Dear Ocate Cliffs family,

We’re reaching the end of a fairly quiet summer. Our major project was this glamping tent on a platform – it’s 20 feet across and can sleep a lot of people. Several guests who were coming through wanted to help with it, and when working side by side, shy people tend to open up. Even if you come here for the daisies and rabbits, to be away from people, there are random human connections that can be touching and different than any you might intentionally set out to find.

One of my dreams for Ocate Cliffs is to host and facilitate conversations across political and other divides, which is in keeping with what happens here naturally. Outside of anyone’s home turf with everyone closer to the edge of ther comfort zones, power dynamics can shift and autistic people can feel more equal. (So far this is only in the form of grant proposals and ideas.) This year we gained a couple new board members, and we will continue trying to figure out fundraising and outreach – the biggest challenges.

Survey: There was a survey sent out in the June newsletter, and if you haven’t given your input, please consider doing that now. It will be available for one more week. The survey is designed to help us steer the program to be as relevant as possible to the autistic community. All questions are optional, and I would love your input even if you only answer one of the questions. https://forms.gle/8iZQFuNxKAU1bmyYA

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

If someone forward you this newsletter, please subscribe at www.ocatecliffs.org.

We’ve been busy the first month of our 2021 season. The topics in this newsletter are a survey, some pictures, and the work of a couple of our longer term people.

Survey: The survey is designed to help us steer the program to be as relevant as possible to the autistic community. All questions are optional, and I would love your input even if you only answer one of the questions. https://forms.gle/8iZQFuNxKAU1bmyYA

Path to peace: The path shown below was made by Mike, who drove here from New Hampshire and helped out a lot with inspired and meticulous projects like this one. He says “I came looking for peace, reflection and to reconnect with nature, and I found that. I look forward to returning.” Thanks for your supportive presence and contributions, Mike! I’ll get a picture of him next time.

Autistic nature community: Erin, one of the autistic folks who spent time here last summer is working on a project called Autistic Nature, which is going to be a resource for autistic people to share our love for anything and everything nature, and also to advocate for inclusion in nature. Here is her invitation: “We are working on launching a website which will have an online forum, resources, and blog posts. We need help from other autistic people who are interested in developing this community. If you’re interested or would like more information, please email hello@autisticnature.com.”

Other goings on are shown below – hope this makes you want to come too!

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

That survey link again is: https://forms.gle/8iZQFuNxKAU1bmyYA

If someone forward you this newsletter, please subscribe at www.ocatecliffs.org.

The light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is now apparent and people are planning their “vaxcations” – some of them hopefully here at Ocate Cliffs. To get a little more capacity, we now have this wind-resistant large tent for upscale camping, seen here in our back yard as we test it out. One of the projects for the summer will be to build a platform for it and make it nice inside. Between the six indoor bedrooms and the big tent and places for many other tents, there are lots of options for different kinds of groups.

Like last year, we’re avoiding large-scale events or anything with a lot of pre-planning, to account for travel uncertainties. But we can still respond to your ideas on a smaller scale. For example if you want to have a retreat and are starting with a small group, we can find a few more people and make it into something memorable. What would you like to do here? What does the autistic community need? We have one autistic retreat on the calendar so far, which is being hosted by a private group, and we can do more of them. Costs for these events are very low since the goal is to empower events led by people with disabilities.

Speaking of money, Divergent Labs is down to zero, so if you’re inclined to help this experiment in autistic space, please consider a donation or helping to find us a source of grants. We expect to earn some money this summer from rentals to the general public, but that still won’t be enough to pay staff, so I’ll continue to be on a volunteer basis along with anyone else staying longer term.

Direct links to camping reservations and all other ways to be here.

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

I am dreaming about next summer, and hoping that “vaxcations” will be a thing, and that people will be excited to experience autistic space and community here in New Mexico. I don’t know yet what form of gathering will be safe and possible, but I hope you will make contact if you would like to come for a retreat or for longer.

Celebrating Amik

Amik Nafte, who served on our board, died this year from a heart condition. He was the founder and builder of “GAIA” (Grounds of Autistic Island in the Adirondacks) – an autistic centered retreat, also the founder of the Rhizome program of Divergent Labs, as well as a driving force behind autistic.zone – a collaboration platform. He dreamed big and was tireless in his efforts to build autistic culture, travel opportunities, appropriate education, and other interconnections. His autistic grandson had been subjected to ABA and that fueled his efforts to support compassionate ways to treat children and to propose alternatives to institutionalization and a disabling financial system.

Amik had visited Ocate Cliffs a few times and I mostly remember how he was quietly teaching and inspiring, making sure everyone was included, while drawing no attention to himself. At Gaia, he built a sauna, yurt and other structures by hand with remarkable strength and skill. He considered his role in nature as an animal who was part of the ecosystem rather than a master of it, and that kind of sensitivity showed in things like building a tree house without putting any nails in the trees.

Like many autistic people, his network was fragmented, and we don’t know whether his life was celebrated by his family or whether he was cast out. Like many autistic people, his dreams and drive to improve the world were morally ahead of the times and were arrived at independently. Like many of us, those efforts didn’t get enough support to be widely noticed and appreciated, and were often met with entrenched resistance.

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

Here is a tiny poem about silence in the wildeness:

Only the footfalls of a chipmunk and me are audible in August;
mine compress the supple pine returning to earth and hers are tenacious.
We are here to ask why we are here.

The summer was our first “open for business” summer and the pandemic brought more people outdoors. It was amazing how far people would drive to be here – about 60 in all, many from all over Texas and even one from California. It was such a peaceful time and maybe the first time in my life I paid attention to the moonrise during the whole summer, giving me an awareness of cycles of time that I hadn’t had before.

We had two staff at different times. Sky and Erin are seen here extending a deck and prepping for paining the cafe.

We improved all the existing trails and built a couple more – the main focus of the summer work. One of the overlooks at the cliffs got renamed “Pretty Good Point” after trying out a bunch of other names, and a new trail goes to “Brownie Point”, both scary and awe-inspiring places.

Next summer when it’s safer, we hope for more rentals of the whole house for retreats. The jobs of marketing or fundraising for the second building are dormant and waiting for the right person to come along with those skills.

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

Dear Ocate Cliffs family,

The last frost is over this past week and we’re open! We’ve had a dozen people camping here so far (keeping distance and cleaning regularly of course). Most of them say it’s breathtaking and peaceful, and there’s been a lot of laughing around the campfire. Here I am in the cafe as I type this…

When building a unique program that doesn’t fit people’s mental model of autism programs, I get conversations like this:

Person: I heard this is for autistic kids?

Me: Well it’s for older teens and adults, as staff.

Person: What you’re doing for those kids is so great.

For a lot of people, the mental model is that developmental disability affects only children and “we” do “services” for “them”. For some, that’s taken as a good thing, while others fear it could be a segregated institutional setting. Either way, it has been hard to clear away this we/they model from the conversation.

The reality is that the place is primarily wilderness and it is for humans to be ourselves with other humans and the rest of nature. It’s a retreat. You can be here a short time or a long time. You can be here without talking to anyone. There are no roles based on who you are and your labels. You don’t have to prove anything, be a role model or be the target of role modeling. The outcomes (to use non-profit-speak) are mainly un-measurable.

The autism niche mainly means that neurodiversity is under protection here in a more purposeful way than in most other places. People like me – who are too marginalized to be a contributor in most settings – can contribute here. It’s subtle and potentially powerful; I don’t know if it’s radical or if the model even has a name. Going against all the well-known models means there is no funding stream and no supporting political movement.

Speaking of politics, yesterday my friend Jen reminded me that white people remaining detached – when the nation is a tinderbox of pent-up rage in the grips of white supremacy – is a form of violence. I also believe the way we engage can be violent even if we are on the side of justice. My other friend Deer says activism is not accessible to them, and like me, they are not a side-taking, bandwaggon-jumping person; they are easily marginalized by the fight. It’s like being ironically tossed aside in the fight for “inclusion”. When someone says “What you’re doing for those kids is so great” (when I’m not doing anything in particular for kids), I sense it could be rooted in the same place as racial supremacy because they both assume there is a “them”. I want to be engaged but I shy away from engagement along those lines of division and do not know what other way to be engaged now so I’m uncomfortably detached.

When people find this place peaceful amidst the tinderbox all around us, I wonder if there is something inherently more peaceful about meadows and cliffs and aspen groves, or if those things awaken the mind’s eye to see the peace within us. Retreating and engaging are opposites and may also be the same.

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

The Summer retreat dates are set! (Sun July 12 – Sun July 26). This international work retreat is a chance to meet people from around the world in an aut-positive collaborative setting. Projects will include trail building, painting, other indoor and outdoor construction, and cooking together.

Full information is here: http://www.divergentlabs.org/ocatecliffs/visit/international-work-retreat-2020/

Please pass this along in your networks – we rely on you to reach a wider autistic audience for these events.

You are also welcome at other times if you want to be involved but can’t make those dates – or you could come to the retreat and also stay longer.

The pictures below (thanks to Lisa and Vova) include our toolshed building project last summer. The two animals in gray coats are apprently in a deep discussion!

In service,

Star Ford, Program Manager

Ocate Cliffs is snowed in now, and around the new year is when I start to get excited about the next summer. I will be there most of the summer, which means we will be very flexible about visiting and staffing.

Consider being a part of it in any of these ways, to support transformative experiences in a beautiful autistic space!

• Come for the international work retreat and meet people from around the world while building trails and cooking together (no cost, probably late July – stay tuned)
• Come for a short visit any time
• Come to stay for a longer period as staff
• Rent the retreat center for your own retreat, reunion or meeting. Direct link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/40116837
• Donate to help us stay solvent! (Donations will mainly be used for food, transportation, and retreat supplies.). Direct link to donate: http://www.divergentlabs.org/ocatecliffs/donate/

In service,
Star Ford, Program Manager

(This is the first newsletter that was posted as a blog entry on this site. For PDF formatted newsletters dating back to 2014, please see the history page.)

Dear Ocate Cliffs family,

We are open for all of August for guest groups! For now we are handling reservations through vrbo.com and hipcamp.com. Details for visiting are on this page: http://www.divergentlabs.org/ocatecliffs/visit/

The next two weeks we are having two people from Russia stay and volunteer, so if you want to make last minute plans to join that, please let me know.

Here are some new pictures of the cleaning and furnishing process coming along:

I also have a personal achievement to share: After downsizing in our house in Las Vegas and getting life into a more financially efficient arrangement, I now have the ability to take off time from work in the summer so that I can be at Ocate Cliffs closer to full time. I’ll continue to work the rest of the year. I wasn’t able to start that arrangement until half the summer was over, but in 2020 we will have a lot more flexibility for the whole summer.

If you have an autistic person in your life who could benefit from a transitional experience here, please get in touch!

In service,
Star Ford, Program Manager