Monthly Webinar

Topics will include: 

• What is neurodiversity?
• What are neurodiversity-affirming practices?
• Why are neurodiversity-affirming practices important?
• Practical benefits for you as a practicing clinician.
• Four real-life examples from autistic ANSWER members of AIRP, demonstrating how neurodiversity-affirming practices can be implemented without significant costs or time commitments.

Dr. Heather Brown is an associate professor in the Dept. of Education Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She is also an autistic professional who studies autism. Her research focuses on examining what it means to “thrive” for individuals on the spectrum. She aims to create reasonable expectations around what it means to function adaptively with autism and to highlight all the ways in which people with autism are already thriving. By doing so, her research is poised to empower individuals with autism to be more self-confident in their neurodiversity and to develop a better understanding of the factors that most support their well-being.

Jackie Ryan is an Autistic autism researcher with a PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Alberta. She holds a master’s degree in Leadership from Royal Roads University where her research on leadership to promote the self-determination of Autistic individuals won the University Founders’ Award.  Her doctoral research was on understanding self-determination and autonomy from the perspective of Autistic adults with intellectual disabilities using a community-based participatory research approach. Included in her research was the preparation of Research 101 open-access training to build the capacity for Autistic people to collaborate in research. Jackie is continuing her self-determination participatory research by co-designing and evaluating a ‘toolkit’ of recommended practices based on the data from her doctoral research. Jackie is part of the Neurodiversity Movement and seeks to empower Autistic people to thrive.

Dr. Emily Hotez is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor in The Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Hotez is an interdisciplinary social science researcher with a focus on applying mixed methodology towards understanding adult development, health, and well-being and the role of interventions in promoting these capacities. Dr. Hotez’s current research focuses on advancing research within the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (AIR-P), which seeks to advance the evidence base on effective interventions for individuals with autism across the lifespan with a focus on addressing physical health and well-being. As a researcher and sibling to her autistic sister, Dr. Hotez is committed to conducting research that adapts a neurodiversity-oriented lens towards health-promotion. Dr. Hotez received her PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in developmental psychology and her BA in psychology from the George Washington University.

Jenny Mai Phan is a research fellow at Children's National Hospital. She serves as a communications director for the ANSWER board of AIR-P and specializes in hormones & behavior, adolescent development, developmental psychology, and stress response systems.

Juliette Gudknecht (she/her) is an openly autistic incoming PhD student at the University of Portsmouth. Her research interests include mixed methods approaches to investigating autism stigma, anti-ableist language use, and trainings surrounding the neurodiversity movement. She is involved in multiple forms of advocacy, including presenting at United Nations events through her position as co-chair of the Inclusive and Equitable Education thematic area of the UNESCO SDG 4 Youth and Student Network.