When

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at 11 a.m.

Where

Virtual - register below to obtain the Zoom link

Contact Info

Renée LeClair rleclair@vt.edu

April is Autism Awareness Month, and the Basic Science domain, students and other stakeholders, have incorporated a panel discussion on neurodiversity.

The intent is to provide an open and safe-space to discuss aspects of disability in the context of a social model.  The panel includes clinicians, faculty and students who can offer various perspectives to the discussion. 

The resources shared during the event are posted below the video. 

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View video with transcript

Panelists

Each of our panelists for this event will present autism from different perspectives, such as the clinical, personal, family therapy, caregiver/family member, and pedagogical perspective. 

Felicity Adams, division director of child and adolescent psychiatry, Carilion Clinic

Felicity Adams works as the Division Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Carilion Clinic. Over the years, her practice has evolved to be primarily to serve people who are identified as autistic or have other neurodiversity and their families. 

Chris Brown, family therapist

Chris Brown is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a certified child life specialist. His background is working in mental health arena, working with individual adults doing psychotherapy as well as marriage and couples counseling. He also works with children and families. 

Catherine Lavallee, second-year medical student, VTCSOM

Catherine Lavallee is a second-year medical student and the proud older sister of her little brother, John Paul, who is autistic.

Elizabeth McLain, instructor, co-chair Disability Causus, Virginia Tech

Elizabeth McLain is an instructor of musicology in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech. She describes herself as disabled, autistic, and neurodivergent. She also has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which not uncommon in those with autism. She uses mobility aids. 

Elizabeth is the co-chair of the Disability Caucus and we work closely with the Disability Alliance, an organization that's here to serve the disabled students, faculty, staff, and community members. 

Resources

 

Statement about accessibility and accommodation

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible event. All virtual events will have automated captions. Recorded events will have edited captions available soon after the event. If you desire live captioning or a sign language interpreter, please contact the organizer two weeks before the event. 

For in-person events, the main VTCSOM building at Riverside 2 is wheelchair accessible from the elevators inside the parking garage. Blind or visually impaired users may need assistance finding the elevators under the building, or using the stairs in front of the building.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend an in-person event, please contact the organizer of the event. All reasonable accommodation requests should be made no less than 2 weeks before the event. We will attempt to fulfill requests made after this date but cannot guarantee they will be met.