those 61 days formalizing plans for the anthology, as well as future projects that would help center autistic voices and people, speaking. Since we made that $15,000 benchmark, one of those projects will be a documentary looking at conversations around eugenics. Others are planned, of course. We’ve got a list of film projects, we’re still taking submissions for the anthology—and will be up through April—and we’re talking website features, just as a start. This Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, we’ll be gathering footage for four separate projects at the Allies In Self Advocacy summit in Baltimore. Our campaign on indiegogo has given us an unbelievable head start, and we’re able to move forward now, secure in our roots and ready to do our donors and our community proud.

Thank you so much for giving us that start. The journey is just beginning. The anthology and website will debut this summer; we hope you’ll come along with us for the rest of the ride.

Humbly,

Julia Bascom, Loud Hands Project Organizer

February Update

Loud Hands Project: February Update

It’s been a quiet but productive time for The Loud Hands Project since we passed our initial fundraising goal of $10,000 on January 14th, after just nineteen days. Since then, we’ve:

-given interviews about the project for AWN’s radio show (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/autism-womens-network/2012/02/03/the-loud-hands-project) and on Joyce Bender’s Voice Of America: Disability matters (http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/59769/ari-neeman)

-worked on finalizing plans for the anthology, website, and future projects and taken an inventory of equipment needs

-begun receiving submissions for the anthology

-expanded our FAQ section on our tumblr (http://theloudhandsproject.tumblr.com/post/16126946761/questions-answered)

-sent out a second call for video clips for a project around autistic community, autistic identity, and passing (http://theloudhandsproject.tumblr.com/post/18096311025/call-for-video-clips)

-finished our first wildly successful Loud Hands Project Blogaround (http://theloudhandsproject.tumblr.com/post/18143366933/third-and-final-part-of-our-blogaround-recap)

-continued raising money—we’re now at $12,170 with 175 donors.

Overall it’s been a successful few weeks of laying a firm foundation, and we’re in a solid place now to gear up for our last two weeks of fundraising. That’s right—we only have 18 days, or two and a half weeks, left to raise money.  Our fundraiser on indiegogo (http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Loud-Hands-Project?a=351448) ends March 15th. How much do you think we can raise by then?

We’d like to make $15,000.

The first 19 days of fundraising was a bit of a wild ride for the autistic community. There was a real hunger and a need for The Loud Hands Project, and people rallied together and pushed to meet the goal. It was equally incredible and overwhelming. We’re wondering if we can recapture that energy for our last 18 days of fundraising. 

We’ve raised enough to build a website this spring and put together our anthology, our founding, guiding document, an explanation of what it means to have loud hands. But the anthology has always been meant as only the beginning for this project, which we envision as an expansive, transmedia forum for both celebrating autistic comunity, identity, and culture and simultaneously insisting that these things exist and are worth perserving. 

That is a huge undertaking. We live in a world that isn’t entiely convinced that autistic people have minds at all—to change the conversation to one that recognizes we have voices at all, let alone valuable ones? That’s going to take an enormous investment of time and effort. Rome wasn’t built on a day, and it definitely wasn’t built without any funds or resources.

Which brings us back to fundraising. 18 days. Our goal: $15,000. Will you help us?

As you can see on indiegogo (http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Loud-Hands-Project?a=351448) we have a few next steps for the project already outlined. If we can make $15,000, we’ll be able to beging production on one of those steps—a video called “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. Does this sound valuable to you? Will you help us make this goal?

If you want to see The Loud Hands Project move forward, past the anthology and into a tool for centering autistic voices and experiences in conversations about us, we hope you’ll help us out. Share this update, and the link to our indiegogo page (http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Loud-Hands-Project?a=351448) around. Donate if you can. Tweet it, facebook it, tumblr it, email it to your grandma, your coworkers, your cousins, your best friends and your arch-nemisis. Ask if they’ll pass the project along to their networks, too—the more people who know, the better our chances for success. Tell them why you want to see this project succeed, and ask if they’ll consider making a tax-deductible donation, starting from $10, to get us there. This is not the time to be shy.

We only have 18 days left. Let’s make them count.

Third and final part of our Blogaround Recap!

First part here, second here. The blogaround is over, but every single post is worth revisiting!

The final two posts of the blogaround were done by Twitchy Woman and Paula. Twitchy Woman talks about the tension between passing and living (see our call for video clips if you want to get involved there,) saying 

Meanwhile, Paula made a video of her loud hands. Check it out!

The blogaround is over now, but I’m humbled and enriched by the diversity of the postings and the different things The Loud Hands Project means to different people. There’s incredible diversity of experience in our community, and each post comes from a different background and speaks to something different. I’d encourage you to check them all out.

Call for video clips

Call for video clips

The Loud Hands Project, an initiative of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, is planning a video which looks at the impact of passing and the demand to pass on Autistics who can or are forced to attempt to mask their autistic traits. We are also interested in exploring the impact on autistic people of being told that they don’t “deserve” to qualify for a diagnosis. To that end, this video challenges assumptions about autism and passing, explores what passing is and if it’s even possible, and shares the experiences of autistics who have been compelled to “pass,” asking if extinguishing or masking behavior is the same as undoing autism. The role and value of the autistic community is examined, and we end by assessing the very real human cost of the passing demand as well as pressure to undiagnose autistics, cutting them off from their community and any hope of self understanding or acceptance.

How you can help:

Part of the video will involve assembling a wide variety of brief video and audio clips provided by members of the Autistic community discussing various facets described above. Specifically, interested autistics are asked to film short (10-15 second) clips of themselves answering any of the following questions:

What does Autistic Community mean to you?

Why does Autistic Community matter?

Why is Autistic Community important to you?

How has the Autistic Community impacted your life?

How has having access to the Autistic Community helped you?

What are the benefits of Autistic Community?

What would you lose if you were no longer considered a part of the Autistic Community?

What does it mean to “pass” as nonautistic?

What do you pass as? (Loner, eccentric, twitchy, intellectually disabled, high, stoic, robot, etc.)

How do you pass?

What are your tricks for passing?

What are you passed off as?

What does passing cost you?

Do you ever feel guilty or dishonest for passing? Can you tell us about that?

How does your ability to pass affect your autistic identity?

How does passing affect your self esteem?

Email your clips to jbascom@autisticadvocacy.org

A Query

If we sent our requests for people to film themselves stimming, enjoying an obsession, or simply moving autisticly through their life, would anyone send anything in?

Second Blogaround recap!

The Loud Hands Project Blogaround is still going strong, with some excellent posts this week. Before we begin, I should note that I forgot to provide a link to Lydia’s post last week. My apologies. It’s excellent, go read it!  

And we’re back.

First, a different Lydia made a post about Autistic community and the value and promise of The Loud Hands Project. She says

Community.

In the early days of my autism diagnosis, while I was a college student, my autism community consisted of my best friend Leigh and only Leigh.  Now, this is not to say that Leigh doesn’t make for some pretty awesome camaraderie, but a pair of two does not community make.  I longed to meet people like me.  I didn’t know that approximately 1% of people my age had ASD.  I didn’t know about all the bloggers and authors and organizations.  All I knew was that I was different, and I felt left out. 

and

And this experience of mine has left me with a dream, that when any person is diagnosed with ASD, somehow, magically, they are enrobed with community.  They hear not “you’ll never be…” and “you can’t…” but rather will find themselves at the center of a community which works together to ameliorate our weaknesses while building each other up in our strengths.  I dream that no child will grow up in isolation, wondering who he is and why he is here.  That no child will be afraid to speak his mind– his beautiful, unique, autistic mind. 

There is a way to make this dream one step closer to reality.

Next came Melanie, who made an astonishing video. Click over to see it, and it’s going to get its own post in a moment.

Setrain also had things to say, about the functionality of stimming and having loud hands. The post is a delight, go on over. Technical difficulties are preventing me from quoting right now, but it would be hard to chose just one quote anyway!

I wonder how many other posts like this might be lurking in corners of the web I don’t frequent. If you see one, let me know! 

Happy reading!