Emotional Regulation and Autism: Centering the Lived Experience of Autistic Individuals

Ricki Hurtado

Richelle "Ricki" Hurtado (she/her) is an autistic BCBA-D who is passionate about neurodiversity and autism advocacy. For over 10 years, she has applied her skills in both clinical and academic settings in many ways, including providing direct care services, supervising technicians, conducting research, and teaching behavior analytic principles to students. Currently, Dr. Hurtado works on developing tools to teach autism-affirming practices to educators, professionals, and caregivers. She also creates resources directed towards self-advocates on effective tools that can be utilized to improve quality of life through the lens of lived experience.

Drew Richardson

Drew is an autistic self-advocate from Rochester, NY. A graduate from the LEND fellowship at the University of Rochester, he works as a Community Habilitation Counselor, assisting other adults with autism in his local community.

Kelsey Spelich

Kelsey Spelich is a counseling professional and neurodiversity advocate with a Master’s in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness from New York University. She works at Rady Children’s Autism Discovery Institute, where she supports clinicians and contributes to neurodiversity education and research. As an autistic clinician and advocate, Kelsey is passionate about advancing neuro-affirming, autonomy-centered care and using both lived and professional experience to challenge neuroableism.

Kim Cleary

Kim Clairy, OTR/L, is an autistic occupational therapist, speaker, author, and consultant. She specializes in autism and its intersection with sensory processing, interoception, ADHD, learning differences, eating disorders, and mental health. Her work centers on understanding challenging behaviors by asking why and presuming competence — driven by one mission: so no one else has to go through what she did.