The 2019 event will be held on Tuesday 25th June in the Banqueting Suite at Leeds Civic Hall. It runs from 9:30am to 3pm and is completely free to attend. It will have a handful of local guest speakers, stalls from local services working with autistic adults, autistic children and parents/carers/partners, and a couple of workshops.

There will also be a centrepiece made with Lego bricks to represent the number of autistic people in Leeds with an official diagnosis and those who have sought a diagnosis, only to be turned down.

Guest speakers

We will have three local autistic guest speakers. They are:

Harriet Chapman – Harriet is the owner of autistic-led social enterprise Brick 42. Her talk will be about her experiences of being autistic and having mental health difficulties
Dr James McGrath – James is a lecturer in English, History and Media at Leeds Beckett University. He’ll be talking about his route into full-time, paid employment
Blake Williamson – Blake is a Disability Equality Trainer, who is based in Sheffield. He will be talking about facilitating communication

Stallholders

Here is a list of the confirmed stallholders so far:

Adult services

Children’s services

Mixed services

More stallholders will be confirmed in due course.

Workshops

Angie from 4Neurodiversity will be delivering two workshops on the day. One is for non-autistic people about autism and acceptance. The second is for autistic people and it’s about self-care.

You can read more about the workshops Angie will be delivering in this blog post: https://biggerandbetterinleeds.org/2019/05/4neurodiversity-workshops-to-take-place-at-2019-event/

Irwin Mitchell is delivering a ‘Planning for the Future’ workshop covering Wills, Trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Capacity issues. The workshop aims to provide details on what can be done to try to protect loved ones, and also draws attention to the key issues to be aware of.

Other info

Parking: CitiPark have kindly offered all visitors to this year’s event a 50% discount if parking at their multi-storey car park at the Merrion Centre. To obtain your discount, simply go to the CitiPark multi-storey on the day and bring your ticket to Leeds Autism Services’ stall. They will discount your ticket by 50%.

Getting here: CitiPark Merrion Centre is located next to the A58(M) Inner Ring Road. For SatNav systems, our address is 5 Merrion Way, Leeds, LS2 8BT.

About CitiPark: Leading car park operator CitiPark owns and operates 15 prime location car parks across the country. We are committed to providing quality services with the personal touch, employing the latest technology in parking to ensure our customer experience is as quick and hassle-free as possible. All of our car parks are open 24/7 and offer round-the-clock customer support, either on-site or remotely via the ‘Engine Room’ in Leeds.

Refreshments: Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be available to buy from Leeds Civic Hall catering.

If you are looking for something specific at the event, please ask one of our volunteers who will be wearing yellow t-shirts with the Bigger And Better In Leeds logo.

Schedule

10:00am-10:05am – Introduction by Lord Mayor Cllr Eileen Taylor
10:05am-10:15am – Message from White Rose Centre
10:15am-10:45am – Talk by Dr James McGrath
11:00am-11:30am – Workshop by Irwin Mitchell on making wills
11:45am-12:15pm – Talk by Blake Williamson
12:45pm-1:15pm – Talk by Harriet Chapman
1:30pm-2:10pm – Workshop One by 4Neurodiversity for autistic people on self-awareness
2:15pm-3:00pm – Workshop Two by 4Neurodiversity for non-autistic people on autism acceptance