Symposium on Autistic Flourishing: Acceptance, authenticity, autonomy

Ticket sales are now closed

If you would like to apply for our replay waitlist, please follow the link below: 

Replay waitlist  

Please note, your application does not guarantee access to the Symposium. The waitlist will close at 5pm on Wednesday 10 November, 2021. Once we confirm if the minimum number of applications has been met, we will contact you with further details on this. 

In the field of Positive Psychology, PERMA represents a model of subjective wellbeing or “happiness” that is integral to living a “good life”. The acronym PERMA stands for positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and achievements.

In this Autistic-led, one-day, single-stream online event, we will explore the P of PERMA in the context of Autistic lived experience. Using acceptance, authenticity and autonomy as the foundational frame on which to build Autistic PERMA, we ask: what are the conditions for Autistic individuals to experience authentic, organic happiness? And what does flourishing authentically and Autistically actually look like?

Held online via vFairs, the Symposium will take place on 5 November, 2021. It will provide a platform for Australian and international Autistic speakers to share their lived expertise in identifying, fostering and maintaining flourishing. The single-stream program will offer papers addressing flourishing childhoods and flourishing adulthoods, including presentations on education, play, work and ageing.

Join us as we move beyond current discussions of independence, success and contribution, to uncover what genuine Autistic happiness is, and how we each can take positive and proactive steps to foster flourishing across the lifespan for ourselves and our children or clients.

13 Speakers from Australia and around the world

We are thrilled to share our exciting lineup of speakers with you. Our speakers represent a diverse range of fields, expertise and lived experience. 

• Craig Madden  |  Welcome to Country
• Kristy Forbes  |  Flourishing with acceptance
• Frances Brennan  |  Flourishing through play
• McAlister Greiner Huynh  |  Flourishing in education
• Dr Kristie Patten  | Flourishing in therapy
• Tim Chan  | Flourishing after school
• Lyric Holmans  |  Flourishing after work
• JayJay Mudridge  | Flourishing authentically
• Helen Said  |  Flourishing in the community
• Dr Wenn Lawson  |  Flourishing in retirement
• Dr Erin Bulluss  |  Flourishing socially
• Medha Gupta  |  Flourishing in otherness
• Dr Melanie Heyworth  |  Flourishing autonomously

Please note that the morning session of the Symposium will focus on flourishing childhoods. After lunch, the focus will move to flourishing adulthoods. Your ticket will allow you to access both the morning and afternoon sessions, although you are of course welcome to attend only those sessions of relevance to you. 

We are also pleased to advise that if you are unable to join us live you will still be able to access the vFairs platform for 30 days upon completion of the Symposium and view the presentations at a time that is suitable for you. Please note, if you do intend on joining us live on 5 November, 2021, the Symposium will begin at 9:00am and conclude at 5:30pm AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time).

Accessible ticket pricing and worldwide access

$39 | General Admission

$189 | Professional Development  

(Professional Development ticket type is equivalent to 6.5 CPD hours and includes a Certificate of Completion.)

Join us in November as we celebrate and nurture Autistic flourishing, identity, and culture.

Did you know? If your child has an NDIS plan that includes a budget line for parent education, and you are plan- or self-managed, you can claim your registration costs for Reframing Autism events from your child’s NDIS funding.

This event is funded by an ILC grant administered by the DSS.