Autism Acceptance – Perspectives on Identity, Anxiety and Quality of Life

Scottish Autism in partnership with BANG (Borders Additional Needs Group) and HSCP (Scottish Borders Health & Social Care Partnership) are delighted to be joined by guest speakers Dean Beadle and George Watts to discuss the topic of Autism Acceptance where they will share their perspectives on Autistic Identity, Autistic Quality of Life, Anxiety and Autistic Joy.

The session will be Chaired by Deputy CEO, Charlene Tait and will include the following presentations:

Autistic Identity

Dean Beadle will share his own personal journey of making sense of who he is. He will discuss the common societal barriers, such as the problematic language and microagressions that autistic people still face. Dean will use his own experience to advise how to empower the next generation of autistic people to be confident in their identity and proud of who they are, because they are autistic and not despite it.

Autistic Quality of Life

We all want autistic people to have better lives but who decides what is seen as a ‘good’ quality of life? To achieve better outcomes, we need to understand quality of life in an autistic-specific context. Quality of life has been defined in terms of eight different domains: Physical Well-being; Emotional Well-being; Material Well-being; Personal Development; Self-Determination; Interpersonal Relations; Social Inclusion; and Rights. In this talk George Watts will describe how each of these domains is typically measured and discuss the additional questions we might ask to find out more about the quality of life of the autistic people.

Anxiety and Autistic Joy

Dean will deliver a further session where he will look at anxiety and ways to support autistic people. He will highlight how best to respond in situations of high anxiety and will discuss the concept of autistic joy and the importance of prioritising it.

About the speakers

Charlene Tait, Deputy CEO, Event Host

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Charlene Tait has worked in the field of autism for over thirty years. In that time, she has been engaged in direct practice and service development. She was Lecturer and Course Director in Postgraduate Autism studies at the University of Strathclyde and has been involved in a number of national strategic initiatives. Charlene’s time in autism began in 1990 with Scottish Autism (then Scottish Society for Autistic Children), she returned to the organisation in 2011 to take up the post of Director of Development and is now Deputy CEO.Her main areas of interest are in family support and enabling quality of life and quality lifestyles for people across the autism spectrum.

Dean Beadle

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Dean has spent eighteen years speaking at conferences, seminars, webinars and delivering inset training around his experiences of being autistic. He has spoken across the UK, Europe and Australasia. He is also a singer and writer and is patron of three charities.

George Watts
George (she/they) is an autistic academic and self-advocate. They were diagnosed as an adult while doing a degree

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in Autism Studies. She has since completed an MA in Autism Studies, their dissertation focused on the relationship betweenautistic identity and quality of life in autistic adults. They are now studying for a PhD which is looking at autistic space (places where autistic people get to spend time together) and the impact this has on quality of life for all autistic people, including those with learning disabilities. She is also a parent to two young autistic children. They live in the Scottish Borders and their interests include autistic mental health, social policy and legislation, and autistic parenting.