Tiggers Events
Autism Conference 2010
Theme is The Hidden Agenda - Date: 14th May 2010 at the De Vere Hotel, Blackpool. Hosted by My Town Tiggers.
Keynote Speakers:
Dr Wendy Lawson, Ros Blackburn & Dean Beadle
Click here to go to My Town Tiggers conference webpage.
Full booking details are available on the conference leaflet, click on the poster below.
Wendy Lawson was diagnosed when 40 years old with an autism spectrum disability.
Wendy is a psychologist who shares her knowledge, understanding and experience of life encounters, yet, at the age of 17 she attempted suicide and ended up in the Mental Health system. However, aged 20, she married and eventually had four children two of which are on the autism spectrum.
She and her family live in Australia and Wendy operates her own business working as a writer and sessional lecturer at a number of universities, including Melbourne University and as a distance education tutor for The University of Birmingham.
Ros Blackburn is a woman on the autistic spectrum who lives by herself in a small home.
At 40 years old, she is very articulate and expressive. Very expressive. She comes across as being very capable, but the truth is she is unable to dress or cook food independently.
Face to face she can appear quiet. Give her an audience and a platform and she suddenly transforms into a dynamic whirling communicator of intense voracity.
Ros is an impressive speaker and quite unforgettable. She isn’t what you think she is and that is all your impression of her. All she wants to do is bounce on a trampoline.
Dean Beadle, a young man with Aspergers Syndrome, developed from a child considered a “monster” to an A-Grade student.
He was awarded an “achievement against the odds” award at a local education awards ceremony. Dean encourages his audiences to see the condition in a much more positive light, through his humorous and poignant anecdotes.
Aside from speaking work, Dean is an experienced writer and has written articles based on autism for Cerebra Bulletin and NAS Communication Magazine.
Dean is also a columnist for a commercially released magazine Autism File.
Mick Connelly is currently Assistant Manager, Targeted Services for Children with Additional Needs with the Service for Pupils with Physical, Sensory, Severe and Complex Learning Difficulties including SEN in the Early Years for Blackpool Children’s Services Authority.
Mick offers that rare combination of an international reputation for his expertise with pragmatic, local knowledge and experience gleaned from a career which started in 1972 as a teacher.
He has chaired the annual autism conference for My Town Tiggers in 2008 and 2009. He shares that honour for 2010 with Suzanne Pinder from Blackpool Tiggers.
Suzanne Pinder is a single mother of two boys on the autistic spectrum and is Chair of the Blackpool Tiggers charity.
She lectures in art at the Blackpool And Fylde Central Art College and is part of an Artist Studio Collective, exhibiting her work regularly.
Suzanne also works as a nurse at the Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. A keen gardener, she is the project leader on the Digger Tiggers Community Allotment.
She also sits on the Hate Crime and Scrutiny Panel for the Crown Prosecution Service raising awareness of crimes committed against groups of race, gender and disability.
She has a wealth of experience and knowledge in dealing with issues appertaining to the conference theme, and will be on the programme as part of the Q&A panel.
To learn more and book
For more information and to book please complete the application form on the back of the flyer and forward to the contact at the bottom of the form.
As interest is expected to be high for this event you are advised to complete your application early.
Click here to download the full leaflet and book
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