Autism Ambassador Annual Conference
Every year, we host a conference to enable our Ambassadors to meet and share ideas, as well as listen to inspirational speakers.
2024 conference
Our 2024 conference successfully took place in Winchester on 14 November 2024 with almost 100 Autism Ambassadors attending. More details of the event to follow.
2023 conference
Our 2023 conference successfully took place in Winchester on Thursday 23 November. We were delighted to welcome three excellent autistic speakers to this event, Joely Williams, Viv Dawes and Robyn Steward. Videos of Joely's, Viv's and Robyn's talks are exclusively available to Autism Ambassadors ( contact our administrator for details).
We also had an update of the Scheme and heard about progress of the new Hampshire Autism Strategy, due to be launched in 2024.
Some of our Autism Ambassadors sent in their good news stories too:
2022 conference
Our 2022 online conference was very successfully held on Monday 21 November. The conference featured special guest, Dean Beadle. Dean Beadle has toured the UK for over fourteen years sharing his experiences of being autistic. Through his humorous and insightful speeches Dean outlines his positive outlook on being autistic, and challenges negative public attitudes. In recent years he has also become an in demand inset trainer and delivers training to staff across the UK. To date Dean has delivered over 800 keynotes, lectures and training sessions.
He is also an experienced journalist, having been a reporter, reviewer and columnist in local and national publications. Throughout lockdown, Dean filmed a series of popular weekly Facebook live vlogs ‘Walk with Dean’, took part in online Q+As for a variety of autism organisations and teamed up with colleagues Sarah-Jane Critchley, Dawn Brown, Lynn McCann and Sally Glossop to deliver a series of highly successful autism webinars.
A link to Dean's pre-conference video is only available to current Autism Ambassadors (by contacting our administrator)
View the video of the entire conference here (except Dean Beadle's talk – which is only available to current Autism Ambassadors by contacting our administrator) – 1hr 4 minutes:
2021 conference
Our 2021 online conference was held on Monday 15 November. We were delighted to welcome, as our special guest, Dr Wenn Lawson, PhD, CPsychol. AFBPsS. MAPs, live from Australia. A psychologist, lecturer and author, Dr. Wenn has run his own business for more than 20 years and is currently a Teaching Fellow with Birmingham University's online Masters autism course. He is co-chair of the Australian Autism Research Council, resides on the Autism Open Access board and the board for SEAL(Community College in Warrnambool, Australia), & the ICAN board, South West (Australia). He is a participant and advisor for Autism CRC, Australia, a Project Team member and mentor for Future Leaders, and he has written numerous books (and papers) on ASC.
View Wenn's pre-conference video here (1hr):
During the conference we also had a presentation from
Autek CIC (about how this company has developed, employs and gives work experience opportunities to disabled people, and works with many diverse organisations to produce a wide range of immersive technology applications to help overcome anxiety). The 100 delegates additionally received an update on the progress of the Scheme and heard some great 'good news stories' from a number of our Autism Ambassadors.
View the video of the entire conference here (1hr 38mins):
2020 conference
The conference was held online (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) on Monday 9 November. Over 100 Ambassadors attended.
Both of our guest speakers submitted pre-conference videos of their talks which can be viewed below (each video approx 30 minutes):
Carly Jones MBE FRSA – self-employed as an autism advocate, focusing on improving understanding of autism and equality of diagnosis, education and safeguarding of autistic women, girls and their families. Carly is a keynote speaker, presenter, author, UK Policy Safeguarding Professional and performer since 2008.
Lee Corless – a Vice President for JP Morgan Chase, one of his roles is leading the Autism at Work Program for UK and Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. Lee was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome over 12 years ago, and he has a teenage son with an Autism Spectrum Condition, which drives him to be a leading advocate and speaker for JP Morgan and beyond. Lee supports numerous not for profits, government agencies and JP Morgan in providing guidance to other businesses seeking to start and run Autism employment programs. Lee uses his extensive experience to achieve his vision of increasing employability options for people on the spectrum. Lee is a trustee of Autism Hampshire, and was awarded Outstanding Achievement by an Individual on the Autism Spectrum at the National Autistic Society Autism Awards 2020.
On the day of the conference, we heard about the progress of the Scheme, our speakers answered various questions submitted by delegates and we viewed a 'Good news stories' video of some of the great things our Autism Ambassadors had been doing since the last conference. An edited version of the live conference can be viewed below (1½ hours).
2019 Conference
Our 2019 conference took place on 10th June at Chandlers Ford Methodist Church and 155 Ambassadors attended.
Laura Harman from Autism Hampshire opened the conference on behalf of all our scheme partners. She also spoke about the new Spectra 5 Autism Assistant App. Free of charge for adults who are on the autism spectrum and who live in Hampshire, this app is designed to help you when you need support from the police or emergency services, or help in your daily life including work, education and leisure.
One of our autistic Ambassadors,
Su Seymour (Hampshire Autism Voice, HAV), then read out her humorous and very moving piece about her experiences of life on the spectrum.
Sam Cousins (Hampshire County Council, HCC), Angela Thompson (Autism Hampshire) and David Carter (NAS South Hampshire Branch and HAV) also delivered a scheme update, discussed good news stories and Ambassadors were able to network over lunch.
We were very pleased to welcome 3 excellent speakers. Videos of each presentation can be found below.
View the Welcome presentation slides here (pdf)
Gareth Ford Williams, Head of User Experience Design at the BBC spoke about the adjustments he makes as a manager to enable his autistic staff, including Jamie and Lion, to do their job.
View Gareth's presentation slides here (pdf)
Chris Bonnello, autistic author and teacher, founder of the Autistic Not Weird website, spoke about the "Top Ten Lessons I Wish I'd Learned Growing up With Asperger Syndrome".
View Chris' presentation slides here (pdf)
Jon Adams, FRSA, Director of the Flow Observatorium, spoke about Autistic Identity and Culture as well as autism support post diagnosis.
Please note: Jon's video does not include images of his artwork which were shown at the event.
View Jon's presentation slides here (pdf)
Our thanks to Adrian Clyne and Kate Steaggles from Hampshire County Council, Vanessa Cosby (HAV) and David Carter for all the hard work put in before the event and on the day to make this event happen.
2018 Conference
Over 100 Ambassadors attended our 2018 Autism Ambassador conference on 26th June at Hampshire County Council in Winchester. It was a great way for Ambassadors to meet and share ideas and good news stories. We had two excellent speakers:
Dr Tony Brown spoke about Mental Health and Autism as dual conditions: Implications for effective intervention.
Sarah Hendrickx spoke about Happiness: an autistic perspective.
The Autism Ambassador Scheme is a joint project between Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council, Isle of Wight Council, Hampshire Autism Voice (the volunteer parent/carer/service-user group of the Hampshire Autism Partnership Board), Autism Hampshire and the South Hampshire Branch of the National Autistic Society
This site is maintained on behalf of the Autism Ambassador Scheme by the South Hampshire Branch of the National Autistic Society.