Welcoming Older Autistic People into Arts & Cultural spaces
Resources from our 'Welcoming Older Autistic People into Arts & Cultural spaces' workshop
Delivered in partnership with Cos Michael and Asperger London Area Group (ALAG), the workshop focused on how arts & wellbeing services can improve their inclusive practices for older autistic people, discussing the characteristics and needs of older autistic people, and exploring some of the issues involved with integrating older autistic people into the cultural environment.
Here are the resources that were shared during the session:
- The workshop presentation slides, with kind permission from Cos Michael. These slides are available to access on a time-limited basis (for 2 weeks) and should not be shared publicly. To request access to the slides after the time limit has expired, please contact Cos Michael directly at autismage@gmail.com.
- Welcoming Older Autistic People Resources & Links Toolkit developed from the Q&A discussion.
Many thanks again to Cos Michael (Autistic speaker & conference presenter, Autism & ageing consultant and trainer) for sharing her knowledge and expertise, and for all her help in delivering the workshop.
We are immensely grateful to Zainab Rahemtulla (Service & Operations Co-ordinator at ALAG/Autism Hub) and Jill Bradford (Volunteer & Activities Co-ordinator at ALAG/Autism Hub) for their help and support in co-producing the session, and to Matthew Dodwell (Autism Lead / Senior Manager, Personalised Care at NHS England), Andrew Carpenter (Autism Lead at NHS England), and William Hardy (Autism Programme Manager at NHS England) for all their help in facilitating this collaboration.
Cos Michael is an autistic speaker in the UK and abroad. She teaches and writes about aspects of health and wellbeing in ageing autistic people. She has worked on various research projects and has published in various journals. Cos has also worked at the BBC, the National Sound Archive and in the theatre.
ALAG is a pan-London community organisation working in partnership with local authorities and the voluntary sector to highlight the needs of people with Autistic Spectrum Conditions, as well as providing information, advice and guidance to members and supporting them to access services and engage with their community, ALAG also offers autism awareness training designed to improve conditions for autistic people to a wide range of organisations.