Please join us on Thursday, September, 10th at noon for Bound & Determined a virtual empowerment series for Librarians.

Neurodiversity 101 For Professionals: Terminology, Accessibility, and Work Strategies:
This presentation focuses on developing tools for healthy understandings of, and interactions with, neurodivergent individuals. It will cover language and terminology, accessibility efforts, and strategies for specific situations. This is designed to be valuable for professionals in any field who work with neurodivergent individuals or wants to make their organization more accessible and welcoming to neurodivergent employees and patrons. It will explore many different aspects of the neurodivergent experience and the experience of working with neurodivergent individuals.

Jeremy will discuss the “why” behind many of the changes that have happened inside and outside of the neurodivergent community, leading to a deeper understanding of terminology and neurodiverse individuals' perspectives. The presentation features a large number of personal and professional stories illustrating the potential pitfalls and successes that come with working with a neurodiverse population. Attendees will have time to ask questions related to their personal experiences and will leave the presentation with a variety of tools, strategies, and general advice that will prove useful throughout their career.

Jeremy Farrell's Bio:

Jeremy K. Farrell is a passionate Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Advocate and a proud person on the spectrum himself. He has been working with children with developmental disabilities, specializing in autism, since the age of 15. Since graduating from Southern Connecticut State University, he has run social skills groups, traveled the state of Connecticut as the Leader of Community Outreach and Recruitment for autism research out of Yale’s Child Study Center, and consulted with businesses and organizations to help them understand autism and their autistic clients.

He has also worked as a Certified Job Coach and Life Skills Coach for the Connecticut Autism Waiver, helping autistic adults build their own businesses and live empowered lives. He now presents across Connecticut on a variety of topics related to autism. This includes talking to students, autistic individuals, and professionals in the field at dozens of schools, libraries, and community events. Recently, he has run Self-Advocacy Groups for transition programs and spoken at events such as the Annual Connecticut Librarian Association Conference.

Please register on the NELA event calendar. Please email [email protected] for the Zoom link if you run into any issues.