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Together with Childserve and Meadowlark Psychiatric Services, Autism Society of Iowa is proud to host “From Representation to Reality: Autism and Popular Culture”, a one day virtual conference.
Join us Friday, April 3rd from 9:00am to 3:00pm as we hear from scholars, caretakers, and individuals with Autism discussing the connections, interpretations, and representations of neurodivergence in pop culture.
*Scholarships are available to cover registration fees. Please contact us at autismsocietyiowa@gmail.com to inquire.
Chris Chan
Chris Chan is a historian, author, and educator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has a doctorate in American History and two master’s degrees in History and Library & Information Science. He teaches graduate courses for Southern New Hampshire University and undergraduate courses for The Chicago School. He is the author of six crime novels, two volumes of short stories, a volume of poems, and five books of cultural criticism. His play Our Mothers Are Not Refrigerators, about a self-help group for people with autism, received a staged reading from Pink Umbrella Theater Company, a Milwaukee group working with disabled actors and artists. He has won the Temple Grandin Prize, his book The Autistic Sleuth won the Best Independent Book Award for TV History, and he has also been a finalist for the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, and Long Listed for the CWA Dagger Award.
Megan Fear
Megan Fear is a second-year graduate student in speech-language pathology at the University of Iowa. She is a speech-language trainee in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Iowa LEND) program, where she has ongoing training to work with children and adults with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of Iowa. She is expected to graduate in May 2026 with a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology.
Brian Johnson
After years of uncertainty, Brian Johnson was diagnosed with autism (specifically Asperger’s Syndrome) as a sophomore in high school. Since his diagnosis, he has been a member of the Siouxland Autism Support Group in Sioux City, Iowa. In 2004, he graduated from Lawton-Bronson High School in Lawton, Iowa as valedictorian of his class. In 2008, he graduated summa cum laude from Morningside College (now Morningside University), earning a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications. He currently lives in Bronson, Iowa and works in Moville, Iowa for a regional newspaper called The Record. Since graduation, Brian has presented his story to numerous groups of parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, college students and others who are working with and learning about people with autism. For the past several years, he has also been involved in an organization at Briar Cliff University called “The Human Library.” He is also a board member and frequent panelist for the Autism Society of Iowa.
Todd Kopelman
Dr. Kopelman is a psychologist in private practice at Meadowlark Psychiatric Services in Iowa City. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, The University of Iowa Speech and Hearing Center, and The University of Iowa College of Education. Dr. Kopelman’s primary clinical interests are the assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders in children and adults and providing behaviorally based therapy services. He is an active board member of the Autism Society of Iowa and co-teaches a graduate course on Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has coordinated three federally funded research projects on telehealth evaluation and treatment of disruptive behaviors displayed by young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Margaret Mendenhall
Margaret Mendenhall, PhD resides in Long Beach, California and is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Mythological Studies Program. Additionally, her current dissertation, Healing Science Fiction: Engaging Star Trek to Explore Depth Psychology and Autism is in the review process in the Depth and Archetypal Psychology Program at the same institution. Her blog, My Daily Soul Trek, analyzes Star Trek episodes and films chronologically from a depth psychological perspective (https://mydailysoultrek.com/). She has also written, performed and produced two myth based one-woman shows, and produced and hosted the public access television series Myth Is All Around Us. She was diagnosed as autistic as a mature woman in April 2024.
Ron Miles
Ron Miles is the proud father of an autistic son, a software architect, and a musician. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Ron moved (along with his ex-wife, son, and then-fiancé) to Central Florida in the summer of 2003 in order to use Walt Disney World as a giant therapy session for his son. He works from a home office as a software architect. He dreams of the day when he will finally be able to have a real conversation with his son, if only to find out what his son has really been thinking about all these years.
Abby Niederhauser
Abby Niederhauser is a self-taught pop culture artist whose vibrant work celebrates her love of ’90s cartoons and nostalgia. What began as painting favorite characters to decorate her apartment quickly grew into a prolific creative practice, with more than 300 pieces produced and shared under the name Abby’s Rad Art. Her large-scale “Take Up Space” exhibition featured nearly 200 works displayed together, intentionally highlighting the hyperfocus and intensity that shape her autistic experience. Through her art, Abby not only expresses her deep special interests but also creates connection—using creativity as both education and conversation starter about neurodiversity.
