What is Autspace 2018?
Autspace 2018 is the 2018 conference of the Association for Autistic Community (AfAC).
(AfAC's previous conferences in 2014 and 2016 were simply called "the AACC", for "Association for Autistic Community Conference". AACC 2016 participants told us that we really needed to give the conference a better name :-).)
Autspace is a conference/retreat of, for, and by Autistic people, in the tradition of Autreat (in the US) and Autscape (in the UK). More about what that means, here.
When will it be held?
Thursday afternoon August 16, 2018 thru Monday morning August 20, 2018.
Where will it be held?
Tamarack-Butzel Retreat Center, Ortonville, MI -- about 40 minutes' drive from Detroit Metro Airport (DTW), and accessible from Interstate 75. By car, it's about 5 hours from Pittsburgh, 4 hours from Chicago, Cincinnati, or Toronto, 9 hours from Washington DC.
What is on the program?
9 formal presentations -- 3 each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Click here to see presentation descriptions and schedule
Informal evening sessions
Plenty of time to meet others, relax, walk the campus
How do I register to attend?
Registration is now open! Click here to register. Registration will close on August 1, 2018.
By when do I need to register?
Registration will be open until August 1, 2018. The venue will need final headcount for meals very soon thereafter.
How much does it cost to attend?
Fees are posted on our registration page.
If you don't have a full-time job that pays a living wage, you qualify for our low-income rates. Scholarships are available upon committee review and per day rates are available upon request.
If I am traveling to the conference by air, which airport should I fly to?
Detroit Metro (DTW).
Where do I go to find / share ground transportation?
Tamarack-Butzel will provide a bus or van to make one airport run from/to DTW on our date of arrival and one airport run on our date of departure; cost is $25/person each way. Book your seat(s) here, by August 1, 2018.
We will be contacting all registrants to coordinate ground transportation -- to coordinate airport arrival and departure times in order to determine scheduling of the Tamarack-Butzel vehicle's airport runs, and to pair people driving to Tamarack-Butzel or renting a car at the airport with registrants who need rides.
We will be looking for drivers as well as riders!
If you can drive and rent a car at the airport, we want to match you up with other attendees who will need a ride from the airport to the conference and vice versa. Riders will help defray the costs for car rental, gas, and tolls.
Same goes for people driving all the way to the conference. Riders will help defray the costs for car rental, gas, and tolls.
Where can I get additional questions about Autspace 2018 answered?
Email aac@autisticcommunity.org with questions.
We've set up an announce-only Google Groups mailing list, which you can join if you want to be notified whenever the information in this FAQ is updated.
Click here to join that mailing list (if you're not already a member), or to view the list archives (if you are already a member).
(You'll be asked to sign into Google, if you're not already signed in. If you don't have a Google account, you can get one (for free) by clicking on "Sign in to view this group", then clicking on "Create Account" on the next page. That will take you to the Create Account page. Be sure to click the link that says "I prefer to use my current email address" on that page.)
We've also set up a Facebook group for attendees. Contact Sarah Pripas-Kapit at aac@autisticcommunity.org to be added to it.
What can I do to help, if I can't go to Autspace 2018 myself?
The Association for Autistic Community (AfAC) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Contributions to AfAC are tax-deductible, and will be used to fund scholarships and to build an endowment to underwrite the overhead costs of this and future AfAC conferences. AfAC's tax identification number is 46-4237730. To contribute via Paypal or credit card, click here: