University hosts autism awareness talk with special guest speaker

As part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, the University of Wolverhampton’s Disability Network is hosting an inspirational talk to raise awareness of autism.

Sara Heath, local autism advocate, will lead an online talk on March 16, to share her experience of living with autism and her role with the Autonomy self-help and social group.

Sara and her son Eric founded Autonomy in 2004, to support young people and adults who have Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) or high ability autism (HFASD).

The guest speaker will also discuss how Autonomy led to the development of her private work, 'Autonomy Plus', where Sara provides autism support, advocacy, training and helps to implement reasonable adjustments under Equality Law for autistic children and young people and adults, in education, employment, and other services they may access.

Sara, from Shropshire, said: “I’m so pleased to be sharing our journey as part of neuro-diversity week, at the University of Wolverhampton.

“My son, Eric, and I have been running the Autonomy group for the last 19 years; little did I know when we set it up, that our small Shropshire group for autistic adults, would lead to so many opportunities for us both locally, nationally and even internationally.

“The Autonomy story is quite unique and took us down many different paths and some that we hadn't known existed; all of our experiences enabled us to help us, our group and our members thrive and also led to Eric’s and my careers in the field of autism and the group even having its own football club.

“I look forward to sharing our story with the people of Wolverhampton and hope to raise more awareness to support people with autism.”

Book your free tickets on Eventbrite