In a few months time I’m going to be presenting at the NAS autism professionals conference. Talking about how i use my support and the approach we take to life.
It’s a bit of an odd event for me to do as i don’t have any ‘professional’ involvement in my life anymore. I present at around 20 autism events a year, but i don’t really consider myself part of the autism industry. I’m a engineer who happens to be autistic and is happy to talk about what i do and why.
I’m not a big fan of the wider autism industry. The network of well meaning “professionals”. I spend ~1/3rd of my time trying to support friends who have been harmed the most by those who where suppose to be helping them. Sadly this seems to be a very common outcome.
My hope with the talk is to explain “what i do and why” and hopefully give the professionals a different lens to view situations with.
The NAS is a very mixed organisation. On the one hand they do excellent campaigns. On the other hand they are not representative of the autistic community and make many, painful blunders.
I contribute because its a good audience and i still believe the organisation is doing good work. But at the same time, i think they have to make some serious changes if they wish to deliver on their stated vision of a society that works for autistic people.
