Understanding Autism

Duration: 1- 2 hours; ½ day; day; series of session

These workshops are adaptable to your specific needs and requirements

Topics include (these may be “mixed and matched”, so for example, an extended workshop may be built around autism in girls and women or it could be generic, with a section specifically on girls and women):

• A brief history: how our understanding, and the language we use, has evolved, along with the advocacy and neurodiversity movements.
• Autism and human rights: education, work, health care and social inclusion. The common barriers to autistic people accessing these and what to do about it.
• Autism, women and girls: what does autism “look like”, what we mean by “masking” and the impact it has; self-identity and self-esteem; gender identity; a lifetime of transitions for autistic women (puberty, adulthood, pregnancy and childbirth, maternity, menopause, elder age) and building autism-understanding gender-specific services, for example in health and mental health.
• Autism and Education: why this is often difficult to access for autistic children and young people, the impact of this, and what to do about it.
• Autism and Employment: Benefits of a diverse workforce; the differences of autism, including thinking and communication styles. Making the workplace more inclusive and healthy for autistic staff and colleagues: what is meant by “reasonable adjustments” and accommodations. Practical steps.
• Autism, health and wellbeing

Workshop Benefits:

Participants will gain greater levels of knowledge and understanding about what autism is (and what it is not). The bespoke nature of these workshops mean that whatever your requirements are, the knowledge gained will be applicable to your organisation or department.  Participants will be given insight and tools to use in their specific contexts. 

Autism and gender-based violence

This workshop was originally delivered in partnership with Dr Carly Jones MBE to the Discovering Connections Conference Dundee, 2022, led by Dr Kate Duncan, ASPEN

Duration:  2 – 3 hours

This workshop is designed to inform anyone working in the areas of trauma and GBV. It has been observed, clinically, by professionals working in the areas of trauma and gender-based violence (GBV), that there is a high proportion of neurodiverse women and girls who experience various forms of abuse.

Topics covered will include:

• Why autistic girls and women (and some boys, men and non-binary people) are often “missed or misdiagnosed”.
• Why their autistic characteristics and their experiences in the social world may make them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
• What “masking” is and the long-term impact on the individual, and how to improve levels of identification of risk and safeguarding of individuals with multiple vulnerabilities

Workshop Benefits:

Participants will gain an increased understanding of the interactions between Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG); they will be better informed to improve processes of safeguarding, identification of risk and services.