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Practice, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2024
What the parent of an autistic adult was told to look for, and avoid
In short
A parent at the 2024 Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Sydney asked how to help an adult child. The panel’s answers kept returning the question to the child’s own experience.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
A parent in the audience put a direct question to the panel. Was there any program or workshop for parents of autistic people, and how could a parent help? They made clear they were asking about adults, not children.
A panellist, who said many such programs were listed in their directory, said they existed but “they are not all created equal.” They ranged from short one hour webinars to programs running twelve months. From the perspective of autistic people, any program a parent chose needed to be neuroaffirming. The panellist said they saw many programs on the platform trying to make autistic young people and children more neurotypical, and considered that really harmful. A second principle, the panellist said, was that “you shouldn’t be in a program or therapy just because you’re autistic. It just shouldn’t happen.” There should be a goal, or a life skill being taught. A good program for parents would help them understand autistic authenticity and culture, and understand their own child.
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Sources the story draws on
- About us (opens in a new tab), Reframing Autism
- Autistic-led Learning (opens in a new tab), Reframing Autism
- Autism Valued (home page) (opens in a new tab), Autism Valued Inc
- Guiding Principles poster, National Guideline for supporting the learning, participation, and wellbeing of autistic children and their families in Australia (opens in a new tab), Autism CRC
- Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective (opens in a new tab), Autism (SAGE), 24(7), Crompton, Ropar, Evans-Williams, Flynn and Fletcher-Watson
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