This online symposium will bring together three speakers to share their research and practical work to build more inclusive religious communities with people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people of faith.
Speakers:
Dr Krysia Waldock is a neurodivergent and disabled scholar activist, and interdisciplinary weaver of research. Krysia is a postdoctoral researcher at Swansea University and a part of the Church of England's Neurodiversity Working Group. Krysia will share some of the findings from their doctoral research, which explored autistic people's experiences of inclusion and belonging in churches and mosques. Linktree: linktr.ee/krysia.waldock
Bernice Hardie is parent to a daughter with Downs Syndrome and Co-Founder of the inclusion charity WAVE for Change. WAVE (We’re All Valued Equally) was started in response to the lack of genuinely inclusive provision in local churches and the wider community post-education for people with learning disabilities. Bernice will talk about WAVE’s work to address the root cause of social exclusion and share research findings around factors that contribute toward building genuinely inclusive places at the heart of communities. https:///www/waveforchange.org.uk
Fiona MacMillan is a disabled and neurodivergent practitioner, speaker and writer working with the disabled and neurodivergent Christian community in the UK since 2010. She chairs the planning team for an annual conference on disability and church, uniquely for rather than about Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people. She is a member of the Church of England's National Disability Task Group and leads its Neurodiversity Working Group. Fiona will speak about her experience working with neurodivergent people in church contexts. Bluesky: @jpuddlegoose.bsky.social X: @jpuddlegoose
Chair: Dr Naomi Jacobs is a Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University, in the Learning Disabilities and Autism Research Group. Naomi is co-author of At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches which shares research centring the lived experiences of disabled Christians, including autistic people and people with learning disabilities, and is a trustee of Disability Rights UK. Bluesky: @naomijacobs.bsky.social
Session Plan:
12-12.30 Speaker: Krysia Waldock
12.30-12.50 Speaker: Bernice Hardie
12.50-1.10 Speaker: Fiona MacMillan
1.10-1.20 Break
1.20 Panel Discussion
1.40 Audience Questions
2pm End
