Spotlight on The Stanford Neurodiversity Summit
September 2024
The Stanford Neurodiversity Project is holding its fifth annual Stanford Neurodiversity Summit from September 22-24, 2024. The theme of this year's summit is "Putting Strengths-Based Approaches in Action." This hybrid summit is a unique conference bringing together neurodiverse/neurodivergent individuals, employers, service agencies, educators and students, parents, and professionals from all areas of the field.
“The Stanford Neurodiversity Summit is the venue to share the practical and scholarly advances in the field of neurodiversity. This year, we focus on learning about strengths-based approaches to support neurodivergent people. These approaches have always been front and center in the work of many in the neurodiverse community. We will have the fieldʼs pre-eminent advocates, researchers, educators, and other professionals share their ground-breaking work on conceptualizing and practicing strengths-based approaches. I am sure the neurodiverse community will find this yearʼs summit filled with energy and hope.” - Dr. Lawrence Fung
The Stanford Neurodiversity Summit is a forum for the exchange of ideas about neurodiversity among all people. It is a venue where everyone listens to each other, especially when their views are not the same. This active listening is not just about respect, but an act to grow together as a community.
At this forum, the organizers and presenters will share views, innovations, and inspirations about how neurodiversity can make our society better. Here is where neurodiverse/neurodivergent people, their family members and friends, educators, clinicians, researchers, and all other stakeholders and professionals learn from each other. Neurodiverse individuals will share their unique life and professional journeys, and some will share their significant contributions to the community. Other professionals and stakeholders will illustrate how their work enhances the lives of neurodiverse individuals.
The Stanford Neurodiversity Summit encourages respectful inquiry and invites attendees to submit questions to speakers before and during the summit. The summit organizers have set up interactive sessions between speakers and attendees and will collect views of the community about what research and community-based services should be prioritized and how they can be designed better. With contributions from all the attendees, their collective efforts will build a sanctuary for all who promote and safeguard neurodiversity.
Over the past five years, the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit has been honored to include speakers, panelists, and organizing committee members from across the university and beyond. By involving researchers, scholars, activists, and individuals with lived experience in the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of the summit each year, the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit is uniquely situated to engage voices from across many neurodiverse communities and perspectives from many different academic disciplines. During the 2024 cycle, the summit received over 80 proposals for presentations from individuals and groups around the world, which members of the organizing committee have structured into keynotes, panel discussions, and poster presentations for the benefit of our wide ranging community of attendees.