University’s Autism Hub returns for June event

The audience at the previous event watching a presentation on screens

A community Autism Hub led by the University of Liverpool is hosting its next event on Friday 14th June.

The Autism Hub was started by a team of researchers from the University’s Institute of Population Health and this will be their third event. The Hub is open to everyone who has an interest in autism.

Organiser Dr Idalmis Santiesteban said: “We aim to create a safe space where people can share their experiences and connect with like-minded people. Our last Autism Hub event in March, which focused on support for neurodivergent individuals in the workplace, was a real success with almost 50 attendees. Some were autistic adults, others were parents or carers of autistic children. We also had clinicians, representatives from charities and support services and several of our own autistic university students and staff.”

The themes for the upcoming event include autism in ethnic minorities and mental health, with a guest speaker from the University of Cambridge as well as Liverpool researchers talking about their latest insights into autism.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to tell the researchers about what matters to them and suggest new research topics, as well as meeting like-minded people in a safe and friendly environment.

Organiser Dr Jennifer Kirton said: “We are really looking forward to our June event where we can provide an update on an exciting participatory research project that was developed after consultation with the Autism Hub community. A team of autistic advisors and researchers have developed a communication tool for use by autistic patients in their GP consultations. Those that attend the Hub in June will have the opportunity to trial this tool over the summer and provide further feedback. The early responses that have been received have indicated that this tool will be very useful for autistic patients and will go some way to alleviate some of the healthcare barriers that autistic patients often encounter when accessing primary care”.

If you would like to attend, please click here to complete the registration form.

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, please email: autismhub@liverpool.ac.uk

The event takes place at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice Building Ground Floor Event Space, from 10:30am-12:30pm on Friday 14th June.