PDA North America

### Context Profile for PDA North America

1. **Organization Mission & Cause**:
   - **Mission**: PDA North America is dedicated to raising awareness and providing support for individuals with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), a profile on the autism spectrum characterized by an extreme avoidance of everyday demands and expectations. Their mission is to educate, advocate, and empower families and professionals to better understand and support those affected by PDA.
   - **Cause**: The organization aims to promote acceptance and understanding of PDA, ensuring that individuals with this profile receive appropriate support and resources.

2. **Type of Activities**:
   - **Events**: PDA North America hosts various events, including workshops, webinars, and in-person gatherings. For example, the recent event titled "Understanding & Supporting PDA" at Fusion Academy focused on educating attendees about PDA.
   - **Fundraising Campaigns**: They conduct fundraising initiatives to support their educational programs and outreach efforts.
   - **Community Programs**: The organization provides resources and support for parents, professionals, and individuals affected by PDA, including informational materials and networking opportunities.

3. **Tone of Voice**:
   - The tone of voice used by PDA North America is **friendly, supportive, and informative**. Their communications aim to be accessible and relatable, fostering a sense of community among those affected by PDA. The language is often encouraging and empathetic, reflecting their commitment to support and advocacy.

4. **Emoji Usage**:
   - The organization does not prominently feature emojis in their communications, maintaining a more professional and straightforward approach in their messaging. This suggests a preference for clarity and seriousness regarding their cause.

5. **Key Facts**:
   - **Founding Info**: Specific founding details were not explicitly stated on the website, but the organization appears to have been established to address the needs of individuals with PDA in North America.
   - **Scale**: PDA North America has conducted 13 total forms and 277 email campaigns, indicating an active engagement with their audience.
   - **Impact Metrics**: While specific metrics were not detailed, the organization emphasizes community engagement and support through events and educational outreach.
   - **Volunteer Info**: Information regarding volunteer opportunities is not explicitly mentioned on the website, suggesting that they may focus more on professional support and community engagement.

6. **Writing Guidelines**:
   - **Style**: Content should be clear, concise, and supportive. Use of empathetic language is encouraged to resonate with families and professionals dealing with PDA.
   - **Structure**: Use headings and bullet points for easy readability. Ensure that information is presented in a logical flow, especially when discussing events or resources.
   - **Audience Engagement**: Personalize communications where possible, using the recipient's name and addressing their specific interests or needs related to PDA.
   - **Call to Action**: Include clear calls to action in emails and promotional materials, encouraging participation in events or support for fundraising efforts.

This context profile serves as a foundation for creating tailored content for PDA North America, ensuring alignment with their mission, tone, and audience engagement strategies.

for financial assistance please email info@pdanorthamerica.org

General Admission

While living as a PDAer comes with its challenges, it also offers profound gifts&mdash;among them, a powerful capacity to question, disrupt, and resist. This talk explores the radical beauty of refusing to comply with dominant norms, including neuronormativity, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, sanism, white supremacy, and capitalism. We&rsquo;ll examine how PDAers, by our very nature, challenge the status quo&mdash;not just in how we think, but in how we&nbsp;live, relate, and exist. We have the liberatory potential that as we feel safe, we have the courage to live authentically, to reject performative expectations, and to create space for others to do the same. Together, we&rsquo;ll reflect on how these identities and practices can become acts of resistance, healing, and transformation in a world that often demands conformity. The Art of Resistance: PDA and Refusing to Perform will be on July 24th at 7PM (CST). All ticketholders will receive the recording within a week of the event. About Alex:Alex McLaughlin (they/them) is non-binary, an AuDHDer, a PDAer, disabled, multi-racial, and Queer therapist. They use an ecological systems, feminist, and strengths-based approach, emphasizing anti-racism and neurodivergent and queer affirmation. As a late-diagnosed AuDHDer and PDAer, Alex is dedicated to exploring identity with neurodivergent clients and supporting their integration of knowledge related to their neurotypes. They also have lived experience of OCD and specialize in working with individuals with OCD, utilizing ND-affirming Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT).&nbsp;Website: <span data-sheets-root="1" fr-original-style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:normal;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none;color:#1155cc;" id="isPasted" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); box-sizing: inherit;"><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.thedivergentgrovetherapy.com/" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">https://www.thedivergentgrovetherapy.com/</a> Instagram: <a data-fr-linked="true" fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/autisticworldofalexmac/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/autisticworldofalexmac/</a>

Hi <span contenteditable="false" data-custom-variable="{{firstname}}" fr-original-class="fr-deletable styled-tag-chip" fr-original-style="" style="background-color: rgb(248, 248, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(191, 191, 255); border-radius: 4px; color: rgb(42, 42, 196); padding: 1px 8px; font-size: 11px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: anywhere; user-select: none; box-sizing: inherit;">First name, Thank you for registering for The Art of Resistance: PDA, Queerness, and Refusing to Perform with Alex McLaughlin MSW, LICSW, RYT 200 on Thursday, July 24th at 7PM (CST). Here is the zoom info:&nbsp;Topic: The Art of Resistance: PDA, Queerness, and Refusing to Perform<br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" id="isPasted" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Time: Jul 24, 2025 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)<br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Join Zoom Meeting<br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><a fr-original-style="" href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82124520966?pwd=YFDMZ46P2Y41LeYUwfRI1TiHEOpCb9.1" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82124520966?pwd=YFDMZ46P2Y41LeYUwfRI1TiHEOpCb9.1<br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"></a><br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Meeting ID: 821 2452 0966<br style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(240, 244, 249); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Passcode: 577779 We hope to see you there! (but if we don&#39;t, remember all ticketholders will receive the recording within a week of the event).&nbsp; Warmly,The PDA North America Team

While living as a PDAer comes with its challenges, it also offers profound gifts—among them, a powerful capacity to question, disrupt, and resist. This talk explores the radical beauty of refusing to comply with dominant norms, including neuronormativity, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, sanism, white supremacy, and capitalism. We’ll examine how PDAers, by our very nature, challenge the status quo—not just in how we think, but in how we live, relate, and exist. We have the liberatory potential that as we feel safe, we have the courage to live authentically, to reject performative expectations, and to create space for others to do the same. Together, we’ll reflect on how these identities and practices can become acts of resistance, healing, and transformation in a world that often demands conformity. The Art of Resistance: PDA and Refusing to Perform will be on July 24th at 7PM (CST). All ticketholders will receive the recording within a week of the event. About Alex:Alex McLaughlin (they/them) is non-binary, an AuDHDer, a PDAer, disabled, multi-racial, and Queer therapist. They use an ecological systems, feminist, and strengths-based approach, emphasizing anti-racism and neurodivergent and queer affirmation. As a late-diagnosed AuDHDer and PDAer, Alex is dedicated to exploring identity with neurodivergent clients and supporting their integration of knowledge related to their neurotypes. They also have lived experience of OCD and specialize in working with individuals with OCD, utilizing ND-affirming Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT). Website: <a href="https://www.thedivergentgrovetherapy.com/" target="_blank">https://www.thedivergentgrovetherapy.com/</a> Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/autisticworldofalexmac/" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/autisticworldofalexmac/</a>

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PDA North America

PDA & Refusing to Perform

General Admission

US$39