#itakom — Public Fediverse posts

The recording of my #ITAKOM panel about #neurodiversity and #inclusion in #education, with @commaficionado and Elliott Spaeth, is on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58UwyYy6FQ

Here's the video of my #ITAKOM conference presentation, "Expanding the Creative Potentials of Human Neurodiversity."

Delivered virtually from the comfort of my home in California on March 13 (the conference was in Scotland).

#ITAKOM23 #neurodiversity #neuroqueer #neurodivergent #queer #creativity #psychology #transformation #neurocosmopolitanism #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek

https://youtu.be/AOITXkj5bqM

I impulsively picked up a rainbow slinky at Itakom yesterday

I didn’t realise until I’d unboxed it that it had one of the sponsors’ logos printed on one side 🙄

And now it occurs to me that it’ll probably break quite easily and end up being plastic waste 😬

(But I will enjoy it for now)

(CW: eye contact)

#Itakom #stimmy #StimToy #PlasticWaste

Itakom (It takes all kinds of minds) has been a fantastic conference, from the sparkling keynotes to the revolutionary panels to the friendly chats over a coffee or a delicious vegan lunch 😊

Huge thanks to @SueReviews and everyone else involved in planning the conference and making it work 🤗

I’m so glad I made the decision to be there, despite much trepidation about attending my first large in-person event of the Covid pandemic

Also, special thanks to my ADHD meds for getting me through the two days with relative ease! 😉

#Itakom #Edinburgh #neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic #ActuallyADHD #CovidIsNotOver

I'm really interested in trans-diagnostic approaches to supporting neurodivergent kids, and I think there's likely to be a lot of mileage here.

I think it's a mistake to head too far down this road without taking on more of the lessons of neurodiversity, though.
#ITAKOM

Not 100% comfortable with use of the phrase "children with ASD" at a #neurodiversity conference.
#ITAKOM

Enjoying another ‘No mind left behind’ panel at #itakom, featuring Venessa Bobb, Frank McKillop, Punit Shah and Nanny Aut, chaired by Joe Long

This panel is focusing on the idea of community, and the need for intersectional thinking and representation have come up again

#neurodiversity #community #intersectionality

Interesting noticing some of the common themes that keep coming up at #ITAKOM.

Safe spaces are a huge one. Places where people can feel safe, free from threat. I guess it's not surprising, although it's something people don't usually talk about enough: so many neurodivergent people feel unsafe so much of the time.

Without a sense of safety, it's so hard to connect, to learn, to access flow states.

There are so many dimensions to this, too. It relates to having sensory and social needs met, and that's deeply tied up with being trusted.

That's another, overlapping recurring theme of this conference: listening to people about their needs, and taking them seriously.

#Neurodiversity #inclusion

Sonny @scrappapertiger is on now, talking about counselling in the Tinto room at #ITAKOM!

So that's exciting.

So excited to be back at #itakom today for a panel on education featuring Elliott Soaeth, Fergus Murray and Pete Wharmby, chaired by Rachel Davis

Gosh, this is a very big room.

Wish me luck!
🥺
#ITAKOM

Looking forward to my 11am panel at #ITAKOM! I'll be talking about #neurodiversity in #education, with three other autistic educators.

I'm also looking forward to Alyssa Alcorn's related talk on the #LEANSproject at 9:40.

Wow. Several hours into #ITAKOM and it's great. Loads of #actuallyAutistic activists and scholars, rich discussions.

@sentient_water enjoy!

Are you here at #ITAKOM in person?

Enjoying Holly Smale #ITAKOM talk on masking, and her very relatable experiences growing up autistic, but not knowing it.

Also appreciating her dress, which almost looks like a wearable version of the fractal on the front page of https://monotropism.org

The poster view bit of the #ITAKOM app is almost totally unusable.

A bit more accessible, but awkward: if you view on the web site, long-click a poster and choose 'download image' you can probably view them with an image viewer that lets you zoom in all the way... #accessibility

Mary Doherty talking at #ITAKOM about the absolutely dire results of inaccessible healthcare for autistic people.

All the needless barriers, like services only accessible by phone; waiting rooms and wards that are painful for people with sensory differences, and so on.

#health #accessibility #ActuallyAutistic

Oh no, La búsqueda no trajo resultados!
#mysteriouslySpanish
#ITAKOM

The ITAKOM site is now giving an error message saying that it can’t cope

The organisers have also just acknowledged the problem via the conference app:

‘Our apologies to online delegates for the problems we are experiencing; we are working hard to get the event back online. All presentations will be available for up to 90 days after the event, so you need not miss anything, although we appreciate that being online in the moment is what most of you would really like. More updates as soon as possible. Thanks, and regards from the ITAKOM team.’

Hmm. These things happen, I suppose, but still …

#itakom_conf #itakom #itakom23

From glancing at the … ahem … tweets shared in the ITAKOM app, it looks as though online conference participants are having trouble connecting (it’s not just me)

I have trouble connecting with *reality* at such an early hour, so thought I might try streaming the first session I want to see, before heading to the venue

No luck yet sadly! (Could still make it in-person if I rush, but I’d rather not – it’s also a rainy day, unlike yesterday, which was lovely)

#itakom_conf #itakom #itakom23

I see that there is no level 2 at #ITAKOM, which frankly makes me pretty suspicious.

Looking forward to #ITAKOM today, although I slept incredibly badly last night.

There's too much I want to see even if I wasn't so tired!

The programme, it must be said, is confusing, especially since the Tuesday button is currently invisible (but functional) in the app.

I'm on a panel with other autistic educators tomorrow at 11.

@scrappapertiger is technically on a panel about professional relationships with one other person (Dinah Aitken from Salvesen Mindroom) at 2 tomorrow, but it's not really a panel, and they're really talking about counselling.

@[email protected] @transponderings It looks as though @SueReviews, one of the people behind the conference, has used #ITAKOM rather than #ITAKOM_CONF here (though not recently)