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Parenting While Autistic with Amanda McGuinness
May 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Parenting is a common concern for the autistic community. We want to engage with our autistic children in a way that supports and affirms them. This conversation may sometimes assume that parents are neurotypical or non-autistic. Educating and informing neurotypical parents is a necessary step in ensuring autistic children are understood and validated. However, we must consider that autistic children grow into autistic adults and may have their own children, not to mention autistic parents who receive an adult diagnosis. Indeed, a common experience for autistic parents is seeking an assessment after recognizing traits in their own autistic children.
Our guest speaker Amanda McGuinness is an excellent example of this.
Amanda Mc Guinness is an Autistic Advocate and an Autism & Visual Supports Specialist. She is a Law Graduate and is currently undertaking a Master of Childhood Speech Language and Communication Needs at University Galway. Amanda is a Training Officer in AsIAm and she is the creator of the “Auti” character online through her social media littlepuddins.ie, which teaches and educates on Autistic lived experiences. Her areas of specialism include Visual Supports, Autistic Identity & Culture, Autistic Masking, Autistic Communication, and Autistic Lived Experience Education. She has extensive experience supporting Autistic children and their families.
Amanda will speak on her experience as an Autistic parent in a neurodiverse household. She will discuss how she navigates a household parenting Autistic and non-Autistic children, and she will provide information on strategies she has developed to support her as a parent and as an Autistic individual in a busy home.
