Prof Tony Attwood (with Dr Michelle Garnett) - Optimism: For You and Your Life

A ‘Polly-Anna’ (ie an overly positive) approach to life can be annoying and somewhat out of touch with reality. Conversely, an overly pessimistic approach to life can interfere with enjoyment, well-being, and sometimes can be a contributing factor to depression. Positive Psychology, a new model for understanding human behaviour, has formed as a reaction to the medical model that historically has been applied. Positive Psychology provides a rich framework within which to research positive attributes of living, including happiness, creativity, optimism and kindness. Research indicates that cultivating optimism has many benefits for our physical and mental health. The presentation will present some of this research and the important applications it has for Asperger’s syndrome.

Dr Michelle Garnett (with Professor Tony Attwod)- Optimism: For You and Your Life

A ‘Polly-Anna’ (ie an overly positive) approach to life can be annoying and somewhat out of touch with reality. Conversely, an overly pessimistic approach to life can interfere with enjoyment, well-being, and sometimes can be a contributing factor to depression. Positive Psychology, a new model for understanding human behaviour, has formed as a reaction to the medical model that historically has been applied. Positive Psychology provides a rich framework within which to research positive attributes of living, including happiness, creativity, optimism and kindness. Research indicates that cultivating optimism has many benefits for our physical and mental health. The presentation will present some of this research and the important applications it has for Asperger’s syndrome.

Chris Torrens - Two brothers under the spectrum, one household, and how we all survive together. Hats off to Mum and Dad!

Growing up has had its challenges. There is 6 years separating my brother Jack and I and when he “acts up” and I get frustrated, my Mum says my behavior and attitude was no different when I was his age. Hard to believe I know! My talk is going to be about my life living with a brother who has Asperger Syndrome, coping with my own issues and adding in a touch of humour along the way with a few funny stories guaranteed to make you laugh.

Dr Hilary Rhodes - Exploration without Boundaries: Virtual Voyages into Virtual Landscapes

Exploration Without Boundaries contains views of symbolic landscapes both evocative and fanciful, their contents recalling archaeology, colonisation, industrialisation, energy usage, pollution, tourism, ecology and Land Art.  Initially, these lands and regions are encountered in a pristine or primeval form, but in later modified versions, the presence of salient objects evokes the altering of the vistas by humans over time.

Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin - I was sacked for having Asperger’s

You may think it can’t happen, but it happened to Lisa-ann and her supervisor was dismissed for allowing her to be an Aspie. Yeah, really. Lisa-ann was brought into her dream job as an agent of change, but four recalcitrant staff whipped themselves into a frenzy over her Aspergian behaviours. They won, and Lisa-ann ended up in a homeless shelter with her career in tatters.

Dr. Wendy Lawson MAPS MBPsS - Exploring Autistic Strengths using Brain Technology

Current patterns shown by brain imaging technology are indicating reasons for exploring autistic strengths rather than just weaknesses.  This new way of thinking about autism will maximise the choice, voice, and control of individuals living with autism. If we don’t use the technology to further advance and instruct the learning profiles of individuals living with autism, the fear is that the voice of this population will be lost in the medical and scientific rush for fame, power, and fortune.

Katharine Annear - Working Side by Side: Systemic Advocacy and Asperger's Syndrome

An exploration of systemic advocacy across government and non-government sectors. Working in partnerships to change the system, from letter writing to working with committees, from campaigning to direct action, how can people with Asperger’s change a system that fails to meet our needs. Drawing on over 10 years experience with advocacy – an exploration of mistakes made and battles won. Asking the question, where to from here?

Adam Quinnell - The Ground And What Will Grow There

The presentation is in two parts: first, redefining 'Asperger's Syndrome' as a dif-order, rather than a negatively defined, normalised dis-order -- and then analogically reverse engineering this definition to explore a psychology that is neither typical nor atypical; and second, proposing a new cultural concept called 'Aspergerianism'.

Anthony Julian - “The Last 25 Years”

Anthony Julian, a musician on the autism spectrum, shares stories about his life as a person on the spectrum, from a misunderstood childhood to a diagnosis at the age of 10, from a troubled adolescence to a rather interesting adulthood. He also talks about self-advocacy, and health and well-being.

Craig Roveta - Through a Different Lens

A personal account of how wonderful friends are in helping to make lifelong dreams a reality – presented by Moira Boyle.

Damian Santomauro - Researching the Battles

Damian will talk about his experiences with his academic study, and what struggles he faced as a child growing up with Asperger's, which in turn inspired him to study psychology to help those like himself.

Dorothy Lewis-Heselwood - Confessions of a late bloomer: The benefits of persistence in achieving personal growth

A personal story of achievement through persistence, hard work, finding the right psychologist, a correct diagnosis, marriage, children, and surviving.

Gabrielle Hogg - Living with ASD and the Biomedical Journey

I will be talking about how being on a Gluten and Casein Free diet has helped my health and how it has improved some of my ASD behaviours. I will also be touching on how Psychiatric medicines have not really helped me and explaining why the reasons are for this.

Gail Nelson - From School to the Workforce - Hayden’s Journey

This is the story about the challenges Gail’s son has faced through school until entering the workforce. From bullying to self-harm and depression, Hayden has faced more in his 17 years than most people do in a lifetime. The road has been hard, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Garry Burge - Navigating the world from employment and advocacy

Garry discusses the transition into employment and not giving up in his search for work. He discusses his self-published book, “I Want to Work: An Asperger Story” and how this book has been helpful to other adults and placed in library collections. He will discuss his advocacy work in raising awareness of the Autism Spectrum in adults. Topics of interest include his visit to Autism Works in the UK where he met fellow Aspie and friend, Chris Mitchell. He also talks about his contact with other adults on the Autism Spectrum and his keenness and determination in bringing software testing to Australia, which started in Melbourne, and has started to employ adults.

Geraldine Robertson - From Can’t to Can – Learning to Lead

Autistic people are present in careers in all walks of life. Often they are an invisible presence, struggling to survive by “pretending to be normal”. Geraldine describes a professional journey from the perspective of personal failure and struggle to leadership, by using personal strengths to support areas of need.

Jarad McLoughlin - From Ordinary to Extraordinary Epiphanies

Exploring one’s identity to revoke how it has become ordinary deficient to extraordinary defiant over systematic adversity. This unusual philological retrospect on what life had explicated certain social developmental barriers looks at what many years of inattention and dissatisfaction left stinging physiologically and mentally estranged memories in me throughout early childhood to late adolescence. Also, this will unearth what resurged me to reach inside that “defying eloquent morality” epiphany to overcome those horrifying tantalous scars and requite energising posterities in engaging each day as it inventively comes or goes.

Joel O’Brien - High-Energy Photon Radiation Interactions with Matter and Correlated Energy Relative Components of Total Attenuation Coefficient

I know “Growing up isn’t easy” does not necessarily make you feel better. Nor does “I understand”, “it’ll all be okay”, “don’t worry about it” or “just don’t think about it”. So don’t worry about it, I understand how you feel. I won’t recite these it gets better’s to you for 40 minutes, it’ll be okay and I do apologise if I do. But please, if I do ... just don’t think about it.

Kat Stork-Brett - Sex, sexuality, and gender identity in Autism Spectrum Disorder

There are many unanswered questions about Aspergian sexuality. Do we prefer relationships with fellow Aspies? Do sensory issues affect our sex lives? Do “feet” really turn us on? Kat is doing a PhD investigating sex, sexuality, and gender identity in ASD. She presents the preliminary results of her first study, in which she addresses these, and other, questions.

Kelly-Ann van Setten - Perspective on Learning Patterns of University students with Asperger’s Syndrome

My presentation entitled ‘Perspective on Learning Patterns of University students with Asperger’s Syndrome’ will be about the learning experiences and patterns of such students and aims to discuss and express the functions and differences in functions such students may have. It will also refer to the relationship between the student and the university and its administration.

Kerri Sparkes - An Aspie Mother’s take on an Aspie Girl’s Life.

This session will cover –

Living in the ‘Aspie War Zone’ - the daily ongoing struggle of trying to parent an Aspie daughter effectively, whilst trying to suppress her own Aspie behaviours.

How not feeling part of her family, and the world as a whole, was so confusing and lead to total anger and frustration as a child, she is able to relive and explain the reasons behind some of her classic childhood meltdowns. ‘The Chocolate Box’ meltdown at age 11 is an academy award worthy performance!

Why her adult diagnosis at 45 years of age has been nothing short of liberating.

Kerryn Burgoyne

Kerryn discusses how she suffered with anxiety and social communication deficits during her early years and throughout her life journey, and shares how she has overcome them by giving herself strategies to use so that she can cope. Kerryn also provides a basic overview of what Autism Spectrum Disorder/Asperger’s Syndrome is, including the triad of impairments and how people on the Autism Spectrum are affected differently.

Kristen Veltmeyer - LABEL THIS: Aspergers, Success and My Journey

My name is Kristen Veltemeyer. I am many things: a teacher, family member, friend, reader, author, and consultant. I hope that I never stop learning. In March 2011, I found a much sought after piece of myself after finally receiving a diagnosis of Aspergers. This motivated me to shift my profession of teaching to specialise in helping families and individuals on the Autistic Spectrum.

My presentation will share not only my journey, but also observations I have made and stories I have come across through my work as a teacher and by meeting others, and will cover the following topics:

Sensory: a new element to the core triad in autism

My Journey

The World of Education

The future: helping others

I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to hearing your stories during the conference.

Lauren Large - Under my Umbrella

A look at one woman’s journey with Asperger’s Syndrome. From a quiet, sensitive schoolgirl to a teenager with an eating disorder, through to motherhood. Lauren offers an insight into the differences and challenges of women on the Spectrum and hope for these women to understand themselves better.

Leith McMurray - Workplace Rejection

It is an unfortunate fact of life for adults with Asperger Syndrome that only 15% of “aspies” are, or ever will be, in employment, whether that be full-time and paid, through all types down to part-time and voluntary. Many aspies who make it into the workplace experience bullying and rejection and the experience can leave long-lasting scars. The new welfare reforms, originating in the UK and now heading our way, carry thunder clouds of doom and despair. Although the “reforms” in the UK have turned out to be a predictable disaster, New Zealand seems determined to repeat the experiment. Leith’s presentation comprises reflections of a more general nature about Aspies and employment, a short power-point presentation of some individuals talking about their experiences in and out of the workplace, and some further reflections on employment peer-coaching, such as the model being formed at Aspiehelp in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Leith McMurray & Gabrielle Hogg - Aspies and the Social Media

Gabrielle is a young 20-something High-Functioning Autie and Leith is an Aspie “granny”. They live in different islands of New Zealand. Both make regular use of Facebook and e-mail to keep in touch with each other and with other aspies who are widely dispersed up and down this long, narrow nation. The Internet has revolutionised the Aspie sense of isolation and inability to communicate with others who understand what it is to be on the Autism Spectrum. Each will speak from their perspective and then take questions from the audience.

Paul Bushell - The Unknown Aspie

My presentation will illustrate both the personal experience of being an adult aspie without knowing it and also some ways in which the community can react to behaviour characteristics of Asperger's syndrome .To live with a disorder without knowing it can result in a good deal of confusion, sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic, for the individual affected and members of the community they live in as attempts are made to account for unusual behaviour.

Paul Doherty - The Autistic Community Diagnostic Project

The Autistic Community Diagnostic Project is based around the idea that the psychological process for autistic spectrum diagnosis is mostly based around assessment for counselling or support services, whereas many autistic people seek a diagnosis primarily as a tool for self-understanding. The project addresses this need by attempting to create an autistic community-based model separate from the medical & psychological one.

Angus Gray & Dr Gilbert Bond – Why go to school if you can stay at home and play on the computer all day? Reflections of a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome on school refusal and distance education.

This co-presentation traces the difficult road of an Asperger’s Syndrome student through refusals of multiple schools, his eventual enrolment in the Brisbane School of Distance Education, and his relationship with an in-home tutor. Together, they will address the struggle to engage a curriculum mediated by the Internet and the PC, a pupil’s perspective of his tutor, and the opportunities and challenges an Aspie presents to professional educators.

Emma and Brayton Tomlinson  Emma & Brayton Tomlinson – Living with Asperger’s

Jonte, Pzarn & Quaid Hardingham – What is it like to be a kid with Aspergers?

We will be talking to you about what it is like to be a kid with Asperger’s. Our family is cool as we have one kid with Autism, one with ADHD/Asperger’s, and a girl with Asperger’s. We have been through early intervention since we were very young and we go to an inclusive education school. We were one of the first families in our area to receive the Helping Children with Autism funding and gain access to resources. We will talk to you about how we see the world and what we can cope with, and what we can’t.