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‘Superheroes’ - Understanding the emotional work of parents with autistic children on family holidays

Image of a boy and a man wearing heroes' masks and capes during action play.

What’s on offer?

Join us for this 60-minute, interactive, face-to-face event - that will also be live-streamed via Zoom (link will be made available to everyone post-registration) - by University of Hertfordshire and Swansea University academics, highlighting research findings around the challenges faced by parents of autistic children in planning their holiday - and their recommendations to the tourism industry on what can be done, to make things better. 

Discussions on the topic will be led by researchers Dr Allan Jepson (University of Hertfordshire) and Dr Brian Garrod (Swansea University).

 

 

 

What’s it about?

Going on holiday with your children can be stressful. A plethora of cognitive planning decisions need to be undertaken prior to booking a holiday such as the choice of destination, airport, type of hotel, duration of stay, activities and so forth. As neurotypical people we might take all these things in our stride, but for parents of autistic children, all these decisions are more complex and often lead to conflict. Our session unpacks this complexity and reveals the additional emotional work that parents must perform with their children if they are to have an enjoyable holiday experience. Our event aims to be informative and interactive by allowing everyone to participate in this important debate either online, in person, or through interactive polls within the session.

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Allan Jepson (Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management Group, Business School at the University of Hertfordshire) and Professor Brian Garrod (School of Management at Swansea University)

Open to

Parents, children, tourism organisations, researchers

Of particular interest to

Of particular interest to parents of autistic children, as well as tourism organisations and researchers

Event booking deadline

In-person registration will close at 12pm on Monday, 4 November 2024; Online registration will remain open up until the event