We thank Mr Dino Trakakis for his letter (Do more than talk to help disabled people; Oct 29).

He called on organisations that serve people with disabilities to walk the talk. He also commented on the fees and the organisers behind an upcoming major regional autism conference in 2019.

The co-organisers of the Asia Pacific Autism Conference (APAC) 2019, comprising the not-for-profit Autism Network Singapore, have made every effort to be inclusive.

The conference's organising committee is represented by professionals, caregivers in their voluntary capacity, and individuals with autism.

The three-day conference, themed Thriving with Autism, will also feature a number of prominent speakers, many of whom are autism experts from around the globe.

The APAC conference is unlike others that the organisers have organised locally in terms of venue, slate of speakers and services to participants.

The fees are computed based on cost recovery and efforts are still under way to seek training awards for selected participants from less developed countries to attend.

To further remove barriers and enable more participation of individuals with autism who are keen to attend, additional funding has been made available for presenters with autism who submit their abstracts and are selected by the committee to present.

These autism individuals who are selected to present will receive a sponsored conference seat.

More information about the conference is available at http://apac.autismcongress.org/2019/.

Those who are interested can contact the organisers directly at info@autismcongress.org.

Stephenie Khoo (Mrs)

Deputy Executive Director

Autism Resource Centre (Singapore)