A course written for you
Building a Positive Autistic Identity is a gentle, self-paced online course written for Autistic people, whether you are diagnosed, self-identified or still working out whether autism fits. It was created with David Gray-Hammond through NeuroHub Community, and it adapts David’s book Supporting Autistic People: A Six-Point Framework into something playful and interactive.
So much of what is written about autism is written about us, for someone else. This course turns that around. It speaks directly to you, treats you as the authority on your own life, and contains no compliance techniques, no fixing and no advice to mask more.
What you will explore
The course is arranged as nine worlds with ninety-five short lessons, adding up to around eight and a half hours of stories, games, scenarios and reflection.
- 🌐 The whole ecology around you: from your body and immediate surroundings through to relationships, institutions and culture, asking what is happening across that system before asking what might be wrong with you.
- 🧠 Your mind from the inside: monotropism (Murray et al., 2005), the double empathy problem (Milton, 2012) and the ever-changing Autistic self.
- 🔋 Body, senses and wellbeing: the eight senses, meltdowns and shutdowns, and Autistic burnout and recovery.
- 🪞 Identity, safety and community: identity and language, trauma and safety, and the long history of Autistic self-advocacy and community.
- 🌟 Bringing it together: your own identity statement and a plan that fits your life.
Designed for how Autistic people learn
There are no timers and no fail screens. Retries are free, streaks are optional and nothing bad happens if you take a month off.
Sensory settings include reduced motion, a soft calm theme, dark mode, adjustable text size and sound that never plays by itself, and if the game elements are not for you, you can hide them entirely and simply learn. Heavier chapters open with content notes, and a help button with text and chat options is always on screen.
Your Growth Journal
Short wellbeing and identity check-ins are charted over time, and when you finish you can download a Growth Journal of your reflections and commitments, built on your own device so it stays private.
Meet Phoenix
The course also includes Phoenix, an optional AI learning companion that knows which lesson you are on, offers hints before answers, and links to articles from the NeuroHub Community blog.
Phoenix is honest about being an AI rather than a person or a therapist, and if you mention crisis or harm it stops teaching and points you towards real people and support.
Who it is for
This course is for Autistic people at any point in their journey, including late-identified adults, people recovering from burnout and anyone who has spent years masking. Self-identification is treated as valid throughout, and you do not need a diagnostic letter to take part or to belong.
Parents, partners and professionals often find it helpful too, though it is written to you rather than about you. It is an educational course with reflective check-ins and is not therapy or a crisis service. Current pricing and full details are on the course website.
A sister course
If you are supporting an Autistic loved one, our family course Re-Storying Autism may be a good companion to this one. You can find both courses together on NeuroHub Horizons.
References
Milton, D. E. M. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & Society, 27(6), 883–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008
Murray, D., Lesser, M., & Lawson, W. (2005). Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Autism, 9(2), 139–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361305051398