Paula Durbin-Westby

Paula is the Virginia contact for The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN), ASAN is a nonprofit organization run by people on the autism spectrum. Supporters include people with other neurological differences, family members, professionals, educators, and friends.
ASAN was created to provide support and services to individuals on the autism spectrum while working to change public perception and combat misinformation about autism.

Paula has represented ASAN at Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meetings. Her testimony at the March 14 IACC meeting called for research into supports and services throughout the lifespan, and testimony on May 12 urged NIMH to include autistic individuals as full partners in research projects.

www.autisticadvocacy.org

Paula is also an autistic community member of the Academic Autistic Partnership In Research and Education (AASPIRE). She works on making sure the research is relevant to the autistic community and conducted in a respectful, ethical manner. AASPIRE brings together the academic - Hide quoted text - community and the autistic community to develop and perform research projects relevant to the needs of autistic adults. The partnership adheres to the principles of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), whereby researchers and community members serve as equal partners throughout the research process.

www.aaspireproject.org