The Autistic Collaboration Trust in collaboration with S23M Healthcare Solutions is offering in-depth education in the neurodiversity paradigm, the neurodiversity movement, and Autistic culture based on our unique database of lived experiences.

• Scheduled courses → Register
• Active courses → Access workspace
• Ended courses → View outcomes

To keep informed about our schedule of upcoming courses, you can subscribe to the AutCollab Education Newsletter.

The AutCollab Education Team

• Jorn Bettin, Aotearoa New Zealand
• Dr Juanita Fernando, Australia
• Christyanne Gaspar, United States
• Jolene Stockman, Aotearoa New Zealand
• Brittney Geary, United States

Support our work!

As an AutCollab Education Sponsor you receive one AutCollab Education voucher worth NZ$ 248 every 3 months, which we will send to healthcare professionals or education professionals of your choice. 

In case you don’t want to nominate recipients, your vouchers will be used to provide AutCollab Education grants to professionals who otherwise can’t afford our courses. Additionally you’ll have early access to all new AutCollab articles, can explore the anonymous quantitative results of our Dr. B. Educated participatory research, and you’ll receive a copy of the book The Beauty of Collaboration at Human Scale.

Available courses

All our education courses are based on Autistic lived experiences and on our intersectional participatory research, very different from education about neurodiversity in the language of the pathology paradigm, which mainly frames neurodivergent people from an external perspective, in terms of deficits relative to the current neuronormative culture, perhaps with a few special splinter skills thrown in for Feel Good Effect. For systematic education, we are curating timeless concepts for nurturing and describing ecologies of care.

The objectives of the Autistic and neurodiversity civil rights movements overlap significantly with the interests of those who advocate for greater levels of cultural and psychological safety in the workplace and in society in general.

Our courses combine multiple ways of learning:

✓ Self-paced learning

✓ Online Q&A with neurodivergent educators

✓ Collective learning in Open Space on neurodiversity friendly terms

✓ Scenario-based communication exercises with neurodivergent people

The course content was excellent. It provided a really comprehensive introduction to the wider cultural and political context which impact on neurodivergent experience. The written/video materials were excellent and it was helpful to be able to review these well in advance. I think the group discussion was extremely useful as we were able to share views and lived experience.

Participant feedback on the content and format of our courses

Discovering intersectionality and the neurodiversity movement

Education about the neurodiversity paradigm, intersectionality, and the neurodiversity movement is not the same as education about neurodiversity. This course introduces and provides basic answers to four important questions:

• Why is there an urgent need for a paradigm shift?
• How does the mindset and language of the new paradigm differ from the language in the old paradigm?
• Who is involved in the shift?
• Who must learn from the neurodiversity movement?

Available course:

1. Discovering intersectionality and the ND movement – online bookings (2 hours)

The neurodiversity paradigm & intersectionality

Education about the neurodiversity paradigm and intersectionality is not the same as education about neurodiversity. It answers an important question:

How does the mindset and language of the new paradigm differ from the language in the old paradigm?

This course is an interactive “deep dive” into neurodiversity and autistic culture. It is creative, collaborative, and goes beyond the usual medical and workplace neurodiversity ideas. Very refreshing to take part in CPD catering to different learning and communication styles. It was the most fun I’ve had in CPD this year! The course book is beautiful.

Dr Sarah Bernard FRACP, Australia

Informative and tied all of my focused interests (Neurodiversity, anthropology) together. Would love to learn more!

Brittney Geary, School Psychologist, USA

The course content was excellent. It provided a really comprehensive introduction to the wider cultural and political context which impact on neurodivergent experience. The written/video materials were excellent and it was helpful to be able to review these well in advance. I think the group discussion was extremely useful as we were able to share views and lived experience.

Amber Lane, NHS, Physiotherapist, UK

I recommend this course as a good start for professionals who are not yet familiar with the neurodiversity paradigm.

Marie Manalili, Speech/Language Pathologist, Philippines

Available courses:

1. Introduction to the ND paradigm & intersectionality – online bookings (3 hours)
2. Exploring the ND paradigm – inquire above (8 hours)
3. Deep dive into the ND paradigm – inquire above (15 hours)

The neurodiversity movement

Education about the neurodiversity movement builds on the neurodiversity paradigm. It answers three important questions:

• Why is there an urgent need for a paradigm shift?
• Who is involved in the shift?
• Who must learn from the neurodiversity movement?

Available courses:

1. Introduction to the ND movement – online bookings (3 hours)
2. Exploring the ND movement – inquire above (8 hours)
3. Deep dive into the ND movement – inquire above (15 hours)

Autistic culture and lived experience

Education about Autistic culture builds on the results of the neurodiversity movement. It answers three important questions:

• What is Autistic culture?
• How does it relate to other cultures?
• How does it relate to the neurodiversity movement?

Available courses:

1. Introduction to Autistic culture – online bookings (3 hours)
2. Exploring Autistic culture – inquire above (8 hours)
3. Exploring Autistic culture, for paediatricians – inquire above (8 hours)
4. Deep dive into Autistic culture – inquire above (15 hours)

Autistic trauma

Education about the many ways in which Autistic people are traumatised throughout their life by the social norms and “normal” living conditions in modern industrialised societies. It answers three important questions:

• Why are Autistic people severely affected by traumatising conditions and events?
• How to distinguish between Autistic traits and trauma coping mechanisms?
• How to best support highly traumatised Autistic people?

Available courses:

1. Introduction to Autistic trauma – inquire above (3 hours), under development
2. Exploring Autistic trauma – inquire above (8 hours), under development
3. Deep dive into Autistic trauma – inquire above (15 hours), under development

Inquiry

For bulk registrations for larger organisations or teams (more than 25 participants), and for our in-depth 8 and 15 hour courses, please use the online form below to outline your needs, and our team will contact you to confirm the most appropriate delivery format, the cost, suitable dates and times, and as needed the location(s) for on-site delivery.

All our 8 and 15 hour courses contain interactive and collaborative learning experiences, as well as access to active members of the neurodiversity movement. Please note that for these courses to be viable, the minimum number of participants required is 10.