Agenda
June 18, 2024 09:30 am
Conference open and welcome
Katie Koullas (she/her)
Katie is our conference host and the passionate creator and CEO of Yellow Ladybugs – an autistic led charity dedicated to supporting autistic girls, women, and gender diverse individuals. Being part of a neurodivergent family, and accessing a range of mental health services, Katie will share both her lived experience and represent the wider community, in order to deliver much needed change in this space.
Katie has presented at many conferences, been nominated for Australian of the Year for her advocacy and worked hard to create systemic change with the state and federal government to better support neurodivergent individuals. Her career has been a windy road of discovery, like many fellow ADHDers can relate to, including professional roles as accountant and tax advisor, marketing and events manager, HR and recruitment advisor and even a university teacher!
But her favourite role has been working alongside her neurodivergent team and helping YLB grow to make as big of an impact in the community and for her community as possible. She is also passionately obsessed with cat and kittens, anything that sparkles and Golden Girls.
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Katie Koullas will unpack the current issues facing the community and discuss the conference content.
June 18, 2024 09:55 am
Creating Classrooms Where Autistic Girls and Gender Diverse Students Can Thrive
Christina Keeble (she/her)
Christina Keeble is an Autistic & ADHD (AuDHD), Educational Consultant, delivering professional development, training, and consultations on Autism, PDA, ADHD & Neurodiversity Affirming Practice through Christina Keeble Consulting. She is also the COO of National PEKE Centre, a neuroaffirming allied health practice. However, Christina's most joyful and important job is being the mother of 2 beautiful neurodivergent PDAers.
Christina has been in the field of specialist education and disability since 2002 teaching, working with, and supporting neurodivergent children and their families. She has been consulting for families, schools and early childhood centres, allied health, disability, and government organisations since 2016 where she brings her lived and professional experience to the services she provides.
Christina has a Masters of SpEd, a GradDip in Primary Ed, and a BA with Honours (Psych). She frequently is a keynote speaker at conferences and is a published researcher and writer.
Socials:
Website
Email
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
LinkedIn
Sarah Gurrin (she/her)
Sarah is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist and fully registered teacher who works in private practice on the Gold Coast. She specialises in Neurodiversity especially in women and girls. Sarah provides therapy to children and assessments for children and adults.
Sarah is an AuDHD’er who and has found her Ikigai in working with neurodiverse individuals. Sarah practices Neurodiversity Affirming therapy and assessments helping neurodivergent people explore their unique profiles and thrive. Sarah uses a lot of Lego in her work and has an assistance dog named Hamilton who is the star of the show.
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An essential back-to-basics session on what teachers need to know about the ladybug students in their classroom. Our two panellists share their expert practical advice on creating a neuro-affirming and supportive learning environment, where autistic students with hidden needs can thrive.
June 18, 2024 10:55 am
Unpacking Our Assumptions and Attitudes About Autistic Children
Em Hammond @NeuroWild (she/her)
Em is an Autistic and ADHDer speech pathologist, and Mum to three neurodivergent kiddos. She is also an artist and illustrator and shares much loved content over at the highly successful Instagram and Facebook accounts @NeuroWild.
Em loves creating educational illustration sets that explain various topics relating to neurodiversity and shining a brighter light onto all things Autism.
Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Join us for an empowering, enlightening and practical discussion with the incredible Em Hammond from NeuroWild. This is one of those must-attend sessions, designed to guide parents, teachers, and allies through a transformative shift in perspective. It will provide invaluable insights into understanding and appreciating the unique experiences of autistic children, so we can change the way we perceive and support our ladybugs.
June 18, 2024 12:00 pm
Understanding Autistic Communication – A Guide for Parents and Teachers
Frances Brennan (she/her)
Frances Brennan (Owner/Director) is an experienced speech pathologist currently leading the team at The Speech Tree, a private speech pathology practice in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs.
Frances is autistic with ADHD. Together, Frances combines her professional and personal experience to support children/young people, families and schools with a focus on advocating for a safer environment for autistic people to be their authentic selves.
Socials:
Facebook
Website
This focused session shines a spotlight on the unique communication needs of our high masking ladybugs, exploring key autistic communication concepts including the double empathy problem, and providing practical tips for supporting autistic young people to express themselves authentically.
June 18, 2024 01:00 pm
A Practical Guide to Building Pride and Wellbeing in Autistic Young People
Annelil Desille (she/they)
Annelil is an AudHD registered clinical psychologist. Annelil uses their personal experiences, along with evidence-based practice to work with Autistic and ADHD individuals.
Their special interests include neurodivergence, mind/body connection, sexual health, dating, intimacy, relationships, attachment, and spirituality
In her spare time, you will find Annelil doing a select few activities, including spending time with her cats Subu and Eos, doing yoga and sitting in front of the heater watching their favourite tv shows.
Socials:
Instagram
Facebook
Tiktok
Website
Chelsea Luker (she/her)
Chelsea Luker is an Autistic/ADHDer psychologist and is the proud owner of Connect Us Psychology. With a deep-rooted commitment to the Autistic/ADHD community, Chelsea primarily supports Autistic/ADHD individuals across various life stages.
Chelsea is also a parent to two young neurodivergent children and has recently released a new book "Square Me, Round World: Stories of growing up in a world not built for you".
Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
An affirming discussion on autistic pride, offering practical advice for parents, teachers and allies on nurturing the self-esteem and wellbeing of their ladybugs. Our panellists will draw on their professional expertise and lived experience in guiding us to help our autistic young people build an authentic identity, to find their neurokin, and their place in the autistic community.
June 18, 2024 01:45 pm
Authentic Partnering with Autistic Children – Advice for Parents
Chenai Mupotsa-Russell (she/her)
Chenai is the Founder and Co-Director of Rainbow Muse Clinic which offers art therapy, psychology, play therapy and yoga in an inclusive environment that celebrates diversity.
She is also founder of Tandara Pa Rainbow a not-for-profit initiative, born from Rainbow Muse Clinic.
It is a community-focused space for creativity, connection, culture, and collective care. Chenai is passionate about working with who are minoritised and have intersecting identities.
She is also doing her PhD is Community Psychology and is a mum to a magical toddler.
Socials:
Website
Instagram
LinkedIn
A special parent-focussed session on building authentic, collaborative and compassionate relationships with our autistic young people. Learn about the importance of connection and unconditional positive regard and how we can nurture and empower our ladybugs through partnering with them to understand and address their support needs.
June 18, 2024 02:15 pm
A Neuro-affirming Guide to Individual Education Plans and Social Stories
Adina Levy (she/her)
Adina Levy is a proud AuDHDer (Autistic ADHDer), Speech Therapist, Professional Educator, Podcaster, Speaker, and Business Coach for Neurodivergent folks. She runs Play. Learn. Chat. and Neurodivergent Business Coaching & Consulting.
Adina is on a mission to shift the perception of the global community, to understand neurodivergence as difference (which is fine!). She believes (and lives) that it's possible to be Neurodivergent and thrive. To live outside of burnout and stress. This takes greater acceptance of neurodivergence from others, shifting environments to be most supportive, and a dash of self-acceptance
Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Website
LinkedIn
Sandhya Menon (she/her)
Sandhya Menon is a proud Autistic/ADHDer Psychologist whose SpIn lies in helping AuDHD children understand their identity and for those in their environment to understand Au/DHD ways.
She is the author of several books, The Brain Forest and The Rainbow Brain, and releasing My Body's Power Pack this year to help achieve this and speaks to organisations about creating inclusive and neuro-affirming spaces.
Socials:
Instagram
Facebook
How can we ensure that the most common classroom tools for supporting autistic students are neuro-affirming, tailored to the unique needs of our ladybug students, and not simply encouraging them to mask? Our panellists provide powerful practical advice on ensuring that the school-based supports developed for our ladybugs promote connection, authenticity and self-expression.
June 18, 2024 04:00 pm
Autistic Student Insights into Succeeding in Education
Shadia Hancock (they/them)
Shadia (pronouns they/them) is proudly Autistic and ADHD (AuDHD). They are currently studying a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) and recently completed a Certificate IV in Animal Behaviour and Training. They have professional interests in Autism, animal assisted therapy, and AAC.
Socials:
Website
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter/X
Summer Farrelly (they/them)
Summer Farrelly (They/Them) is a 17-year-old inclusion advocate, education consultant, public speaker, animal behaviourist, creator, and facilitator of an animal assisted learning program. They are currently in their second year studying a Bachelor of Zoology.
Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Website
LinkedIn
Two incredible autistic young people share their most important advice on nurturing and empowering autistic young people in the education setting. They explore the themes of embracing interest-led learning, genuine inclusion, flexible learning and the power of embracing student autonomy and agency.
June 19, 2024 09:30 am
Conference open and welcome
June 19, 2024 09:40 am
Empathy in Education – Understanding the Perspectives of Our Ladybugs Through Co-regulation and Curiosity
With a special focus on the teacher-ladybug relationship, child psychiatrist and autistic ally, Dr Alberto Veloso guides us through the process of thinking about ourselves as adults, and the neuroscience behind why our bodies and brains react they way they do when our young people are distressed. He helps us understand how we can co-regulate, and how we can better support the autistic students in our care by being curious and recognising their perspective.
June 19, 2024 10:40 am
The Essential Interoception Guide for Supporting Our Ladybugs
Kelly Mahler (she/her)
Kelly Mahler is an Occupational Therapist, Educator, Research Enthusiast, Trying-her-Best Mom and Interoception Groupie! She teaches professionals, caregivers, and self-helpers how to use evidence-based supports that facilitate discovery and validation of each person’s unique interoception experience, which in turn empowers people with self-understanding, self-regulation, health, well-being, andsocial connection.
Kelly Mahler OTD, OTR/L, earned a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Misericordia University, Dallas, PA. She has been an occupational therapist for 20 years, serving school-aged children and adults. Kelly is winner of multiple awards, including the 2020 American Occupational Therapy Association Emerging and Innovative Practice Award & a Mom’s Choice Gold Medal. She is an adjunct faculty member at Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA as well as at Misericordia University, Dallas, PA.Kelly is a co-principal investigator in several research projects pertaining to topics such as interoception, self-regulation, trauma & autism.
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Facebook
Facebook group
Twitter/X
LinkedIn
Instagram
Join us for this in-depth interview with interoception guru, Kelly Mahler, where we explore interoception through the specific lens of autistic girls and gender diverse young people. We cover the big topics including internalising and masking, emotions and alexithymia, eating disorders, hormones and puberty, behaviour and co-regulation
June 19, 2024 11:35 am
Labels, Learning, and Low-Demand Parenting for our Ladybugs
Eliza Fricker (she/her)
Eliza Fricker is an author & illustrator, and an advocate & consultant for PDA, autism and learning.
She has published several books, including the Sunday Times Bestselling title “Can’t Not Won’t”, and the acclaimed autobiographical “Thumbsucker” released in November 2023.
Eliza offers a range of support for parents and educators on navigating autism and education, including one-to-one consultations, webinars, presentations, a podcast, and the enduring original Missing the Mark illustrations & blog.
MISSING THE MARK was launched in early 2020, when amongst continued struggles with gaining support and understanding within the English education system for her child, Eliza began documenting her frustrations and experiences through her illustrations.
Not only an artistic expression of difference in today’s society, Missing the Mark aimed to serve as a thought provoking and valuable contribution to the visibility, acceptance and support of families like Eliza’s. An attempt to communicate difficult circumstances with teachers, educators, social workers, other parents and friends of those also experiencing these issues.Building on a surge of gracious personal responses and industry acclaim, Missing The Mark evolved, alongside Eliza's parental journey, to offer much needed support in a broader capacity.
Eliza lives and works in Brighton & Hove on the South coast of England.
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An engaging conversation with Eliza Fricker from Missing the Mark, who shares her honest and compassionate insights into the labels our high-masking ladybugs receive (and that Eliza received as a child), what to do when our autistic children can’t go to school, supporting PDA children and teens, and the power of low demand parenting.
June 19, 2024 01:00 pm
Autistic Burnout – Self-Care as a Preventative Tool for Ladybug Students
Ebony Birch-Hanger (she/her)
Ebony is a Special Education Teacher, Teacher of the Deaf, Education Consultant, Public Speaker, Neurodevelopmental Therapist, Kodaly Music Specialist and Yellow Ladybugs Ambassador. She has been a popular speaker at previous Yellow Ladybugs events with her combined lived and professional experience offering practical and insightful strategies to support autistic individuals.
Over the past 18 months, during and after experiencing extreme and prolonged autistic burnout, Ebony has shifted her attention to well-being. She is looking forward to sharing her recent experiences, during which, she’s learned that developing self-awareness, mindfulness, and well-being practices is absolutely crucial for both recovery and the ongoing sustainability of life and self. Combining this with her decades of experience and training in education, Ebony will highlight the importance of adopting a well-being focus for autistic individuals during their schooling years.
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Yellow Ladybugs alumni, Ebony Birch-Hanger shares her practical and deeply personal insights into the importance of teaching self-care as a preventative tool against autistic burnout. She covers the relationship between self-awareness and self-care, provides advice for educators on how they can support autistic students through teaching and modelling self-care, including those ladybugs whose perfectionism and people-pleasing tendencies may mean their struggles are hidden.
June 19, 2024 01:50 pm
What’s your Point of View?
Kaitlin Pradhan (she/her)
Kaitlin is an Autistic ADHDer, studying a double major in creative writing, and disability and inclusion, online. She hopes to use her experiences to create more safe, supportive and accepting environments, for Autistic students. She is also passionate about helping Autistic students to feel more empowered within themselves. In any spare time, you would currently find Kaitlin knitting or drawing. She also likes to read, write and watch most things fantasy-related (as long as it has a happy ending.)
Veronika Miller (they/she)
Veronika is a student activist from Western Sydney finishing her final year of high school. With a passion for supporting community led justice and equality programs Veronika plans to become a politician to create a better future for all.
Socials
Instagram
Twitch
Ynna Hernandez-Europa (she/her)
Ynna [pron. Ee-na] is a PhD candidate and Senior Research Assistant at QUT, specialising in microbiology. Her work studying invertebrates has led Ynna to investigate a pest that has been rapidly decimating pasture grasses across Queensland - estimated to have inflicted $2 billion so far.
In addition to her impressive academic career, Ynna is a proud advocate for LGBTQIA+ individuals in science. As the Faculty of Science representative at QUT's LGBTIQA+ Working Party and Co-chair of the LGBTIQA+ Faculty of Science Working Group, Ynna is committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone engaging in science.
Ynna can speak to how the faculty has recognised failings within the scientific community and how working groups are improving the experiences of the LGBTIQA+ community at QUT. Ynna can also touch on her autism diagnosis and the importance of inclusivity and accessibility for those with a disability to participate in the scientific community.
Patrick Saunders (he/him)
My name is Patrick Saunders and I’m a 14-year-old non-speaker who communicates with a letter board. I am Autistic and I love to spell, bushwalk, listen to and watch music, swim and move.
I have Apraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder which affects my motor planning and how I move.
You might remember me from when I cycled a bicycle across America with my mum and dad and from the ABC podcast The Parenting Spectrum.
If you would like to contact me or collaborate on something please head to my website thestoryspeller.com The Story Speller is a website where I share experiences and stories about non-speaking autism using spelling to communicate.
A collection of stories from our community sharing their journey and personal experience from their perspective.
June 19, 2024 02:35 pm
Exploring the needs of our First Nations Ladybugs
Tash Trickey joins us to yarn about her community’s views and understanding of autism in the First Nations community. We will chat through some of the common barriers that Indigenous people face in accessing support services. She will also discuss how schools and services can improve their cultural safety and incorporate Indigenous models of support into neuro-affirming care.
June 20, 2024 09:30 am
Conference open and welcome
Katie Koullas (she/her)
Katie is our conference host and the passionate creator and CEO of Yellow Ladybugs – an autistic led charity dedicated to supporting autistic girls, women, and gender diverse individuals. Being part of a neurodivergent family, and accessing a range of mental health services, Katie will share both her lived experience and represent the wider community, in order to deliver much needed change in this space.
Katie has presented at many conferences, been nominated for Australian of the Year for her advocacy and worked hard to create systemic change with the state and federal government to better support neurodivergent individuals. Her career has been a windy road of discovery, like many fellow ADHDers can relate to, including professional roles as accountant and tax advisor, marketing and events manager, HR and recruitment advisor and even a university teacher!
But her favourite role has been working alongside her neurodivergent team and helping YLB grow to make as big of an impact in the community and for her community as possible. She is also passionately obsessed with cat and kittens, anything that sparkles and Golden Girls.
Socials
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Email
June 20, 2024 09:40 am
Small Things Matter
Sarah Gurrin (she/her)
Sarah is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist and fully registered teacher who works in private practice on the Gold Coast. She specialises in Neurodiversity especially in women and girls. Sarah provides therapy to children and assessments for children and adults.
Sarah is an AuDHD’er who and has found her Ikigai in working with neurodiverse individuals. Sarah practices Neurodiversity Affirming therapy and assessments helping neurodivergent people explore their unique profiles and thrive. Sarah uses a lot of Lego in her work and has an assistance dog named Hamilton who is the star of the show.
Socials:
Email
Join Sarah as she unpacks why small things matter and the massive difference they can make in the life of your Ladybug in the school environment. Sarah is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist and fully registered teacher who works in private practice on the Gold Coast. She specialises in Neurodiversity especially in women and girls. Sarah provides therapy to children and assessments for children and adults.
June 20, 2024 10:00 am
We Are All Neurodiverse at School
Sonny Jane Wise (they/them)
Sonny Jane is a multiply neurodivergent advocate, author, creator and public speaker with a national and international presence.
Sonny was diagnosed with Autism as a child and grew up only hearing a deficit narrative about their neurodivergence. Since then, they have gone on to build an audience of over 100,000 people online, written two books, spoken at various conferences and summits and worked with organisations and services around Australia to help change the narrative around neurodivergence.
Through their workshops and public speaking, Sonny Jane encourages professionals and individuals to shift to the neurodiversity paradigm and both unpack and challenge neuronormativity.
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Sonny steps away from diagnostic labels and explores how every individual has unique needs and differences. Sonny discusses the importance of moving away from the pathology paradigm and adopting the neurodiversity paradigm to nurture and empower autistic students.
June 20, 2024 10:15 am
Embracing Duality and Community: Supporting Our Empathic Ladybugs
Khadija Gbla (she/they)
Khadija Gbla is multi hyphenate high profile, passionate and inspiring African Australian woman. She is a single mum, carer, black, non-binary, queer, neurodivergent and disable award-winning human rights activist, model, inspirational speaker, writer and mentor. She has displayed great courage and determination in achieving her aspirations of giving women, youth and minority groups a voice at a local, state and international level.
Khadija utilises her powerful and inspired voice to advocate for structural change and everyday simple everyday actions we can all take to achieve true equality and inclusion for all people.
Khadija provides advocacy, training, coaching, mentoring speaking on domestic and family violence, sexual health, racism, FGM, human rights, gender equality, intersectionality, inclusion and diversity, bias, mental health, disability, ndis, migrants and refugees and cultural diversity and so much more through her cultural consultancy, khadija Gbla Cultural Consultancy.
Socials:
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Website
Instagram
Join us as Khadija shares their deeply personal perspective on acknowledging diverse experiences and intersectional identities. As an empath who is profoundly attuned to justice and the wider world around them, Khadija will discuss the necessity of validating the experiences of our empathetic ladybugs. They will touch on the importance of recognising the duality in our lives—acknowledging both the challenges we face and the immense pride we can feel in our autistic identity. And they will explore the critical role of a supportive community—a village that uplifts, affirms, and carries each individual through life’s trials and triumphs.
June 20, 2024 10:30 am
Reflections on early Diagnosis and School Experiences
Ruby Wiggins (she/her)
Ruby Wiggins is an 18-year-old autistic and ADHD young woman who hopes to work one day as a health professional sharing her lived experience to help young women and girls embarking upon the same journey that she took. She graduated high school last year in the class of 2023. She is currently in her first year of university studying a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours) at La Trobe University, Melbourne in order to advance the way neurodivergent individuals are cared for in the allied health sector.
Ruby is multi-award-winning writer who won the 2021 Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers, with her autobiographical story, “Watching The Wheels Spin” recounting her experiences growing up as an early diagnosed autistic girl. She also won the ISV student poetry competition in 2022 where she performed her poem about her love for performing and musical theatre.
Ruby will share her lived experience of early diagnosis as autistic and her experience within the school system. She will talk about the interventions that she experienced and practices that she would like to see change. Her powerful presentation will encourage viewers to consider what approaches are really best for autistic children and young people.
June 20, 2024 10:45 am
June 20, 2024 11:15 am
Finding and Keeping Autistic Joy
Marie Camin (she/her)
Marie is a multiply neurodivergent clinical psychologist, researcher, & advocate. She loves animals (especially cheetahs) and creating art. She spends her time playing piano, guitar, & Nintendo, and watching her favourite TV shows on repeat.
Socials:
Instagram
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Being autistic can be really hard, but there's nothing quite like the feeling of autistic joy—from our happy feet to our stimmy hands! Join Marie Camin, an autistic clinical psychologist, in learning how we can support our young people to find and keep their joy in a world that tries so hard to dull it.
June 20, 2024 11:30 am
Exploring Autistic Culture
Allison Davies (she/her)
Allison Davies creates online resources for parents, educators and support staff and works with schools to deliver professional development around the topics of childhood brain development and the use of music as a regulatory tool.
She is an independent liberatory scholar currently exploring the gatekeeping and classism of the social construct ‘musical vs non-musical’.
A former Registered Music Therapist of 16 years, Alli left the Allied Health industry in 2021 in order to align her work more deeply with culturally responsive practices and to switch her focus from individual change to socio cultural change.
Alli is an autistic person with attention, sensory processing, and executive functioning difficulties.
She works within a neurodiversity framework that favours deep acceptance and regulation over assimilation and intervention and shares her lived experience of autism openly within her seminars, workshops, and conferences as part of her ‘emotive storytelling mixed with science’ approach to education.
Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Autistic culture is more than a concept or a neuro-affirming approach to care; it is something that has always existed in autistic families and communities. Although it looks different for every family and is filtered through our layers of privilege, safety, and capacity, this presentation will explore some of the fundamental concepts that autistic culture requires all of us to understand so that we may deepen our sense of who our autistic family is and how our culture can support us.
June 20, 2024 11:45 am
Neuro-affirming Teaching Practice
Sandhya Menon (she/her)
Sandhya Menon is a proud Autistic/ADHDer Psychologist whose SpIn lies in helping AuDHD children understand their identity and for those in their environment to understand Au/DHD ways.
She is the author of several books, The Brain Forest and The Rainbow Brain, and releasing My Body's Power Pack this year to help achieve this and speaks to organisations about creating inclusive and neuro-affirming spaces.
Socials:
Instagram
Facebook
Sandhya will help educators distil big ideas on neuro-affirming teaching practices learnt throughout the conference, creating five core actionable principles for educational institutions to walk away with, reflect on, and implement in their practices. A session designed to delight those who like structure and practical examples, this is a must-catch session for all.
June 20, 2024 12:20 pm
June 20, 2024 01:20 pm
Neuroaccessibility and the SAFE Self-Advocacy Method
Annie Crowe (she/her)
Annie Crowe is a proud multiply neurodivergent, chronically ill and disabled human rights lawyer and the CEO of NeuroAccess a consulting and coaching business specialising in building resources, education and awareness of neurodivergent accessibility needs and supports.
Socials:
Website
Podcast Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Annie publicly defined the concept of neuroaccessibility in 2022 and will now introduce the human rights influence on the development of her SAFE self-advocacy method. This presentation is all about neurodivergent rights and a practical approach to having your access needs met in a neuronormative society. There is nothing more empowering than finding your voice and standing up for your rights—this is a presentation not to be missed!
June 20, 2024 01:35 pm
Keynote Speaker: Creating neuro-affirming culture in the classroom
Em Hammond @NeuroWild (she/her)
Em is an Autistic and ADHDer speech pathologist, and Mum to three neurodivergent kiddos. She is also an artist and illustrator and shares much loved content over at the highly successful Instagram and Facebook accounts @NeuroWild.
Em loves creating educational illustration sets that explain various topics relating to neurodiversity and shining a brighter light onto all things Autism.
Socials:
Facebook
Instagram
Em, also known as Neurowild, will be our keynote speaker, teaching you how to create a neuro-affirming culture in the classroom. This will blend personal, professional, and practical guidance, with some incredible insights via her NeuroWild Shift.
June 20, 2024 02:05 pm
Yellow Ladybugs Feature Session
Yellow Ladybug
June 20, 2024 02:15 pm
Q&A plus close
Katie Koullas (she/her)
Katie is our conference host and the passionate creator and CEO of Yellow Ladybugs – an autistic led charity dedicated to supporting autistic girls, women, and gender diverse individuals. Being part of a neurodivergent family, and accessing a range of mental health services, Katie will share both her lived experience and represent the wider community, in order to deliver much needed change in this space.
Katie has presented at many conferences, been nominated for Australian of the Year for her advocacy and worked hard to create systemic change with the state and federal government to better support neurodivergent individuals. Her career has been a windy road of discovery, like many fellow ADHDers can relate to, including professional roles as accountant and tax advisor, marketing and events manager, HR and recruitment advisor and even a university teacher!
But her favourite role has been working alongside her neurodivergent team and helping YLB grow to make as big of an impact in the community and for her community as possible. She is also passionately obsessed with cat and kittens, anything that sparkles and Golden Girls.
Socials
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Email
June 18, 2024 09:30 am