Creating Change – The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project

January 1, 2022January 1, 2022

Creating Change 2021 – Social Media Activism

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session explored the use of social media platforms for activism and how to be more strategic with your activist social media posts with guidance from a presenter who has professional experience creating social media campaigns, including a proposal for an official Asexual Flag emoji as a case study.

This presentation has been adapted so that it can be used by others. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License (plain text | legal text). If you would like to use this in a presentation where you are being paid to present or some other use outside the scope of this license, please contact us at [email protected] to ask for permission. It may not be presented at the Creating Change conference without permission.

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April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

Creating Change 2021 – Helping Professionals

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session was a chance to hear about the levels of knowledge and types of assumptions therapists and doctors sometimes make about ace and aro identities, then discuss personal experiences with barriers to accessing counselors, doctors, and other healthcare professionals who are knowledgeable and properly inclusive about ace and aro identities. Some time in the session was dedicated to brainstorming the best ways for aspec individuals to receive affirming and competent care, as well as brainstorming avenues for educating these care providers.

Because it included personal information from participants, the transcript is general notes of the topics discussed rather than the full record.

Presentation | Transcript | Handout

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

Creating Change 2021 – Intersections

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session explored how aspec identities intersect and interweave with neurodivergence, disability, and gender.

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February 21, 2021February 21, 2021

Creating Change 2021 – Including Youth

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session discussed how youth spaces, including schools, youth groups, and queer activism, are already including aro and ace youth as well as how they still need to grow.

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February 21, 2021February 23, 2021

Creating Change 2021 – Race and Aspec Identity

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session discussed how white supremacy, colonialism, and compulsory sexuality impact the ability of racial minorities to claim and find joy in ace and aro identity. It also covered how the aspec community has perpetuated racism and how it can move forward towards inclusion, justice, and healing.

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February 21, 2021February 21, 2021

Creating Change 2021 – Amatonormativity and Relationship Anarchy

Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2021. This session focused on understanding and deconstructing amatonormativity, with a critical examination of monogamy as a patriarchal, sex-negative, capitalist, colonial, coercive institution. It also looked at ways to resist society’s amatonormative expectations in our lives and our communities, such as through relationship anarchy.

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January 23, 2021January 23, 2021

Creating Change 2021

TAAAP is proud to present several sessions at the Creating Change conference for the fourth year in a row, with Aces and Aros and the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy, including a workshop, caucus, and the first-ever Day-Long Institute! This year, because it will be entirely virtual, nobody has to travel at all to join us. Also, the registration fees this year have been reduced to $50, or pay what you can. You can register here: https://www.thetaskforce.org/creatingchange/register.html. The dates are Friday, January 29-Sunday, January 31.

We plan to upload session materials and transcripts, though only of the informational parts and not of any personal audience information, for many of these sessions after the conference.

June 3, 2019September 25, 2019

A History of Aces at Creating Change: An Interview with Bauer

Creating Change 2019 was the first time an official Ace and Aro Hospitality Suite was included as part of the conference program. This victory was built upon the presence ace activists have been forging at Creating Change for years, organizing and hosting suites that brought people together when the conference programming did not. Bauer of Aces NYC talks with TAAAP social media committee member Aria about the gradual, uphill battle of cementing an ace, and eventually aro, presence at Creating Change.

January 27, 2019August 20, 2020

Queering Relationships: Aromantic and Asexual Perspectives

Aromantic and asexual people often find that they “pick and choose” aspects of the significant relationships that they form. Developed by members of TAAAP for Creating Change 2019, this presentation reviews how aromantic and asexual people approach relationships and how all people can use these approaches to form fulfilling relationships without being tied to existing relationship models. This will help present new, practical approaches to consent and the gender and financial dynamics that are a part of any relationship.

August 3, 2018September 25, 2019

Ace and Aro Hospitality Suite is Official at Creating Change 2019

On May 25th, 2017, thirteen asexual activists sent an email petition to Andy Garcia, the Creating Change 2019 conference director, to include an asexual spectrum hospitality suite as an official part of the event in Detroit, Michigan this coming January.

Hospitality suites at Creating Change are places where people of similar identities can connect with one another, and they often offer resources and light refreshments. Last year, the conference had hospitality suites for elders, trans people, youth, disabled people, bisexual+ people, and people of color.