{"id":5763,"date":"2026-10-05T20:20:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T03:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/?p=5763"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:28:34","slug":"5763","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/?p=5763","title":{"rendered":"David Good and the International Friend Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Subscribe<\/a>, AASCEND TV<\/a>, Latest Video on Autism Advocacy in the UK<\/a>,\u00a0Job Club<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Donate<\/a><\/strong>, more<\/mark><\/strong> at <\/mark><\/em>ACTIVITIES<\/mark><\/strong> above. \/\/ See original postings for recordings (if any) of past programs. \u00a0<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Saturday <\/span>October 17<\/strong><\/mark> <\/span>A<\/strong><\/span>A<\/strong><\/span>S<\/strong><\/span>C<\/strong><\/span>E<\/strong><\/span>N<\/strong><\/span>D\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>interviews <\/span>David Good,<\/mark><\/strong> the autistic founder of the International Friend Connection,<\/mark><\/strong> and whose work has been recognized by two presidential administrations.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After losing his software development career to chronic pain and disability, David rebuilt his life by doing the one thing he could still do: showing up for people who needed somewhere safe to belong. In 2014, he founded what became the International Friend Connection,<\/mark> <\/strong>a global network of communities for shy, lonely, socially anxious, and neurodivergent adults. What began as one Meetup group in Michigan grew into a movement reaching more than 40,000 members <\/strong>across more than 20 countries. David has personally led thousands of events and helped develop more than 100 volunteer leaders. His work has been recognized by Points of Light, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award,<\/strong> <\/mark>Meetup, media outlets, and Cultural Autism Studies at Yale.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Zoom link to this presentation will be emailed to people on our mailing list as the date approaches. <\/mark><\/strong>There is no need to register for the event.<\/strong> <\/mark>Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to our mailing list if you aren\u2019t already on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David’s story of emergence from hellish circumstances to become a leader in autism community-building can only be described as extraordinary. Everything he learned on the difficult journey he now freely passes on to others. Join us online to hear what he has to say. We’ll reserve time at the end for your questions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, autistic adults will share their perspectives during the program.<\/span>

Who: Adults on the spectrum, family, professionals and friends all welcome!<\/strong><\/span>
When: Sat, Oct 17, 2026 at 10:00 AM<\/span><\/strong> Pacific Time
Where: Online via Zoom, <\/span><\/strong>Link will be emailed as the date approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact info@aascend.org with any questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Subscribe, AASCEND TV, Latest Video on Autism Advocacy in the UK,\u00a0Job Club,\u00a0Donate, more at ACTIVITIES above. \/\/ See original postings for recordings (if any) of past programs. \u00a0 On Saturday October 17 AASCEND\u00a0interviews David Good, the autistic founder of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5763"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5782,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763\/revisions\/5782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}