Travel can be an enriching and joyful experience, offering new opportunities for exploration and connection. For Autistic individuals and families, it can also present unique challenges that require thoughtful planning and strategies. Whether you’re an Autistic adult or a parent of an Autistic child, this panel discussion is designed to help you embrace the positives of travel while effectively managing its complexities. Join our expert panel of experienced Autistic travelers and parents of younger adventurers, as they share their insights and experiences.

This engaging session will cover:

Preparation & Planning: Learn how to effectively plan your trips, including choosing destinations, accommodation, and transportation that cater to sensory and routine needs as well as to help avoid relying too much on one person's executive functioning during the trip. Find a balance between predictability and routine, while also preparing for when the unexpected might happen and the need to be flexible enough to handle unexpected changes.
Balancing Different Needs & Desires: Discuss how you might manage and accommodate the varying preferences, wants, and needs of different travellers, whether they are Autistic or not. This includes strategies for effective communication, compromise, and ensuring a positive travel experience for everyone involved.
Sensory and Dietary Considerations: Discover strategies to manage sensory sensitivities and accommodate dietary needs and preferences during travel, from packing essential items to creating a sensory-friendly travel kit.
Communication and Advocacy: Gain tips on how to communicate your needs while travelling and advocate for accommodations and understanding.
Travelling with Kids: Get practical advice on travelling with Autistic children, including how to prepare them for the journey and manage their needs on the go.

Meet our panellists (more detailed bios can be found further down the event page):

Ainslie Robinson (she/her) - Autistic parent and Aspect Working in Partnership Officer
Patrick Saunders - 15-year-old non-speaker who communicates with a letter board (The Story Speller)
Travis Saunders (he/him) - Inclusive Trails founder, parent and adventurer
Alex Stratikis - Autistic travel writer, tourism consultant, and content creator (Autism Adventures Abroad)

Additionally we will also have two of our staff both facilitating the session and sharing their own travel tips and experiences:

Dr Melanie Heyworth (she/her) - Reframing Autism founder, Autistic parent and researcher
Tori Haar (she/her) - Reframing Autism Project Manager and lived experience facilitator

Whether you're planning a world adventure or a week at a caravan park, this panel discussion will provide you ideas, tools and greater confidence to make travel a more positive and enriching experience. Register today to secure your place.

A link to the live workshop on Zoom (or a similar platform) will be emailed to you prior to the event. A resource document or tip sheet will also be compiled after the event and emailed to attendees once it has been completed.

If you are unable to attend at the scheduled time, please note that it will be recorded and will be available on demand. A link (valid for 60 days after the event) will be sent to all attendees within two business days after the workshop (on Wednesday March 26th), so that you may watch it at a time that is suitable for you.

We know that April can be an intense month for Autistic people and their families - so we are pleased to be able offer tickets for this panel at a special reduced price as part of celebrating Autism Month.

As this panel will focus on personal experiences, we are also not offering a professional ticket option with a CPD certificate.

Please note that we no longer receive government support which allowed us to offer our events at a significantly reduced cost. We are still committed to running events at as low of a price as we can for Autistic people and their families, but have had to increase our ticket prices to help cover our costs. Therefore, we are no longer able to offer a free ticket option at checkout. If you are facing significant financial hardship or other marginalising circumstances, and this topic is of particular relevance to you please email learning@reframingautism.org.au.

Learn more about our panel!

Ainslie Robinson (she/her): Ainslie is an Autistic woman, who works in the field of autism, with several years’ experience in autism research, predominantly within the areas of education and twice-exceptionality, and also has a keen interest in co-production. She is currently employed at Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) as their Working in Partnership Officer, with the aim of embedding the lived-experience throughout all services and supports within the organisation. She whole-heartedly believes the way forward within autism is working collaboratively with Autistic people, parents/carers and professionals in the Autistic and autism communities to generate authentic understanding and supports. Ainslie’s focused interest is travelling, and has a strong desire to make travel more accessible for Autistic people and their families.
Patrick Saunders: My name is Patrick Saunders and I’m a 15-year-old non-speaker who communicates with a letter board. I am Autistic and I love to spell, bushwalk, listen to and watch music, swim and move. I also have ADHD, Apraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder which affects my motor planning and how I move. You might remember me from when I cycled a bicycle across America with my mum and dad and from the ABC podcast The Parenting Spectrum. I am the first autistic nonspeaker to present at Teen Parliament and was awarded a $10,000 education scholarship for my presentation which viewed more than 2 million times on social media. If you would like to contact me or collaborate on something please head to my website thestoryspeller.com The Story Speller is a website where I share experiences and stories about non-speaking autism using spelling to communicate.
Travis Saunders (he/him): Inclusive Trails Founder, Travis Saunders has more than a decade of experience leading and creating autism awareness, advocacy and life changing programs and campaigns. He guides Autistic children and adults to achieve their goals through bushwalking, run coaching, and mentoring programs and is the father of an incredible nonspeaking Autistic son. Together they have climbed mountain peaks and cycled 5600 kms across America.
Alex Stratikis: Alex is a 30-year-old autistic travel writer, tourism consultant, and content creator living in Melbourne, has traveled to approximately 65 countries (primarily solo). With Scottish and Greek heritage, Alex was diagnosed with Autism at 6, he began traveling the world to better understand himself and the world around him. His work focuses on advocating for neurodivergent travelers, an underrepresented group in the tourism industry. Alex has collaborated with multiple UK, European, Australian and US companies to identify barriers faced by autistic travelers and help organizations create inclusive experiences. A graduate in Japanese with an Honours degree, Alex’s dream was to work as a translator in Japan, but the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped his path. He now runs Autism Adventures Abroad, aiming to inspire autistic people to travel confidently and work with the travel industry to improve accessibility for neurodivergent individuals.
Dr. Melanie Heyworth (she/her): Mel is the parent of three Autistic teens, whom she homeschools. She is also an Autistic autism researcher, whose primary research focuses include parenting, wellbeing, co-production, and education. As well as undertaking a second PhD, she is also the Founder and Head of Research at Reframing Autism.
Tori Haar (she/her): Tori is an Autistic woman living on Wiradjuri country in regional Victoria, and Reframing Autism’s Project Manager. She has been active in the Autistic community since officially finding out she was part of it in 2013, having combined her personal experience with her professional career for almost a decade. She hopes her skills and experience to help improve both community understanding and acceptance of neurodivergence and support greater opportunities for Autistic people to be heard, valued and able to contribute to society in ways that are meaningful to them. She enjoys travelling, both solo and with her siblings, and will have recently returned from an Autistic sibling trip to Japan.