people living under a double-rainbow
LGBTQI+ people with an Autistic diagnosis have two separate rainbows — and two separate coming out stories. There are times when an autistic will not come out as LGBTQI+, and vice-versa. The challenges for each minority group are great, and being a double-social minority can be especially tough. Education and peer support goes a long way in helping to navigate these challenges, and make for a smoother trip on the social highway. That’s the premise of Twainbow — people living under a double-rainbow.
Corey Coloma
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Director and Board Member, Operations
Corey lives under the double-rainbow and works for multiple nonprofits in Eugene, Oregon as a Direct Support Professional and Personal Support Worker to Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He volunteers on the board of directors of a local Brokerage in the state that he resides. He has done much advocacy work through writing and public outreach for people with developmental disabilities as well as those that are autistic. Corey has volunteered on advisory boards at the state level as well. He is a published poet, writer, photographer, and lover of adventure.
Louis Molnár
Pronouns: He/Him/His, They/Them/Theirs
Founder
Louis lives under the double-rainbow and is an executive operations consultant. He founded the consulting firm Kiraly Molnár Jansen and is an author, artist, former elected official and professor emeritus.
Tony Rowe
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Board Chair, IT Officer
Tony lives under the double-rainbow and advocates for the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in Africa and the Netherlands. He is proficient with many desktop and web applications, and other technologies.
Jeni Evans
Pronouns: She/They/Her/Hir
Board Member
Jeni lives under the double-rainbow and is a Ph.D. researcher in English at Stony Brook University in New York State, a fiction writer and poet, and an advocate for queer autistic writing. She is from Wales, UK.
About Autistic People
Autistic awareness or Autistic acceptance?
Awareness has to do with knowledge. Acceptance has to do with social integration.
At Twainbow, our mission is to advocate for those under the double-rainbow by making the double-rainbow community aware of what is going on and to stand up for our rights. We want education, peer support and social justice. We want to blast through ignorance and bring people of the entire Neurodiverse Autistic community together.
- Twainbow will advocate for those LGBTQI+ community members that are also Autistic by serving as a clearinghouse of information, encouraging research, and coordinating resources.
- Twainbow will emphasise efforts to support under-served, disadvantaged, and minority people who identify as both LGBTQI+ and autistic as a priority, but is intended to serve all stakeholders and constituents within its purview.
- Twainbow will sponsor and support increased awareness and promote environments that contribute to a sense of well-being among community members.
At Twainbow we recognize that a schism exists between many autistics, the healthcare field, and autism organizations. One of our goals is to share experiences from the perspective of the LGBTQI+ autistic so that the science of neurology can better understand what it means to be autistic. In this way science and society will continue to evolve its position on the autistic community from a treatment perspective to one of recognition of neurodiversity as simply a difference.
This is why we support the use of the infinity sign over the well-known symbol for autism, the puzzle piece, since the puzzle piece may infer that autistics are incomplete or have something missing in their brains or that we are a puzzle to be solved.
Twainbow stands with the social model and not the medical model. Twainbow stands for acceptance and not the treatment mindset.
we are LGBTQI+
Although Twainbow frequently uses the shortened “LGBTQI+” to describe our community, we fully advocate for all members of our community including, but not limited to:
Lesbian – A female- identified person who is attracted romantically, physically, or emotionally to another female-identified person.
Gay – A male-identified person who is attracted romantically, physically, or emotionally to another male-identified person.
Bisexual – A person who is attracted romantically, physically, or emotionally to both men and women.
Transgender – A person who is a member of a gender other than that expected based on anatomical sex.
Queer – An umbrella term which embraces a variety of sexual preferences, orientations, and habits of those who do not adhere to the heterosexual and cisgender majority. Traditionally this term is derogatory and hurtful, however, and many people who do not adhere to sexual and/or gender norms use it to self-identify in a positive way.
Intersex – Someone who’s physical sex characteristics are not categorized as exclusively male or exclusively female.
Asexual – A person who is not attracted to anyone, or a person who does not have a sexual orientation.
Ally – A person who does not identify as LGBTQI+, but supports the rights and safety of those who do.