Autistic-Led Conferences

Click here for the standard version

[Image description: Three white passing people standing together, two of them wrapping their arms around each other. They are standing in an open field]

Thumbnail image is from the Autism Picture Page


Autism Conferences have been done for several decades. Many of them are not led by autistic people. This started to change in the 1990s with Autreat. Several autistic-led autism conferences have been held since then.

Autreat was a conference ran by and for autistic people. They held it once a year. It was the first conference known to be by autistic people.  Many practices from it were important to the Neurodiversity Movement. One example of this is the color communication badges. Color communication badges are tags people wear. They show how comfortable they are with talking to others.  Autreat started because many autistic people were not treated fairly at autism conferences. These conferences were not run by autistic people. So autistic people started their own conference. They did this with the help of a few non-autistic people.  Non-autistic people were still allowed to attend and even present. But they were not in the majority. You can learn more about how Autreat came to be here

The first Autreat was held at a children's summer camp in August of 1996. It shifted locations every few years, often being held on college campuses. The last Autreat in 2013, as ANI disbanded soon after.  The Association for the Autistic Community continued the tradition with Autspace.  Because of Covid-19, there has not been an Autspace since 2019.  One is being planned for the future when it is safe to hold one. A group of autistic people in the UK started Autscape. Autscape is like Autreat and Autspace. You can find out more here


Below are stories of the retreats.

Autreat Graphics

Autspace

Autspace is a conference similar in vein to Autreat. It is organized by The Association for the Autistic Community .  It is usually held once every year. Because of Covid-19, there has not been an Autspace since 2019. One is being planned for the future when it is safe to hold one. 


A group of autistic people in the United Kingdom devised of a similar event to Autreat known as Autscape. It is usually held in-person. It was virtual in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid-19.


Autistics Present is held in Bellevue, Washington. It is organized by Neurodiversity Navigators at Bellevue College. Neurodiversity Navigators is an organization led by people who work at Bellevue College. Their conference has been both in person and virtual. 


Autism Summer Institute

 Autism Summer Institute is a conference. It took place at University of New Hampshire. An organization under the university organized it,The Institute of Disability. Their 2011 conference had the theme "Everybody Reads, Everybody Writes, Everybody Has Something to Say".  ASAN was a co-sponsor of this conference.