Promoting Self-Determination Across the Lifespan
About the Presenter
Jackie Ryan has worked in the autism field at the Centre for Autism Services Alberta for nearly 20 years and is a PhD candidate in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alberta. She holds a Master’s Degree in Leadership from Royal Roads University where her research on leadership to promote self-determination of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder won the University Founders’ Award. Her current research is on understanding autonomy and autonomy-support from the perspective of autistic adults with intellectual disabilities using a community-based participatory research approach. She will be utilizing novel methods to understand the perspectives of autistic adults who are unable to reliably report their inner thoughts and ideas. Jackie is autistic herself, as well as mom to an autistic young adult son. She is passionate about the inclusion of autistic people in all that affects them including research, policy-setting and service provision. Jackie views autism with a neurodiversity lens and is interested in recent research that calls into question the assumption that autistic individuals struggle with social communication and that perhaps it is a two-way problem.
Resources
https://autisticadvocacy.org/book/welcome-to-the-autistic-community/
https://galileo.org/pl/wp-content/uploads/Neurodiversity-Strengths-Checklist.pdf
https://selfdetermination.ku.edu/
