I've just returned from INSAR 2026 in Prague. The conference has changed so much over the 10 years that I've been attending. In the early days, I often had to hunt through the program to find a strong education-focused talk that reflected the kind of real-world, strengths-based, applied research I care about. This year, my timetable was completely booked and there was no shortage of sessions that felt relevant to my work or the work of the ARCAP team. Even for an avid traveller, the setting was such a treat. We were set high on a ridge, and we looked out over the most beautiful landscape in between sessions. The scenery made it easy to daydream about a European life where croissants, bike riding and cobblestone streets are my every day.
One of the real positives of this year’s conference was that global focus, alongside more Autistic voices on the program than I’ve seen before (still not enough – but moving in the right direction), and more talks that crossed disciplines rather than staying in tight silos speaking a language that only those in your area understand.
I was lucky to be there and to present posters on behalf of the ARCAP team, sharing work on:
- professionals supporting Autistic people during the perinatal period
- Autistic fatherhood
- experiences of dating apps for Autistic adults
- eyecare experiences of Autistic people and professionals
- an ECHO community of practice supporting CVE professionals
- supporting parents of Autistic people through a self-compassion workshop.
Talk about a diversity of topics! Thanks for the conversations if you stopped by our posters or grabbed me as I ran back and forth between them all. If you couldn’t make it to Prague or missed chatting about one of our projects, we’re sharing our posters here so you can still see what we presented. Get in touch with anyone from our team if you want to chat more!
