The recording of my #ITAKOM panel about #neurodiversity and #inclusion in #education, with @commaficionado and Elliott Spaeth, is on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58UwyYy6FQ

Here's the video of my #ITAKOM conference presentation, "Expanding the Creative Potentials of Human Neurodiversity."

Delivered virtually from the comfort of my home in California on March 13 (the conference was in Scotland).

#ITAKOM23 #neurodiversity #neuroqueer #neurodivergent #queer #creativity #psychology #transformation #neurocosmopolitanism #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek

https://youtu.be/AOITXkj5bqM

I impulsively picked up a rainbow slinky at Itakom yesterday

I didn’t realise until I’d unboxed it that it had one of the sponsors’ logos printed on one side 🙄

And now it occurs to me that it’ll probably break quite easily and end up being plastic waste 😬

(But I will enjoy it for now)

(CW: eye contact)

#Itakom #stimmy #StimToy #PlasticWaste

Itakom (It takes all kinds of minds) has been a fantastic conference, from the sparkling keynotes to the revolutionary panels to the friendly chats over a coffee or a delicious vegan lunch 😊

Huge thanks to @SueReviews and everyone else involved in planning the conference and making it work 🤗

I’m so glad I made the decision to be there, despite much trepidation about attending my first large in-person event of the Covid pandemic

Also, special thanks to my ADHD meds for getting me through the two days with relative ease! 😉

#Itakom #Edinburgh #neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic #ActuallyADHD #CovidIsNotOver

I'm really interested in trans-diagnostic approaches to supporting neurodivergent kids, and I think there's likely to be a lot of mileage here.

I think it's a mistake to head too far down this road without taking on more of the lessons of neurodiversity, though.
#ITAKOM

The question was answered, and what Sue’s research has revealed about working memory, ADHD and Autism is certainly thought-provoking

I felt disappointed, though, after hearing radical views from this morning’s panel of neurodivergent educators (Pete Wharmby, @ferrous and Elliot Spaeth), that her proposed interventions were basically more of the same trying to fit struggling children into a system that wasn’t built for them 😕

#education #neurodiversity #WorkingMemory #ADHD #Autism #itakom

Not 100% comfortable with use of the phrase "children with ASD" at a #neurodiversity conference.
#ITAKOM

The final keynote of #itakom has just started

Sue Gathercole is talking about ‘The transdiagnostic future of neurodiversity research’, beginning with a worked example of working memory

#neurodiversity #WorkingMemory

Well #ITAKOM looks great but I had no idea it was happening so 🤷🏻‍♀️

(Seriously, how did folks know about this?)

Enjoying another ‘No mind left behind’ panel at #itakom, featuring Venessa Bobb, Frank McKillop, Punit Shah and Nanny Aut, chaired by Joe Long

This panel is focusing on the idea of community, and the need for intersectional thinking and representation have come up again

#neurodiversity #community #intersectionality

Interesting noticing some of the common themes that keep coming up at #ITAKOM.

Safe spaces are a huge one. Places where people can feel safe, free from threat. I guess it's not surprising, although it's something people don't usually talk about enough: so many neurodivergent people feel unsafe so much of the time.

Without a sense of safety, it's so hard to connect, to learn, to access flow states.

There are so many dimensions to this, too. It relates to having sensory and social needs met, and that's deeply tied up with being trusted.

That's another, overlapping recurring theme of this conference: listening to people about their needs, and taking them seriously.

#Neurodiversity #inclusion

Sonny @scrappapertiger is on now, talking about counselling in the Tinto room at #ITAKOM!

So that's exciting.

So excited to be back at #itakom today for a panel on education featuring Elliott Soaeth, Fergus Murray and Pete Wharmby, chaired by Rachel Davis

Gosh, this is a very big room.

Wish me luck!
🥺
#ITAKOM

Looking forward to my 11am panel at #ITAKOM! I'll be talking about #neurodiversity in #education, with three other autistic educators.

I'm also looking forward to Alyssa Alcorn's related talk on the #LEANSproject at 9:40.

In the same session, an interesting talk by Daniel Poole on a mixed-methods study on attention across four groups (ADHD, Autistic, AuDHD and PNT – predominant neurotype)

#itakom #attention #focus #distraction

Wow. Several hours into #ITAKOM and it's great. Loads of #actuallyAutistic activists and scholars, rich discussions.

Ironic to have a prerecorded talk on auditory processing and the Autistic profile, where the speaker (Bec Poulsen) is barely visible, making it hard to follow!

#AuditoryProcessingDisorder #ActuallyAutistic

#itakom

This session has segued into another prerecorded talk

‘Identity spirals: neurodivergent intersectionalities’ by Kassiane Asasumasu is absolutely brilliant, and I really want to hear more from them! 🤗

#itakom #neurodivergence #intersectionality

Having had a delicious vegan lunch and connected with a few Autistic friends, I’m now watching a prerecorded talk by Nick Walker: ‘Beyond neuro-essentialism: neuro-transqueering neurodiversity’

#itakom #futurism #utopianism #neurocosmopolitanism