Join us virtually for the College Autism Summit 2021 – deadline to register is October 22
The College Autism Summit, sponsored by the College Autism Network, brings together scholars, practitioners, administrators, employers, and self-advocates to discuss evidence-driven strategies that help support college students with autism and related learning differences. Transition to college, experience while in college, and transition to employment and independent living are all areas of focus.
The College Autism Summit is offered by the College Autism Network in partnership with the Frist Center.
Theme: The Power of Connection
Ever more reliant on digital devices in the technological world we occupy, many of us can reach out to a colleague halfway around the world with the click of a button. Our capacity to connect and to build new relationships is easy. However, we may also be feeling more isolated, siloed by the physical and metaphorical walls that divide us.
We must ask ourselves: what does true connection look like? And, more importantly, how do we find, build, maintain, and grow connections across our distinct programs, roles, responsibilities, learning spaces, and frames of knowledge? At our fifth College Autism Summit we encourage you to be guided by the theme of connection and to explore this term in our collective work to better learn from, and alongside, autistic college students. Among the questions that may inform your proposals are the following:
- How can researchers build trust and connection with autistic college students?
- How can autism program directors form connections with other major campus leaders who may lack autism awareness or acceptance?
- How can educators manage community and connection across autistic college students in digital settings?
- How can autistic college students develop the necessary tools to make connections with peers?
- How can college staff members (e.g., counselors, advisors) connect with employers to serve autistic college students in their professional pursuits?
- How can employers establish connections and mentoring relationships across autistic employees?
We invite you to be our (virtual) guests this October as you share your work that helps leverage networks in this increasingly intertwined society, and to submit proposals that imagine the possibilities and power of connection!