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Autistica Discover Conference 2019 - Autism and Employment

On June 27th, we visited Autistica’s Discover Conference at Reading University. Here are some of the insights we gained when attending the Breakfast Workshop ‘Autism and Employment’ with Amy Walker (Founder of Neurodiversity Works, Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator at GroupM), Brett Heasman (CRAE) and Andrew Harding (Fujitsu). 

Amy started the breakfast session by sharing her personal autism and employment experiences as a young autistic person. She shared with the audience that she denied her autism diagnosis when she attended university. However, upon graduating she felt as she could no longer keep this up. When suddenly losing all the structure that she was used to from university, Amy felt that she was not ready for work and work environments. So instead she started to attend employability schemes provided by charities. However, these were often unaware of the needs of autistic jobseekers. “I was on the scrapheap of society again.” 

However, she found Twitter to be a very empowering experience for her. Other Twitter users shared their stories and she realised that they face similar issues. It was also via Twitter that Amy found out about Ambitious about Autism’s Autism Exchange. Autism Exchange is a work experience programme for autistic young people in leading organisations. Amy applied and was accepted into the graduate scheme at a civil service organisation. “I didn’t realise that someone like me could work in civil service.” 

This was Amy’s first real opportunity to work in a professional office environment, in a large organisation. Yet she quickly encountered some difficulties. For example, working hours. Travelling during rush hour caused her meltdowns and panic attacks. Sharing these difficulties with the Autism Exchange team, they then asked for reasonable adjustments. In this case to be able to come in/leave before or after rush hour. “I was unaware that I could ask for reasonable adjustments, thinking that flexible work hours for example would be too big an ask.” 

This internship experience allowed Amy to build up her confidence over the next couple of weeks. However, following her internship experience, she still found it very hard to get any interviews for other jobs. As a result, she then started a campaign to raise awareness about the Autism Exchange internship programme, with the aim for other organisations to join this scheme. 

In spring 2018, Amy received another internship opportunity at m/SIX, a media agency. Here her internship lasted several months and was paid. Whilst working at m/SIX, Amy discovered that the holding company, GroupM, has an autism focus employment inclusion group. “I approached the holding group to share my experiences at m/SIX, and together we started to redesign the job descriptions and working practices to create a more inclusive environment for the neurodiversity community”. 

We are happy to say that following her internship at m/SIX, Amy was informed that a Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator role was coming up at GroupM. She applied and got it! Amy has now been there for just over 10 months. “This inclusive environment makes me feel very welcomed!”

After hearing about Amy’s experiences, CRAE’s Brett Heasman shared some preliminary research findings on neurodiversity and employment. Brett’s research includes more than 500 participants so far, and several key barriers or enablers to neurodiversity employment are emerging. These include:

DISCLOSURE: 70% of participants disclose their diagnosis after starting job. 

Reasons FOR disclosing: 24% disclose after encountering difficulty in the workplace, to enable greater understanding and to manage expectations 

Reasons for NOT disclosing: Negative discrimination is a huge factor why participants do not disclose their diagnosis. Additionally, 15% say that the benefits of disclosure are not clear, whilst others voiced concerns about identity and stereotyping   

MASKING: Masking describes the strategies that autistic people use to fit in. 85% of the participants say that they mask in the workplace.

Reasons FOR masking: wanting to fit in, not consciously aware that they are doing it

Reasons for NOT masking: do not know how to do it, not receiving adequate support because of it, emotional drain and impact on mental health, risk of being found out 

ADJUSTMENTS: Adjustments are changes to the working environment and practice, designed to make jobs and work more accessible. Many adjustments are free or low cost, and easy to implement. These adjustments can work for all employees and not just autistic employees. Despite 77% of participants rating adjustments as important, only 32% of the participants surveyed asked for adjustments in their workplace. 

Reasons FOR asking: benefits for the employee (comfort, sensory, accessibility), should be protected by equality act, tests wider organisational culture towards neurodiversity

Reasons for NOT asking: can be refused if deemed to impact other employees, can be seen as a trouble maker for asking, can involve great effort in seeking to get adjustments implemented, pathways to asking for adjustments not clear 

Common adjustments fall into four categories: 

Physical space: having an allocated desk, no strip lighting, temperature controls, spaced seating 

Equipment: providing ear plugs, site blocker software, online resources, headphones 

Social: relaxing social obligations, provide spaces for eating lunch away, being aware of clothing & perfumes, providing quiet spaces 

Management: provide flexi-time, explicit instructions, weekly plan, extra breaks 

The research also highlights that autistic participants think that a manager’s traits and values, such as their knowledge of autism, being empathetic, and exhibiting a desire to retain staff, are a big factor when it comes to neurodiversity employment practices. Additionally, resources available, such as financial costs, convenience for managers, and time and space for adjustments, were also seen as barriers or enablers. 

Brett’s presentation was followed by Andrew Harding, who briefly introduced some of the adjustments that Fujitsu has started to implement at their offices. These included adjusting the promotion panel processes by removing questions like ”Is this individual comfortable with ambiguity?”, changing their job descriptions to attract neurodiverse talents, and introducing a buddy system. By having a buddy at work (autistic or non-autistic), the employees can confidently share brief updates on their state of mind and wellbeing, as well as meeting for a chat without any social pressures if wanted, or share information about any additional adjustments they would like to see. Over the last couple of months, Fujitsu has already seen huge benefits since introducing these adjustments. It is encouraging to hear that this is only the beginning of their journey.  

- - -  The breakfast workshops were not filmed/recorded, however the Discover Conference keynote lectures and other sessions were recorded and can be viewed here https://www.autistica.org.uk/get-involved/research-conference/discover-conference-livestream?fbclid=IwAR0p3Ck-dxDyN2m3d-hqxar3TTqpKveoAiy6QtIFBHzx2dsxCQ-1f7AY88k 

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Participants Wanted!

Attention and Perception in Autism

Jallene Chua, a MSc Psychology of Education student at CRAE, is looking to find out more about how people pay attention to things and whether this is different in autistic and non-autistic people. We collect data from both autistic and non-autistic people to help us better understand any differences in how people pay attention to things and when they get distracted. 

What will happen if I choose to take part? 

You will be asked to take part in an attentional task on the computer, where you will be required to focus your attention on finding certain targets on the screen. You will also be asked to fill in a couple of questionnaires related to how you feel, as well as complete some puzzles. 

The experiment will take approximately 1 hour, and is based in Central London, at the Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way. We will reimburse you for your time with a £10 shopping voucher. 

What is the criteria for me to take part? 

In order to take part in the study, you will have to: 

Be an adult aged 18-35, with or without a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder 

Have English as your first language 

Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision 

Unfortunately, you cannot take part in this study if you have any diagnoses of: 

ADHD 

Epilepsy 

Fragile X Syndrome 

Could there be problems for me if I take part? 

The risks involved in the study are minimal and will not present any risks to you that you would typically experience in your everyday life. Nonetheless, you are given the right to withdraw from the study at any point in time without consequences should you want to do so. 

Do I have to take part? 

It is entirely up to you whether or not you choose to take part. We hope that if you do choose to be involved then you will find it a valuable experience. We will also regularly check that you are happy to continue. If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and be asked to sign a consent form. Once again, you can withdraw at any time without giving a reason and without it affecting any benefits that you are entitled to. If you decide to withdraw you will be asked what you wish to happen to the data you have provided up that point. 

What will happen to the results of the research? 

When the study is complete, the information about how you performed on the tasks will be held anonymously (as a participant number – not traceable to your identity). We will then write up the results of the study and submit them for publication in journals. When these are published, we can send you a copy which you can request on the consent form. If you wish to withdraw your data after completing the study, you can do so within 4 weeks of your participation. After this point, some of the anonymised data may be shared with other researchers who are involved in the project, such as Dr Sophie Forster, Jana Brinkert and Jallene’s supervisor, Dr Anna Remington. 

For additional information and the survey please click here. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jallene by emailing jallene.en.15@ucl.ac.uk or calling 077 5418 3195. 

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Participants Wanted!

CRAE is conducting research to understand the employment experiences of people who process and perceive the world in unique ways.  

Currently there is a national autism-employment gap where autistic adults are less likely to be in full-time employment than people belonging to other disability categories.

We would like to hear from you to understand more about:

The reasons behind the autism-employment gap and the research you would like to see conducted

How autistic employment experiences compare to those without a diagnosis

Experiences of enabling employment practices

This project will result in a freely accessible public report on anonymised data, which will be available from September 2019 onwards and with annual updates thereafter.

Who can take part? (UK adults over 18 years of age)

We are collecting data about what factors are integral to the employment experiences of autistic adults (18+ years). We would also like our survey to be open to anyone, including non-autistic people, so that we can understand how autistic experiences compare to the rest of the population. You will have the opportunity to specify any diagnoses, self-diagnoses, or important factors that you feel are relevant to shaping your experiences of employment. 

How long will it take?

Completing consent and demographic information to receive your anonymous ID will take 5 - 15 minutes (depending on your processing time).

With your ID you can choose which topics you would like to take, and return at a later time to complete remaining topics. Each topic will take around 10 -15 minutes. There is no time limit on completing topics.

For more information and the survey, please visit http://bit.ly/NEScrae2019. If you have any additional questions about the research, please contact b.heasman@ucl.ac.uk. 

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CRAE RECAP - INSAR 2019: Where do we go from here? Learning how to prevent suicide in partnership with autistic people and their allies

On Friday, 3rd May, CRAE attended “Where do we go from here? Learning how to prevent suicide in partnership with autistic people and their allies” at INSAR, the world’s largest autism conference. Compared to the general population, autistic individuals are at an increased risk of suicide. Autistic adults who do not have a learning disability are 9 times more likely to die from suicide, and autistic children are 28 times more likely to think about or attempt suicide. This panel session discussed the context of current international suicide in autism research, provided reflections from lived experiences, and highlighted the importance of researchers working in partnership with autistic people and their allies to effectively understand, identify and manage risk of self-harm and suicide.

 What do we know so far?

Jon Adams, autistic artist and trained geologist, drew on his own experiences, discussing how the mere existence of his autistic identity puts him at risk of suicide and sectioning. He went on to share the disbelief and blame that autistic people experience when disclosing their difficulties, often leaving them traumatised. Yet, he also mentions how ‘simple acts of kindness can prolong life’. He concluded by reminding attendees of the importance of researchers working in partnership with autistic people.

Sarah Cassidy (University of Nottingham) discussed the challenges of measuring suicidality in autistic people, as the current assessment tools can be challenging for autistic people, with questions often being too vague and broad. This results in autistic people frequently having difficulties communicating their suicidal intent. To address this issue, Sarah is currently developing a card-sort-task to help autistic people explain their suicidal thoughts and ideations.

Paul Lipkin (Kennedy Krieger Institute) shared his research on screening for suicide risk in autistic children and related conditions (age 8-17 years). He found that 8.9% of the 10.7% of people that were found to be being at risk of suicide, received a confirmed or probable diagnosis of autism in the subsequent 17-months. Almost all autistic participants (92%) had co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses, yet fortunately 81% already received mental health support. Lipkin argues that suicide risk screening is a viable and achievable, and should be part of routine healthcare.

Ashley Robertson (Coventry University) discussed her research into non-suicidal self-injury in autistic adults, self-identified autistic adults, and non-autistic adults. Data showed that, compared to non-autistic people, autistic adults report a wider range of forms and functions of non-suicidal self-injury, a different motivations for it, as well as reports of increased frequency and harm to more body parts.

 What you can do if you are feeling suicidal

Talk to someone about how you feel. There are people that want to help and listen to you. Tell a friend, family member, GP, another person of trust, or speak to someone on a confidential phone line service. You can reach the Samaritans under 116 123 or Papyrus (for people under 35) on 0800 068 4141.

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CRAE RECAP - INSAR 2019: Gender, Sexuality and Romatic Relationships in Autism

On Saturday, 4th May, we attended a special interest group and panel session on gender, sexuality and romantic relationships in autism. Relationships and sexuality are central to health and well-being, and autistic people, their families, and healthcare professionals express the need for more research and guidance on this specifically in relation to autism. Whilst there is increasing research on this topic, many questions about the impact of this on the daily lives of autistic individuals remain.

  Assessing research priorities, Jeroen Dewinter (Tilburg University) found three general themes– 1) Getting a better understanding of the topic (questions people had centered on sexual development across lifespan, sexuality and intellectual disability, experiences/needs of LGBT+ autistic people, sexual identity development, gender differences, pregnancy and parenthood, healthcare, sensory issues, and wellbeing). 2) Improving support and intervention (how to support and promote sexual wellbeing and healthy romantic relationships, preventing offending and victimization, improve healthcare experiences and needs, and involving and supporting families, partners and professionals). 3) Changing societal views and practices through a participatory approach. Mark Stokes (Deakin University) shared insights into the sexual experiences of autistic women. He found that autistic women are at greater risk of negative sexual experiences, including victimisation and abuse. Anne Kirby (University of Utah) offered insights into how autistic people process sensory information with respect to sexuality and dating. This could be positive or negative, such as avoiding physical contact/dating, and sensory processing altering their desire, ability or willingness to participate in partnered sexual activity. Anna van der Miesen (Amsterdam University Medical Centre) discussed the experiences and needs of professionals when working with autistic adults who questioned their gender identity. She spoke about the need for greater knowledge on gender issues among professionals working with autistic people in order to provide them with appropriate support.

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CRAE RECAP - INSAR 2019: Medical and Psychiatric Co-Occurring Conditions in Autism

We just returned from the International Society for Autism Research #INSAR 2019 conference, the world’s largest autism research conference. This week we are going to share some of the research that we came across. Today we cover presentations from two sessions that we attended on medical and psychiatric co-occurring conditions in autistic individuals.

What does the research tell us?

Anxiety is one of the most common co-occurring conditions, with up to 80% of autistic young people experiencing symptoms of anxiety. Casey Burrows (University of Miami) found that the association between autism and anxiety symptoms is seen across a range of ages, ability levels and genders. She also explained how restricted and repetitive behaviours (a core feature of autism) are negatively associated with anxiety, suggesting that these actions either mask anxiety symptoms, or hopefully lead to a reduction in anxiety.

Suqian Duan (McPartland Lab; Yale School of Medicine) reported on the influence of depressive symptoms on adaptive functioning (skills needed for everyday living) in autistic children. She found that the more depressed autistic children are, the lower they score in adaptive functioning tasks (particularly relating to socialisation). Duan calls for further research to investigate the relationship process between depressive symptoms and social functioning.

Kate Gotham (Vanderbilt University Medical Centre) showed that mood, in particular depression, explains responses to emotional information better than autistic traits. Also, non-autistic people with depression show elevated scores on the ADOS (an assessment often used to help diagnose autism), suggesting that mood may obscure autism diagnosis.

Some initial research by Audrey Blakeley-Smith (University of Colorado) suggests that group cognitive behavioural therapy for autistic adolescents with intellectual disability, may improve anxiety and other mood concerns in this group. They highlight the need to assess this intervention for children and adults too.  

Amy Barrett (University of California Santa Barbara) reported on the increased likelihood of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) in families with autistic children. These were more likely in families with increased parental stress, financial strain, isolation, and lack of social support. She found that autistic children show elevated levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, as well as higher self-injury behaviours. She acknowledged that more research into the relationship between social behaviours and mental health problems is needed.

Paul Lipkin (Kennedy Krieger Institute) highlighted the need for research on co-occurring mental health conditions and suicidal behaviours in autism. He explained that parents of autistic children (aged between 8-25 years) report high rates of suicidal thought and behaviour, including plans to and attempts to die by suicide.

Caitlin Conner reported that suicidal ideation (SI; thinking about dying by suicide) is higher in autistic people. In addition, difficulties in regulating emotions was associated with higher reported SI in autistic. It therefore appears that emotion dysregulation is a risk factor for suicidality in autism.

 Next steps

Suggestions from this panel discussion were that researchers should study co-occurring conditions in autism, and make better use of self-report measures (rather and/or in addition to parental or caregiver reports).

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New DE-ENIGMA Team Members

The DE-ENIGMA autism and robotics project is now beginning its final evaluation study at a London special school. For the duration of the study, the DE-ENIGMA team at CRAE has welcomed two new team members, Hannah Viner and Audrey McMillion. They will work with Alria Williams, Dr. Alyssa Alcorn, and Zeno the robot to collect human-robot interaction data and conduct standardised assessments at our partner school.

Audrey is currently earning her MA in Special and Inclusive Education at UCL Institute of Education, where her dissertation is being supervised by CRAE director Dr Anna Remington. Audrey received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Hendrix College (USA) and worked for several years as a primary school teacher for students on the autism spectrum. In this role, Audrey worked with her school, her students and their families to ensure that all were welcomed into a wider and more inclusive community.

Before joining the DE-ENIGMA study, Hannah worked as a tutor in a UK special school for children on the autism spectrum. She recently completed an MSc in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex, during which she wrote her dissertation on the impact of an emotion regulation intervention on anxiety and interoception, and how these relate to autistic traits. Hannah completed her undergraduate degree in Modern Languages at the University of Southampton. After graduating, she worked as an English language teaching assistant in a special school in Italy and in two mainstream schools in France.  

Welcome, Audrey and Hannah, and best of luck at school!

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9th CRAE Annual Lecture with Dr Peter Vermeulen

CRAE Event

Thursday 7th March, 6:30-7:30pm Studio Theatre, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts 16 Chenies Street, London WC1E 7EX

We are delighted to announce that the 2019 CRAE Annual Lecture will be given by Peter Vermeulen, who will speak on 'Autism and Happiness: from Neurodiversity to Neuroharmony'.

Peter explains that with more than 10 scientific articles per day, autism is just about the most studied condition in the world. We need all this research to increase our understanding of a condition involving, like no other, myths and misconceptions. Yet happiness has received little attention in the field of autism. Outcome and intervention studies, for instance, rarely take emotional well-being as a desired outcome. And when the focus is on well-being, it is often from a negative perspective, namely the lack of well-being and quality of life amongst autistic people. It is time to take a U-turn in our approach and change from an exclusive focus on what makes autism so different (and from a negative, clinical and medical approach of happiness in autism, i.e., a lack of distress) towards a shared and positive focus (we all want to be happy). In other words: let’s move from neurodiversity to neuroharmony. We very much look forward to welcoming Peter Vermeulen to CRAE to speak on such an important topic and hope that you can join us for this special, free to attend event.

For more information, and to book your free ticket(s) via Eventbrite (click green ‘Register’ button top right): https://bit.ly/2DYaif6

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CRAE Xmas card design competition WINNER 2018

CRAE News

Now in its sixth year running, the CRAE Xmas Card Design Competition is one of the highlights of the CRAE calendar! 

We invite all children and young people on the autistic spectrum, including pupils from the schools with whom we work, to take part in designing our festive greetings card, sent out annually from our Centre.

We were inundated with hundreds of entries from schools all across Greater London and beyond, which made choosing this year’s winner as tough as ever! Finally, we are thrilled to announce our overall winner(s)…

Congratulations to Amin, Ethan, Harry, Jaime, James, Mia, Rhys, Tika and Zak (Turquoise class) from Queensmill School, London for their fabulous team effort entry (above)!

The unique Three Kings design was a real favourite amongst the CRAE team; we loved the collaborative effort and different creative elements! The team have won a £25 voucher and their winning design will be sent out to over 3,000 of our colleagues, collaborators, friends, families, supporters and, most importantly, all our participants and those with whom we work, across the world!

As ever, we are immensely grateful and thank all those who took part and sent in their amazing entries. We will be sharing our Runners-Up entries via our Flickr pages very soon.

We hope you have a wonderful festive season and wish you all the very best for 2019.

Dr Anna Remington and everyone at CRAE.

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Celebrating CRAEtivity: An Evening of Autistic Art & Music

CRAE Event

Thursday 13 December 2018, 18:00 – 20:00 Logan Hall (Level 1), UCL Institute of Education, WC1H 0AL 

CRAE is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a charity evening celebrating autistic people in the arts!

For this extra special event, we are incredibly excited to welcome world-renowned concert pianist, Derek Paravicini. Derek is blind, autistic and has severe learning difficulties and is one of the most extraordinary pianists and musical entertainers of his generation, rapidly learning musical pieces simply by listening to them.

Derek will be joined on stage by Professor Adam Ockelford, Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, whose research focuses on educational needs and music for those with disabilities.

Autistic artist, Patrick Samuel will also be live-drawing the performance and his artworks will be on display in the foyer throughout the evening for guests to enjoy at their leisure.

The evening will be hosted by CRAE's very own current Artist-in-Residence, Ali Northcott.

We look forward to welcoming you all in what will be a fantastic festive celebration! 

Book your free ticket(s) via Eventbrite (click green ‘Register’ button top left): https://bit.ly/2DiCNVL

We will be collecting charitable donations throughout the evening. All proceeds will be donated to two chosen charities: “Choir With No Name” who run choirs for homeless and marginalised people and the "Sounds of Intent" which supports music education for children, young people and adults with disabilities.

Evening Programme:

6:00 pm Doors open

6:15 - 6:30 pm Welcome

6:30 - 7:00 pm Piano concert (1st half)

7:00 – 7:30 pm Interval (art exhibition in foyer)

7:30 – 8:00 pm Piano concert (2nd half)

8:00 pm Event finish

Please note, there is step-free access to this venue. Please contact us ahead of time (T: 020 7331 5126 or E: IOE.crae@ucl.ac.uk) should you need assistance and to ensure trained personnel are on site should an evacuation be necessary.

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Anna-Melissa (Mel) Romualdez

PhD Student

Mel joined CRAE as a doctoral student under the supervision of CRAE's Director, Anna Remington. She has a Master's degree in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University (USA) and recently completed a joint Master's programme in Speech, Language, and Communication Needs at City, University of London and UCL Institute of Education.

Mel worked for several years at the New York (NY) Center for Autism Charter School, where she taught adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum and developed an interest in transition planning, adult support services, and employment. 

Whilst at CRAE, her PhD research will focus on exploring the work experiences of autistic individuals and improving employment-related support services for autistic people.

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CRAE Xmas Card Design Competition 2018

CRAE News

It’s that festive time of year again! CRAE is now receiving entries for their 2018 Xmas Card Design Competition. We invite all autistic children and young people to design CRAE’s official holiday card artwork, which will be sent out to all with whom we work. 

We encourage entrants to think festive thoughts and get creative! We welcome all interpretations of Christmas, the winter holidays and festive fun from all abilities. The winner will receive a £25 voucher for themselves and selected runners-up also have a chance to win a £5 voucher. 

How to enter:

Design an image for a card on A4 (210 x 297 mm) paper or smaller

You can use any colouring or craft materials you like!

Write your name, school, and contact details on the back in pencil

Address entries to: CRAE Xmas Card Competition, Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University of London, FREEPOST LON 8344, London, WC1H 0BR

All entries need to be received by Friday 30th November 2018

Winners will be contacted via their school by Monday 3rd December. We can’t wait to see them all!

For inspiration and ideas, you can take a look at some of our fantastic entries and winners from previous years via CRAE’s Flickr pages. Hint: past winning designs have included lots of reindeers and snowmen so this year we’re looking for something completely unique!

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Supporting Minimally Verbal Autistic Girls with Intellectual Disabilities Through Puberty: Perspectives of Parents and Educators

CRAE Research

One of CRAE’s postgraduate students, Clare Cummins (supervised by CRAE’s Deputy Director, Laura Crane, and former CRAE Director, Professor Liz Pellicano), recently published a paper in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. They interviewed parents and educators about their views and experiences of supporting minimally verbal autistic girls with intellectual disabilities through puberty. 

Results showed that, despite many parents having concerns prior to the onset of puberty in these girls, their experiences of puberty tended to be positive, with the girls coping well with the changes they were experiencing. 

The research also highlighted the individual nature of puberty in these girls, the importance of promoting their dignity and respect, and the range of potential strategies that can support these girls. 

You can read the open access paper here.

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“Can it Read my Mind?”: Bloomsbury Festival 2018

CRAE Event

In October, CRAE PhD student, Jana Brinkert, and former CRAE Masters student, Sarah Crockford, hosted a stall - “Can it read my mind?” - as part of the annual Bloombsbury Festival (17th-21st October 2018), which aimed to explore perceptions and knowledge of brain imaging and bust myths around their research.

The stall was part of a special ‘Activism Saturday Festival Hub UCL' (in line with the festival's theme: “Activists and Architects of Change”) that took place around Bloomsbury (UCL Wilkins Building). Jana and Sarah led their 6-strong team with CRAE’s Public Engagement Officer, Mel Bovis, to engage festival-goers through a number of interactive and fun activities. This included using Muse™ headbands for festival-goers to measure their brain’s own electrical activity.

Muse headbands are able to measure the electrical activity of the brain and convert this electrical feedback instantaneously into sounds that correspond to different brainwaves (i.e., how calm or active the brain is). For example, a ‘calm brain’ (beta brainwaves) would lead to the sounds of birds tweeting, whereas an ‘active brain’ (alpha brainwaves) would lead to noises of stormy weather from a connected mobile device.

From this, festival-goers could use the app to visualise their mental state through on-screen brain activity and discover how well they were able to focus or block out distracting information, providing insight into their ‘brain wellbeing’ and encouraging them to practise mindfulness in our dedicated meditation area. Over the course of a few hours, we had almost 70 people take part in a 2-minute meditation practice!

There was also a brain selfie photo booth, brain cell building from craft materials, and giant brainwave tapestry where you could stitch a tailor-made brainwave! 

The stall explored visitors’ perceptions of brain imaging through answering questions such as 'Would you have your brain imaged?’ (88% ‘yes’ vs. 12% ‘no’) and ‘What have you learnt about brain imaging?’ using a brain token answering system and post-it notes. 

One of CRAE’s old friends and favourite artists was also at the event - Ben Connors - drawing the day on the festival graffiti wall! 

Photo credits: M Clayton (an official Bloomsbury Festival photographer).

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Autistic Entrepreneurship

CRAE News

CRAE’s Director, Anna Remington, will be giving a keynote talk at an exciting upcoming conference on ‘Autistic Entrepreneurs: Research and Practice Today’. Hosted by the London Centre for Business and Entrepreneurship Research at London South Bank University, the event takes place on 14th November 2018 (14:00 – 20:00).

The event aims to encourage discussion and highlight the fantastic work being done by autistic entrepreneurs and researchers on autistic entrepreneurship. The event also includes talks from a number of successful autistic entrepreneurs, as well as, autism ambassador Anna Kennedy OBE.

For tickets (£15.00), a full programme and further information head to their website.

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Brett Heasman

Post-doctoral Researcher

Brett undertook a PhD in Psychology at the London School of Economics, which focussed on the ‘Double Empathy Problem’, the two-way nature of misunderstandings between autistic and non-autistic people. His PhD research, supervised by Dr Alex Gillespie, developed methods for understanding cross-neurological interactions and interactions between autistic people. 

In addition to his research, Brett is a trustee of Matthew’s Hub, a charity supporting autistic adults, and has won grant awards for collaboration and impact from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and LSE respectively. In 2017 he created the ‘Open Minds’ exhibition to promote autistic voices, which has reached over 10,000 people and has resulted in autism awareness resources that are being used by local councils and charities in the UK, Australia and the US. He was the recipient of the ESRC’s national 2018 prize for Future Career Promise and the Finalist for Outstanding Early Career Impact. He is passionate about making research more accessible and has recently been programming an app where a virtual version of himself can present lectures from the palm of your hand or shoulder (see picture above!).

At CRAE, Brett will be managing the Discover Autism Research and Employment (DARE) project funded by Autistica, supervised by Dr Anna Remington. DARE will work with a number of organisations throughout the UK to understand the experiences of autistic employees and job seekers. It will build a holistic and longitudinal evidence-base for understanding the factors behind the current autism employment gap disadvantaging autistic adults.

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Monique Bellchambers-Joseph

Undergraduate Placement Student 

Monique is an undergraduate Psychology student from the University of Manchester currently completing her third-year placement with CRAE. She has a passionate interest in clinical psychology, and in recent years has volunteered with Making Space at Monet Lodge - providing dementia support within their independent hospital. In addition, her sister’s late diagnosis of autism and ADHD has prompted her desire to gain more understanding of the condition, particularly surrounding early diagnosis and intervention.

Monique is very excited to become involved in many events and projects in the coming year at CRAE, in order to provide herself with invaluable experience to continue her studies and prepare her for a career in Psychology. Furthermore, she is particularly enthusiastic about CRAE’s progressive attitude towards their research. In particular, their philosophy on how to make accommodations to support and include autistic people who are navigating a neurotypical world.