Available Conferences

by Susan J. Golubock
and Jim Sinclair

SELF-ADVOCACY IS FOR EVERYONE:
Protecting and Promoting One's Needs

INTENDED AUDIENCE:
Autistic individuals, direct support workers, parents of adolescents or adults.

Workshop 1 (Jim):
• Parent-Profesional Partnerships: Who's Missing in This Picture?

Objectives:



Workshop 2 (Jim):
• Orientation to Self-Advocacy

Objectives:



Workshop 3 (Susan):
• Self-Advocacy Needs a Partner: Modeling, Mimicking and Motivation

Objectives:

• Explore the sensory processing conflicts between partners that can inflame or interfere with the motivation to advocate.


• Learn how to use your partner's processing strengths to get your message across.


• Increase understanding of how important modeling and mimicking are in the development of self-advocacy skills.


Workshop 4 (Jim):
• Premises, Promises & Perils of Support Relationships:Can Dignity and Dependency Co-Exist?

Objectives:

• Develop awareness of the dynamics between autistic people and support people


• Explore common issues that may lead to conflict and blurring of roles


• Identify appropriate boundaries and role definitions to promote dignity and autonomy in the provision of support.


Workshop 5 (Susan):
• Teaching/Learning Self-Advocacy: Tools and Strategies
  Objectives:
  
  • Explore tools/strategies for teaching/learning not just rights but also responsibilities.
  
  
  • Explore tools/strategies for developing the self-awareness and self-monitoring needed to self-advocate.
  
  
  • Learn how to use organizational aids and routines to teach/learn self-advocacy.
  
  
  • Explore tools/strategies that tap into one's strengths and enhance the effectiveness of self-advocacy.


Workshop 6 (Jim):
• Autism, Culture, and Community

Objectives:

• Learn about the cultural model of autism, and how it differs from deficit models.


• Consider ways that various autistic characteristics influence how autistic people relate to others.


• Learn about some of the ways autistic people relate to each other in Autistic community settings, and the Autistic culture that has begun to emerge from the creation of shared Autistic spaces.


Workshop 7 (Jim):
• A Culture of One? Being Autistic in an NT World [for Autistic people]

Objectives:

• Explore implications of the cultural model in terms of how autistic people think about themselves and about the ways they are different from non-autistic people.


• Consider whether some of the customs that have developed in Autistic communities might be useful in participants' lives.


• Develop skills and confidence in negotiating cultural differences with neurotypical people.


• Learn about opportunities to meet other autistic people and experience Autistic community.
[Note: This is a companion workshop to "Autism, Culture, and Community" designed for Autistic people]

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