National Autistic Society’s Mental Health Professional’s Conference

This is a talk that Sarah McCulloch gave to the National Autistic Society’s Mental Health Professional’s Conference in 2022.

From Sarah: “I gave this talk from my perspective as an NHS professional but posting it to the Empire YouTube for reference. Unfortunately, this was during the pandemic and I discovered when my talk started, the webinar platform didn’t show me anyone else and I was giving the talk to myself in an empty room, which I do not respond well to, became nervous and “ummed” a lot. I do not blame them for not inviting me back! I couldn’t publish it as was because it was very pronounced so I’ve spent 18 months trying to get it edited to remove this, which has been successful but the level of edit required means that the video jumps a lot, it’s not you.”

Black History Month 2024

Here’s a surprise 2nd episode and it’s our Black history month episode for this year

Odai speaks with special guest Black Infinite member Sarah Abdullahi touch on subjects like: Race and autism, ,Alienation within ones own community(and how autism is discussed) & why we take pride to be on the spectrum.

I think many will find this a revealing and interesting episode especially in terms of perspectives and angles they might not have considered before, but that’s what makes Audible Autism special.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Audible Autism Episode 36 – A peek behind the neurodiverse curtain

This is our first episode or rather a minisode in quite a long time and within this one you will be getting a peek behind the curtain learning about our editor Simon whose responsible for putting these episodes together.

Astute observations in terms of sound, being the parent of an Autistic son and also what he’s learned over the years from him.

Expect another good episode and thank you for still following us through thick and thin.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tower Hamlets Autism Wednesdays – September 2024

Sarah will be speaking about the Empire and the work that we do at the Tower Hamlets Autism Service’s Wednesday social group.

This group is run by THAS and is for anyone who has been diagnosed with autism by THAS.
THAW runs monthly on a Wednesday from 17:30 until 19:00 – alternating online and face-to-face in a cafe in Mile End.

You can learn more about Tower Hamlets Autism Service here: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/services/adult-autism-service-tower-hamlets

Specific Strategies for Neurodivergent Caregiving – StarSPD Conference 2024

“It is now a fairly common experience for many autistic adults to receive their diagnosis after taking their children on a diagnostic journey. But what about the undiagnosed autistic adults caring for autistic relatives who have not realized the parallels? Sarah McCulloch, an autistic adult, activist and mental health occupational therapist, will outline some of her experiences and challenges working with this population and offer some strategies for autistic people and professionals aiming to work with families holistically.”

More information:

https://sensoryhealth.org/basic/virtual-summit-supporting-caregivers-and-families-their-sensory-health-journey

The Shop has now relaunched

After several years of drift, we have now shifted our online shop from Shopify to Woocommerce and this is now available online.

We have now removed many of the products we used to have such weighted blankets and sensory toys as the market has now shifted and these are much easier to obtain for a reasonable cost from Amazon. When we started these were considered specialist products you had to pay as high prices from specialist disability platforms, but the mainstreaming of neurodiversity means this is no longer case and other companies can now operate at scale.

We currently have five t-shirt designs available and because we have set up a dropshipping feature, it is very easy to create new designs, if you have any particular requests please email us at team at autisticempire.com.

We continue to try to get our shop mirrored to Amazon but this is actually incredibly not straight forward and so it continues to be an ongoing concern.

Audible Autism Episode 35 – Autism and specialist accommodation

Back once again with a brand you episode of Autism and this time Odai and Luke have a discussion with guest Joe Booth in which the 3 of them have a startling and enlightening discussion into living in Specialist accommodation.

Joe was very forward in terms of his experiences, who he is and also some of the failings and pitfalls in regards to carers, set up of residents and the focus on cost over care that some might find alarming.

We hope that you all find this an urgent and enriching episode and we would like to thank Joe for giving some of his time for this recording.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Speaker Bureau

If you would like to have an autistic speaker at your assembly, event or organisation, we have several Citizens who are available. Their profiles, interests and fee range where applicable are below.

Please email office at autisticempire.com to make your speaker request and be put in touch with your preferred speaker directly.

All speakers are Citizens of the Autistic Empire and are expected to uphold our principles, values and code of conduct.

Other than this, the Autistic Empire does not endorse or restrict what any of our speakers may say at your event and this is a matter for you to negotiate directly with them.