Neuro-Affirming Support and Intellectual Disability: Where Do We Start? with Holly Sutherland, Autistic Autism Researcher

Register $15 USD

Topic: Neurodiversity-informed care for intellectually disabled autistic and wider-neurodivergent people. 

Course Description: Environments, interventions, and supports for neurodivergent people are increasingly billed as “neurodivergent-friendly” or “neurodiversity-affirming”. Parents, carers, and other professionals are calling for “neurodiversity-informed” care. But what does this really mean? What do neuro-affirming supports and interventions look like? And how, specifically, should neurodiversity as a concept influence our care provision for neurodivergent people with an intellectual disability? In this talk, Holly Sutherland will explain why neuro-affirming care is so vitally important for neurodivergent people, especially for those with an intellectual disability; give some initial pointers on assessing whether a support or intervention is neuro-affirming; and unpack some of the challenges associated specifically with providing neuro-affirming care to people with an intellectual disability.

Participants will
1. leave with an understanding of the ways in which social, physical, and sensory environments can impact neurodivergent people.
2. be able to list the kinds of things to consider when assessing whether a support or intervention is neuro-affirming.
3. leave with an understanding of how intellectual disability (among other traits/co-occurring conditions) can impact considerations about support and intervention for autistic and wider-neurodivergent people.

Audience: This educational presentation is designed for self-advocates, parents and carers of intellectually disabled autistic and wider-neurodivergent people, school, and community stakeholders, including SLPS, OTs, psychologists, mental health counselors, teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and other support staff.

Course Includes a Professional Development Certificate, slide handout, and resource sheet.

Presenter Bio: Holly Sutherland is an autistic autism researcher and doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD focuses on social communication in autism – specifically, communication between autistic people, and communication from the autistic perspective. She is currently studying social interactions and communication in day support services for autistic adults with high support needs. She is interested in neurodiversity frameworks, lived experience research, mixed methods, and bridging the double empathy gap.