Category Archives: Advocacy

ANS: Exploring the Spectrum Conference 2017 – Wow!

So, way back in December, my friend from CAPP, Patricia, told me that Autism Nova Scotia was having a conference March 2nd and 3rd, and she had managed to get Steve Silberman (the author of Neurotribes) as the keynote speaker (he was great, BTW). She also said that they were doing a panel of women autistics, and asked if I would like my name mentioned as a possible panelist. I said “Yes!”. 😉 (Who wouldn’t? Especially given I’m getting more into advocacy.)

Over the next two months various details got ironed out, and I was confirmed as a panelist, and very eager to go.

And I had a really great time.

(Note: Long – it covers a lot over the course of the two days! Also note there are pictures included.)

Read on to find out exactly why I had such a great time!

BBC Video Article: CEO Secrets “Why I Employ Autistic People”

Check this out! Excellent reasons for hiring autistics, and the CEO in question even comments that having autistics/neuro-diverse teams helps everyone in the team do better!

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39052653

‘Later!
🙂 tagÂûght

#CAPP Films: #AutisticAdvocates Speak

So, I didn’t actually post anything about the CAPP meeting in Montreal at the end of October, mostly because it was a quick two days and I got unpleasantly flustered over issues with getting to the airport for my flight home. (I made it, but it wasn’t fun.)

One thing we did in Montreal during out meeting, however, is now public – each of us who were present were filmed doing a quick interview by Spectrum Productions, in order to create a short film about CAPP that could go public.

As of today, those films – the short film put together of all of us, and the individual interviews – are live, and available to the public.

The short film Hear From the Experts contains a selection of the interviews that each of us gave; the individual interviews contain more details and answers. Below is the short film and my interview.

Click here to see the video links and read more about the subject.

ASNL: Ask About Autism #1

This October, the Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador is celebrating Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month with the theme of “Ask About Autism”. The (genius) brainchild of the Advocacy and Communications Manager, Tess Hemeon, Ask About Autism involves activities all month long encouraging people to ask questions to professionals and autistics about autism. Something I can thoroughly get behind, because how can we teach people what they want to know if they don’t ask? (Yes, we can tell people things; but those may not be the things they feel they need to know.)

Click to read the plans and watch a video!

Toronto #CAPP Meeting

It’s been a while, I know. Between dealing with the effects of my heat allergy in July and August (yeah, summers in St. John’s are a lot cooler than, say, summers in Toronto, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t get warm), and then catching a nasty cold in the first week of September (I’m still coughing), I haven’t had a lot of energy to spare to be updating.

But the CAPP Advisory Group met in Toronto on Monday, and we had a great time. We were informed of the basic stats of the responses to the Community Round Tables, the surveys, and the written submissions – and I just want to say a large “Thank You!” to all those who responded. The numbers exceeded what our mandate called for, which is wonderful, and provides even more support for the need for a Canadian Autism Partnership.

Read on for more of what’s going on!

Experience Invalidation: Telepathy and ToM

*shocked gasp* I never knew there were telepaths living among us!

How many times have you heard someone say a variation of, “Oh, c’mon, it’s not that” [or “It’s not at all”] “loud/bright/smelly/painful/bad-tasting/etc!”?

This is a classic case of experience invalidation: Someone saying that because they don’t experience stimuli and perceive the world the same way you do, your way does not actually exist in reality.

So, what does telepathy have to do with it?

#ActuallyAutistic #Canadian #CAPP Written Submission

So, I’ve already put up the link to the CAPP survey (reminder: closes July 15th); we also have a written submission form for adult autistics (referred to as “self-advocates” in the documentation). The details are as follows:


We are interested in learning about your views on the importance of a national partnership model in addressing the critical issues facing individuals with autism, their families and those working in the field. We envision CAP bringing together researchers, service providers, and decision-makers in collaboration with people with autism and their families to address the complex issues the autism community faces today.

Specifically, we are looking for your input to the following questions:

  • As a person on the spectrum, what are the big issues that you believe need to be solved?
  • As we design the CAP model, what suggestions do you have for creating a strong national partnership?
  • How do you think CAP could make a difference to you, your family and your community?
  • If you are aware of other collaborative models you think we should explore, please tell us about them.

Once you have composed your responses to these questions, please visit http://www.capproject.ca/index.php/en/written-submission-self-advocates to submit your answers in a fillable PDF.

All information is confidential. The information we collect will provide us with an understanding of the current autism landscape in Canada and what is required to have a successful national partnership model in this country.

If you have additional comments, questions, or information that you would like to share with us, please send them to casdacapproject@gmail.com.

The deadline for fillable PDF submissions is Saturday, July 30th.


Please, please, if you’re an autistic Canadian, please fill this out. We’ve got a large number of responses to the survey so far, but only approximately 4% of them are from actual autistics. The more information we get from autistics, the better our idea of what the situations around Canada are.

Thank you!

🙂 tagÂûght

Response: DoaM’s “Inspiration Porn Goes to the Prom”

I apologize – this was meant to be out yesterday (Friday) but it was a busy day, and I got distracted with other things. So it’s out today.

First things first – please go and read Inspiration Porn goes to the Prom on A Diary of a Mom. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

There’s a very important question that Jess asks in there. (Thanks, Jess.)

“What if you are that person?”

Continue to read the response.

#AutismAcceptance Day

April 2nd. WAAD. Officially World Autism Awareness Day, though I can’t think of an autistic I know who doesn’t feel it should be World Autism Acceptance Day.

This was going to be a very short post, because today I did most of my “getting my point across” on Twitter. But then I decided to look at this a different way – what have I done over the past year to contribute to Autism Acceptance?

Because for once, I can answer that I’ve done more than maintain my blog.

Last year, I wrote a letter to the ASNL about Light It Up Blue (which the ASNL continued this year, unfortunately) – it’s also been passed out to Autism Canada’s leadership.

Since then, I have also joined both Autism Canada’s ASD Advisory Board, and the Canadian Autism Partnership Project ASD Advisory Board. I have been part of discussions about creating conferences specifically for autistics in Canada, and about building a Canadian Autism Partnership. I’ve made friends with more autistics throughout Canada by this – really good friends at that. And those have helped me gain the confidence both in myself and my views of being autistic to speak out even more.

I have also started work on the project that my Social Club group is calling Spectrum Storybooks. It’s going to be a long-term project, but will be so useful. Something like that is needed, and we’re going to help fulfill that need.

So I don’t know about the world as a whole – there’s still a lot of things wrong with the public view of autism – but I’ve done things this past year that I can be proud of. And that? That’s something worth celebrating.

Nova Scotia, How I Love Thee

So, I’ve been in Nova Scotia for over a week now. I leave in just over 49 hours (from the time I posted this). And I had a wonderful day yesterday. I figured it was time to discuss.

This will be a somewhat long post, talking a bit about my family and a lot about the main/original reason I’m here, which is to do with the Canadian Autism Partnership Project. No details of our discussions – those are confidential – but just how it went, and how the group related to each other, and various bits and pieces.

Read on….