Questions, answered
We’ve been getting a lot of questions since we announced that we met our initial goal. We thought we’d talk the time to answer some of them here. As a reminder, we do already have an FAQ, a page discussing our new fundraising goals, and a page for our submissions guidelines.
Q: Are we done?
A: Nope! We’re barely getting started! Our fundraising on indiegogo is still carrying on through March 15th as scheduled.
Q: So I can still donate, and tell my friends about you?
A: Yes please!
Q: If you met your goal, why are you still fundraising?
A: The short answer is “because we’re fundraising through indiegogo, and that’s how they work.” The longer answer is “because The Loud Hands Project has always been about more than a single book, and we’d like to use this opportunity to put down roots and raise funds for some additional publications.”
Q: What are your plans for any additional funds you might raise?
A: Awesome things. Depending on how much more we raise, we might be able to do:
- A film about eugenics and autism prevention, featuring the voices of Autistic people from across the US.
- Materials tailored to newly-diagnosed or newly-disclosed-to autistic people of varying ages and abilities, explaining the diagnosis and self-advocacy and welcoming them into their community.
- A DVD examining the history and foundations of the Autistic community.
- A scholarship fund to help send Autistic self-advocates to conferences on autism, disability rights, and autistic/disability culture-related conferences.
- More productions documenting Autistic community and culture.
Q: Why is it important to keep soliciting donations?
A: The Loud Hands Project can’t exist if we don’t have the resources to fund our various components. The more quickly we are able to fund various projects, the more established The Loud Hands Project can be. Being more established will allow us to produce more content and gain more legitimacy, which then becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. This in turn will lead to concepts such as Autistic Community and Autistic Culture becoming better-known, more widely respected as legitimate things, and more autistic people having a louder voice—or not having to scream quite so loudly to be heard.
Q: You met your goal! Is the anthology a go then?
A: YES! We are so excited about this. When we knew that we were going to meet our goal we put out a set of preliminary submissions guidelines for the anthology, and thecall for submissions is in effect now that we know we’ll be able to publish.
Q: Are you still taking submissions for the anthology?
A: Yes! We haven’t set a deadline for submissions yet—we’ll let you know when we have a concrete time-table. Right now we’re still weighing out the various factors involved, and taking submissions as they come. We’d love to have your contribution!
Q: Are you taking visual, video, or poetry submissions?
A: This anthology was conceived of as an anthology of challenging, thought-provoking essays that would provide the project with our philosophical foundation. There will be a need for some artwork for the anthology, but it is not the focus. There will be a specific call for those submissions released with more information at a later date. There will be other ways to share visual, video, and poetry submissions in other projects and on the greater project website in the future. The Loud Hands Project is committed to honoring and sharing the many diverse ways in which autistic people speak, and is examining what forms of publication may be best suited to other forms of speech, and how to structure and encourage such content.
Q: I have something I’d like to submit for the anthology, but it’s shorter than the proposed word limit. Is that okay?
A: Yes! Please send it!
Q: Who do I contact with my submission?
A: At this point, you can email Julia at jbascom@autisticadvocacy.org. We’ll let you know if that changes.
