On Saturday, July 29th, we (Valtameri) held a talk at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) under the title of "Autism as an invisible disability: What you see is NOT everything". We had a Japanese session in the morning and an English session in the afternoon. We had some people who came from far away, so we were glad we did not get affected by the typhoon.
In this blog, I (Kana) would like to tell you how the day went and some of my thoughts from the day. I would like Valtameri to embrace transparency as an organization, so I am planning to give you activity reports like this. Also, I easily forget what happened and how I felt, so please allow me to keep these reports as records to help my memory💦
In this talk, I shared an overview of how we should be understanding autism and neurodivergence (ND). To help our understanding of autism and ND from the social model and diversity perspective, I have also introduced some concepts and theories that are hardly known in Japan.
Many attendees intently listened to the talk and seemed to have also been taking some notes. There were some very good questions and I was happy to answer them. After the talk, many attendees came to tell me some very positive feedback such as "The talk was wonderful!", "I was moved!", "I would really like to come to your talk again soon!".
We would be honored if it was an exciting learning experience for the attendees. In both English and Japanese sessions, I was particularly touched by some attendees running to talk to me after the talk. Some parents of autistic children talked to me, too. To those parents (and any readers of this blog who are also parents/caregivers of ND children)…I am impressed by your desire to learn and better understand their children. Your children are very fortunate to have parents like you! You know your children the best. Even when people from medical or education fields tell you that “we are the experts” and that you should do this or that, parents/caregivers are the true experts of their children. Please be confident in that. If you need advocacy there, I could directly talk/write to your medical or educational professionals.
Also, many preschool teachers joined us this time. If you ever have concerns about your children being ND, it is wise to talk to their parents/caregivers. It is important to really listen to the parents (e.g., how their children are like at home). And bravo to you, teachers who are closely observing your children and trying to create the best educational environment for them! Those children are really lucky to be surrounded by advocates/teachers like you who are continuing to learn more for them.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who asked me to help them to make their organizations and educational institutions more inclusive of ND people. By all means, let's work together to make more inclusive environments for ND people, one at a time.
I would like to make more opportunities to learn together in the future.
Kana
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