Autism - Dispelling the Myths and Understanding the Culture

This two hour seminar will present the overview of autism that any family, educator or service provider who lives or works with autistic people, needs in their life. Heads up - this is all of us! 

Through the lens of neurodiversity we know that the human population all have different neurotypes! Autism is a neurotype, and therefore all around us are autistic peers, friends, relatives, colleagues and community members who benefit when we understand their brain and nervous system and what helps them to feel safe in the world. 

This seminar will focus on frameworks of understanding so that we can fully move away from the disorder lens and the 'early intervention' narrative. We will cover...

* Basic definitions and concepts that have arisen with the neurodiversity movement - neurodivergence, neuro-affirming, neuro-normativity etc

* Inclusive language and concepts - functioning labels, identity language, spectrum etc

* The 80 year time line of the history of autism, including how it was designed to vilify mothers and assimilate children **TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS SEGMENT**

* Dispelling myths about autism that until recently had been accepted as truth 

* What autistic culture looks like and how it relates to relational safety

* How autistic culture can be supported at home, in school and in the work place

Whilst this seminar will focus mainly on autism it will speak to many neuroytpes and is relevant to anyone who identifies as neurodivergent.

ABOUT ALLI 
Allison Davies creates online resources for parents, educators and support staff and works with schools to deliver professional development around both the topics of neurodivergence and the use of music as a regulatory tool. She is an independent liberatory scholar currently exploring the gatekeeping and classism of the social construct ‘musical vs non musical’.

Allison holds a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Teaching (University of New England, 2003), a Master of Music Therapy (University of Queensland, 2005) and Neurologic Music Therapy training (Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy, 2016). A former Registered Music Therapist of 16 years, Alli left the Allied Health industry in 2021 in order to align her work more deeply with culturally responsive practices and to switch her focus from individual change to socio cultural change.

Alli is an autistic person with attention, sensory processing and executive functioning differences. She works within a neuro-affirming framework that favours deep acceptance and regulation over assimilation and intervention, and shares her lived experience of autism openly within her seminars, workshops and conferences as part of her ‘emotive storytelling mixed with science’ approach to education.

In 2016 Alli was named a ‘National AMP Tomorrow Maker’ for her contribution to supporting Australian families through her 2 day workshop, Brains = Behaviours. As an online course, Brains = Behaviours has impacted over 2000 families. In 2018 she founded A Gathering of Voices, an online membership for adults aiming to self-regulate through therapeutic based music experiences.

In 2024 Alli was awarded the Telstra Best of Business Award for Lutruwita/Tasmania.

Allison is a regular contributor to online network ParentTV, and radio station ‘Vision Australia’.

She lives in the rainforest of Lutruwita/Tasmania, with her husband and 2 children, where she enjoys the beach, the bush and baths.