Good Company (formerly Asperfemme)
Welcome to Good Company!
Good Company is an autistic-led support group for adult women and non binary individuals with official/self-diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. It exists for members to validate, inform and support each other in areas of mutual interest and to foster friendships and social contacts.
The monthly group is led by a team of autistic peers including leaders Besa Shemovski Thomas and Clementine Pirlot, and volunteers Hannah Monroe and Sarah Crisp-Foster.
Good Company emerged in January 2015, from a need expressed by autistic adult women who were looking to meet and connect with others with similar experiences. The group was founded by the partnership of an autistic woman, Romi Walter, and autism ally and therapist, Dori Zener. Besa joined the leadership team in 2017. This leadership model of a mental health professional paired with someone with lived experience ran until 2021. In 2021, the group became strictly autistic peer-led with Besa and Clementine as facilitators. The group also changed its name from Asperfemme to Good Company to reflect the diversity of its members. For more details, take a look at our Good Company Welcome Package.
Interested in joining Good Company?
Fill in your contact information in the below form to receive a link to our intake form.
Upcoming meetings for 2022
February 2022
Autism at Work
Tuesday 1st
Thursday 17th
March 2022
Friendships
Tuesday 1st
Thursday 17th
April 2022
Food & Self-Care
Tuesday 5th
Thursday 21st
May 2022
Disclosure in Relationships & the Workplace
Tuesday 3rd
Thursday 19th
June 2022
Barriers Accessing Education
Tuesday 7th
Thursday 16th
The Tuesday meetings take place from 5:30-7:30pm and the Thursday meetings from 6pm to 8pm.
What happened to the name “Asperfemme”?
We felt compelled to say goodbye to the name “Asperfemme” in 2021 because it no longer reflects the values we hold as an organization.
First, it is outdated. Asperger’s hasn’t been given as a diagnosis since 2013. Think about that: no one has been diagnosed with Asperger’s for the past seven years.
Second, some people in our community find the word ‘femme’ off-putting. If they do not identify as feminine women, they may feel excluded and conclude that the group is not for them.
Third, the term ‘Asperger’s’ is upsetting to many in the autistic community and beyond. There is evidence that Hans Asperger, the pediatrician who first identified the strengths and challenges that later became known as Asperger’s Syndrome, was involved in the deaths and medical experimentation of disabled children.
Join us in embracing our new name selected by our members: Good Company.
Research Partnership – Good Company & CAMH: Peer Support for Autistic Women
Good Company and CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) partnered together to study the benefits of peer support for autistic women. A big thank you to the Good Company members who participated! The experiences of the women were brought to life through a creative project involving Dori Zener & Associates team members, Daniel Share-Strom and Besa Shemovski Thomas.
