AutFest - a mini-conference in London

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AutFest

YOU ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL WINTER EVENT - A DAY OF WORKSHOPS, TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS AND AN EVENING OF ENTERTAINMENT

This is an autism-friendly event which is centred around the needs and interests of people on the autism spectrum.

DATE: Sunday, 15th December 2013
START TIME: 2pm (registration)
END TIME: 8pm
LOCATION: NAS Autism Centre (Ladbroke Grove),
73C St.Charles Square, London W10 6EJ
PRICE: £5

You are welcome to bring food with you as no food will be served/sold at
the event.

TO BOOK YOUR PLACE: email [email protected] and state your name
and how many tickets you would like to book (then pay in cash when you
arrive at the event)
FOR MORE INFO: [email protected] / 07704 246 555

To get there from Ladbroke Grove Underground station (Hammersmith and City Line, Circle Line):
As you come out of the station, turn left onto Ladbroke Grove.
St.Charles Square is the 5th street on the left.
Ladbroke Grove Autism Centre is on the right, at the end of the street, past St.Charles Catholic Sixth Form College.
Walk through the gate and the centre is opposite the gate and slightly to the left (look out for the blue door).

AutFest's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/423100347819013/

Wish I could go, Chen, but I am in the U.S. I sure encourage anyone who is even remotely close to attend, though.

By the way, our mini ASD retreat, AutHaven, is scheduled for February 22, 23, 24, in the mountains of Colorado. We have been able to keep the cost down to $100 per person [lodging for 3 nights, workshops, discussions, entertainment, meals, excursion to Denver Aquarium and lots of goodies in the goody bags] Ian Ford will be talking about his book, "A Field Guide To Earthlings," Xenia [Kathy Lissner] Grant, one of the 3 founders of ANI will be speaking about the high rate of sexual abuse of autistics, preventing and healing from it, and we will also be discussing [among many other things] self-employment and our plans to build an intentional autistic community within an already existing community.

We are planning on between 12 and 18 people and still have plenty of openings.

I wish we had a monthly event in Houston where we had an interesting speaker, pretty much any topic both Spectrum related and not. And then we transported, and often the transport itself can involve group building, to another location for a games night and/or movie night.

And, Oh Yes, along the way we engage in social and political activism and recruit volunteers to provide direct help to persons on the Spectrum.

Anyway, this is a medium-term dream for me, hope to see some of it come true.

Wishing people all the best at the London and Colorado conferences.

Hi Chen

Great to hear from you.

When I saw the title

"AutFest - a mini-conference in London"

I said to myself, "I bet that's Chen, telling me
what's happening down the road from me again"
Im really grateful that your so consistent and
helpful with raising awareness of these events.

Wishing you well from London

Chris

==== MAIN PROGRAMME ====

2pm Registration

2.30pm “2O-MINUTE TALKS”

A series of short, stimulating presentations by experienced autistic speakers.

Q & As for these talks will take place at 3.30pm as a panel discussion

2.30pm
“Talking back to Academia” by Larry Arnold

The “hows”, “whys” and “what fors” of starting Autonomy, the critical journal of interdisciplinary autism studies. www.larry-arnold.net/Autonomy

2.50pm
“Being oneself” by Dinah Murray

This talk is about finding amazing rewards, intense joy (and pain), expertise, new paths, new possibilities...and ignoring pressures, being weird, causing trouble and sticking to one’s principles.

3.10pm
“Finding the courage to stand up and be heard” by Mark Ty-Wharton

A talk about how to have fun with our beautiful voices. Training ourselves to stretch our boundaries, to be playful in the game of learning new skills and tasks...to break down stereotypes rather than making autistics sound normal.

3.30 – 4.15pm PANEL DISCUSSION
Questions and Answer session led by our speakers from “20-minute talks”

4.15 – 4.35pm
BREAK

4.35pm
INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES

4.35 - 5.15pm “SPEED SOCIAL”

A fun and interactive “speed dating”style activity which will give participants the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends (a set of questions will be given by the facilitator)

5.15–6pm DISCUSSION: “The social jungle – how can we navigate it?”

A group discussion about the strategies we can adapt to cope more effectively in the social world.

6- 6.30pm
BREAK

6.30pm

ENTERTAINMENT EVENING
(a series of short performances by individuals on the spectrum)

8pm
END OF EVENT

==== ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMME ====

If you would like a break from the main programme or to try something different, the activities listed below are on offer

2.30 –6.30pm (ongoing)

Screening of “Nuclear Winter” A play produced by Anthony Fairweather
Starring Alain English

This is a one-hour long play which was performed at the Camden Fringe Festival in 2013. Its two main themes are Asperger’s Syndrome and mental illness. The DVD of the play will be running continuously from 2.30pm until 6.30pm

3.30 – 4.15pm “Coffee chat”

An alternative to the “20-minute talks” panel discussion, this session is casual and unstructured; an opportunity to meet new people and have an informal chat about the “20-minute talks” or any other topic of your choice

4.35 – 5.15pm DISCUSSION “The myths of autism”

What are the myths of autism? How do we cope with the lies and bring
a new awareness of autism to the public?

This discussion will be based around the “Myths of Autism” article by Luke Beardon which can be found in the April 2012 issue of Asperger United

==== The speakers ====

Larry Arnold

Larry has been a disability activist since the 1980 and has played a pivotal role in the autistic community. He is known as a prominent self-advocate and the first autistic person to be elected onto the board of the National Autistic Society (UK).
He is currently researching video as an educational tool in autism at the Autism Centre for Education and Research at the University of Birmingham as part of his PhD.
www.larry-arnold.net

Dinah Murray

Dinah is an author and lecturer and has spent thousands of hours working one- to-one with non-speaking autistic adults. She is a co-founder of Autism and Computing, APANA (Autistic People Against Neuroleptic Abuse), the Posautive YouTube group and Autreach IT. She curated the work of several autistic contributors, including herself, for the video “Something About Us” in 2009. Most recently, she has worked on e-learning material and a series of short videos for Ask Autism with the National Autistic Society. She is currently developing the Autistic Space Kit app with Kevin and Kabie Brook of ARGH, with support from ASSERT in Brighton.

Mark Ty-Wharton

Mark is a musician, performer and sound musician. Understanding some of the limitations of being autistic but recognising some of the strengths, he has found ways around some of the shortcomings. He believes that because autistic people are primarily human beings, there are more things about us that are similar than different. His experience of being autistic and focusing on his voice has enabled him to grow and change in a positive way which has been beneficial to him as a communicator.
www.likebeing.com


Ladbroke Grove Autism Centre is a 5-10 minute walk from Ladbroke Grove station.

From Ladbroke Grove Underground station (Hammersmith and City Line, Circle Line)
As you come out of the station, turn left onto Ladbroke Grove. St.Charles Square is the 5th street on the left Ladbroke Grove Autism Centre is on the right, at the end of the street, past St.Charles Catholic Sixth Form College. Walk through the gate and the centre is opposite the gate and slightly to the left (look out for the blue door).
Search for Ladbroke Grove Autism Centre on Google Maps

That sounds so awesome, Chen. I am really curious about the speed social. Will you please post about it after the event, specifically about the reaction of those who want to only observe, and of those who are normally reticient but get involved.

I still would love it if you could attend AutHaven in February. I was hoping you might reconsider as this would be your first opportunity to meet your longtime friend, Star Lucia.

I look forward to attending this event (or sequence of events). I've never been to a purely autistic event before, and I expect I will find it quite an eye-opener.

Yes! go to it! I am so envious! And, when you return PLEASE POST ABOUT IT ALL OVER WP

I surely shall!

Perhaps OP could persuade the site admins to put up a page on the subject? Then I could write a report (I'm a journo by training), and other attendees could submit pictures.

Sounds interesting, and I look forward to hearing more about the event.

I realize this is culturally and geographically dependent, but is it easier to get people to an event when it's on a public transportation route?

By and large yes, it is. Although the 'if you build it, they will come' principle can also apply, depending on what your proposal is. Village fetes and travelling fairgrounds fall into this latter category for instance.

I'm afraid it would be difficult to persuade them. Even when I asked them to put pages for the main international Autistic-run events, Autreat and Autscape, they ignored me. Since AutFest is only for those of us who can come to London for a few hours, then even I am not sure it deserves its own page on WrongPlanet. It may deserve its own page on AspieVillage.org.uk, though.

That's a shame -- and a bit shortsighted in this multiplatform age imho.

Oh well.

The second half of the AutFest Entertainment evening this coming Sunday will be an open mic session and anyone is welcome to contribute anything they like (it can be any topic and doesn't necessarily have to be creative). The organisers are looking forward to seeing you at the event.

It must have been great, I'm so sorry I couldn't be there!