Sensory Strategies from Hoodie Girl

Penny is a Lecturer of Biostatistics (and epidemiology/public health) at Monash University. During her undergraduate study, she discovered that she loved the number-crunching side of research (and was good at it) – while many of her peers hated it!  Thus she did further studies in biostatistics having discovered her niche. 

She felt “different” to other kids growing up.  When she was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum at age 14 (Year 9 at school, 1997), everything made sense. She didn’t meet anyone else “on the spectrum” until half way through first year university – almost 5 years after her diagnosis.

Now, she’s a founding member of The I CAN Network, and Ambassador of The I CAN Network, Yellow Ladybugs and Aspergers Victoria. She also was awarded the “Inspiration Award for Individual Achievement” from Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) in 2017, and is one of the Autism CRC Future Leaders in 2018.

She’s also very active on social media, especially Facebook (Penny Robinson – speaker page) and Twitter (@PennyRobaus) earning herself the nickname “Twitter Queen”. At the Asia Pacific Autism Conference in 2015, she became “hoodie girl” when she had to hide under her hoodie hood while giving a talk, due to a very bright spotlight.

In this talk, Penny will provide an understanding around sensory challenges and offer strategies to assist.