Discussion as part of the Year of Science Popularization 2026

As part of the celebrations for the Year of Science Popularization 2026—an initiative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education—Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń invites you to an event within the Health Education and Human Knowledge track.

A New Perspective on People on the Autism Spectrum: Diagnosis, Creativity, and the Path from Education to Employment

Speakers: dr hab. Arkadiusz Gut, Prof. NCU (Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, NCU) and Dr. Małgorzata Moszyńska (Director of the Autism Treatment Center at the Children’s Hospital in Olsztyn).

Has our perspective on people on the autism spectrum truly shifted alongside the noticeable rise in diagnoses? Are we genuinely coming to better understand the way they think and function, or are we primarily becoming more proficient at identifying traits that match diagnostic criteria?

We will look at autistic individuals not solely through the lens of a diagnosis and challenges, but first and foremost through their cognitive profile: how they perceive the world, organize information, understand other people, and what they deem particularly significant. We will bring together two viewpoints: the cognitive perspective, focused on the thought processes of a person with ASD, and the diagnostic-pedagogical perspective, which questions to what extent a diagnosis helps us truly know an individual versus simply placing them into a category.

This will open up a broader question: by whose standards do we assess a person and the way they think? We will start with creativity before moving on to schooling, diagnosis, and official disability certification. We will ask whether schools can recognize a student’s potential when it presents differently from the majority. We will also examine what happens to our perception of an individual when a diagnosis becomes the first piece of information we have about them, and whether we inadvertently start filtering all of their behaviors through that label. Finally, we will expand the conversation to adulthood and the labor market.

This discussion will help shed light on how a person with ASD thinks, what they notice, what potential they hold, what they need, and what conditions must be established so they can thrive in education, adult life, and the workplace.

The event is co-organized by the Library of the Faculty of Chemistry at NCU.

Everyone is warmly invited! Join us today, listen in, ask questions, and share this invitation with anyone who might be interested.

At 6:30 PM, the lecture titled „500 Grams of Life: The Extraordinary Stories of Premature Infants” will begin, presented by dr hab. Iwona Sadowska-Krawczenko, Prof. NCU, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the NCU Collegium Medicum.

Is it possible to begin life weighing just 500 grams? What does the daily struggle look like for the smallest premature babies and the medical teams caring for them? This is a story about the remarkable capabilities of modern neonatology, but above all, about tiny patients who demonstrate the resilience of the human spirit from their very first moments of life.