Submissions Guidelines
The Loud Hands Project gets its name from the phrase “talk with your hands,” which is something that a lot of Autistic people do. But Autistic people are routinely silenced, denied our voices, and told that by definition we cannot and do not communicate. “Having loud hands” means resisting, means speaking, communicating, anyway—and doing so in a way that can be very obviously Autistic. Having loud hands is about being proudly Autistic, starting from the basic, foundational idea that there is nothing wrong with us. We are fine. We are complete, complex, human beings leading rich and meaningful existences and deserving dignity, respect, human rights, and the primary voice in the conversation about us. We can have loud hands.
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking is The Loud Hands Project’s first anthology and founding document. We’re looking for Autistic contributors willing to reflect in written form on questions about neurodiversity, Autistic pride and culture, disability rights and resistance, and resilience (known collectively as having loud hands.) Suggested entry length is 2000-4000 words, though we will consider any submitted format.
Submissions and entries should be emailed to Julia Bascom at jbascom@autisticadvocacy.org.
Possible starting points for submissions might include:
1) There are as many different ways to be autistic as their are autistic people. How are you autistic, and what does that mean to you?
2) “Voice” and “speaking” are rhetorical terms that do not necessarily indicate oral speech. What does the phrase “Autistic people, speaking” mean to you? How do you speak? What is your voice? How do you make yourself heard?
3) Have you ever been silenced?
4) To many, “autistic” cannot co-exist in the same sentence with “culture” or “community.” What are your experiences with Autistic culture and community, and why are these valuable concepts? How might Autistic culture and community build resilience or nurture a person’s identity?
5) Autistic culture includes things like typing and finding other ways to communicate than oral speech. It includes flapping and rocking and perseverations and all sorts of other things - and it also includes executive functioning challenges, echolalia parties, lifehacking in one way or another, and essentially finding a way to make things work even though we’re not necessarily going to be able to do that in the traditional way. Use this question to talk about the diversity, richness, complexity, and scope of Autistic culture.
6) What does the phrase “loud hands” mean to you? How do you have loud hands?
7) What are your reasons for having loud hands? Would they be the same reasons if you had never been silenced?
Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking is The Loud Hands Project’s first anthology and founding document. We’re looking for Autistic contributors willing to reflect in written form on questions about neurodiversity, Autistic pride and culture, disability rights and resistance, and resilience (known collectively as having loud hands.) Suggested entry length is 2000-4000 words, though we will consider any submitted format.
Submissions and entries should be emailed to Julia Bascom at jbascom@autisticadvocacy.org.
Possible starting points for submissions might include:
1) There are as many different ways to be autistic as their are autistic people. How are you autistic, and what does that mean to you?
2) “Voice” and “speaking” are rhetorical terms that do not necessarily indicate oral speech. What does the phrase “Autistic people, speaking” mean to you? How do you speak? What is your voice? How do you make yourself heard?
3) Have you ever been silenced?
4) To many, “autistic” cannot co-exist in the same sentence with “culture” or “community.” What are your experiences with Autistic culture and community, and why are these valuable concepts? How might Autistic culture and community build resilience or nurture a person’s identity?
5) Autistic culture includes things like typing and finding other ways to communicate than oral speech. It includes flapping and rocking and perseverations and all sorts of other things - and it also includes executive functioning challenges, echolalia parties, lifehacking in one way or another, and essentially finding a way to make things work even though we’re not necessarily going to be able to do that in the traditional way. Use this question to talk about the diversity, richness, complexity, and scope of Autistic culture.
6) What does the phrase “loud hands” mean to you? How do you have loud hands?
7) What are your reasons for having loud hands? Would they be the same reasons if you had never been silenced?
