Autistic not Weird

Description

Being an autistic advocate by profession, a former teacher of autistic students, and stepfather to a disabled autistic teenage girl (and of course, being a former autistic child himself), a lot of people ask Chris Bonnello for advice on how to help an autistic young person grow up to be the best they can be.

You’ll walk away from this webinar with

• Important insights from an autistic advocate’s personal and professional perspective,
• Vital principles relating to autistic rights to dignity, autonomy and self-advocacy,
• Tips on building up young autistic people to become the best version of themselves they can be.

Register now and you’ll also receive lifelong access to the recording, so you can refer to this invaluable resource over and over again.

About Chris Bonnello

Chris Bonnello is an autistic writer, novelist and special needs tutor (formerly a primary school teacher) based in Great Britain. Since 2015, he has become a national and international speaker on autism issues, and the multi-award-winning writer behind Autistic Not Weird. He is also the author of the Underdogs novels, a near-future war series featuring autistic and otherwise neurodiverse heroes.

Bonnello was first assessed for autism in 1989, at the age of four. Despite a damning report into his deficiencies concerning speech, expressive language and social competence, he did not receive a diagnosis since he was not deemed severe enough by 1989 standards.

At the age of ten, an educational psychologist reported him as having a “slightly odd personality”. He grew up believing himself to be the weird kid, until his Asperger Syndrome diagnosis finally came at the age of 25. Since then, he has been able to turn his attitude around and define himself by his strengths rather than his weaknesses, and encourages other autistic people to see their own strengths.

Having qualified as a teacher and worked in both primary and special education, he left the profession and launched Autistic Not Weird in April 2015, to share his insights from both a personal and professional perspective. At time of writing (November 2021) autisticnotweird.com has had over three million page hits, and his Facebook community stands at over 150,000 followers.

He also has followings on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. In July 2017, follower support on Patreon allowed him to quit his day job to write for Autistic Not Weird for a living.

Bonnello delivers talks (nationally and internationally), has been nominated for seven awards to date (winning four), has played chess internationally (winning nothing), can solve a Rubik’s cube in 14.88 seconds (although the 9x9x9 Rubik’s cube takes him 18 minutes), captains his local Boys’ Brigade company, and published his first autism-related non-fiction book in 2016. He is a proud stepfather of two, and proud godfather of many. His first Underdogs novel came out in May 2019, its second instalment was shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, and the series has two further sequels to follow.

His personality remains slightly odd.