Hi Everyone,
Thanks for intro @HAWK, I’m an Australian UX writer, researcher, designer and neurodiversity SME mostly due to my lived experience as an autistic person. I was diagnosed 18 months ago at the ripe old age of 29! If you’re curious- all my talks and articles can be found on my website. It’s a mix of UX and Autism stuff. I’ve also got a book coming out early next year.
Anyway, that’s enough about me. In regards to your original post @ggstuart I can’t help you with the budgeting or the technical elements of actually setting this thing up but maybe there’s another way I can help you? If you have Autism related questions or need some feedback before launching, I could be useful. I’d like to learn more about your project and understand what you mean by students- eg are we talking about kids or adults at university? etc
Also curious to understand how you plan to create a safe environment for forum participants? Like many autistic adults, I’ve had more than my fair share of run-ins with neurotypical parents of autistic kids (especially on Twitter) who aren’t quite on board with the concept of inclusion and neurodiversity not actually being a bad thing.
I’ve met people who have trouble connecting with the idea of us embracing our quirks and accepting ourselves as we are. Some believe we need to change who we are to fit in and our value is often measured by how well we pass as ‘normal’. This is obviously quite scary because hey everyone is different in their own way and it’s all about how we support each other for those differences and work together to meet each other halfway! And when we’re free to be ourselves, we’re calmer and that’s when we get to use our super brains to develop some serious talents!
To be clear, most of the parents I have met have been incredibly inclusive and are onboard with there being nothing wrong with a different brain but the bad experiences on Twitter have affected the way I approach them. I’m always very cautious and don’t share too much until I can figure out how they feel. I’m not saying the parents are bad and they are certainly entitled to their own views and feelings but have a think about how you are going to help people feel safe to open up and share their thoughts on your forum.
Let me know if I can help in any way 
PS nice to meet you all!