Library / Watch / Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
Practice, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
One panellist’s advice to young autistic founders was to find another autistic person
In short
Closing a 2024 Sydney panel on autistic entrepreneurship, Kyriakos Gold asked for advice for a younger autistic founder. Two of the answers described support that did not yet exist, and the third pointed to other autistic people.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
One panellist’s advice to a young autistic founder was to start with another autistic person. Reach out to someone who is autistic, the panellist said in the closing minutes of a panel on autistic entrepreneurship at the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney on 9 June 2024, because “they will help you get to the next place and then the next place”. The panellist described the same commitment from the other side. Whatever young person made contact, even about something the panellist’s own business could not help with, the panellist would point them in the right direction, and they could always come back if they felt they had reached a dead end. The network was strong, the panellist said, and “autistic people are incredibly giving”.
Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, had closed it by asking each panellist for the first thing they would say to a younger autistic entrepreneur, after noting that three members of the panel sat on the advisory board.
Sign in to keep reading, listening and watching.
Sign in with your email and everything in the Library is open to you: every story, every talk and every episode. It is free and it always will be. If you can, a donation helps keep it free for everyone.
Sources the story draws on
- Australians with autism are getting support to start their own businesses (opens in a new tab), SBS News (Sandra Fulloon)
- Profound Neurodiversity Accelerator launched (opens in a new tab), Startup News (Charlie Gunningham)
More from Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
All 94- 1 minute 38 seconds, captioned Sharon Zivkovic split product development from business development for autistic founders Dr Sharon Zivkovic At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, Dr Sharon Zivkovic argued that autistic cognition suits building a product and clashes with the way business development is usually taught.
-
4 minutes 13 seconds, captioned Autistic founders hold on to the problem and let the solution keep changing Christina Chun, Roo Harris At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, Christina Chun and a FutureTech panellist described constant iteration on feedback as an autistic strength, and the panellist named the difficulty of explaining it to funders. - 8 minutes 4 seconds, captioned Christina Chun compared founder etiquette training to ABA in business Christina Chun, Kyriakos Gold At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, Christina Chun questioned the social norms autistic founders are trained to follow, and Kyriakos Gold described how culture and gender change the way directness is heard.
-
2 minutes 51 seconds, captioned A Sydney panel asked whether board governance itself shuts autistic people out Kyriakos Gold At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, an autistic board member described being called unprofessional, and the panel split on whether the fault lay with board structures or with how they are run. - 3 minutes 18 seconds, captioned A Sydney panellist expects AI to change the moment investors doubt a founder Kyriakos Gold At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, a panellist described the founder whose leadership investors question as a company grows, and others separated entrepreneurship and leadership from day to day management.
-
5 minutes 25 seconds, captioned A neurotypical translator at the front door, and the risk of losing control Dr Sharon Zivkovic, Roo Harris At the Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney in June 2024, speakers from Minds at Play described putting a neurotypical between the business and its audience, and Dr Sharon Zivkovic warned what happens when that person builds the systems.