Presenter: Krysia Waldock

In the past, research has demonstrated that inclusion and belonging are important for autistic people. However, what this actually looks like, and how autistic people’s experiences impact the manner in which autistic people define inclusion and belonging is generally less known.

In this talk, Krysia will examine her PhD research, asking autistic people what belonging and inclusion means to them, alongside her own experiences as an autistic adult in the form of an ‘aut-ethnography’, linking these threads to acceptance.

Krysia will also give some suggestions on how these ideas and findings can be transferred into practice in education, health and social care, and how providing an inclusive space that is sensitive to autistic needs (including sensory), destigmatises autistic people and is sensitive to the double empathy problem can assist in feelings of belonging and inclusion.

About the presenter

Krysia Waldock (pronounced kri-shah; she/her) is an autistic PhD candidate at the University of Kent whose work explores inclusion and belonging for autistic people in belief and non-belief contexts.

She is also a research assistant at Kent’s Institute for Cyber Security in Society, Kent’s PARC convenor and a member of the disability conference planning team at Inclusive Church. She is committed to lifting the autistic voice to be heard in research spheres. She is also a keen swimmer and lives by the sea on the Kent coast.

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