Exploring Your Autistic Identity: March Meet-Up for Autistic Adults

Join our Thriving Autistic community for a relaxed monthly meet-up. Connect, share, and explore with Autistic professionals and peers!

Join Our Thriving Autistic Community Monthly Meet-up

Come join our relaxed and inclusive monthly meet-up for recently self- or formally identified Autistic adults. Facilitated by Autistic professionals (psychologists, therapists, and coaches), this is a space where you can connect, share, and learn.

Every month, we shape our discussions based on community feedback, focusing on the topics that matter most to you. Breakout rooms provide smaller, focused spaces to explore different topics, and you’re free to move between rooms during the event. Previous discussions have included friendships, pet and animal appreciation, coping with holidays and change, disclosing your diagnosis, adapting your environment for sensory needs, managing burnout, sensory joys, intense passions, parenting and exploring Autistic communication styles. Share your ideas to help guide future meet-ups!

This meetup is open to Autistic adults over 18 who can communicate in English. You’re welcome to actively participate—using your voice, text chat, or AAC—or simply listen in. Bring your pets, stim toys, or other comfort items to make yourself at ease.

BREAKOUT ROOMS:

🌱 Staying Grounded in Groups: Learning from Trauma-Informed Practice (Ayhan Alman - he/they)

In this breakout room we will explore how to reduce stress that can come up in meetings and group settings. Trauma-informed practice teaches us that unstructured trauma sharing in groups can risk re-traumatisation, secondary trauma, and may push people outside their window of tolerance.

Because of this, trauma-informed practices, rooted in the foundational work of Judith Herman, focus on creating safety through structure and shared frameworks. We will explore Tuckman’s model of group development (forming, storming, norming, performing), concepts of boundaries, and rupture and repair to co-create a practical set of trauma-informed steps you can take in your next group setting to prioritise your sense of comfort and safety.

🏡 Parent/Carer Room (Helen Edgar - she/her)

Join us for this month’s relaxed Parent/ Carer Room session.

There is no set theme this month, just space to connect, share, and be with other Autistic parents and carers. Whether you’d like to talk about life as an Autistic parent, find neuro-affirming ideas to support your family, share your glimmers, discuss current difficulties or simply listen and be with others who get it, you’re warmly welcome.

🌱 AUTISTIC AND OVER 50 (John Pendal - he/him)

If you find out you’re autistic over the age of 50 you might face extra some challenges. You might be more exhausted after an assessment, as you have more life experience to reframe and more memories to shift through. You might also be dealing with changing hormones, health issues, long covid … which can make autistic traits more pronounced. Plus it’s scary to find out something so big so late in life! This is a room to share and have our older life experiences validated.

🔍 PDA: Pathological Demand Avoidance or Persistent Drive for Autonomy? (Teri Kansted - she/her)

This breakout space explores PDA — to some known as Pathological Demand Avoidance, and to others Persistent or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy. PDA isn’t about stubbornness, defiance, or willful resistance. Instead, for many autistic adults, it describes a deep nervous system response to perceived demands — external and internal — that can create anxiety, shutdown, or overwhelm even around things you genuinely want or value.

In this room, we’ll explore what this experience feels like, how autonomy and control are central to it and how language and word choices shape our sense of self, identity and self-understanding. I do not sit with the answers of how to live a PDA-free life, and this breakout room will focus on shared living experiences and co-learning, instead of strategies and “fixes”.

🤝 Peer Connection Room (Unfacilitated)

Sometimes the best conversations happen when there’s no set topic—just a chance to be yourself and connect. This is a quiet, unfacilitated space where you can chat with others, share thoughts, or simply sit in companionable silence. There’s no agenda, just room for spontaneous connection and mutual understanding.

Important Notes for Attendees

This meetup is not suitable if you are in severe distress or at risk, as topics may be triggering. Please seek professional support before attending. For immediate help, text 50808 (Ireland), 85258 (UK), or 741741 (USA/Canada), or contact a trusted person or emergency services.

Donations

This event is offered on a donation basis, with contributions between €1 to €20 appreciated to help cover costs and support those who are financially disadvantaged. If you are unable to contribute, please select the free ticket option.

We warmly invite you to become a member of Thriving Autistic to access more resources, have a voice in our community, and stay informed about future events. You can also click “Follow” on our Eventbrite page to receive updates.

For additional details, please see the FAQ section.