Somewhere in the last month or two I quietly took over running the show here and I just wanted to say hello and thanks for being awesome about that.
I know our former leader Tania was much beloved, and her departure from the admin team might have caused something of a stir. But ultimately it had become time for her to take her fantastic self off to go do some even more amazing things, like running our first ever Autistic Strategies Network seminar on Autistic Health and to spend more time crafting informative posts and other worthwhile uses of her frankly invaluable time.
I'm sure you'll have noticed there have been some changes in the group. There's a bit of a different vibe in the air. Suddenly we have a set of rules up, and there's a bit of a different feel to our moderation decisions.
I have been trying to make our transition to new leadership less bumpy, but these things usually cause a bit of a stir so it is what it is. Hopefully, we'll get used to each other's new ways of doing in time.
The one thing I really feel everyone ought to know about the mods team is that each and every one of us started out as one of YOU. We were all just newbies here once too. We know how scary it can be to post here. And we'll always try to remember that when YOU do. Becoming more able to hold space and be productive in our engagements is my number one priority at the moment.
To that end, our moderation team has been receiving professional training in how to better serve our community and how to remain healthy and stable people while they do.
One of the most important things that matter to me in this community is that I help autistic families thrive. There is nothing that so totally offends your enemy as your success. I want to help us build successful healthy families here so that we can build a generation of autistic people who will be the advocates, doctors, politicians, researchers, and parents of the future we want to see.
I know a lot of the time our posts can be a bit.... intense. Maybe it feels like a personal attack. But really, this is not our MO. We're here to bring you into the fold, not place you before the inquisition. That said, a lot of what we have to say is going to be a bit outside of your frame of reference. For many of us, our first exposure to autism was in a doctor's office, and the news was not good.
I want to change the way you think about autism. I believe that if you spend enough time here really learning to listen to autistic voices and hear what they have to teach us you will realise that what you once thought of as a curse will become a blessing to you. I want you to understand that if all you see right now is darkness and despair that you need to hold on. It's just not sunrise yet. And the thing is, it's going to be a beautiful day.
That said, there are likely a few things you're going to learn along the way that takes you outside your comfort zone. Please bear with us. It really is worth it, we promise. Nobody here wants anything BUT for autistic people and those who support and care for them to THRIVE.
We spend a lot of our time in the background handling personal requests and answering questions people are too nervous to put to the group. That's part of what we do here too so do go ahead and ask us if there's something you're uncertain about in our rules, or if you feel a bit afraid of posting a particular comment to the main group. If you feel like things are a little tough and scary out there, just hit up a moderator for a one on one chat.
I know there's been some subtle (and not so subtle) attempts at lodging public complaints against the mods team.
I see you, folks. I am listening. But please, do try to engage with a moderator or admin directly rather than doing all sorts of interesting gymnastics to get our attention. We rarely turn people away, and we never do so without at least attempting to have the issue discussed, mediated or voted on by a full sitting of the modmin team. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that complaints lodged via alternative channels will be answered. If you need to speak to us, reach out to us by messaging the
If you've had conflict with one moderator, you've had conflict with one moderator. We aren't a uniform voting block. If one admin or moderator seems to be acting out of keeping with our values, please do report the incident to another moderator or admin. We take that sort of thing very seriously here. We are building a different kind of community, one that is all about taking the manure that mainstream medicine and the world at large is throwing in the faces of autistic people and turning it into a harvest of plenty.
I hope you all are enjoying your time here so far and I hope that this continues to be a great place to hang out, learn a few useful things and be part of the increasingly flourishing neurodiversity movement.
Just keep stimming!
Chris
s
I know our former leader Tania was much beloved, and her departure from the admin team might have caused something of a stir. But ultimately it had become time for her to take her fantastic self off to go do some even more amazing things, like running our first ever Autistic Strategies Network seminar on Autistic Health and to spend more time crafting informative posts and other worthwhile uses of her frankly invaluable time.
I'm sure you'll have noticed there have been some changes in the group. There's a bit of a different vibe in the air. Suddenly we have a set of rules up, and there's a bit of a different feel to our moderation decisions.
I have been trying to make our transition to new leadership less bumpy, but these things usually cause a bit of a stir so it is what it is. Hopefully, we'll get used to each other's new ways of doing in time.
The one thing I really feel everyone ought to know about the mods team is that each and every one of us started out as one of YOU. We were all just newbies here once too. We know how scary it can be to post here. And we'll always try to remember that when YOU do. Becoming more able to hold space and be productive in our engagements is my number one priority at the moment.
To that end, our moderation team has been receiving professional training in how to better serve our community and how to remain healthy and stable people while they do.
One of the most important things that matter to me in this community is that I help autistic families thrive. There is nothing that so totally offends your enemy as your success. I want to help us build successful healthy families here so that we can build a generation of autistic people who will be the advocates, doctors, politicians, researchers, and parents of the future we want to see.
I know a lot of the time our posts can be a bit.... intense. Maybe it feels like a personal attack. But really, this is not our MO. We're here to bring you into the fold, not place you before the inquisition. That said, a lot of what we have to say is going to be a bit outside of your frame of reference. For many of us, our first exposure to autism was in a doctor's office, and the news was not good.
I want to change the way you think about autism. I believe that if you spend enough time here really learning to listen to autistic voices and hear what they have to teach us you will realise that what you once thought of as a curse will become a blessing to you. I want you to understand that if all you see right now is darkness and despair that you need to hold on. It's just not sunrise yet. And the thing is, it's going to be a beautiful day.
That said, there are likely a few things you're going to learn along the way that takes you outside your comfort zone. Please bear with us. It really is worth it, we promise. Nobody here wants anything BUT for autistic people and those who support and care for them to THRIVE.
We spend a lot of our time in the background handling personal requests and answering questions people are too nervous to put to the group. That's part of what we do here too so do go ahead and ask us if there's something you're uncertain about in our rules, or if you feel a bit afraid of posting a particular comment to the main group. If you feel like things are a little tough and scary out there, just hit up a moderator for a one on one chat.
I know there's been some subtle (and not so subtle) attempts at lodging public complaints against the mods team.
I see you, folks. I am listening. But please, do try to engage with a moderator or admin directly rather than doing all sorts of interesting gymnastics to get our attention. We rarely turn people away, and we never do so without at least attempting to have the issue discussed, mediated or voted on by a full sitting of the modmin team. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that complaints lodged via alternative channels will be answered. If you need to speak to us, reach out to us by messaging the
If you've had conflict with one moderator, you've had conflict with one moderator. We aren't a uniform voting block. If one admin or moderator seems to be acting out of keeping with our values, please do report the incident to another moderator or admin. We take that sort of thing very seriously here. We are building a different kind of community, one that is all about taking the manure that mainstream medicine and the world at large is throwing in the faces of autistic people and turning it into a harvest of plenty.
I hope you all are enjoying your time here so far and I hope that this continues to be a great place to hang out, learn a few useful things and be part of the increasingly flourishing neurodiversity movement.
Just keep stimming!
Chris
s
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