Previous events

2024

18th July  2024


The ShARL conference 2024 was a hybrid conference which aimed to be an opportunity to share knowledge on how to do autism research well and to contribute to the discussion of how to do autism research well in the future. Below, conference coordinator Helen Molloy reflects on the event.


ShARL’s Autism research conference covered the topics Co-production & participatory research, Improving the quality of autism research, Adult Outcomes and Healthcare. We had talks from NHS England, Disability Sheffield and Autistica as well as Leneh Buckle, who is involved in running Autscape, the Autism conference by and for Autistic people. This was an exciting project to join, and I was keen to help Megan and Dan bring it to life.

 

One of my main jobs was communications, making sure all speakers, attendees and helpers had the information they needed for the day, and knew what to expect. Many people attending the conference were either Autistic or had accessibility requirements. We had to consider what we could do to help support them and came up with several solutions.

 

We made sure that the food catered to dietary needs and preferences. Many Autistic people have sensitivities around food, so we provided a varied spread for breakfast and lunch, with vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. We also decided to keep food and hot drinks out of the conference room. Some attendees specified that they would not be able to concentrate with the smell of food in the room.

 

I sent out a document a few weeks before the conference with information about what to expect on the day. This included where to park, what public transport to get from the station, disabled parking and accommodation within the building, and pictures of the rooms. Many Autistic people are reassured from knowing ahead of time what to expect. We decided to have a few designated quiet areas where people could go if they were experiencing sensory overwhelm.

 

On the day we decided to use flappause instead of clapping the speakers. This is because many Autistic people find clapping overwhelming. We also used a traffic light conversation system in which attendees were able to take a red, orange and green sticker to place on their name badges. Red meant a desire not to be engaged in conversation, orange, a preference to self-regulate conversation and green wanting to be engaged in conversation.

 

On accepting the invitation, speakers were provided with guidelines for what to include in their presentations. This was advice, put together based on discussions with the Autism@Mancesther Expert by Experience group. This included some things to do and not do when giving a presentation and what to include on slides.

 

After the conference we received feedback on several aspects. Generally, we received positive feedback, especially on the reasonable adjustments we put in place, such as the quiet rooms and flappause. However, some commented saying they would have liked a quieter space to engage with the posters and would have appreciated a separate room for the food rather than it being in the corridor, as it was overstimulating. We had a few comments saying that while the preconference information was helpful, it would have been better to have it all in one place. Another comment was on the conference room layout that it was a little cramped and uncomfortable. For future events we will aim to separate the food and posters into designated rooms, provide more comfortable seating and make sure that any pre-conference materials are placed together, in a folder that can be accessed continuously.

 

Helen Molloy

Conference co-ordinator  


2021

29 March 2021

Melissa Simmonds delivered this seminar as a public lecture via Zoom

Title: Autism and the Black Community

2019

16 January 2019

Michael Barton is the author and illustrator of two books, "It's Raining Cats and Dogs" and "A Different Kettle of Fish", both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He works as a Market Analyst in central London and is a patron of CASPA, a charity based in South East London that runs youth clubs for young people on the autistic spectrum.

Talk title: Autism - Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Michael wishes people to attend his talks in person, hence no slides or video are available for this talk.

2018

5 September 2019

Laura Hull is a researcher based at University College London. Her research focuses on sex/gender differences in the experiences of people with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC); including the experiences of social coping/camouflaging in adults and children, and the expression of empathy in children and adolescents.

Title: Gender and Autism: Is there a Female Autism Phenotype?

Talk slides (PDF, 1.8MB)

2017

21 September 2017

ShARL held a Bohm dialogue event led by Jonathan Drury. Bohm dialogue is a powerful form of communication; a freely flowing group conversation in which participants attempt to reach a common understanding, experiencing everyone's point of view fully, equally and nonjudgmentally. This Bohm dialogue event was attended by autistic adults and autism professionals.

Title: "Professionals in autism: What are we thinking?" The self in cultural contexts.

8 September 2017

Dr Elizabeth Milne is the director of the Sheffield Autism Research Lab, and Reader in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield. This talk discussed the outcomes of Elizabeth's British Academy Fellowship. Elizabeth outlined the results from the research projects carried out as part of the project and discussed what has been learned via this work. She has published over 40 research papers, and engages in a number of public engagement events around the country.

Title: Understanding ASC in adulthood

22 March 2017

Tony Charman is a Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at Kings College London. He is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist working in a specialist service for children with autism and complex neurodevelopmental conditions, at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and over 30 book chapters. He serves on a number of expert panels for the Medical Research Council and NICE in the UK, NIH in the USA and the WHO.

Title: Heterogeneity in ASD and its effect on diagnosis

13 February 2017

Title: The pros and cons of seeking an ASC diagnosis in adulthood.

Full video

Excerpt:
Lynne Gill - My experience of ASC diagnosis in adulthood

Excerpt:
Annie Ryan - My experience of ASC diagnosis in adulthood

23 January 2017

Dr Olga Bogdashina, a world renowned expert in autism. From 1994 to 2010 Olga was the President of Autism Society ('From Despair to Hope') and the director of the first Day Centre for autistic children in Gorlovka, Ukraine. Olga teaches and lectures in the UK, Europe, & Mexico (more than 200 keynote presentations at conferences and congresses). Olga has a son (28) with classic autism and a daughter (25) with Asperger syndrome.

Title: A reconstruction of the sensory world of autism

2016

21 September 2016

Dr Jeremy Parr is a Paediatric Neurodisability clinical academic at Newcastle University. He also works as a clinician in two neurodevelopmental disorders clinics in Newcastle. He has made a significant contribution to autism research in the UK and is a member of the executive committee of the British Academy of Childhood Disability.

Title: Adulthood, ageing and the autism spectrum

20 June 2016

Dr Meena Balasubramanian, consultant clinical geneticist at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation trust and senior lecturer at The University of Sheffield in the Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism.

Title: The genetics of Autism Spectrum Disorders

25 April 2016

Christopher Mitchell

Title: The genetics of Autism Spectrum Disorders

2015

23 March 2015

Dr Emily Jones, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London

Title: Identifying autism: Early signs, early intervention, and early brain development.

16 January 2015

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge

Title: Why is autism more common in males?

2014

10 November 2014

Alison Debenham

Title: A different experience: my life as an AS woman

16 June 2014

Dr Richard Smith, Senior Clinical Psychologist, Sheffield Adult Autism and Neurodevelopmental Service

Title: Life after diagnosis: common dilemmas facing adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions

28 April 2014

Grace Parry

Grace talked about her personal experience of having autism. Her talk was entitled "Ask me anything" as she was keen for it to be an interactive seminar.

Grace Parry: Ask me anything

Ask me anything: questions from the audience

17 March 2014

Dr Kobus Van Rensburg, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Northamptonshire NHS Foundation Trust

This talk covered the challenges that people with Autism experience during adulthood, including employment, further education, relationships and a range of sensory issues.

27 January 2014

Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson, School of Education: University of Edinburgh

Title: Technology and Autism Spectrum Disorders: intervention, education, communication and fun.

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