Join us for our upcoming webinar with Katy Albert on navigating life's joys and challenges using self-compassion, acceptance, and value-driven action to promote healthy coping and improve caregiver well-being.

Through the frameworks of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and self-compassion, caregivers will learn tools to navigate the inherent ups and downs of supporting and advocating for their autistic loved ones.

Creating and exploring options for home is perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of future planning for people with a disability. Many families have found creative and innovative ways to support their loved one in having a home of their own and one of their own choosing. Learn how families have implemented creative housing solutions.

This webcast will include:

• An overview of the steps needed to develop a creative, individualized housing plan
• Personal stories from families who have implemented creative housing solutions
• An overview of the Developmental Services Ontario's housing toolkits and housing navigators

This webcast includes a Q&A with our panelists. The webcast will be recorded and remain available to watch for one month after the air date.

Free virtual workshop facilitated by Lisa Wilder (OPGT), Namali Gamage (Goddard Gamage LLP) andRosemary Masemann (PBO Triage Lawyer).

This workshop is geared for:

• Parents and/or Guardians who are looking to explore and learn more about Legal Guardianship.
• Guardianship is a form of substitute decision making used when a person lacks legal capacity to make certain decisions.
• The speakers will explain more about gaining guardianship, next steps and resources.

Join us to:

• Learn more about substitute decision making options for parents/guardians of children with disabilities.
• Highlight the different pathways to obtain guardianship in Ontario.
• Outline implications guardianship may have on clients and families.

Your child has been diagnosed with autism, and the more you learn about it, the more you wonder: Could I be autistic, too?

Autistic parents may have to raise their children with less family support, greater fatigue, and more sensory considerations. They may also struggle even more in advocating for their children.

If you are autistic or think you might be autistic, we invite you to My Time: An Online Support Group for Autistic Parents with Maxine Share, which takes place monthly on the third Tuesday. This will be an inclusive and accepting space where participants can ask questions and share their own successes and challenges.

Acceptance and Commitment Training teaches us how to become more psychologically flexible. ACT doesn't attempt to change or stop our unwanted thoughts or feelings. Rather, it helps us to develop a new relationship with those experiences. We learn to become more open and live more consistently with who and what we care about.

This six-session workshop is presented by YSSN facilitators who are caregivers of young adults with developmental disabilities.

Join DSO for our annual Housing Forum. This year they focus on Creating Opportunity Through Community Collaboration.

Join DSO Housing Navigators for a virtual presentation on various types of technological assistance available today and how it might be used to support independence.

This three (3) session workshop series is designed to help you begin creating an individualized housing and support plan for you or a family member with a developmental disability.

Autistic adults (18+ yrs) are invited to come out for a fun evening of board games and pizza.

Various board games will be played as a group, and we invite you to bring your favourite one.

Join Autism Ontario for a Silent Disco at Beaches Sandbox Community Centre in the heart of the Toronto Beaches neighborhood.

Our headphones will immediately tune you into the fun of a full sensory audio experience!

You’ll hear audio in a more personalized setting. Instead of the traditional loudspeaker/PA system in a live music setting, all guests wear a pair of specialty RF wireless headphones.

Autistic adults ages 18+ are invited to come and enjoy some social time and knock down a few pins!

Registration includes 1.5 hours of 10-pin bowling, shoe rental, one slice of pizza, and a soft drink.

Autistic adults ages 18+ can join us for a fun evening of glow-in-the-dark mini golf and laser tag! Your registration will also include pizza and unlimited drinks.

Adult participants are able to register one support staff person. The support person must be registered in order to play or partake in pizza and drinks.

Autistic adults are invited to join us at Crock-A-Doodle in Mississauga for a paint and pottery event.

Each participant will be able to choose from a selection of pottery. Paint and supplies are included. Once your piece is complete, it will be kiln fired and the final piece can be picked up in approximately one week after that.

This will be a small group, and Autism Ontario staff will also be present and available to chat about supports.

If you are an adult, you're welcome to join us for an evening of excitement, snacks, and board games!

This is an excellent opportunity to meet some new friends in your community. You are also invited to bring a board game to share with some new friends.

Join Autism Ontario's Adult Social Club for a movie night to see Wicked!

Registration opens November 15 at 12:00 pm

Autistic adults (18+) are invited to join us for an Italian-themed cooking class. This program provides autistic adults the opportunity to participate in a hands-on cooking lesson, socially interact with others, and build their confidence while learning to cook a meal they can prepare all on their own. We will make homemade pizza (dough and sauce from scratch), Caesar salad, and tiramisu.

The cooking class will consist of an introduction, cooking, and eating the meal we prepared together.

Caregivers or support persons are welcome and must stay if the adult requires support. This is not a transfer of care program.

If you are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent (ND), whether diagnosed or self-identified, and work, volunteer in or have children in the Educational sector, then NINE is for you!

The Neurodivergent Infinity Network of Educators (NINE) is committed to creating and fostering safe and accepting spaces for ND staff, students and community members and amplifying the diverse authentic perspectives of autistic and otherwise neurodivergent individuals. With this in mind, NINE advocates beyond walls and borders to foster human right based, Neuroaffirmative practices in Education and beyond:

• We create and share authentically developed FREE resources based on Neuroaffirming principles
• We organize professional learning and community events, such as the Intersectional Infinity Summit.
• We host monthly meetings for ND educators, and provide educational consults.
• We engage in ongoing transformative research and cultivate international partnerships
• Additionally, some of our members offer coaching and public speaking related services

NINE believes firmly that there should be #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs, and that we are #DifferentNotLess. Help us help you and others to self-advocate and/or become active allies to the autistic community.

What began as free legal services for low-income residents of Windsor-Essex and the GTA living with an intellectual disability, the "I Decide Law Program" has now grown into a province-wide, pro bono initiative.

Pooran Law advocates for the decision-making rights of people who have intellectual disabilities. Through legal education and direct services, they aim to promote self-directed decisions and future planning.

Services include:

• Decision-making rights
• Making Powers of Attorney
• Challenging Guardianship
• Consent and capacity for healthcare treatment
• Preventing and reporting abuse and exploitation (including financial abuse and human trafficking)
• Person-directed planning
• Reduced rates on Wills
• Legal education training sessions

How would you feel if you had no say in where you live, who you spend time with, what you wear, what you eat, who you visit, or what you can spend your money on?

That’s what can happen to people with disabilities when someone else has the power to make choices and decisions for them. We believe that everyone has the right to make choices, and we always assume that a person can make their own decisions.

Supported decision-making is a way that people with disabilities can make their own decisions and stay in charge of their lives, while getting the help they need to do so.