Celebrating Autistic Parents
Purposes of this Site
- To show that autistic people can be parents, and can be good parents.
- To celebrate the oft-neglected positive side of autistic parenting.
- To discuss the ways in which autistic parents can sometimes be particularly good for autistic children.
- To describe and fight discrimination against autistic parents and potential parents.
- To describe the positive experiences of children of autistic parents.
- To dispel damaging myths and stereotypes around autistic parenting.
- To connect ideas from other disability communities to what happens to autistic parents.
Contributions
Articles, letters, pictures, suggestions, poems, and essays are welcome, especially (but not exclusively) from people (whether they themselves are autistic or non-autistic) who have an autistic parent. Autism in the context of this site refers to the things in the official categories of autism, Asperger's, PDD-NOS, and atypical autism. While it is true that no parent is perfect and that being autistic does not mean being non-abusive (any more than being any other kind of person does), this site centers around positive experiences and ideas, since there are too many negative views out there already. It will not focus overmuch on the negative side of (some) autistic parenting. Contributions are also welcome from people who have something to add that seems to fit into any of the above topics. My hope is that this site will be shaped by its contributors.
Send contributions to cap-parents@autistics.org, including the word QUAOAR in the subject line to aid in spam filtering. You retain copyright and ability to pull your writing off this site at any time; contributing does not guarantee your contribution will be posted. Please specify whether you want to use your name, whether you want to remain anonymous, and what name or pseudonym you wish to use.
About the site creator
I am an autistic person whose father is autistic, who has considered becoming a parent myself, and who has been dismayed at how little positive information there is out there about autistic parenthood in general and at the way people like my father have been portrayed. Autism does not mean being unloving and selfish and inflicting lifelong harm on those around you. I dedicate this site to my father and those like him, neither refrigerators nor monsters.
Copyright © 2004 cap-parents@autistics.org