The International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) was recently held in Stellenbosch at the beautiful Spier Wine Estate. Some of the Autism South Africa team were lucky enough to have attended this prestigious event at the beginning of September.
The three day conference was packed with workshops, lectures, and the much talked about stakeholder engagement. The stakeholder engagement was seen as the highlight for many. This event managed to precede the conference in that people who were unable to attend were able to complete a form online to ensure that their comments, thoughts, ideas and questions were taken into account in order to begin defining a way forward for the autism community within South Africa. This online form is still available if you would still like to submit your ideas (online form link). Some of the themes emerging from this engagement were:
How to engage in more collaborative networking
This topic seemed to come up time and time again – both between individuals as well as organisations. There is a very clear need for organisations and individuals to start collaborating and networking with each other to ensure that the autistic communities rights are met and that we can work towards a country that is not only autism aware but also accepting of autism.