Thread by @SueReviews

Good Morning!

I have something VERY exciting to announce this fine morning...

I am Co-Chair for a new, one-off, international neurodiversity-focused conference in March 2023 called:

It Takes All Kinds Of Minds, or #ITAKOM for short

time for a 🧵

itakom.org

This conference is presented by my colleagues & friends at @MindroomInform and especially by my partner-in-crime Sophie Dow @mindroom1

It will take place on the 13th & 14th March 2023 at @eicc

The charity has hosted amazing conferences in this venue before, but this time...

...we will take neurodiversity as our explicit focus and theme

The programme will feature neurodivergent speakers throughout, including leading researchers, educators, clinicians & activists.

There will also be space for talks devoted exclusively to sharing lived experience

More generally, the programme will be organised into four blocks, each considering neurodiversity at a different level of analysis:

Cells, Circuits, Cognition and Community

We want to explore how neurodiversity can be applied to fundamental science, as well as to practice.

Within each block we won't just hear from scientists, but also from practitioners

In themed sessions on topics such as "creativity", "living a good life", "learning" & "loving relationships" we will explore the implications of real world experience for science and vice versa.

There will be workshop sessions too

Some will expose the methods behind cutting edge approaches like machine learning.
Others will explore the application of new knowledge to practice and in everyday life.

We're excited to have booked @EmbraceComplex to lead one of these!

And we are planning a specific stream to deep-dive into neurodiversity theory, with leading scholars on the topic

In due course, we will also be open to submissions for shorter talks - both scientific abstracts and storytelling sessions, to be as inclusive as possible.

To help keep us on track in our mission, we have employed a "neurodiverse squad" who are meeting every other month to review the plans and give guidance.

We'll be posting their details up online as we draw closer to March 2022 - one year before the conference, when...

...people will have their first chance to buy delegate tickets.

The ticket prices will be structured, so the cheapest tickets will be available from March - August 2022. You can subscribe for updates on our website to get the first opportunity to buy!

itakom.org

We also have a bursary scheme for people who want to attend but struggle to afford it.

And if you are a charity or community group you can contact us to make a block booking for your staff or clients - buy tickets for 5, 10 or 20 delegates and get a hefty discount.

The conference will also be a hybrid event. We hope lots of folk will be able to attend in person but for those living further away, or who find remote attendance more accessible, there will be a digital delegate option with live streamed access to all the conference content.

Our launch page has details of a handful of speakers and we will be adding more and more info in the run up to March 2022, the Big Launch

In the meantime, sign up for the latest news and watch out on here for #ITAKOM when we post about the conference.

itakom.org

Finally, if you're excited about #ITAKOM + fascinated by neurodiversity, you can join our public lecture on 6th Dec by Punit Shah:

Neurodiversity: Similarities vs Differences

get your FREE ticket here - you will get a link to watch on catch up too
eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-2021-sal…

@threadreaderapp please unroll

shoot! Forgot to add alt-text. Sorry!

1st tweet: two mocked-up tickets to the ITAKOM conference. The written content is all available at this link: itakom.org

Last tweet: a flyer advertising the lecture with 🌈♾ sign: text available here eventbrite.co.uk/e/204964523407