A photograph of summertime on Queen’s University campus with red flowers, and ivy on a limestone building.

Welcome to the Desiring Autism and Neurodivergence Symposium at Queen’s University!

JULY 23 - 25, 2024

The symposium aimed to challenge deficit-based understandings of autism and promote disability justice by centering the voices and experiences of autistic individuals. Through keynotes, panels, and workshops, participants engaged in critical discussions on decolonizing education, reimagining inclusion, and embracing neurodiversity.

Symposium Summary — Day 1: Dismantling Ableist Colonialist Education Systems

Date: July 23, 2024
Location: Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Theme: Confronting ableism and colonialism in educational systems through Indigenous, neurodivergent, and decolonial perspectives.

🎤 11:00 AM–12:00 PM — Keynote 1

Location: Chernoff Auditorium (location changed)
Speaker: Vanessa Dion Fletcher

  • A Lenape and Potawatomi neurodiverse artist, Vanessa presented a multimedia keynote confronting colonialist and ableist legacies in education and their impact on neurodivergent students.

  • Note: Due to illness, the keynote was presented online and streamed in Chernoff Auditorium

🎤 1:00–1:30 PM — Keynote 2

Location: Chernoff Auditorium
Speaker: Nicole Ineese-Nash

  • In BIMAADIZIWIN-GIKENDAASOWIN, Nicole interrogated the concept of disablement through Indigenous knowledge and resistance to colonial ableism.

🎤 1:30–2:15 PM — Keynote 3

Location: Chernoff Auditorium
Speaker: Dorothy Taare-Smith

  • A Māori advocate for disability inclusion from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Dorothy explored autism through a Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) lens in Our Story Hasn’t Been Told.

🧠 2:30–3:45 PM — Concurrent Sessions 1

Session 1A – Decolonizing Language through Storytelling

Location: Chernoff 213

Session 1B – Neoliberalism, Meritocracy, and Development in Neurodiverse Education Paradigms

Location: Chernoff 117

🧠 4:00–5:30 PM — Concurrent Sessions 2

Session 2A – Epistemic Injustice Across Sectors

Location: Chernoff 213

Session 2B – Queering Autism & Neurodivergence

Location: Chernoff 117

Symposium Summary — Day 2: Practice as/and Worldmaking: (Un)containing Bodies of Difference

Date: July 24, 2024
Location: Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Focus: Exploring practice, pedagogy, and lived experience as acts of resistance, creativity, and neurodivergent worldmaking.

🔗 Zoom Links by Room

  • Chernoff 213

  • Chernoff Auditorium & Chernoff 117

🗣️ 9:00–10:00 AM — Roundtables

Roundtable 1: Autistic and Neurodivergent Student Knowledge Exchange

Location: Chernoff 213

Roundtable 2: Educator and Practitioner Roundtable

Location: Chernoff 117

  • Conversation among educators and practitioners about decolonial and intersectional practices.

🎤 10:30–11:00 AM — Keynote 3

Location: Chernoff Auditorium
Speaker: Vijaya Dharan

  • Inservice Learning and Beyond — Discussing teacher training in Aotearoa New Zealand that integrates neurodiversity and Indigenous principles of Partnership, Protection, and Participation under the Tiriti O Waitangi.

🎤 11:00 AM–12:00 PM — Featured Keynotes

1. Jacqui Getfield, Mikhail & Joaqui Getfield Francis

  • They Don't Want to Speak WITH Me, Mom — A Black mother-scholar and her sons share their experiences of racism and ableism in schools through personal storytelling.

2. Grant Bruno

  • Decolonizing Autism: Insights from a Community-Led Research Study — An Indigenous scholar and parent explores how Indigenous knowledge can reshape autism discourse for Indigenous families.

🧠 1:00–2:15 PM — Concurrent Sessions 1

Re-Imagining Classroom Practices

Location: Chernoff Auditorium

  • Megan Ingram, Amelia Nicholas, Maya Lazenby – A Tutorial in Relationality

  • Phillip James Martinez Cortes – Stim Theory and Stim Friendly Pedagogy

  • Francis Routledge, Yani Hamdani, Nero Radu – Diagnosing Education Access

Learning from Children’s Worldmaking and Play

Location: Chernoff 117

  • David Shannon – Neuroqueer Intimacies in Special Education

  • Leonardo Campoy – Autismlogy: Education Without Development

  • Vani Narayanan – Reconceptualising Autistic Children’s Play

🧵 1:00–2:15 PM — Beadwork Workshop (In-Person Only)

Location: Claire Johnston & Lily Gautron Workshop

  • Piitoshi-iteeyihten niya, I think differently — Métis storytelling and two-needle beading.

  • No online access available.

🎨 2:30–3:45 PM — Concurrent Sessions 2

Art Practice as Praxis

Location: Chernoff Auditorium

  • Alice Wexler – Beyond Neoliberal Normativity

  • Lindsey Thompson – Autistic Femme Resistance

  • Rebecca-Eli Long – Joyful Methodologies & Knitting New Narratives

Imagining Futures, Imagining Time

Location: Chernoff 117

  • Elizabeth Maher – Liberatory Education in Black Disability Politics

  • Jane Tolmie & William Carroll – Indigenous Sci-Fi and Neurodiversity

  • Ryan B. Collis – Lessons from Sci-Fi for Inclusive Education

  • Angelina Vaccero – Chrononormativity & Neurodivergent Time

🧵 2:30–3:45 PM — Beadwork Workshop (Repeat)

Location: Claire Johnston & Lily Gautron

  • In-person only session.

Day 3: Re•Storying and Remaking Worlds Through Policy and Politics


Concurrent Session 6A

Chernoff 213
🕤 9:30–11:00 AM
Speaking Back – Intergenerational Relating as Praxis

  • Gisele Camilo da Mata & Maria Cristina Silva dos Santos – Feminism, Anti-ableism and Anti-racism: What Black Mothers have to say About Autism

  • Elizabeth Brulé & Julien Brulé-Treffry – Building Narratives of Resistance: A Mother and Son’s Story of Challenging Ableist Assessment Practices

  • Mandy Klein – I am now a 53-Year-Old Autistic Adult

Concurrent Session 6B

Chernoff 117
🕤 9:30–11:00 AM
Reconceptualizing Academic Practice and Policy

  • Sherri Liska & Nancy Marshall – Who’s “Challenging” Whom? Understanding Autistic Students’ Classroom Behaviours through Affirmation, Responsiveness, and a Lens of Strengths-Based Resilience

  • Kate Donohue, Cambrey Oliver Payne, Cobi Calyx, Paula Redpath – Autism Strategy in South Australia

  • Jace Tay Sze Hwee – “You just aren’t working hard enough”: Colonial Legacies of Meritocratic Ableism in Singaporean Education

  • Leroy Baker – The Impact of Anti-Black Racism on Black Students’ Mental Health in Higher Education in Canada

Roundtable 3

Chernoff Auditorium
🕛 12:00–1:30 PM
Moving Forward – Research, Policy, and Practice Roundtable
This session will offer participants the chance to form small online and in-person discussion groups to reflect on the symposium and its future direction.
Moderated by Patty Douglas

Final Reflections

Chernoff Auditorium
🕝 1:30–2:00 PM
Closing remarks from Patty Douglas and the Steering Committee, including:

  • Harvesting of Wish Tree wishes

  • Thanking presenters

  • Plans for an online resource hub and book

A photograph of the Queen's University Campus

Accessibility

We are devoted to creating an accessible event that exceeds accessibility checklists. As such, we are taking measures to ensure amenities are available to meet as many sensory, physical, communication, cultural, COVID-safety, and other access considerations as possible. Please see the Access Guide for more information.


All spaces for the Symposium are wheelchair accessible. We are strongly-encouraging COVID-masking, have a fragrance-free policy, will be asynchronously recording events, and will be offering ample breaks and a relaxed appraoch to sessions (come and go as needed, move around, bring a comfort or swim item). We also have a quiet, sensory friendly space available for folks to access both in-person and online throughout the event.

Queen's University campus map interface displaying options for locations, building labels, academics, student housing, food and water, and accessibility.
Floor plan of Chernoff Hall at Queen's University, showing classroom and washroom locations, accessible entrances, and elevators. Includes symbols for accessibility, baby and adult change tables, showers, and washroom types. Marked north direction and building number 184.

The Symposium Agenda

This symposium centers work that unsettles settler colonialism, racism, and ableism in education. The event highlights the work and voices of Indigenous, Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, and neurodivergent individuals, and those individuals working at the intersections of these identities and critical modes of thinking. 

The symposium features mini keynotes and artists including Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Nicole Ineese-Nash, Grant Bruno, Dorothy Taare-Smith, Claire Johnston, Dr. Vijaya Dharan, and Dr. Jacqui Getfield.