An #Autscape2025 highlight:

On Tuesday 5th August 2025 Caroline Hearst will be running a workshop entitled “The relationship between double empathy and mentalising”.

“This workshop will examine the idea of the double empathy problem as posited by Damian Milton and will look at factors affecting communication between different neurotypes.
I believe the differences in the methodology we use to understand others (often called mentalising or theory of mind, but which I refer to as intuition of others thoughts) explains some inter neurotype communication difficulties.
The presentation will include an experiential excercise and discussion.”

Autscape is an autistic-led, autistic-run residential event running from 4th to 7th August 2025 at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire.

Registration is open until May 31st: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/
List of presentations: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/presentations
Provisional schedule: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedule

Please help #Autscape by sharing this widely.

An #Autscape2025 highlight:

On Tuesday 6th August 2025 Laura Buckland Mason will be running a workshop entitled “A Little Piece Of Autistic Space: An Art Workshop & (Optional) Postcard Swap”.

“Join Laura to create your own little piece of autistic space, in the form of a handmade art postcard, to swap with others or to take home with you.
In this guided workshop we will discuss why autistic space is important to us, then use pens, coloured pencils and simple collage materials to create postcard-sized artworks inspired by our thoughts, feelings and experiences of autistic space.
Participants will then have the opportunity to take part in an art swap, or can choose to take their own postcard(s) home with them.
No previous art experience is required, and materials will be provided. All ages welcome.”

Autscape is an autistic-led, autistic-run residential event running from 4th to 7th August 2025 at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire.

Registration is open until May 31st: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/
List of presentations: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/presentations
Provisional schedule: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedule

Please help #Autscape by sharing this widely.

An #Autscape2025 highlight:

On Wednesday 6th August 2025 Angela Kingdon from the Autistic Culture Podcast will be running a workshop entitled “Building Autistic-First Spaces Through Podcasting”.

“Autistic people are often expected to adapt to neurotypical spaces—but what happens when we create our own? This session explores Autistic-first spaces, focusing on how Autistic-led podcasts provide an evolving space for authentic communication, connection, and cultural expression.

Using The Autistic Culture Podcast and the Neurodivergent Podcaster Collective as examples, we will examine how podcasts enable deep dives into special interests, allow for asynchronous, sensory-friendly communication, offer a platform for Autistic-led storytelling, and build autistic community outside of NT-dominated spaces.

In this hands-on workshop, participants will gain practical insights about how podcasts function as autistic-first spaces and they will have the opportunity to design their own Autistic-first podcast concepts to experience the difference. Together, we’ll select one standout idea, and I’ll work with the creators to produce a pilot episode, bringing an Autistic-first podcast to life beyond Autscape.”

Autscape is an autistic-led, autistic-run residential event running from 4th to 7th August 2025 at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire.

Registration is open until May 31st: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/
List of presentations: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/presentations
Provisional schedule: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedule

Please help #Autscape by sharing this widely.

An #Autscape2025 highlight:

On Tuesday 5th August 2025 Kim Mears will be presenting her talk entitled “Multi-Modal Communication Spaces”.

“Multi-modal communication is using a range of different ways to get your message across including sign, symbols and text to speech, also known as alternative and augmentative communication (AAC).

For a long time, AAC has been dominated by a single behavioural approach often as a last resort for autistic nonspeaking children. Over recent years, lived experience researchers such as endever* corbin and Alyssa Zisk have highlighted the need for communication options for all autistic people including individuals who have periods when they don’t have access to mouth words.

This talk will discuss the benefits of increased knowledge of different ways of communicating and communication identities, such as part-time AAC user and semi-speaking, explore the potential challenges of an exclusionary society that privileges speech and perpetuates stigma and discuss possible ways to advocate for inclusive, autonomous communication spaces.”

Autscape is an autistic-led, autistic-run residential event running from 4th to 7th August 2025 at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire.

Registration is open until May 31st: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/
List of presentations: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/presentations
Provisional schedule: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedule

Please help #Autscape by sharing this widely.

#CallForProposals

We are now accepting proposals to the main conference programme for Autscape 2025: “Evolving Autistic Space”, held Mon 4th – Thu 7th Aug 2025 at The Hayes, Swanwick, Derbyshire, UK.

Read the Call for Proposals at:
https://www.autscape.org/2025/proposals/cfp

Submission deadline: Monday 31st March. Presenters will be required to attend in person.

#Autscape #Autscape2025 #ActuallyAutistic #AutisticSpace #autism #autistic #neurodiversity #neurodivergence

Now up on YouTube, an #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy” presentation: “Sensory joy to the rescue: emotional containers and portable safe spaces” by Alicja Nocon.

Watch: https://youtu.be/1ArUdA_ZJio

Worksheet: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/handouts/sensory-joy-worksheet.pdf

“It's well-known that having a more sensitive nervous system means that autistic people experience more sensory triggers and are more easily dysregulated. But what if we could use our sensory sensitivity to our advantage to bring a sense of peace and joy to helps us get through difficult experiences? In this presentation, I will share a number of practical ways using sensory joy to help contain overwhelming emotions and prepare for unfamiliar of predictably stressful situations, based on my own experience and the experiences of my clients.”

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #sensory #SensoryIssues

Now online, one of the #OnlineAutscape2025 Lightning Talks: ‘Màiri Mhòr nan Òran: Gaelic poet, songwriter and activist’, by Max Marnau.
https://youtu.be/9E6QxbJNRSI

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #poetry #scotland #gaelic #ScottishGaelic

Now available on YouTube, an #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy” performance:

On the 7th of February at 20:30 GMT/UTC, autistic stand-up poet and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox performed some of her pieces from last year’s hit Autscape show, the Dr Who-themed “Bigger on the Inside”, plus other poems which invoke autistic joy!

Content warning: Profanity, explicit references to sex.
Watch it at: https://youtu.be/c3_aYD89TUI

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #poetry #standup

Now available on YouTube, an #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy” presentation:

On the 7th of February at 20:00 GMT/UTC, Jorik Mol, “professionally autistic”, presented “Now I wanna think about all the good times – The joys of Breaking the Boundaries”.

Watch now at: https://youtu.be/88-EGSq_dmg

Slides with clickable read-along links: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qEl3c4O8bVsB-oJ9lhLi-PCbRkV6Fbq6zZtx29cCOjk/edit#slide=id.g32b2dc19ab3_0_274

“Jorik's first book of 2025 is Breaking the Boundaries, describing his experiences as a lived experience mentor of autistic higher education students. These stories highlight the particular joys of being neuroqueer and finding one's community, gender joy, the joy of art, the joy of hyperfocus and the joy of fighting the good fight.”

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #HigherEducation #neuroqueer #Gender #Art #hyperfocus #FightingTheGoodFight

Now available on YouTube, an #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy” presentation:

On the 7th of February at 19:00 GMT/UTC, Harriet Axbey presented “Joyful Degrees: Autistic Adjustments at University”. It was the first presentation of the event.

Watch now at: https://youtu.be/C35yQHSk3cw

“Autistic students at university face many challenges; from applying to graduating, there are barriers in higher education that affect those who are neurodivergent. However, universities are starting to realise this, and there is now a growing body of research into adjustments that can help Autistic people to thrive in a higher education setting. For my new book, I contacted universities to ask what provision they had for Autistic students, and complied some experiences from Autistic people themselves. In this lecture I will outline some of the things that universities can do, and are currently doing, to ensure Autistic students can get the most out of their education.”

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #university #ReasonableAccommodations

#OnlineAutscape2025 ended on Sunday with a brilliant panel, featuring Lyric Schranz, Martijn Dekker, Joanna Ławicka, Alicja Nocon and Jorik Mol, with Kacey, Chair of Autscape Organisation, moderating the discussion.

We thank all presenters, performers, participants and organisers for making it a wonderful event!

Recorded presentations will be published on the #Autscape Youtube channel after one of our volunteers double-checks that everything is appropriate for publication and makes any edits necessary.

Here's a link to buy the book Kate is mostly reading from though, should you want some autistic joy in your own home... #Autscape #AutisticJoy lighthousebookshop.com/book/9781739...

Lighthouse | Bigger on the Ins...

Registration for #OnlineAutscape2025 closes today at 16:00 GMT (which is 4pm UK time), so there's just over four hours left to register as of the time of this post! Links to everything (Zoom, Discord, TeamUp) will be sent to registered participants shortly after that.

Here's one last event highlight post. We've filled all twelve slots for five-minute Lightning Talks! In the image you can see some of the lightning talk presenters and a list of titles.

This autistic-led, autistic-run event is on from the 7th to the 9th.
Schedule & info: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline
Registration: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/

We've got just over 130 folks registered so far (update: 150+)! This is shaping up to be a great three days of online autistic community. Can we have one last boost for the last-minute deciders among us? Many thanks :)

#Autscape #AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #conference #neurodiversity #neurodivergent

Dear @actuallyautistic folks, I hope it is okay for me to briefly mention #Autscape here.

We're all autistic/neurodivergent and have organised residential autistic-led events in the UK for two decades.

We've got an international autistic-led *online* event on this weekend, #OnlineAutscape2025 “More #AutisticJoy”. Fee: £20. All money raised goes towards the cost of future events.

We'll have presentations, performances and community! See https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline

Please follow @autscape. Thanks!

Only three days to go until #OnlineAutscape2025! Registration remains open!

Music is an essential source of joy to many autistic people. At Online #Autscape, we are not just talking, we are sharing our music! All performers on the programme are autistic and some are music professionals.

Join in to hear performances by:
- Katja Gottschewski, Meri Bourgeois and Martijn “McDutchie” Dekker on 8th February, 19:00-19:30 GMT
- James Pelham, piano recital on 8th February, 20:30-21:00 GMT
- Madge Woollard, chillout classical piano on 9th February 14:00-14:30 GMT.

This autistic-led, autistic-run event is on from the 7th to the 9th.
Schedule & info: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline
Registration: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/

Please help #Autscape out by boosting this for visibility. Thanks :)

#AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #conference #neurodiversity #neurodivergent

Only four days to go until #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy”! Here's another highlight:

On the 9th of February at 12:30 GMT/UTC, Barnabear will present “The Joy of Engineering”. This talk draws on historic and current autistic figures in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), and the speaker's own experience to explore the intrinsic motivation and joy that comes from challenge and achievement in these sectors.

This autistic-led, autistic-run event is on from the 7th to the 9th.
Schedule & info: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline
Registration: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/

Please help #Autscape out by boosting this for visibility. Thanks :)

#AutisticJoy #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #autism #conference #neurodiversity #neurodivergent

At #OnlineAutscape2025 (7-9 Feb), we'll have #LightningTalks: participants are invited to hold a five-minute talk on any topic of their interest.

We are taking suggestions for 5-minute Lightning Talks until 5 pm GMT, Wednesday 5th February. Approved speakers get a £10 discount on the ticket. Those wishing to offer a lightning talk should contact Kacey by sending email to programme@autscape.org, indicating if they wish to speak on Saturday or Sunday.

More at: https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline

#Autscape #ActuallyAutistic

Are you on other social media, too? Please follow #Autscape there as well and help us out by signal-boosting #OnlineAutscape2025!
Our other accounts are:

* Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/autscape.org

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/autscape/

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/autscape.org/

An #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy” highlight:

On the 8th of February at 20:00 GMT/UTC, Emily Slater, Lyric Schranz and Tokyo Attard from Malta will be presenting “Empowering Autistic Youth – Introducing the ACTIVATE Project”.

This autistic-led, autistic-run event is on from the 7th to the 9th.
Registration: https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/
Schedule (still in flux): https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline

Please boost for visibility. Thanks :)

#Autscape #autism #autistic #ActuallyAutistic #Empowerment #Advocacy #SelfAdvocacy #ACTIVATE

Announcing #OnlineAutscape2025 “More Autistic Joy”: Fri 7th – Sun 9th February 2025, Zoom + Discord

A follow-up to #Autscape2024 “Autistic Joy”, this £20 online event reprises that theme. If you wish you'd been there last year, you don't want to miss this one! But we will also have plenty of new things for those who were there.

Among many other things, we will have a performance by the great autistic stand-up poet Kate Fox, a presentation by Joanna Ławicka on “The joy of autistic parenting”, a presentation on “Empowering Autistic Youth” by three young presenters from Malta, and the online version of our famed Sparklies in the Dark activity, a celebration of true autistic joy.

We will be using Zoom webinars to broadcast the presentations. In addition, there will be a space to socialise and organise participant-led activities on Discord.

Programme schedule:
https://www.autscape.org/2025/programme/schedonline

Registration will remain open until the event starts:
https://www.autscape.org/2025/registration/

Note: Autscape is led and run entirely by autistic or otherwise neurodivergent volunteers; nobody is getting paid for this! Autscape is a small UK Registered Charity and all the money raised goes into running our events. Your online registration will help support Autscape and keep fees for future in-person events as low as possible (in-person venues have become a *lot* more expensive since the pandemic).

If you could help us out by boosting this and spreading the word, we would be very grateful. Thanks :)

#Autscape #autism #autistic #ActuallyAutistic #neurodiversity