{"id":43367,"date":"2020-07-14T21:35:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T20:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=43367"},"modified":"2020-07-15T22:24:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T21:24:03","slug":"organisers-blown-away-as-online-autism-summit-goes-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2020\/07\/14\/organisers-blown-away-as-online-autism-summit-goes-global\/","title":{"rendered":"Organisers \u2018blown away\u2019 as online autism summit goes global"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Positive PDA virtual event accessed by over 4,000 people across six continents <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PDA-GLOBAL-1024x462.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43369\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/PDA-GLOBAL-1024x462.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43369\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption>The online summit had a truly global reach (Credit: Positive PDA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>THE organisers of a summit aimed to promote understanding of a less well-known profile of autism say they have been &#8220;blown away&#8221; by the event reaching a global audience after it was moved online.<br> <br>The Positive PDA summit, organised by therapist and life coach Nicola Reekie, was originally planned to take place in Cardiff on April 24, with speakers due to travel from all over the UK to speak about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and around 80 people expected to attend.<br> <br>However, after the event had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nicola reached out to her friend Louise, who had experience working in conferencing, and the summit was transformed into a virtual event accessible on Facebook between July 3 and 7.<br> <br>To the pair&#8217;s amazement, over 4,000 people from 45 countries and across all six continents viewed the 21 presentations and question and answer sessions delivered during the five day event.<br> <br>\u201cIt has just gone absolutely crazy,\u201d said Louise. <br> <br>\u201cWe were expecting to reach some people in Australia, Canada and the States, but we\u2019ve had people viewing from Hungary, Mexico, Japan, Colombia, Guatemala, Ghana, the Philippines and Sudan \u2013 we even had 17 people watching in the United Arab Emirates.<br> <br>\u201cIt\u2019s truly gone global and we\u2019ve been blown away by it all \u2013 this was originally meant to just be a little conference in Cardiff!\u201d<br> <br>The summit was designed to further understanding of Pathological Demand Avoidance, an autism spectrum disorder which is characterised by an overwhelming need to avoid or resist demands.<br> <br>Individuals with PDA have extremely high anxiety levels, and resist everyday demands made by others as a way to manage this and feel \u2018in control\u2019.<br> <br>\u201cThe traits shown are quite different to atypical autism,\u201d explained Nicola, whose eldest son has PDA.<br> <br>\u201cThose with PDA may appear sociable on the surface, and their interests will be more person-centered.<br> <br>\u201cBut, if they\u2019re not feeling like they\u2019re able to be in control, that\u2019s when the anxiety increases.\u201d<br> <br> 20 expert speakers from across the UK took part in the summit and both Nicola and Louise, who is neurodiverse, appreciate how valuable a resource they have been to parents and those with PDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/pda-pictures-1024x871.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43368\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/pda-pictures-1024x871.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43368\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption>The speakers at the 2020 Positive PDA virtual summit (Credit: Positive PDA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVery often, due to the nature of PDA and the support, parents end up needing to be on carer\u2019s allowance and on benefits, which means they don\u2019t always have an extra amount of money to attend conferences,\u201d said Nicola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had so many great professionals involved \u2013 we\u2019ve had an educational psychologist, a speech and language therapist, educational consultants, behavioural nurses, solicitors,\u201d Louise added.<br> <br>\u201cAccess to these services would normally cost an absolute fortune, so to have this advice from these incredible speakers given to people for free is just amazing.\u201d<br> <br>The pair\u2019s understanding of PDA and the challenges that come with it led them to make each webinar available for 24-hour periods, rather than giving them a set time \u2013 a move that proved very popular with their audience.<br> <br>\u201cHaving a set time is difficult for people with PDA, as there is a demand to be available at a certain time, while it\u2019s hard for parents too, as their children often need them and it\u2019s just not possible to set aside that time,\u201d said Louise.<br> <br>\u201cSo to get around that, we spread our speakers over a number of days, and put the webinars up for 24 hours at a time.<br> <br>\u201cThat way, when someone has some down time, whether that\u2019s at 5am or late at night, they can watch and listen in their own time.<br> <br>\u201cIt was very, very important to us to make the event accessible and inclusive for everybody \u2013 especially during this time, this kind of support is really needed.\u201d<br> <br>Having received overwhelmingly positive feedback from their first virtual venture, Nicola and Louise are now looking to the future.<br> <br>\u201cWe\u2019ll certainly be rescheduling the original Cardiff conference when we are able to do so, and we might try to make it a little larger now,\u201d said Louise.<br> <br>\u201cAnd we\u2019re definitely planning on doing another one of these webinars \u2013 it\u2019s been so incredibly humbling to help this many people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Positive PDA virtual event accessed by over 4,000 people across six continents THE organisers of a summit aimed to promote understanding of a less well-known profile of autism say they have been &#8220;blown away&#8221; by the event reaching a global audience after it was moved online. The Positive PDA summit, organised by therapist and life coach Nicola Reekie, was originally planned to take place in Cardiff on April 24, with speakers due to travel from all over the UK to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1613,266,1273,1614,1615,1616,1617],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-43367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-coronavirus","tag-lockdown","tag-pathological-demand-avoidance","tag-pda","tag-positive-pda","tag-webinar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Organisers \u2018blown away\u2019 as online autism summit goes global - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2020\/07\/14\/organisers-blown-away-as-online-autism-summit-goes-global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Organisers \u2018blown away\u2019 as online autism summit goes global - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Positive PDA virtual event accessed by over 4,000 people across six continents THE organisers of a summit aimed to promote understanding of a less well-known profile of autism say they have been &#8220;blown away&#8221; by the event reaching a global audience after it was moved online. 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