Announcing the 2018 ASDAH conference!

We’re excited to announce the theme, dates, and location of ASDAH’s next international conference.

Theme: Uniting Against Oppression: Navigating the Learning Curves in the Health at Every Size® Movement

Date and location: August 3rd-5th, 2018 in Portland, Oregon

Here’s how we’re thinking about the conference theme. ASDAH is a social justice oriented organization that is committed to promoting size diversity for everyone while dismantling the systems and behaviors that contribute to size oppression. Recognizing that size discrimination does not occur in isolation, ASDAH seeks to utilize an intersectional approach that acknowledges intersections of race, socioeconomic status, gender, and able-bodiedness, among other forms of oppression.

While some of us have been doing this social justice work for decades, others of us are newer to the journey of exploring privilege and oppression. Similarly, while some of us are experts in the HAES® principles, others have recently been introduced to these life-changing concepts. This year’s conference is designed with these learning curves in mind, as we seek to unify under our clarity of the ASDAH mission, providing enriching content for everyone.

This year’s conference theme is greatly informed by the last conference, “Difficult Conversations: Building Relationships in the HAES® Community and Beyond.” We want to continue the work that started in 2015 and acknowledge that we are still learning and growing. On this journey, we are all students. We all have much un-packing and re-learning to do around the ways we have been indoctrinated into oppressive thinking by “othering” individuals, bodies, places, and cultures.

This conference is for all of us. We will have sessions for beginners in anti-oppression and HAES® work, and sessions for “veterans” in applying what they have learned regarding social justice in the context of their professional, clinical, or advocacy work. The goal here is to be welcoming and open to each other, understanding that we all have gathered unified in spirit to stand against size oppression around weight stigma, as well as others forms of oppression. We have all gathered because we care. We have a stake in this work because dismantling oppressive systems matter to us. We will create a brave space. Stronger through our differences, we are here to navigate the learning curves. Together.

Does that sound like it could help inspire, inform, and build support for your work? We’ll be announcing the Call for Proposals, sponsorship opportunities, and more ways to participate in the coming weeks.

ASDAH has been convening conferences for more than a decade, most recently in 2015 in Boston. That event’s description and inspiring list of conference sessions are a good source of context on the conversation preceding the 2018 event. We’re also excited about this year’s conference art, made by the incredible Shoog Mcdaniel.

We hope you’ll consider joining us in Portland next Summer – and we hope you’ll help spread the word among your colleagues and friends.

Want to learn more and get updates about the conference as we publish them? Join us on Facebook where practitioners and the HAES community discuss this and other issues on the ASDAH page, follow our updates posted on Twitter, watch your email inbox if you’re at ASDAH member (it’s easy to join!), or follow this blog!

Thanks for your support, we hope to see you in Portland next Summer!