Services & Events
Spaces and places for autistic women, girls and non-binary people
SWAN Places
SWAN Places are in-person social meet-up groups in locations across Scotland. They are autistic spaces, run by autistic volunteers.
These local groups are relaxed and laid-back gatherings for all women and non-binary people who identify as autistic.
They are safe and confidential spaces, facilitated by autistic volunteers.
There is no presentation, no set agenda and no obligation to participate.
You can share, listen, or simply relax among like-minded peers who understand and support one another.
Have a look at your local group to find out more, or contact our Social Meet-Up Volunteers if you have any questions - you'll find their emails under "How do I join?"
Please read our Guidelines & Rules before you come along to any of our SWAN Places groups, to help ensure they are safe, supportive and friendly spaces.
*Please always check the calendar before you go to a group as very occasionally we may have to change or cancel with short notice (only if unavoidable) and we will post any changes here.
Social Meet-up: Aberdeen
Social Meet-up: Dumfries & Galloway
Social Meet-up: Dundee
Social Meet-up: Edinburgh
Social Meet-up: Falkirk
Social Meet-up: Fife
Social Meet-up: Glasgow
Social Meet-up: Inverness
Social Meet-up: Stirling
Social Meet-up: West Lothian
We’re working on setting up groups in other areas - if you’re interested in volunteering at an existing group, or helping set one up in your area, visit our Volunteer page.
September 2023
Dundee Social Meet Up
SWAN Places29 Sep, 14:00
October 2023
West Lothian Social Meet Up
SWAN Places3 Oct, 17:30
Fife Social Meet Up
SWAN Places5 Oct, 17:00
Aberdeen Social Meet Up
SWAN Places7 Oct, 11:30
Edinburgh Social Meet Up
SWAN Places8 Oct, 14:00
Falkirk Social Meet Up
SWAN Places16 Oct, 16:30
Glasgow Social Meet Up
SWAN Places17 Oct, 13:30
Stirling Social Meet Up
SWAN Places17 Oct, 17:00
Dundee Social Meet-Up
SWAN Places27 Oct, 14:00
Inverness Social Meet Up
SWAN Places29 Oct, 14:00
Dumfries & Galloway Social Meet Up
SWAN Places30 Oct, 10:30
November 2023
Fife Social Meet Up
SWAN Places2 Nov, 17:00
Aberdeen Social Meet Up
SWAN Places4 Nov, 11:30
West Lothian Social Meet Up
SWAN Places7 Nov, 17:00
Edinburgh Social Meet Up
SWAN Places12 Nov, 14:00
Glasgow Social Meet Up
SWAN Places, SWAN Spaces21 Nov, 13:30
Stirling Social Meet up
SWAN Places21 Nov, 17:00
Dundee Social Meet Up
SWAN Places24 Nov, 14:00
Inverness Social Meet Up
SWAN Places26 Nov, 14:00
SWAN Spaces
SWAN Spaces are regular online groups and events. They are safe, friendly autistic-only spaces, led by autistic staff.
In SWAN Spaces, you are free to participate as little or as much as you feel comfortable - talk, join in the text chat, read the closed captions, stim, bring your pets along, wrap yourself in a cosy blanket, or just watch and listen with your camera on or off.
Friends and allies, families and carers, and professionals and practitioners who do not identify as autistic but want to learn more about autistic women, girls and non-binary people are warmly welcomed to specific events only, where stated in the event description.
All of our online events are held on Zoom and you can book a place via Eventbrite.
Have a look at our SWAN Spaces to find out more:
Art & Craft Group
Autistic Parents’ Space
Edinburgh Online Group
Neuroqueer Social (LGBTQIA+ Group)
Online Peer Support Forum
Post-Diagnosis Groups
Pre-Diagnosis Drop-Ins
Wellbeing Webinars
September 2023
Bendy Bodies; bendy brains – Implications from research Webinar
SWAN SpacesOnline - 28 Sep, 18:00 - 19:30
We are delighted to be joined at our September webinar 'Bendy Bodies; Bendy Brains - Implications from Research by Dr Jessica Eccles
Dr Eccles trained in medicine at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford and undertook combined clinical academic training in Psychiatry at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. As an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow she completed her PhD in the relationship between joint hypermobility, autonomic dysfunction and psychiatric symptoms and is now a Clinical Senior Lecturer.
Her interests are in the body-brain relationships in musculoskeletal conditions, particularly variant connective tissue, including anxiety, ADHD, Autism, ‘brain fog,’ and pain and fatigue. She holds a number of grants and was awarded a prestigious MQ Arthritis Research UK Fellows Award to conduct a randomised clinical trial of a new targeted treatment for anxiety in hypermobility and is currently working on a Dysautonomia International funded project to explore multi-model neural correlates of brain fog.
Dr Eccles is a now a Clinical Senior Lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the Department of Neuroscience. She is an adult liaison psychiatrist and consultant in the Sussex Neurodevelopmental Service and co-lead of their Neurodivergent Brain Body Clinic.
Now open for booking
October 2023
Post Diagnosis Group Week 5
SWAN SpacesOnline - 5 Oct, 12:00 - 13:30
For booking information please contact becky.choat@swanscotland.org
Post Diagnosis Group Week 6
SWAN SpacesOnline - 12 Oct, 12:00 - 13:30
For booking information contact becky.choat@swanscotland.org
Neuroqueer social
SWAN Spaces12 Oct, 18:30 - 19:30
Edinburgh Group online
SWAN Spaces15 Oct, 15:00
Webinar - Touch and Intimacy with Nature A Creative and Sensory Anchor
SWAN SpacesOnline - 19 Oct, 17:30 - 19:00
We live in an ecologically extractive culture, can we utilise touch to reconfigure that relationship? How might we connect more deeply with the natural world?
Participatory artist Clare Plumley will show us some of their touch focused artworks and open some space for us to discuss atypical sensory processing delights and anchors in relation to nature and art making.
She will then bring us an ecosomatic exploration (combo of ecotherapy and somatic experiencing) incorporating touch drawing and writing exercises.
This session is an exploration of what touch is for us, bringing us into our felt sense with the aim of increasing our sensitivity for and intimacy with the natural world.
If you are able please bring drawing or writing materials and something from nature.
November 2023
Edinburgh Group Online
SWAN Spaces19 Nov, 15:00
Glasgow Social Meet Up
SWAN Places, SWAN Spaces21 Nov, 13:30