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Community voice, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
Sleep, preparation and support workers, the hidden cost of attending an autism event
In short
In the closing session of the 2024 Sydney symposium, a first time attendee asked for more talk about struggle. The replies described how much effort it takes to be in the room at all.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
One request made in the closing session of the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney came from a first time attendee. A participant at their first autism event of any kind, not diagnosed but encouraged by others to seek a diagnosis, said they had found the day inspiring. They also asked that the next event spend more time on struggle. “I feel like a lot of you guys mask really well,” they told the room, and explained that they had needed to leave and sleep before they could continue with the day.
That observation turned the session. The people on stage over two days, in Melbourne and then in Sydney, had spoken about programs, employment, entrepreneurship and policy. The participant was pointing to what the audience could not see, which was what it had taken for those speakers to appear that way.
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Sources the story draws on
- "Having All of Your Internal Resources Exhausted Beyond Measure and Being Left with No Clean-Up Crew": Defining Autistic Burnout (opens in a new tab), Autism in Adulthood, 2(2) (record in PDXScholar, Portland State University)
- 'Dark day': Sector braces for impact from NDIS changes (opens in a new tab), The New Daily (with AAP)
More from Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
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