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Neurodivergence and Self-Advocacy
March 25 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Free
There is a growing awareness of a natural range of neurodiversity among human beings. However, what gets lost among the feel good talking points about neurodiversity acceptance is the continuing need for people who are neurodivergent to fit themselves into schools and workplaces that weren’t designed for them. Self-advocacy, the act of neurodivergent people speaking up for their various and specific needs, is one of the most meaningful tools for fostering an equitable neurodiverse workplace. This webinar will explore some of the experiences of neurodivergent people and offer some strategies for both speaking as a self-advocate and for meaningfully holding space for employees to advocate for their needs.
Presenter: Andrew Coltrin
Andrew Coltrin is a writer, comics artist, and disabilities advocate when he’s not at his day job as a paraeducator for a large urban school district. For decades Andrew thought he was just weird, anxious and unexplainably broken until the DSM finally had an update that caught up with him. He was diagnosed as autistic in his late thirties. Since then he’s written several small publications designed to make the terminology and experiences of neurodivergent people accessible to everyone. His most popular publication is a glossary zine called A is for Autistic. Andrew has also led staff trainings about neurodiversity and has spoken on panels at the Interdisciplinary Autism Research Festival (2021) and the Tucson Zine Fest (2023).