Julia Bascom

<h2 id="advocacy-work">Advocacy work</h2>
Bascom previously worked on the New Hampshire State Developmental Disabilities Council.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> She also serves on the boards of Advance CLASS, Inc. and the <a href="/facts/Centene/RzQqvls6">Centene</a> National Advisory Council on Disability.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> She was the Deputy Executive Director of ASAN, and replaced <a href="/facts/Ari_Ne%27eman/PYRFeVEh">Ari Ne'eman</a> as president of ASAN in 2017. She left her position as president of ASAN at the end of 2023 due to complications from <a href="/facts/Long_COVID/9YQdUEE2">long COVID</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>
Bascom was one of the experts consulted to create an autistic character, <a href="/facts/Julia_(Sesame_Street)/9bpPPwrH">Julia</a>, for the children's show <a href="/facts/Sesame_Street/kejrLUeG">Sesame Street</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>
As an autistic person herself<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> and an advocate, Bascom stresses the importance of letting autistic people speak for themselves on issues that relate to their health, rights and well-being.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> She states that it is important to recognize that autistic people are different and that there "is nothing wrong with us".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> On April 2, 2018, Bascom addressed the "state of women and girls with autism" at the <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>

<h2 id="loud-hands-project">Loud Hands Project</h2>
Bascom organized and founded the Loud Hands project. Loud Hands was designed to be a "transmedia project", that is, one that uses "multiple forms of content--written words, videos, visual art, the internet, and more".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> The project was launched in December 2011 as <a href="/facts/Crowdfunding/u9gwrlYI">crowdfunding</a> campaign to create an anthology of essays written by autistic people.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> The resulting anthology, Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking, was described as "groundbreaking" in <a href="/facts/Steve_Silberman/0euvLIy6">Steve Silberman</a>'s <a href="/facts/NeuroTribes/48mhr3Nw">NeuroTribes</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a> The project has put together over 20 years of culture, history and writing by and about autistic people.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>

<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
<ul><li>Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking (8 December 2012) (editor)</li>
<li>And Straight on Till Morning: Essays on Autism Acceptance (28 March 2013) (editor)</li>
<li>The Obsessive Joy of Autism (21 May 2015)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Ne'eman, Ari (18 July 2016). "A Message from ASAN President Ari Ne'eman". autisticadvocacy.org. Retrieved 27 August 2016. <a href="http://autisticadvocacy.org/2016/07/a-message-from-asan-president-ari-neeman/" target="_blank">http://autisticadvocacy.org/2016/07/a-message-from-asan-president-ari-neeman/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"A Message From ASAN Executive Director Julia Bascom - Autistic Self Advocacy Network". Autistic Self Advocacy Network. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2024-05-03. <a href="https://autisticadvocacy.org/2023/09/a-message-from-asan-executive-director-julia-bascom/" target="_blank">https://autisticadvocacy.org/2023/09/a-message-from-asan-executive-director-julia-bascom/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Council Members". nhddc.org. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121008181629/http://www.nhddc.org/members.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121008181629/http://www.nhddc.org/members.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"Staff – Autistic Self Advocacy Network". autisticadvocacy.org. Retrieved 27 August 2016. <a href="http://autisticadvocacy.org/home/about-asan/staff/" target="_blank">http://autisticadvocacy.org/home/about-asan/staff/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"A Message From ASAN Executive Director Julia Bascom - Autistic Self Advocacy Network". Autistic Self Advocacy Network. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2024-05-03. <a href="https://autisticadvocacy.org/2023/09/a-message-from-asan-executive-director-julia-bascom/" target="_blank">https://autisticadvocacy.org/2023/09/a-message-from-asan-executive-director-julia-bascom/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Martinelli, Marissa (2017-04-12). "An Autism Advocate Explains How She Helped Sesame Street Create Its New Autistic Muppet". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-02-13. <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2017/04/autistic-self-advocacy-network-s-julia-bascom-on-sesame-streets-new-muppet.html" target="_blank">https://slate.com/culture/2017/04/autistic-self-advocacy-network-s-julia-bascom-on-sesame-streets-new-muppet.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Zurcher, Ariane. "A Conversation With the Talented Writer, Blogger and All-Around Amazing Julia Bascom", The Huffington Post, September 1, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2016. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariane-zurcher/autism_b_2435209.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariane-zurcher/autism_b_2435209.html</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">McCollum, Sean (2016). "A New Frame of Mind". Education Digest. 82: 43 – via EBSCOhost. <a href="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=118250724&site=ehost-live" target="_blank">http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=118250724&site=ehost-live</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Howe, Blake; Jensen-Moulton, Stephanie; Lerner, Neil William; Straus, Joseph Nathan (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780199331444. <a href="9780199331444" target="_blank">9780199331444</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"UN celebrates voice and visibility of women and girls with autism". UN News. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2019-02-13. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/04/1006681" target="_blank">https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/04/1006681</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Bascom, Julia, ed. (2012). Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking. Washington, DC: The Autistic Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-938800-02-3. <a href="978-1-938800-02-3" target="_blank">978-1-938800-02-3</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Zurcher, Ariane. "A Conversation With the Talented Writer, Blogger and All-Around Amazing Julia Bascom", The Huffington Post, September 1, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2016. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariane-zurcher/autism_b_2435209.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariane-zurcher/autism_b_2435209.html</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Silberman, Steve (2015). Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently (1st ed.). Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-760-11363-6. <a href="978-1-760-11363-6" target="_blank">978-1-760-11363-6</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">"Women Speaking Out". Organization for Autism Research. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 2019-02-13. <a href="https://researchautism.org/women-speaking-out/" target="_blank">https://researchautism.org/women-speaking-out/</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Julia Bascom open-in-new

Julia Bascom