View past chats on this topic here: December 6, 2020 and May 28, 2023.

Questions:

Chosen family can refer to friends, partners, housemates, support networks, informal cousins, and other close voluntary relationships that might resemble or take the place of what’s traditionally considered family (such as blood kin). #AutChat

If you share personal information about yourself or others today, keep in mind that Twitter is a public medium and it’s possible people who know you (or the others you discuss) could read what you say. #AutChat

If tweeting about abuse or neglect, you may want to add a content warning to the top of your tweet (“CW: abuse”) so that others who may be upset by that content can make an informed decision about whether to read it.

Q1: Do you have people in your life you consider chosen family? Or people who might fit a similar definition but you use a different term to refer to them? Share as much as you like.

If you don’t have people like this, do you wish you did? Why/why not? #AutChat

Q2: How did you meet or find your chosen family? How did your relationship with them grow over time? #AutChat

Q3: Do you always get along well with your chosen family? Do they get along well with each other? Is this similar or different from other relationships in your life? #AutChat

Q4: Do people in your chosen family know you’re autistic/similarly neurodivergent? Do you know if any of them are autistic/similarly neurodivergent? How does this affect your relationship?

Q5: Do you have any advice for fellow autistic/similarly neurodivergent people about finding or building a chosen family?