Event Description:
The Spectrum Experience and Human Trafficking and the Autism Community: Risks, Boundaries, and Red Flags will cover human trafficking, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and domestic servitude, and how autistic individuals can prevent and respond to situations of exploitation. This topic is especially relevant to autistic individuals because autistic individuals are more likely to experience exploitation than neurotypical individuals.
Presented by:
Rachel Harmon is an autistic PhD candidate at Emory University in Atlanta. Her research and teaching focus on human trafficking, conflict, and gender-based human rights abuses. Harmon holds Master's degrees in International Affairs (Security) and Political Science from Middle Tennessee State University and Emory University respectively. She is a pre-doctoral teaching fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year and teaches at the Arrendale State Prison for Women in north Georgia. Harmon is a board member of Free for Life International and has worked with FFLI for more than eight years.
Kelsey Bohlke, MS, CRC, LPC, is a counselor at the Emory Autism Center, having worked at the EAC since July 2015. Ms. Bohlke began her undergraduate studies at Oxford College and completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Emory University. In 2015, she earned her Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Georgia State University and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. Ms. Bohlke works with the Education and Transition Services program at EAC, providing individual counseling to adolescents and young adults with ASD, engaging in transition assessments for individuals with ASD, coordinating a pilot healthcare transition project and assisting with initiatives to support college students with ASD. In addition, she is also an educational coordinator for the EAC’s myLIFE program.
*Event Description and Presenter Bio content provided to AutismTN by presenter, Rachel Harmon.
Workshop Goals:
By attending this workshop participants will be equipped with three skills:
1). Participants will learn the basics of what human trafficking is and why autistic individuals are at a disproportionately high-risk of exploitation.
2). This workshop will prepare participants to recognize healthy behaviors and boundaries in relationships, including sexual or romantic relationships, friendships, online interactions, financial relationships, and relationships with caregivers.
3). The workshop will train participants in what specific steps they can take if they recognize red flags of unhealthy or unsafe relationships.
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The Spectrum Experience virtual series is sponsored by:
