WEBVTT 00:00:06.733 --> 00:00:07.600 And not only do we need to 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:11.400 shift the focus of who has to change 00:00:11.666 --> 00:00:17.066 from autistic people onto ourselves as professionals, as society at large, 00:00:17.066 --> 00:00:20.133 as non-autistic people, we also need to think about 00:00:20.133 --> 00:00:23.266 very specific environments within which this needs to happen. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:29.000 So Luke Bearden, who is an autism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:34.000 Has written a gazillion wonderful books and he came up with what he calls 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.066 the Golden Equation a very long time ago, which is autism 00:00:37.066 --> 00:00:40.200 plus environment equals outcome for a very long time. 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.400 The thing that was fixed in that equation was the environment 00:00:44.666 --> 00:00:48.000 we looked at autistic people and we said, You need to change. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.200 We need to come up with a gazillion 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.533 different interventions to make you fit into that environment. 00:00:52.866 --> 00:00:54.000 But we know what the outcome 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.066 of those across the board life outcomes for autistic people. 00:00:57.066 --> 00:00:58.000 It's terrible. 00:00:59.066 --> 00:00:59.933 So what look, 00:00:59.933 --> 00:01:04.400 focus on the goal in the equation is actually fixing autism. 00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:06.200 And I don't mean lecturing as in curing. 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:08.400 I mean fixing nose and holding it in place. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.400 We don't look at autism as the thing needs to change. 00:01:11.533 --> 00:01:14.933 We look at the environments and how we dehumanizing with environments 00:01:15.133 --> 00:01:17.200 by not individualizing that. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:22.200 Then if we do that, that affects the outcome in much more positive ways. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:24.333 So when we're talking about environments, 00:01:24.333 --> 00:01:26.333 we're not just talking about the geographical space, 00:01:26.333 --> 00:01:28.533 we're also talking about the sensory space, 00:01:28.533 --> 00:01:31.466 we're talking about the communication space. 00:01:31.466 --> 00:01:34.466 We're talking about the policies within that environment. 00:01:34.466 --> 00:01:38.066 We're talking about our own individual behaviors within that environment. 00:01:38.066 --> 00:01:41.066 And how we impact on other people are biases. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.333 Our emotions that we bring into those environments as well. 00:01:44.466 --> 00:01:47.400 We're talking about whole human experiences 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:51.933 and how whole humans interact with all the whole humans within whole human systems. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.533 Those are the things that we need to reflect on 00:01:55.533 --> 00:01:57.666 and those are the things that need to change 00:01:57.666 --> 00:02:01.466 because they've existed in very singular ways for a very, very long time. 00:02:02.666 --> 00:02:05.066 And the outcomes aren't great. 00:02:05.066 --> 00:02:07.800 So one way that we can change that or inflict change on 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:10.800 that is by thinking about reasonable adjustments. 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:14.666 So when we're considering reasonable adjustments for autistic young people, 00:02:14.666 --> 00:02:18.933 it's crucial to remind ourselves who the reasonable adjustments are for. 00:02:19.466 --> 00:02:23.333 So in the context of schools, schools often negotiate over 00:02:23.333 --> 00:02:26.666 what reasonable adjustments we think are reasonable to offer 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.333 while failing to recognize that a disadvantaged autistic person 00:02:30.600 --> 00:02:34.866 has been making countless reasonable adjustments to exist 00:02:34.866 --> 00:02:38.866 within that environment, the environment we mandate them to be in without 00:02:38.866 --> 00:02:40.000 them having any choice. 00:02:41.133 --> 00:02:43.733 So to prevent this reasonable adjustments that enable them 00:02:43.733 --> 00:02:48.600 to have access to their education must be identified based on their needs, 00:02:48.866 --> 00:02:53.533 not the needs or expectations of the school or college or the education system. 00:02:54.266 --> 00:02:57.333 Legally, reasonable adjustments are changes that schools or colleges 00:02:57.333 --> 00:03:01.800 must make proactively to address disadvantages faced by disabled students. 00:03:02.266 --> 00:03:05.733 This is to ensure they receive an equitable educational experience, 00:03:05.733 --> 00:03:06.533 and these are separate 00:03:06.533 --> 00:03:10.400 from physical accessibility modifications like ramps and disabled toilets. 00:03:11.533 --> 00:03:14.800 While reasonable adjustments are legally non-negotiable, 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.466 the method of the adjustment is negotiable, 00:03:17.466 --> 00:03:20.666 so all parties have to collaborate to find a compromise. 00:03:20.666 --> 00:03:25.066 A need doesn't just disappear if a school or college can't fulfill an adjustment. 00:03:25.533 --> 00:03:26.666 So, for example, it's 00:03:26.666 --> 00:03:29.800 reasonable for a child not to wear uniform for sensory reasons. 00:03:30.066 --> 00:03:33.266 However, it's also reasonable for school to ask the child 00:03:33.266 --> 00:03:36.266 to wear clothing the same color as the uniform, for example. 00:03:36.866 --> 00:03:39.800 So what seems reasonable to parents or young people might differ 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:42.866 from a teacher or an educational institutions perspective, 00:03:43.133 --> 00:03:46.400 but we must avoid direct or indirect 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.600 discrimination, which is all based on our own perspectives. 00:03:50.066 --> 00:03:53.933 We have a duty to fully understand and a young person's needs 00:03:53.933 --> 00:03:57.000 look at all aspects of the school day and remove, reduce 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.133 and prevent obstacles from an informed perspective. 00:04:04.066 --> 00:04:05.666 So each child would require 00:04:05.666 --> 00:04:09.266 completely different reasonable adjustments as their needs are unique. 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:12.933 Often there's a kind of, you know, we're going to here's 00:04:12.933 --> 00:04:15.400 a menu of things that you can choose from because you're autistic. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.333 This is your autistic reasonable adjustment. 00:04:17.333 --> 00:04:19.066 That's not what works there. 00:04:19.066 --> 00:04:22.333 So an example of what one child might need, 00:04:22.333 --> 00:04:26.333 one unique child might include a flexible educational structure 00:04:26.333 --> 00:04:29.933 that incorporates intrinsic motivation and allows someone a topic flow. 00:04:30.533 --> 00:04:34.400 It might mean regular movement breaks or support for simultaneous movement 00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:35.466 and work. 00:04:35.466 --> 00:04:37.866 How often are children told that they have to sit still 00:04:37.866 --> 00:04:39.466 and are told that you can only move at certain 00:04:39.466 --> 00:04:43.200 prescribed times as a reasonable adjustment if that's not what they need? 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:45.533 That's not what should be happening. 00:04:45.533 --> 00:04:48.866 So the use of clear, precise instructions, a reinforcer of written 00:04:48.866 --> 00:04:52.466 and or visual aids, depending on their needs, not autistic. 00:04:52.466 --> 00:04:54.200 All autistic people are visual learners. 00:04:54.200 --> 00:04:58.133 And despite the stereotype that we are and the identification 00:04:58.133 --> 00:05:02.000 of suitable sensory environments and adjustments to minimize stress. 00:05:02.533 --> 00:05:06.000 So in order to understand what specific individualized adjustments are needed 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:10.066 by a young person, the school or college must develop a relationship 00:05:10.066 --> 00:05:13.200 with both of them, and that both them and the people who know them 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:17.066 best in order to identify what supports them to thrive. 00:05:19.266 --> 00:05:21.266 So we have to ask ourselves some questions. 00:05:21.266 --> 00:05:25.133 We must also be aware that a young person may not know, 00:05:25.400 --> 00:05:28.666 understand, or be able to communicate their specific needs 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:32.133 because they might not have been facilitated with meaningful communication 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:36.266 or they might never have been supported to explore and understand their needs. 00:05:36.266 --> 00:05:40.200 It's very easy for us professionals to say you're autistic, 00:05:40.200 --> 00:05:43.733 so therefore you must meet X, Y and Z, and that overrides 00:05:43.733 --> 00:05:46.733 actually what your own person might, might need or want. 00:05:47.466 --> 00:05:49.600 So it's our responsibility to ensure 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.666 that their voices, needs and desires steer decisions, 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:58.400 not our needs or our targets or what we think those target should be. 00:05:59.400 --> 00:06:01.800 So identifying personalized adjustments can be challenging, 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:04.666 but we can start by asking ourselves questions like these. 00:06:04.666 --> 00:06:06.533 Do we understand the child's monitor? 00:06:06.533 --> 00:06:07.466 Topic Attention. 00:06:07.466 --> 00:06:11.466 Communicate action and behavior and the sensory processes that underpin them? 00:06:12.466 --> 00:06:13.733 Do we know which of the many 00:06:13.733 --> 00:06:16.733 potential co-occurring conditions the young person experiences? 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:18.066 How might they affect them? 00:06:18.066 --> 00:06:21.066 How do they affect how we perceive and treat that person? 00:06:22.200 --> 00:06:25.933 Can the double empathy problem help us to understand, explore and reflect 00:06:25.933 --> 00:06:30.200 on a child's behavior in relation to their specific and cumulative trauma? 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:34.066 Do our or our system's needs and expectations 00:06:34.066 --> 00:06:37.066 align with what the young person needs? 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.066 These are big questions, but the questions that we should all be asking ourselves. 00:06:42.266 --> 00:06:46.000 So once in place, we have to be cautious about removing reasonable adjustments, 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.866 even if those adjustments don't get used, 00:06:47.866 --> 00:06:50.066 or we consider that they're not being used. 00:06:50.066 --> 00:06:53.533 Even if we think they're not being used, they can still be offering comfort 00:06:53.533 --> 00:06:55.466 and security and safety. 00:06:55.466 --> 00:06:58.133 So instead of removing them, we need to consider maybe making 00:06:58.133 --> 00:07:01.200 some subtle changes to how they're implemented, if that's necessary. 00:07:02.066 --> 00:07:05.066 Reasonable adjustments should evolve with the young person 00:07:05.066 --> 00:07:07.200 and their evolving needs. 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:12.266 Reasonable adjustments are for autistic children and young people in this context. 00:07:12.466 --> 00:07:16.400 So continuous reflection, monitoring and adaptation are essential 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:20.000 to ensure that their needs and their rights are being met 00:07:20.466 --> 00:07:24.266 and enable this ongoing, inclusive access to an equitable 00:07:24.266 --> 00:07:28.200 education or whatever system it is that you're wanting them to exist within. 00:07:28.733 --> 00:07:31.066 And this really brings us to this is more of an overview, 00:07:31.066 --> 00:07:34.800 but thinking about reflective practice, thinking about what this means. 00:07:35.333 --> 00:07:38.333 What does it mean to be a reflective practitioner? 00:07:38.333 --> 00:07:42.200 If you are a reflective practitioner, if you are looking in that mirror 00:07:42.200 --> 00:07:46.400 yourself, then it's understanding how and portant 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:50.466 this is and how important it is to deconstruct your biases. 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:53.333 So we should be focused on 00:07:53.333 --> 00:07:57.000 validating, emancipating and empowering understanding 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.333 difference through the lenses of intersectionality and neurodiversity. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.600 Identifying these needs, seeking 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:07.266 and platforming, de-stigmatize narratives so key to this. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.666 And then community connectedness, enabling connection for young autistic 00:08:11.666 --> 00:08:15.200 people with other autistic autistic people and older 00:08:15.200 --> 00:08:19.066 autistic people in non proscribed environments where it's 00:08:19.066 --> 00:08:23.266 natural for key objectives and it has eight pillars to it. 00:08:23.733 --> 00:08:27.866 So the key objectives of this are humanizing objectives. 00:08:27.866 --> 00:08:30.000 It's all about what I call the forays. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.933 So anybody working with an autistic person, a young person, 00:08:34.666 --> 00:08:38.266 an adult, any autistic person needs to be looking at 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:43.133 how do we support that person to understand their own needs? 00:08:43.466 --> 00:08:44.400 How do we support them 00:08:44.400 --> 00:08:48.200 to accept themselves and also be accepted externally by others as well? 00:08:48.400 --> 00:08:49.066 Well, I'll be talk. 00:08:49.066 --> 00:08:53.000 Speaking to today is not around interventions and behavioral changes 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.400 based on normative practice. 00:08:54.400 --> 00:08:56.533 That's part of the problem here. 00:08:56.533 --> 00:08:59.533 We need to be looking at validating people's experiences, 00:08:59.533 --> 00:09:00.800 helping people understand 00:09:00.800 --> 00:09:04.933 their own needs and their own experiences, and also us doing that as well. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.333 Otherwise, it's all it's all going to fall apart. 00:09:07.333 --> 00:09:12.266 So the focus of this is really about how do we support people to have agency? 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:14.200 Agency means choice. 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:17.666 Knowing what your choices are and having the opportunity to make meaning 00:09:17.933 --> 00:09:20.800 meaningful decisions around what your what your choices 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:23.800 should be, around, what your wants and what your needs are as well. 00:09:23.933 --> 00:09:26.800 And this is something that, you know, this is a humanizing practice. 00:09:26.800 --> 00:09:29.266 We should be doing this should all young people that we work with 00:09:29.266 --> 00:09:33.266 and unfortunately, lots of the systems that we work within encourage 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.200 us to make decisions for people based on what we think their needs are, 00:09:37.533 --> 00:09:40.866 based on what we think is best for them without actually fully understanding 00:09:41.066 --> 00:09:44.066 or supporting them to understand what their needs are. 00:09:44.066 --> 00:09:47.000 So the next step to that is autonomy. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.466 So once you know what your decisions are, 00:09:49.466 --> 00:09:52.800 then it's your ability to be able to act on those decisions. 00:09:53.133 --> 00:09:57.200 And so autonomy means to be enabled and supported to act on the choices 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.666 that you make, and that could mean independently or interdependent. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.733 There's a massive focus on we have to make autistic children independ. 00:10:04.733 --> 00:10:08.066 Shouldn't they have to be able to stand on their own two And actually, 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:11.266 nobody, no human being on this planet is fully independent. 00:10:11.266 --> 00:10:14.266 We are all interdependent based on our individual needs. 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:15.600 And that was very much part of the 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:19.133 disability narrative because autistic people are disabled in many ways. 00:10:19.466 --> 00:10:21.666 Some of it is intrinsic, as I will speak to later, 00:10:21.666 --> 00:10:24.333 and some of it happens because of external barriers. 00:10:24.333 --> 00:10:27.666 So interdependency is really key to this as well. So 00:10:27.666 --> 00:10:31.933 not everybody is able to act independently or make act on their choices. 00:10:32.133 --> 00:10:35.933 So being supported to make those decisions and having means to have them act 00:10:35.933 --> 00:10:39.333 it out is really key to humanizing everything. 00:10:40.133 --> 00:10:42.866 And the last day for this is authenticity. 00:10:42.866 --> 00:10:45.600 So when someone has agency 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:49.066 an autonomy, usually that means they feel a little bit safer. 00:10:49.066 --> 00:10:51.666 They understand themselves, they're able to act on their own needs. 00:10:51.666 --> 00:10:53.600 They're able to make decisions for themselves 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:56.466 or make decisions or act on decisions with support. 00:10:56.466 --> 00:10:59.666 So that then encourages someone to be more authentic, 00:10:59.666 --> 00:11:02.666 to have more control over what's going on around them. 00:11:02.866 --> 00:11:06.200 And this is a real key, because I talked about in the objectives 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:09.200 for this session around trauma, 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.600 and the real key to trauma for autistic people was very strongly connected 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:14.733 to autistic masking, which has really been 00:11:14.733 --> 00:11:17.333 the focus of my career for about the last ten years. 00:11:17.333 --> 00:11:20.066 So understanding autistic masking means 00:11:20.066 --> 00:11:23.200 understanding how trauma is experienced by autistic people. 00:11:23.466 --> 00:11:26.933 And that connection between authenticity and inauthenticity, 00:11:27.133 --> 00:11:29.400 it hangs on that balance of how much control 00:11:29.400 --> 00:11:32.466 one has over their over their existence, over their environments, 00:11:32.466 --> 00:11:35.733 over the decision making process, over their understanding of themselves. 00:11:36.133 --> 00:11:39.933 So really, this is where we're going to be going for thinking about those four key 00:11:39.933 --> 00:11:43.333 objectives self and external acceptance, 00:11:44.066 --> 00:11:47.333 agency, autonomy and authenticity. 00:11:48.733 --> 00:11:50.533 And then using the framework 00:11:50.533 --> 00:11:54.600 which you have the pillars of, to be able to go through and think about. 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:55.933 What is your understanding 00:11:55.933 --> 00:11:59.066 of each of these eight pillars and how do you utilize this 00:11:59.066 --> 00:12:02.133 within your work, specifically with autistic people? 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:06.800 And what covers that work is the abolition of neuro normative practice, 00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:10.400 focusing on honoring the sovereignty of a person, 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:13.666 utilizing decolonizing practice. 00:12:13.666 --> 00:12:16.666 How do you decolonize your work 00:12:16.666 --> 00:12:19.666 only in parts of you and your role 00:12:19.866 --> 00:12:22.933 recognizing that you don't have to be an expert in all of this, 00:12:23.133 --> 00:12:27.066 but you need to be a reflective, curious and humanizing practitioner, 00:12:27.266 --> 00:12:30.066 and that means constantly challenging yourself to make sure 00:12:30.066 --> 00:12:34.533 that you are code, co-production and collaboration, working with 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.466 not only all of the people that you are working with, 00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:41.933 creating systems with the people who are using them. 00:12:42.866 --> 00:12:45.866 And again, the power with not power over practice, 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:49.200 but should not be a hierarchy in the work that you do. 00:12:49.533 --> 00:12:51.800 This is about human relationships.