Wendy Lawson has an amazing gift and ability not only to explain how she experiences the world, but then to use this insight and knowledge to help others better themselves. She generously shares her personal experiences and shares how her understanding has developed. Despite some very painful and difficult times, Wendy chooses to focus on the positives. Wendy has four children and her youngest son also has Asperger’s Syndrome.

Dr Fiona Scott is an honorary Senior Research Associate and Consultant Psychologist with the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge. She is a specialist chartered psychologist in independent practice offering professional training, diagnostic assessment, consultation, as well as expert reports relating to ASD. Dr Scott has been involved in a range of national developments including the All Party Parliamentary Group for Autism and the National Initiative for Autism Screening.

John Clements is a clinical psychologist whose career has focused mainly on trying to find practical ways of helping people with developmental disabilities, particularly people on the AS, move on from the behavioural and emotional difficulties that they experience. More recently I have expanded this work to include looked after and adopted children who experience attachment difficulties. I held senior posts in the UK health and university systems before moving on to self employment and recently returned to the UK after working for 10 years in California. I am the author of several books and many articles about my career interests.

Dr Nancy Dartnall PH.D Clinical Division TEACCH Director is from the Gastonia TEACCH Centre which serves individuals with Autism in the south western region of North Carolina. Services include diagnostic evaluations, treatment planning and implementation, education, supported employment assistance, training opportunities and research.

Joshua Muggleton has Asperger's Syndrome, and is currently studying Psychology at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland. Since 2005, Joshua has been leading talks, lectures, and workshops on Autism, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and related issues.

Professor Rita Jordan is a Professor in Autism at the Autism Centre for Education & Research, University of Birmingham. Professor Jordan combines her early experience as a teacher in nursery & primary education with post graduate degrees in Child Development and Linguistics.  She was involved in the development of services for pre-school children before specialising in the needs of children with learning difficulties and was for many years Deputy Principal of a school for children with Autism. She then taught clinical linguistics, special education and primary education at the University of Hertfordshire.  Professor Jordan currently leads a team of academics in Autism Studies providing a range of professional development programmes in Autistic Spectrum Disorders at the University of Birmingham. She has served on national and international task forces on autism and is an accomplished author and highly respected commentator and lecturer on Autism, educational provision and the impact on the family of living with Autism.

Ros Blackburn is an adult with Autism. At three months old she appeared withdrawn, isolated and very much in a world of her own. At 18months she was diagnosed very severely autistic but with average intellectual ability.  Now Ros is a highly articulate autistic adult and lectures nationally and internationally giving insight into her own experiences and the care and education practices she has observed. (Sigourney Weaver spent a lot of time with Ros to research her character for the film Snow Cake).

Anne-Laure Jackson has a BSc Degree with Distinction in Occupational Therapy, and has worked in Europe, Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland with children with disabilities and children who have specific difficulties at school and/or home. She works in three main areas: With children in mainstream school that are not performing to their potential, With children with a medical diagnosis that need extra support at school or home, As a training resource and consultant for teachers, classroom assistants, clubs, nurseries etc.  Many children have a diagnosis of ASD (autistic spectrum disorder), ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder), developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), dyspraxia, learning disability or developmental delay.

Sarah Hendrickx speaks Asperger as a second language’ Tony Attwood, foreword from Asperger Syndrome - A Love Story (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2007).Sarah has extensive knowledge of Asperger Syndrome, autism and neuro-diversity from both professional and personal experience. She is Training Manager for the Aspire project, an adult Asperger Syndrome mentoring and training project based in Brighton and Hove. Sarah is also a freelance trainer and consultant in Asperger Syndrome, autism and dyslexia and is a qualified Further Education teacher with several years experience supporting students with dyslexia and also in training professionals how to support those with dyslexia. Sarah also has dyslexia herself which she discusses in her training. She recently successfully completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Asperger Syndrome and is now studying towards a MA in Autism.

Matthew Tinsley was diagnosed at the age of 43 with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified), which is a condition on the autistic spectrum, sometimes known as Atypical Autism or Atypical Asperger Syndrome.

Jerry Newport, grew up in Islip, New York, he is an author with Asperger Syndrome, whose life was the basis for the 2005 feature-length film Mozart and the Whale. He is known for his frank advice and humour when giving presentations. He is also a savant with the ability to perform extremely difficult and intricate mathematical calculations entirely in his head. He has a B.A. in Mathematics from The University of Michigan where he was also a member of Delta Chi Fraternity. Jerry, who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 1995, and his wife, Mary Meinel-Newport are internationally recognised as advocates, authors and savants, having appeared on "Sixty Minutes" twice. They have written books on adult aspects of Asperger's Syndrome and given presentations in forty six US states and eight nations.

Olga Bogdashina, MA Education (Autism), PhD (Linguistics) has worked extensively in the field of autism as teacher, lecturer and researcher, with a particular interest in sensory-perceptual and communication problems in autism. Since 1994, she has been the director of the first Day Centre for autistic children in Ukraine and the President of the Autism Society, Ukraine. Olga teaches and lectures around the world. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Birmingham University and Consultant Psychologist for Services for Adults with Autism, Doncaster, UK.

Temple Grandin is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. As a person with high-functioning autism, Grandin is also widely noted for her work in autism advocacy and is the inventor of the hug machine designed to calm hypersensitive persons.

Tony Attwood is well known for sharing his knowledge of Asperger’s Syndrome. He has an Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Hull, Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Surrey and a PhD from the University of London. He is currently adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University in Queensland.  Tony has written several publications on Asperger’s Syndrome. His book, titled Asperger’s Syndrome, has now been translated into several languages.  Tony operates his clinic two days a week and supports children and adults by visiting them at school and home. He also spends a large amount of time travelling nationally and internationally to present workshops and papers.  Tony is married to Sarah with three children, Rosie, William and Caroline. They reside in Brisbane, Australia, in which Tony uses part of his home as his clinic to see families.

Barbara C. Bloomfield is a speech-language pathologist at Orange-Ulster BOCES, Goshen, New York, where she provides consultation and therapy services for children with autism. She is also engaged in a private practice specializing in Augmentative Communication and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Ms. Bloomfield serves as a trainer for BOCES's Structured Teaching Reinforced in a Visual Environment (STRIVE) and for the Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center's Riding Education For Autistic and Communication Disordered Children (REACCH) Program.  Ms. Bloomfield consults nationally and speaks internationally on the use of visual teaching strategies for individuals with autism. Ms. Bloomfield is also the Director of Icon Talk, a firm dedicated to the development and distribution of communication based visual teaching materials.

Linda Hodgdon. is a Speech Pathologist. As a national and international speaker, author and consultant, she has specialized in addressing the communication needs of students with autism spectrum disorders and other communication or behavior challenges.  She is the author of the international bestseller, Visual Strategies for Improving Communication. It is one of the most recommended books for educating students with communication challenges. She has been a pioneer in developing the use of visual strategies to support communication for students with autism, Asperger's Syndrome and other communication needs.  Her passion is to find simple solutions to communication challenges. Her work has become well known for lots of easy-to-implement, innovative programming strategies, which have produced excellent results in student learning.

Eustacia Cutler is a talented playwright, author and actress and mother of four, she is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English literature. Her daughter Temple Grandin is Associate Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University, and author of Animals in Translation.

Dave Hewett’s commenced is first teaching post at a special school in Hertfordshire. He realised that he was particularly interested in working with the children who were more ‘difficult to reach’, who had fundamental communication needs, who often exhibited what is termed ‘challenging behaviour’. Many of these children had diagnoses of autism. In his third school, sixteen years ago, with Melanie Nind, he started researching and then writing about the approach to teaching communication abilities we were developing that is called Intensive Interaction. Intensive Interaction has become a widely known and used approach.  Since 1991, he has been working nationwide, providing courses and consultations to services and professionals involved in the education and care of people of all ages with severe learning difficulties and/or autism. He worked with schools, further education colleges, social services and health service establishments, groups of professionals such as speech and language therapists, as well as organisations such as charities within the ‘voluntary sector’. He also works with parents and families of people with severe learning difficulties.