Shifting the System: AASPIRE and the Loom of Science and Activism

Abstract

In 2006 Dora Raymaker, Autistic person and autistic rights activist, co-founded the Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) with Christina Nicolaidis, a physician-researcher and parent of an autistic child. AASPIRE works within the sphere of academic health and social services research to conduct projects the A/autistic community wants done. It endeavors to return power to communities that experience oppression to make their voices heard in research and policy settings. For example, its website autismandhealth.org offers resources for autistic adults, their supporters, and healthcare providers to improve the healthcare of autistic adults in the US. AASPIRE has served as a model for community-based participatory autism research, promoting the growth of participatory autism research internationally.