
Disabled, Autistic, Neurodivergent, and Chronically-ill perspectives are primary resources in understanding disability, autism, neurodivergence, and chronic-illness. Centering these perspectives is essential in our collective progress towards equity and justice.
NEXT UP...
AUTISTIC SOCIAL LIFE
March 14th, 2025
12:00 - 1:15 EST
VIRTUAL
As a social species, we all communicate. However, mutual communication difficulties between neurotypes are often labeled as “poor social skills” ubiquitous with Autism. Additionally, masking to meet social expectations can make trying to have a social life exhausting.
Common (often neurotypically calibrated) social activities can be inaccessible to Autistic people outside of the socializing component. This makes the concept of Autistics achieving rich social lives seem insurmountable in a neuronormative world. However, this narrative often doesn’t account for the communication between Autistic individuals and non-neuronormative ways of social engagement.
In this panel, autistic individuals will share their experiences with a social life under the current neuronormative expectations and their experiences fostering community outside of these societal norms.
In the accompanying workshop, we will attempt to engage further in identifying neuronormative communication standards and deconstructing them, as well as challenging communication expectations to start relating to others holistically.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Most of the conversations about autism, particularly in academic, therapeutic, and medical spaces, are not led or created by Autistic people, and are instead led by allistic (non-autistic) people working in the field of autism.
We believe lived experiences of Autistic people should be heard, validated, and legitimized, and must be centered in these conversations. ​​
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The Autistic Perspectives Series aims to provide an accessible platform for community members to engage with an Autistic panel, who bring their lived experiences to varying topics that intersect with autism. Each series has two parts, a panel and a workshop, that center around a theme.
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PANEL: Three to Five Autistic individuals come together to discuss the theme. They are given questions in advance and there are 10-15 minutes at the end for questions. Attendees are given access to vocabulary words and resources that match the discussion.
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WORKSHOP: The workshop builds off the discussion in the panel and is a deeper dive into the topic. It is an interactive and tangible way to explore the topic with others and invites connection, reflection, and (un)learning.
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You can register for just the panel or you can register for both. You cannot only register for the workshop. The panel will be recorded and shared with registrants. The workshop will not be recorded.​ When registering for the Panel and Workshop, be sure that you will be available to attend the workshop live.
Workshops may also be mixed neurotype and experience. While we do encourage discomfort for the sake of growth we will be monitoring interactions to ensure safety.
COST
PANELS are free and open to the public, with a suggested donation between $10 and $30 per attendee.
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WORKSHOPS are sliding scale, $25 - $75 per person, with a certain number of free slots made available for each workshop.