Favourite Autistic Presenter?

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Sooo...

If you were going to an autism conference, what autistic presenter would you most like to see?

Im the the lucky position to be working on a conference in 2012, much like autscape, autreat, and im looking for your ideas for presenters.

we are expecting 300 attendees, and thus the financial side is a little better than autscape.

Please post any suggestions, and shoot for the stars!

My own ideas in random order:

Donna Williams (only does online now i think)
Carly Fleischmann
Jim Sinclair
Martijn Dekker
Temple Grandin
Stephen Shore

Ari Ne'eman, Jim Sinclair, Scott Michael Robertson, Paula Durbin Westby, Katie Miller.
Where is the conference going to be? On which dates?
Is it being organized mainly by autistics?
Is it being organized mainly for autistics?
(I may want to attend it).

How do you know how many people to expect?

She is presenting at the University of New Hampshire, next month:
http://www.iod.unh.edu/Services/eventde ... itute.aspx

John Elder Robison is my pick.He is a great presenter.

You are in Denmark, right?
Is the conference going to be in Denmark?
If so, the autistic presenter I would most like to see is Maja Toudal:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MajaToudal
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnMish

Other autistic presenters I would like to see in an autistic conference in Denmark are:
Nicole Schuster: http://nicole-schuster.de/
Heta Pukki: http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/05/0 ... eta-pukki/
Anders Pemer: http://www.pemer.net/
Martijn Dekker: http://www.inlv.demon.nl/martijn/

Autscape's financial situation is fine:
http://www.autscape.org/organisation/me ... uly-agenda
(See APPENDIX C)

We are expecting at least 90 attendees for next Autscape.

I speak at conferences as well.

and you do a fine job and with your Autism Talk TV webcast too!!

Many very good tips, some i even thought of myself (I contracted Maja a few weeks ago about this)

I especially appriciate tips on non-americans, due to the cost of travel.

The conference will be in Denmark yes.

Im the main organiser, and im autistic.

It has been given a financial gurantee by a non-profit education programme for people with Aspergers/HFA. (on the financial side:i attended autscape 1 or 2, and back then it was a little shaky, and could not afford to pay travel costs for speakers, i LOVE Autscape, so this wasnt to badmouth it.)

Its target audience is autistic people.

on attendance: we are booking a venue that will hold 300-ish. Also the education programme will be sending all of their students to the conference, roughly 100.

the conference does not have a set date. but it will be in april 2012

I did not think of Paula Durbin Westby(also Pemer and Schuster) beforehand, since i dont know her. I shall be looking into that.

Ive met Heta Pukki twice, and we are facebook buddies, I shall send her a message i think.


Please keep good ideas comming!

@KenG please PM me on attending!

I think you attended Autscape 1 (2005), because I attended every Autscape from 2006 onwards and I don't remember meeting you.
Autscape has changed tremendously since 2005. It is a registered charity nowadays and it is much larger and more organized than it used to be.
I think it still doesn't pay travel costs for presenters, though...
Paula Durbin Westby is American, so perhaps it would be difficult to bring her to Denmark.
Nicole Schuster is German and Anders Pemer is Swedish, so perhaps it would be easier to bring them to Denmark.

I am yet to meet Heta Pukki, but I would love to.

Will most of the conference be in Danish?
If so, I wouldn't be able to understand most of it.
If it has enough presentations in English, then perhaps it would be worth attending by non-Danes.

i will strongly consider options for having translation available for non-Danish speakers, and for non-english speakers.

its it however quite costly for an interpreter.

Ari Ne'eman is now advocating for radical accommodations for autistics struggling with basic math. Instead of holding these children back in special education classes Ari is suggesting that these students be taught calculus.

Temple Grandin

He is out of touch and out to lunch on some autism issues.

Ari Ne'eman is not out to lunch but it is a known fact that educators hold autistics back who are struggling with basic math. For example a knowledge of higher mathematics such as algebra can be very helpful to aid in the understanding of basic math. However educators refuse to accommodate autistics and insist that they learn math their way which means that all math classes require a prerequisite. What this does is keep autistics in the dark which means that they will never be able to understand math because they are deliberately under informed. I know that your style of advocacy is simply not to annoy or offend the neurotypical educators however your non confrontational style ultimately is a disservice to the autistic students.

Pot calling kettle!

please keep this thread for recommendations only.


should you wish to bash some presenters, feel free to make another thread on that. I may even read it.

thnx