Conference MC

Orion Kelly (he/him)

Orion Kelly is proudly Autistic. He is an Autistic advocate, consultant, keynote speaker, author, actor, host, YouTuber, podcaster, and radio broadcaster based in Victoria, Australia. Orion hosts the podcasts 'My Friend Autism', A Different Brilliant', and 'Intensely Inquisitive'. Plus, he has his own Autistic focused YouTube channel.

Orion is all about helping raise your level of understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of Autistic people. Orion also hosts and produces podcasts for organisations and companies, MC's events and is available as a keynote speaker.

In a commercial radio career spanning over 25 years, Orion has worked ON AIR at 3GG (Gippsland), Kiis 1011 / Mix (Melbourne), Hit FM (Gippsland), 92.9 (Perth), 2Day FM (Sydney), B104.9 / Star FM (Albury), 3NE / Edge FM (Wangaratta), 2LF (Young) and 4VL (Charleville).

Orion has also worked as a presenter for Seven (Perth), Fremantle Dockers Football Club (Perth), Southern Cross Ten (Gippsland) and Crown Casino (Melbourne). Orion studied acting at 16th Street Actors Studio (Melbourne) and has featured in short films along with some blink or you’ll miss it parts in various television series

Conference Presenters

Amanda Corby (she/her)

Amanda Corby brings a wealth of knowledge, with over 20 years’ experience in the education and disability sectors. An experienced classroom teacher whose passion for inclusive education was ignited by witnessing the outcomes for her students, Amanda has since worked in a number of education consultancy roles, authored a range of educational resources and presented at conferences both within Australia and internationally. Amanda delights in inspiring others and challenging views about what’s possible in the world of inclusive education.

Chris Bonnello (he/him)

Chris Bonnello is an autistic advocate, award-winning writer and international speaker, also a novelist and a former teacher (mainstream primary and special education). In 2015 he launched Autistic Not Weird to share his insights from both a personal and professional perspective, a venture which has seen him attract over 160,000 Facebook followers and over 3 million page hits on his website (autisticnotweird.com), as well as speaking engagements as far away as India and Sydney Opera House. He is the author of the novel series “Underdogs”, a series of dystopia books with heroes from a special school, and “What We Love Most About Life”, an uplifting book designed to help autistic young people feel less alone. He was a nominee for the 2017 National Diversity Awards (Positive Role Model for Disability), two-time winner at the Autism Hero Awards (Top Journalist 2017, Online Social Community 2018) and won the National Autistic Society Professionals Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual on the Autism Spectrum in 2019.

Chris Varney (he/him)

Chris is an Autistic law graduate and a pioneer of Autistic-led service provision in Australia. Chris has a background in children’s rights and youth programs, having been 2009 Australian Youth Representative to the UN and World Vision Australia’s Manager of Youth.

Chris founded I CAN Network in 2013 and as Chief Enabling Officer has grown it into Australia’s largest Autistic-led organisation with over 70 Autistic staff and 2,000+ young people in the program nationally.

Chris was a 2018 Victorian Australian of the Year Finalist and recipient of the 2017 Supreme Court of Victoria’s Best Achievement in Human Rights Award. He also serves as National Patron of the Australian Association for Special Education and is the Chairperson of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council. Chris married his wife Karen in 2019 and is a proud father to son, George.

Professor Liz Pellicano (she/her)

Liz has long been committed to transforming Autism science so that it more accurately reflects everyday autistic life. She is Professor of Autism Research at University College London (UCL), having recently been Professor at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Previously, she was Professor of Autism Education and Director of the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE) at UCL Institute of Education.

Her most recent research, funded by a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, identifies ways to bridge the gap between lab and life and open up research to greater involvement of Autistic people themselves, with the aim of generating scientific discoveries that bring real benefits to Autistic people and their families.

Dr Emma Goodall (she/her)

Dr Emma Goodall is an autistic author, keynote speaker, researcher and disability and education consultant. She works both publicly and privately to facilitate the best life outcomes possible for people, including autistics with a range of support needs. She has written and presented on education, autism, resilience, mental health, interoception, relationships and sexuality for autistics.

An adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland and a member of the Australian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR) Executive Committee, on the access committee for the Autism CRC Biobank and the co-chair of the Australian Autism Alliance. Emma developed an online module on interoception for Torrens University and has collaborated with the Australian Psychological Society to develop an autism specific course for psychologists. Widely published, Emma writes for both academic journals and for mainstream publishers in the areas of autism, disability, education and disability. She also supports organisations to develop and implement plans to support adult autistics in residential settings and provides life coaching and interoception coaching for autistic adults, children and young people, schools, preschools and other organisations, through her Healthy Possibilities Consultancy.

Ido Kedar (he/him)

Ido Kedar, 26, is the author of the nonfictional memoir, “Ido in Autismland; Climbing Out of Autism’s Silent Prison,” and the fictional novel, “In Two Worlds.” Ido has been an advocate and educator about autism since he was 12 years old. In addition to his books, he presents lectures, does interviews and blogs on his website. Click here for further information.

Lauren Melissa Ellzey (she/her)

Lauren Melissa Ellzey, or Autienelle, is an Autistic self-advocate and social justice influencer. She seeks to cultivate acceptance for the Autistic community. Even more, she engages across lines of difference, highlighting the inequitable systems that oppress queer, BIPOC, and disabled folks. Her work has crossed paths with NYU, Penn State, O4U Engineering, Pima County Health Department, NeuroClastic, Cripple Media, AbleZine, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and more.

Professionally, she fosters Autistic inclusivity in K-12 schools as an instructional support specialist. In all, she hopes to co-create a society where Autistics nurture Autistics as we strive toward true inclusion.

Loren Swancutt (she/her)

Loren is an accomplished classroom teacher and school leader who is committed to advancing the realisation of inclusive education within the Australian context. She has designed and led successful whole-school inclusive reform at a complex and challenging high school and has been a teacher and school leader across both primary and secondary school settings. She has fulfilled system level coaching roles focused on building the capability of Principals and school leaders to engage in inclusive school improvement.

Loren is highly regarded for her innovative work in the areas of Universal Design for Learning, inclusive curriculum provision, and instructional strategies that support students with complex learning profiles to engage with regular, age-equivalent experiences. Loren supports educational professionals to build their capability to enact the fundamental concepts and practices of inclusive education. She is the co-founder and National Convenor of the School Inclusion Network for Educators (SINE), a Doctoral candidate at the Queensland University of Technology, a higher degree by research student member of the Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE) and the co-founder and Board Chair or Inclusive Educators Australia (IEA).

Rachel Dorsey (she/her)

Rachel Dorsey is a Speech-Language Pathologist, educator, consultant, and autism rights advocate. Through her consultancy and private practice, Rachel Dorsey: Autistic SLP, LLC, she provides education to parents, professionals, school districts, and organizations through coaching, consultations, in-services, professional developments, and courses on neurodiversity-affirming therapeutic practice. The services she offers as a consultant draw upon her own experience as an Autistic person and her seven years of clinical experience working with Autistic people of all ages in school, clinic, home, and community settings. Rachel is an active advocate within the Autistic community with a substantial social media presence, collaborating with leading Autistic advocates and allies.

Sandhya Menon (she/her)

Sandhya Menon is a Aut/ADHDer Developmental Psychologist and author of The Brain Forest, an affirming book for all children about neurotypes, inclusion and accommodations. Sandhya is a winner at making complex information simple, having created parent courses that explain the autism and ADHD neurotype, whilst being a profound loser of simple information, like where her keys and wallet are, or the last word mid-sentence that she spoke. She enjoys exploring the intersectionality between culture and autism/ADHD culture through both lived experience and a professional lens.

Sandra Coral (she/they)

Sandra is the education consultant, narrative therapy practitioner and somatic attachment therapist behind Neurodivergent Narratives. They are a multiply neurodivergent, trans-racial adoptee, former teacher, podcaster, and new author with their first book aimed at those supporting neurodivergent children in primary schools, to be published in mid-2023. She currently resides outside of London, UK with her child and partner.

Prof Sue Fletcher-Watson (she/her)

Sue Fletcher-Watson holds a Personal Chair in Developmental Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, and is Director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre. She is interested in how children grow and learn, with a particular focus on development and neurodiversity. Her work draws on rigorous methods from psychology and applies these to questions with clinical, educational and societal impact. She strives to achieve meaningful partnerships with community representatives and to support neurodivergent leadership in research. She is an advocate for open science and good citizenship in research, and serves as Co-Director of Research Ethics for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Dr Theresa Kidd (she/her)

Dr Theresa Kidd is a clinical psychologist, research fellow and the clinical director of The Kidd Clinic, a private psychology group practice focussed on Autism Spectrum Conditions & Anxiety in Perth. Theresa is committed to helping neurodivergent individuals of all ages to minimise their challenges, increase their strengths and to achieve their life goals. Having many neurodivergent family members herself, she is also passionate about increasing family quality of life by assisting families to be as strong and healthy as possible.

With a passion for intervention research, she embarked on a PhD which focused on using family-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to reduce anxiety in autistic adolescents. Concurrently, she co-developed and managed the Curtin University Specialist (peer) Mentoring Program to support autistic university students to successfully engage in tertiary settings. Following, she embarked on a post-doctoral research fellowship with Macquarie University where she coordinated a national trial to reduce anxiety and bullying victimisation in children.

In addition to her clinical and research work, and supervising other psychologists, she regularly presents to parents and professionals on Autism and co-occurring mental health problems. She has co-authored several articles and manuals related to Autism and has recently written a book, Helping Autistic Teens to Manage their Anxiety.

Sid Chandran (he/him)

Sid was born in Sydney to Indian parents who migrated to Australia in the eighties. He enjoys music and vigorous physical activity like working out in a gym, bushwalking, swimming and skating. He has a natural aptitude for mathematics and poetry and also loves to read history. Sid enjoys the company of friends, eating out and going away on long car journeys to visit places of interest and to hang out with friends.

In the past year Sid has become more involved in organisations that support people with disability. He works with the Council for Intellectual Disability (CID), Diversity and Disability Alliance(DDA), Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA) and AGOSCI. Sid believes that it is important for everyone to understand autism and alternative communication methods. He believes that the voices of persons severely affected by autism need to be heard. They can offer valuable insights that are vital for research and education, and for ensuring that all people are able to live full and productive lives.