Autistic Expression 2023

To celebrate international autism day in April 2023, Xabilities hosted an annual event, called Autistic Expression

This event took place at the Te Poro Community Centre in Glenn Innes, as the neurodiversity community came together in celebration of International Autism Acceptance Day. This year, we were very privileged to collaborate with Harry ‘Haz’ Crawford and his Colour Spectrum Art Exhibition.

Kicking off at 5pm with the Autistic Expression stage performance, we were entertained and informed by our three wonderful speakers: Tamara Grant, Treya Harrison and Lavinia Lovo, who also treated us to a spectacular dance performance. We were humbled by the attendance of the Minister for Disability Issues, the Honourable Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who spoke about her government's vision for disability advocacy and support in Aotearoa New Zealand.

After this, it was a short trip across the road to Haz’s Colour Spectrum Art Exhibition at The Good The Bad Gallery where we all marvelled at the beautiful artwork by Haz and other talented autistic artists.

We here at Xabilities are immensely proud of the effort of the xabilities committee and others in the ND community who help organising this event.

Thank you to everyone for coming out and showing your support and highlighting the need and desire for more neurodiverse-led events in the community.

With your continued support, we can keep making our voices heard.

Thank you to Yes Disability and Catalytic Foundation for their support and big Thank you to Dow for sponsoring this event!

Testimonials from this event:

‘It was great content for my daughter to see and hear to get to feel the sense of community.’

– Kevin

‘I liked learning about different things about neurodiversity and autism.’

– Paige

‘An honest and clear discussion about Neurodiversity.’

– Murray

‘It was so fun and informative. The art was beautiful!’

– Lucy

‘The staff and organisers were so friendly!’

– Jacob

‘The speeches and presentation were amazing! Tamara has explained some interesting information in an understandable way. Really enjoyed it. The whole event was brilliant.’

- Ian G.

‘I loved the presentation. We need more events like this!’

– Libby

‘I liked how people with autism spoke and how the art was by autistic artists.’

– Micah