ASD Conferences Organized by ASD Folks?

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Hello All,

I have read about conferences organized by and for ASD folks. I am not looking for a conference on how to "cure" autism or conferences with a tone towards "saving" autistic children before it is too late, etc. I am looking for a conference celebrating our uniqueness while still acknowledging difficulties and offering strategies to help. Anyone know of such gatherings?

Thanks!

Temple Grandin does this sort of thing.

In the UK, there is Autscape. In the US, there once was Autreat, spearheaded by the incomparable Jim Sinclair. But Autreat is no more. This appears to be an unmet need at present.

(ASAN has an annual gala in DC, but nothing else AFAIK. An "annual gala" strikes me as approximately the most horrible idea since whenever high school prom was invented -- but to each their own, I guess.)

Why are there so few? I suspect that a conference that is truly by and for autistic people faces unique challenges, what with (1) the social and executive-function deficits that most of us share, and (2) the vast range of divergent characteristics that a conference would need to accommodate. I'm not sure how to meet those challenges, but much could probably be learned both from Autreat's remarkable ~18 years of success and its ultimate collapse.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network also has leadership-training conferences once or twice a year at various college campuses in the United States. The Asperger/Autism Network (AANE) holds events throught the year, too. AANE is in Watertown, Mass., and includes all autistics regardless of age.

The last all-autistic produced conferences and events were probably during the Aspies For Freedom (AFF) years.