Authors with Autism

Authors with Autism (AwA) is a UVic peer-support sharing and writing group for students and lifelong learners diagnosed with ASD. The purpose of the group is to provide a safe community space for each member to author their own lives through their own self-determination.

AwA is an initiative of UVic's Centre for Autism Research, Technology, and Education (CARTE) in collaboration with the Society for Students with a Disability (SSD). AwA is also an official club of the University of Victoria Students Society. It is facilitated by Patrick Dwyer and was founded (2011) by Joseph Sheppard, who are both university students with autism.

Each month the group meets for 2 hours. The first segment includes an autism, a special interest, and/or creative writing presentation by one of our group members. This presentation is followed by AwA's second segment, which may be either a "share & write," where members write about a topic of interest, and have the opportunity to share with the group, or a group discussion depending on democratic vote.

This year, AwA meetings will include complimentary pizza (gluten-free available) or other dinner refreshments. Please share in our thriving on-campus autism community and experience the empowerment of peer-support, creativity, and autism culture.

Authors with Autism meets at the University of Victoria in the Harry Hickman Building(HHB) room 116 from 6pm to 8pm.
This coming school year (2015-2016), meetings are scheduled for September 13th, October 11th, November 8th, December 13th, January 10th, February 14th, and March 13th.