OARacle Newsletter

Throughout April and May, OAR teamed up with experts and researchers to deliver a four-part webinar series on the themes of sexuality and relationships. The series featured researchers who conducted studies related to dating, relationships, and sexuality, giving and receiving consent, friendship development, and communication and conflict management. Each webinar provided both extensive information and practical strategies for fellow researchers, practitioners, self-advocates, caregivers, and community members on how to meaningfully and authentically support autistic people.  

A total of 425 out of 1,245 registrants attended the live events. Of the 221 participants who provided feedback, 92% percent reported the content as being helpful and relevant to their needs. One attendee who participated in Preparing for “The Talk”: Ways to get ready to talk about sexuality, relationships, and identity said, “Thank you to both the speaker and hostess. I attend lots of webinars/Zooms. This was awesome!” 

Thank you to the expert presenters for sharing this important information on how to engage, inform, and advocate for relationships and sexuality conversations that support autistic people across the spectrum. We will continue to highlight sexuality and relationship-based research in The OARacle and plan to host another webinar series in the fall to support autistic young adults to finding employment and the transition into adulthood.