Haley Moss

Autism does not come with an instruction manual, but it does come with lots of magical parts and important tools to utilize to build the best life possible. Assembly Required is the story of Haley Moss: an autistic attorney who has gone from a nonverbal child diagnosed with autism at age 3, to an author, artist, attorney, and autism advocate. This keynote explores Haley’s journey, the assembly of her village, finding her written and spoken voice, looking to the future full of hope, inspiration, and excitement as she writes the next, ongoing chapter in her life as a practicing lawyer. This keynote also explores neurodiversity, acceptance, and explores the perspectives of how society views autism and related disabilities.

Adults on the autism spectrum face the highest unemployment rate amongst all people with disabilities. Having autism on the job has unique strengths and challenges from the application process and potential accommodations to the daily routine of having a job. This presentation explores topics surrounding and supporting neurodiversity at work, including why businesses should be hiring people on the spectrum, issues surrounding disclosure of a diagnosis, and ensuring a workplace is accessible. Haley will also incorporate personal perspective as an openly autistic attorney.

Often when we think of advocacy, we think of effecting policy change or work that our lawmakers do. However, self-advocacy for people with disabilities is an entirely different ballgame and covers a lot of ground - it can be effective communication in personal, educational, and professional settings. Furthermore, advocacy skills can be used to create positive change for autistic individuals and their communities. This presentation aims to bust advocacy myths, encourage self-advocacy, teach self-advocacy skills and strategies, and also inform communities about larger goals and issues being tackled that self-advocacy skills could be valuably applied to.