The Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE) is delighted to announce that the 2020 CRAE Annual Lecture (previously postponed due to Covid-19) will now take place online! The lecture will be given by Luke Beardon, who will speak on 'Autopia (Autistic Utopia)'.

Luke has been working for decades in the autism field, in capacities ranging from practitioner to researcher, trainer to Senior Lecturer in autism at Sheffield Hallam University.

Luke's talk will identify what he believes to be the current state of play as regards societal and professional conceptualisation of autistic individuals, and provide a vision for what a future autistic utopia might look like, purely from his perspective.

Ranging from why we may want to consider the abolition of school bells through to working in a stationary cupboard; from a critique of autism-related terms to why inclusion may not be all it's purported to be; and from multiples of three to a hug-aversive Australian considering flying to the UK to embrace him, Luke's presentation will be wide-ranging, possibly provocative, probably contentious, and unapologetically celebratory in tone.

Trigger warning: In order to identify an optimistic future, Luke will start the talk by highlighting some of the rather more negative aspects of the autistic experience at the start of the evening. Bear with him, though, it's not all going to be doom nor gloom.

We very much look forward to welcoming Luke Beardon to CRAE to speak on such an important topic and hope that you can join us for this special, free to attend event.

In advance of the event, we will email attendees with joining instructions.

The CRAE team.