Decorative photograph of two people are silhouetted on a jungle gym made of platforms and rope nets against a bright sun, with lens flare and bokeh effects dotting the image.
It is good when Autistic people work with and for other Autistic people.

I spent some time today updating the Facebook page for this blog and my related work under the Unstrange Mind umbrella. I had not updated it since my first book came out in 2013. I’ve had two more books published since then. It was time for a small makeover.

It’s no secret that I use AI productivity tools. I do all my own writing, but AI helps me outline and brainstorm, among other tasks. I’m a solo owner-operator of two businesses — Unstrange Mind and Mercury Muse — and there’s no way I could run two businesses alone without supportive AI tools.

I wanted to update the tiny bio Facebook allows me on the Unstrange Mind page there. Words are at a premium. I had “Maxfield Sparrow is an Autistic scholar activist, community facilitator, and” (I later had to edit this part down a few characters to get it all to fit.) I turned to one of my AI assistants and we had a brainstorming session about how to describe the rest of my autism work.

Scholar activist covers most of the autism writing I currently do (although I have been working on a novel with four Autistic primary character, but it’s still a while before that’s going to be ready to see daylight). Writing, in general, is a way I serve the community from a distance. Writing is close, intimate communication that happens when I’m not even present.

Community facilitator refers to the work I’ve been doing for the last four years, serving as peer support group facilitator for various groups of Autistic people. This is more direct work in which I serve small groups of people directly.

The other work I do is rooted in my training as a DSP – a direct support professional. But that is a medical term from a medical industry and I feel less comfortable with that career title all the time. I’ve also been trained as a disability employment specialist, and I’m planning to go through training to become an autism life coach. Everything in this category is work I do one-on-one, directly with people. There is no job title I’m aware of that covers this much territory.

Until now. My AI and I fine-tuned our thoughts and words together and ended up with “Autism Support Specialist.” I really like that. The phrase describes what I do – specialized support, one-on-one, with fellow Autistic people.

But what I really love is the acronym. Being Maxfield Sparrow, A.S.S. is a great way to clown on the pretentiousness that can too often go along with having a string of letters after one’s name. I’m not some fancy professional, I’m just some ASS who’s helping other people get more of what they want from their life. Remembering the silliness of that acronym might help me remain humble and open, listening to my clients, remembering that I have been trained to help them, but they are the experts in their life and they already know what they want to do. My work is to help them make that happen.