To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Human Rights Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Department in UL welcomed our very own Melissa Mooney for a webinar entitled ‘Authentically Autistic: My Journey towards Self-Acceptance’. Melissa is an autistic and dyspraxic self-advocate. She holds a BA in Applied Languages from the University of Limerick, and is a member of the Autism@UL Special Interest Group. She works with businesses globally to develop accessible, authentically inclusive hiring programmes for neurodivergent people and people with disabilities. She strives to help deepen wider society's understanding of neurodiversity and has written and spoken on a wide variety of topics, including autistic pride, self-acceptance and masking.
We wish to congratulate and thanks our member Melissa Mooney for her insightful webinar sharing her journey to autism acceptance. Some top tips from the talk include:
- You are the world’s leading expert when it comes to you.
- To connect with people who have lived experience of autism follow the Twitter hashtag #ActuallyAutistic.
- Small acts of kindness go a long way.
- If someone discloses their diagnosis to you then an appropriate response would be “Thank you for sharing with me and trusting me with this information.”
- If you are a neurotypical student and you notice that someone is frequently on their own then consider inviting them to do something with you and your friends, e.g., going to the cinema or for tea and a chat.
There was great interest in Melissa’s current role in recruitment and hopefully Melissa may run a Lunch and Learn session with UL’s HR division in the New Year.