Places worth pointing you at.
A short list of organizations and writers we trust enough to send you toward. Not a directory of everything — a careful starting set.
What this is
Cairn exists to help parents and family of autistic people find support — including support that doesn’t live on Cairn. The places listed below are organizations and writers we’ve read carefully, whose published work aligns with the same editorial line Cairn holds (identity-first language, no cure framing, autistic adults visibly leading the work, no ads or engagement bait).
What this isn’t
Nobody paid to be here. Listings are editorial, not transactional. No org bought a spot; no org ever can. The Resource Directory is closer in spirit to a librarian’s reading list than to advertising. Cairn doesn’t track clicks, doesn’t share data with listed orgs, and doesn’t take money for placement.
How something gets here
The founder reads the org’s public work against our inclusion criteria. Once Cairn’s autistic-adult advisory group is in place, every addition will be reviewed before being listed.
The criteria are simple:
- Identity-first language by default in their own materials
- No cure framing, biomedical pseudoscience, or anti-vaccine content
- Autistic-adult input visible in their work
- No engagement-driven product design
- No pharma money in their funding structure
The starting list
This page is small on purpose. Better five places worth knowing about than fifty we haven’t read carefully.
Autistic-led advocacy
- Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) →
Flagship US autistic-run civil rights and policy advocacy organization. Maintains the canonical identity-first language resource page that shaped how many of us learned to speak about autism.
- Stimpunks Foundation →
Small neurodivergent-led foundation focused on mutual aid and human-centered learning. Rejects 'fixing' framing; ad-free; aesthetic and editorial sensibility closely aligned with Cairn's.
Editorial & writing
- Thinking Person's Guide to Autism (TPGA) →
Long-running editorial site co-edited by autistic adults and parents. Explicit anti-misinformation mission. Closest published analog to the editorial line Cairn holds.
- NeuroClastic →
Volunteer-run, ad-free nonprofit publishing essays by autistic writers. The kind of careful, identity-first writing Cairn wants more parents reading.
- Autistic Science Person →
Ira Kraemer's blog — science-informed, identity-first writing. A model for how careful autistic-adult writing for parents can sound.
If you’re listed
If you run one of these organizations and want your listing updated or removed, write us at hello@cairn.community. We’ll make changes the same day.
Suggest a place
If you know an organization or writer who’d fit the criteria above and isn’t listed, send us the link at hello@cairn.community. We’ll read carefully.