Listening, Learning, Leading: Empowering Autistic and Neurodivergent Women Through Co-Designed Services
Tracks
Prince Room - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, September 29, 2026 |
| 11:55 AM - 12:25 PM |
| Prince Room |
Overview
Dr Caitlin Taggart, Autism Queensland
Key Learnings
1. Storytelling as a tool: How sharing lived experience can guide co-design and inform service improvement.
2. Neurodivergent leadership in practice: Strategies for empowering participants as co-creators and leaders within programs.
3. Sustainable, inclusive services: Approaches to embedding inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming practices that strengthen program impact and long-term sustainability.
Speaker
Dr Caitlin Taggart
Coordinator Access & Inclusion
Autism Queensland
Listening, Learning, Leading: Empowering Autistic and Neurodivergent Women Through Co-Designed Services
Presentation Overview
This presentation demonstrates how neurodivergent and autistic women’s lived experiences drive the co-design of inclusive programs, using storytelling to shape services, foster connection, and build belonging. Storytelling here involves sharing lived experiences and personal perspectives to inform decision-making, guide program design, and strengthen inclusive practice. Drawing on co-designed services at Autism Queensland (AQ), the session highlights how neurodiversity-affirming approaches create meaningful opportunities for empowerment and engagement.
Across AQ services, neurodivergent and autistic women actively shaped their experiences, providing feedback that influenced program content, facilitation, and service delivery. Participants emphasised the importance of being listened to, acknowledged, and supported in environments that value diverse ways of thinking and communicating. These insights highlight that inclusion must extend across all stages of participation, from registration to ongoing engagement.
Practical examples will show how inclusive approaches were embedded from the start, including accessible registration processes, co-designed content, and autistic-led facilitation. The principles are transferable across service types and age groups, reinforcing inclusive practice across the lifespan.
Three key learnings for participants:
Storytelling as a tool: How sharing lived experience can guide co-design and inform service improvement.
Neurodivergent leadership in practice: Strategies for empowering participants as co-creators and leaders within programs.
Sustainable, inclusive services: Approaches to embedding inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming practices that strengthen program impact and long-term sustainability.
By centering autistic women as co-creators, programs can foster environments where participants feel valued, empowered, and connected, while enabling services to grow strategically and sustainably.
Across AQ services, neurodivergent and autistic women actively shaped their experiences, providing feedback that influenced program content, facilitation, and service delivery. Participants emphasised the importance of being listened to, acknowledged, and supported in environments that value diverse ways of thinking and communicating. These insights highlight that inclusion must extend across all stages of participation, from registration to ongoing engagement.
Practical examples will show how inclusive approaches were embedded from the start, including accessible registration processes, co-designed content, and autistic-led facilitation. The principles are transferable across service types and age groups, reinforcing inclusive practice across the lifespan.
Three key learnings for participants:
Storytelling as a tool: How sharing lived experience can guide co-design and inform service improvement.
Neurodivergent leadership in practice: Strategies for empowering participants as co-creators and leaders within programs.
Sustainable, inclusive services: Approaches to embedding inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming practices that strengthen program impact and long-term sustainability.
By centering autistic women as co-creators, programs can foster environments where participants feel valued, empowered, and connected, while enabling services to grow strategically and sustainably.
Biography
Caitlin Taggart is a Senior Inclusion Consultant who is passionate about co-designing and co-creating solutions with communities to ensure programs and services are inclusive, accessible, and welcoming. She focuses on listening to, acknowledging, and validating people’s lived experiences, using these insights to identify practical solutions that meet diverse needs. Through meaningful community engagement, Caitlin works alongside participants to shape services that foster a genuine sense of belonging, empowerment, and participation. Her work combines strategic planning with hands-on collaboration to support sustainable, impactful programs that centre lived experience and strengthen connection, inclusion, and positive outcomes for participants.
