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| Stu Shader photo © Shannon Des Roches Rosa [image: Smiling white man with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses.] |
Microsoft’s Stu Shader is putting together a conference on Neurodiversity In The High-Tech Workforce, and it’s coming to Silicon Valley on June 7th. Conference partners include The Morgan Autism Center, The ARC of California, Bridges Academy, and Lime Connect.
If you are autistic, or in any way interested in how to increase employment for autistic people, this (free!) conference is an opportunity to learn how traditional high-tech workplaces can better include autistic people, and also to give autism employment best practices feedback to employers and consultants. (Please note that the “high-tech workforce” encompasses more than coders and engineers.)
Keynote speakers include:
- Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes, who will talk about the history of autism with regards to Silicon Valley workers, as well as the untapped employment potential of autistic people.
- Jose Velasco, Head of SAP’s Autism at Work Program will talk alongside autistic co-workers about how SAP maintains a work environment in which autistic employees succeed.
- Michael S. Bernick, author of The Autism Job Club, will lead a panel including HR and
disability executives from Apple, Microsoft, Google, EvoLibri
and Box.com, on how companies can effect change that benefits autistic employees.
The conference will conclude with a 30 minute Q&A with the speakers, followed by door prizes and giveaways including Microsoft products, and copies of NeuroTribes.
The conference will be recorded, and may be webcast (stay tuned). There may also be a “Quiet Room” for onsite but sensory-friendly onsite participation is a possibility. Please feel free to suggest other accommodations that would make participating easier.
TPGA will also be covering the conference on Twittter, at @ThinkingAutism.
Please note that the conference is filling up, so if you’d like to attend you should register ASAP: https://www.microsoftevents.com/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x104330f858
