Virtual Conference, October 25th, 2024, with the Association for Autism and Neurodiversity of Watertown, MA. The Daniel W. Rosenn AANE Connections Conference is a virtual gathering of Autistic individuals, their families, professionals, and allies to celebrate the richness of Autistic culture.
* This year’s conference will delve into the representation of autism in film.
* Leading experts in the fields of movie making and visual storytelling will discuss how autism is portrayed on the big screen and how that has changed over time, its impact on public understanding and perception, and the importance of authentic representation.
Panelists:
- Izabelle Azevedo – Visual storyteller, Red Skirt Media founder, content creator.
- Christine Bélanger – Award-winning writer, producer, researcher, and star of movie short “Superhero, Inc.”, and other productions
- Elaine Hall – Founder of expressive arts nonprofit The Miracle Project, star of HBO’s Emmy winning film “Autism: The Musical“, consultant on film “EZRA”
- Scott Klumb – Cinematographer, editor, blogger, and award-winning filmmaker of his memoir “Autism: One Man’s Journey”
- Scott Steindorff – Autism advocate, director of PBS documentary “Understanding Autism“, television and film producer and writer of “Station Eleven”
Fees apply, registration is required to https://aane.org/events/aanes-fall-2024-virtual-daniel-w-rosenn-symposium-autism-and-the-movies-10-25-24/ or contact events@aane.org 
The 2023 conference theme – From Community to Culture: Valuing the Autistic Identity.
* 2023 Conference Agenda Speakers included
Speakers
- Dawn Prince Hughes. Dawn Prince-Hughes is an anthropologist, primatologist, and ethologist. She is also author of books such as Gorillas Among Us: A Primate Ethnographer’s Book of Days and Songs of the Gorilla Nation in which she describes how she learned to manage her Autism from observing and interacting with gorillas at the Woodland Park Zoo (where she was employed when she was young). She is the editor of Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism. Currently, Dr. Prince-Hughes facilitates the autism ethnography project, which she designed, for the Cultural Autism Studies arm of Yale’s social autism programs.
- Ryan Walsh – Ryan Walsh, AANE Neurodiversity Training Specialist, is a recent graduate from Westfield State University with a Bachelor’s in Sociology. Ryan speaks on topics related to self-advocacy, mental health, education, employment, building meaningful connections, and language use relating to autism.
- Matt Lowry – Matt gives back to the Autistic and Neurodivergent communities, offering his wisdom, perspective, and insights in a way that is relatable and also digestible. Matt has gone viral on TikTok – twice – without even having a TikTok account.
- Dr. Angela Lauria – Founder of Difference Press, a home for consultants and other experts committed to writing books that make a difference.
- Dr. Nick Walker – Dr. Nick Walker is an author, psychology professor, aikido teacher, and transdisciplinary scholar best known for her foundational work in Neurodiversity Studies and her book Neuroqueer Heresies.
- Becca Lory Hector – Director of Training AANE, Becca was diagnosed autistic as an adult and has since become a dedicated autism and neurodiversity advocate, researcher, consultant, speaker, and author. Her work includes neurodiversity and disability consulting, autistic quality of life research, and the creation of a personal development course called Self Defined Living: A Path to a Quality Autistic Life.
- Carrie Hall – Carrie Hall is now a Senior Product Inclusion Specialist at SAP and is the Founder/CEO of Autistic Women’s Alliance, an autistic run 501(c3) non-profit organization. She uses the power of words to help developers understand how UI text helps them develop better products at SAP.
- Maisie Soetantyo – Maisie Soetantyo is an openly autistic inclusivity trainer and curriculum designer from the San Francisco Bay Area. After receiving her diagnosis at the age of 50, she started Autism Career Pathways, a nonprofit working to remove barriers to employment for neurodivergent job seekers.
- Shea Belsky – Shea Belsky is an Autistic self-advocate and changemaker. He is the Chief Technology Officer of Mentra, a hiring platform for neurodivergent job seekers.
- Nicole Seaward – Nicole Seaward is an I/O Psychologist who combines her educational background with personal experiences as an Autistic person to aid business leaders in culture change, participate in panel discussions, mentor Autistic people, and support disabled job seekers.
- Kris Britt – Kris Britt recently discovered that she is on the spectrum and is on a quest to understand what that means for her. She has spent more than 20 years in the high-tech industry and she is currently a Digital Business Consultant.
