Highlights from the Autism Europe Conference 2025

I attended the Autism Europe Conference on September 11 – 13, 2025 in Dublin, Ireland hosted by Ireland’s autism charity AsIAm. This charity is autistic led; they are committed to a vision of an Ireland and Europe in which every autistic person is accepted “as they are” – equal, valued and respected. Their core vision is for autistic people to have the same chance in every aspect of society and exploring, understanding and achieving a high quality of life for autistic people. Two thousand of us from 60 countries came together to listen, learn and ask questions.

For the first time at this conference, the majority of the speakers were autistic – many of them female presenters. This has been an underrepresented group so it was both informative and interesting to hear the latest research and lived experiences of autistic people. There were 12 topic streams to choose from such as ageing, employment, advocacy, learning across the lifespan, gender and sexuality, intersectionality/underrepresented perspectives, and autism and neurodivergence overlapping. All sessions were 1 hour in length. Some were presentations to the entire congress; others were to smaller groups in breakout rooms. It was hard to choose what to focus on so I attended a variety of sessions from the various topic streams.

Conference Highlights

Energy accounting – Neurodiversity-affirming stress management and burnout prevention – Maja Toudal, Copenhagen, Denmark

Autistic psychologist Maja Toudal presented on Energy Accounting which addresses stress and burnout directly, but also flips stress management on its head, asking the all-important question: Why not be proactive? Based on practical use rather than theoretical models, it moves away from set programs and towards tailoring the intervention to the individual. Stress is determined by personal interpretation and appraisal, which is why interventions must be individualized.

What elicits the stress response? The answer is novelty, unpredictability, and a decreased sense of control. Energy accounting focuses on deposits vs. withdrawals. An example of a deposit might be stimming or spending time with animals. A withdrawal might be having to socialize or coping with anxiety. Using this model, you work towards achieving a daily balance, planning for short periods of time. Find energy patterns – some things will give energy right away and some things give energy long term.

Work towards building an awareness of stress capacity by asking the following questions:

1. What are your stress symptoms? Kelly Mahler’s work on interoception could help build the capacity to answer this question.
2. How can we tell when things are going right?
3. How do we monitor and evaluate? Ex. You can use numbers or the visual of a battery depleting or getting fully recharged.

What works for reducing stress and burnout?

1. Alone time.
2. No more than one major event per day.
3. Balance draining activities.
4. Have mental health days.

Ms. Toudal also recommended reading the book Toxic Childhood Stress by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris which explores the implications of exposure to adversity long term.

When research, policy, and practice become a beacon in a volatile world – TC Waisman, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Autistic researcher TC Waisman spoke about our unpredictable and rapidly changing world where the well-being of marginalized and underrepresented groups is not just an academic discussion—it’s a matter of survival, ethics, and resilience. She said for the first time, we are witnessing a combination of global events that empower leaders to challenge laws meant to protect the most vulnerable. Protecting quality of life and human rights has never been more urgent especially for intersectional and marginalized populations.

She posed these two questions – as activists, researchers, family members, and decision-makers, how do we move forward? How do we ensure the rights of underrepresented groups—whether research participants, collaborators, or loved ones—are upheld, even in uncertain times?

To answer these questions, TC Waisman explained the VUCA world which stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, dividing each of these into research and policy points.

Volatile – Ex. trade tariffs
Research – loss of grant money; can’t use certain words or language
Policy – thinking ethically; education policy

Uncertain – Ex. Global economic uncertainty
Research – Artificial intelligence implications – how much can you use AI? The context is often missing, it lacks creativity, and there is racial bias.

Complexity – Ex. Climate crisis
Research – Diagnosis which should include autistic voices
Policy – This is affected by the instability of the world.

Ambiguity – Ex. Mass media and the rise of misinformation. There is a lack of clarity around the meaning of events.
Research – Can’t plan long term.
Policies – The date is incomplete. What do parents believe? Governments?

Waisman believes in the village system where we are both independent and interdependent. Personal experience plays a part in problem solving. Each person can contribute something meaningful and helpful. Research, policy, and practice are at the forefront of the fight for human rights. Now is the time to use tools like participatory research, culturally inclusive design, and lessons from past civil rights and disability rights movements to push back against injustice, support those who need us most, and create a better future.

Optimising health and healthcare for autistic people: insights from autistic doctors – Dr. Mary Doherty, Dublin, Ireland

Autistic Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dr. Mary Doherty is both a doctor and a parent to two neurodivergent young people. She founded Autistic Doctors International which represents over 1300 doctors and medical students. They believe that autistic doctors bring a variety of strengths to healthcare, including an array of benefits for autistic patients.

Dr. Doherty said how autism is framed has a profound affect on health and well being outcomes. The goal is to grow up autistically confident, but how to do we achieve this?

Dr. Doherty stated some interesting facts:

• The top 3 specialties for autistic doctors are: #1 general practice, #2 psychiatry, #3 anesthesia.
• Less than one third of autistic doctors disclosed their diagnosis to their colleagues.
• Only 8% told their patients.
• Masking happens as a result of non-disclosure.
• 49% of autistic doctors self-harm, 77% have suicidal thoughts, 24% have attempted suicide

There are many barriers to disclosure such as negative attitudes, consequences, disbelief, loss of credibility, and stigma/stereotypes. Shame is the master emotion which affects core identity and is deeply painful. In the autism wars, are we trading shame? In education, shame lives in academic performance or behavior. In public health, the messaging is based in shame.

The antidote to shame is vulnerability. Shame dies when it’s spoken about in safe spaces. Growing up confidentially autistic is the key to good mental health.

Mary Doherty co-created the framework Autistic SPACE to meet the needs of autistic people in healthcare settings. The acronym stands for:

• Sensory needs.
• Predictability.
• Acceptance.
• Communication.
• Empathy

Autistic SPACE has also been applied to inclusive education.

Beyond the neurotype: brain and body in Autism – Dr. Jessica Eccles, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

This session was fascinating! Dr. Eccles posed the question – should we drop the distinction between mental and physical health? Dr. Eccles’ interests are in the body-brain relationships in musculoskeletal conditions, particularly variant connective tissue, including anxiety, ADHD, Autism, ‘brain fog,’ and pain and fatigue. She presented on joint hypermobility, which occurs more in females, and its relationship to other health conditions such as gastrointestinal issues and long COVID.

If you want to learn more about this connection, please visit The Bendy Bodies Podcast.

There is still so much I would love to talk about. If you want to learn more about the sessions and see the detailed program, please visit Autism Congress 2025. Videos of the lectures should be posted at some point. When they are, I will post the link.