On Thursday, Princess Marie was in Glasgow, Scotland to attend the Scottish Autism 50th Anniversary Conference as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism.
Scottish Autism was established in 1968 by a group of parents, and they are now the largest provider of autism-specific services in Scotland and a leading authority and advocate for good autism practice. Scottish Autism offers a wide range of support services for people with autism in Scotland: “We provide a wide range of flexible and innovative support services for children and adults across Scotland, each with a focus on improving quality of life. Central to this is recognising that each person has a unique set of needs. We create personalised support plans which are based on an individual’s own strengths and motivations and on achieving outcomes which are meaningful to them.”
In order to celebrate their 50th anniversary, Scottish Autism organised several events all year with the big focus being this international two-day conference “Innovation in Autism Practice: The Future is Calling”.The programme of the conference was influenced by “a contemporary view that embraces autism as a developmental difference and focuses on a capacity view of the individual”.
Princess Marie, as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism, made the opening speech after the welcoming address by Charlene Tait, the Deputy CEO of Scottish Autism. She talked about the value of sharing knowledge and experience as well as the importance of working together to improve the lives of autistic people.
© Tina Norris
About Princess Marie attending the conference, Charlene Tait said: “We had the pleasure of meeting with Princess Marie at last year’s ‘Meeting of Minds’ autism event in Copenhagen to discuss a number of areas where Scotland and Denmark are working together in close collaboration. She is a real champion of the autism community and has been a great supporter of the joint working going on between ourselves and Autism Denmark. We look forward to welcoming her to Scotland and to hearing her speak at this year’s conference.”
Afterward, Princess Marie went to Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum to meet with students from the Iceberg Productions including Jason Donaldson, Daniel Page, Lee Roibrown, Emma Stanley and John Sapseed. According to Scottish Autism’s press release: “Iceberg Productions is a group of young autistic film-makers which is based at Blue Central, one of Scottish Autism’s Day Services. This project is led by John Innes and Ian Noble of the Untold Motion Picture Company. Ian and John have considerable experience in film-making, photography and sound recording and work closely with Scottish Autism, running a number of film-making taster courses for the individuals supported by the charity. The aspiration is to enable autistic individuals who are interested in film-making to be part of an in-house production company.”
One of the students had the opportunity to interview Princess Marie and to take a selfie with her which was a great moment for all involved!
