So I stumbled on this news article about a town in Northern Ireland that is "autism-friendly":
http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/health/northern-irelands-first-autism-friendly-12750728
My first reaction: What the hell?!
My second reaction: Oooh, is this a town where meaningful workplace reasonable adjustments occur under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (The Equality Act 2010 doesn't apply in NI)!!
And....this is where...
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Autistic and facing redundancy
I was going through a bit of a difficult situation earlier in the year: I was facing the threat of redundancy. Fortunately, I was redeployed into an alternative role which so far seems to be going well. However, there was a time of great anxiety and uncertainty.
Of course, there is always the concern about having a lack of money but that's not something I want to address as its pretty much universal to most people in some form. I am thinking about...
Sunday, 21 May 2017
Symbolising disability for autistic people
I've seen various comments on Twitter, website articles and even petitions against the use of the wheelchair as a symbol of disability. This is the symbol:
I get their logic.
There's been attempts to make the symbol more progressive and reflect that disabled people are capable mobile people:
But not everyone who is disabled requires the continuous use...
Tuesday, 28 March 2017
World Autism Awareness Week: how often those spreading 'awareness' forget the high intellectually functioning adult.
So its apparently it is World Autism Awareness Week this week.
Here's a link to the National Autistic Society's web pages on this: http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/world-autism-awareness-week.aspx
But I have a bit of a problem with it because once again I feel somewhat marginalised from what should be my "little special needs community" (or should it!?). The NAS covers lots of stuff about fundraising for them on the above linked website and...
Saturday, 18 March 2017
Autism only applies to children
"It's Asperger's and Autism Awareness month! In honor of all children who struggle every day!!"
Every now and again I see similar things appear on my Facebook newsfeed from well-intentioned people trying to 'raise awareness' of the suffering that autistic children face. Inevitably with World Autism Awareness Week (27th March - 2nd April 2017) coming up, I expect to see more of those kinds of social media posts.
There's a...
Sunday, 12 March 2017
The importance of the right work environment
This article was first written for the website: aspergermanagement.com about a decade ago, so 2007 ish! The article can be found here, as told to the founder of the site, Malcolm Johnson: http://www.aspergermanagement.com/case-studies/work-environment/ but I have included it below.
Malcolm not only runs this interesting website full of resources for professional people with autism but has a book out too, entitled Managing with...
Saturday, 11 March 2017
Facebook "copy and paste plea" posts: autism as the 'invisible illness'
Some people on Facebook can have this habit of coping and pasting well meaning but ridiculous posts such as the one below to 'raise awareness' of a given issue. This one is on 'invisible illnesses':
Not one of my Facebook friends will copy and paste (but I am counting on a true family member or friend to do it). If you would be there no matter what then copy and paste this. I'm doing this to prove a friend wrong that someone is always listening....
Saturday, 4 March 2017
School reports: spotting the autism
I was going through some cupboards and found a folder of old school reports. Some were from primary school and some from secondary.
I decided it might be useful to see if there were any clues to indicate that I had autism. After all, I went on to have a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome in my mid-20s and it's something that would have been present throughout my childhood too.
I have copied out quotes from the reports.
Primary School
She does...
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
"If you prick us, do we not bleed?" - Autistic people are not aliens!
The other day this blog entry appeared and it seemed to get parts of the autistic world in quite an upset although its been around a while:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201608/autistics-undomesticated-humans
Quote intro:
"Autistic authors often describe themselves as aliens from outer space, but remarkable new research by Antonio Benítez-Burraco, Wanda Lattanzi, and Elliot Murphy suggests that...
Dealing with lots going on at work: how to get organised
Some weeks I feel quite content because I don't have lots of things going on. I may have big things but not a long list of stuff and I don't like long lists...
It's when my to do list becomes the length of the weekly shopping list that I become panicky and I don't know what thing to do first. I get mentally overloaded by everything I need to do so I sometimes ignore things, hoping they'll magically go away. I end up burying my head in the sand...
Thursday, 23 February 2017
Coping with work-related mistakes
We all make mistakes at some point. Some people make mistakes with a shocking frequency but I think the majority of us take some pride in ourselves and want to do our best most or all of the time.
Sometimes I make mistakes although I hate it when I do. I tend to internalise it and put it down to my autism as the cause, as if I would be perfect if it wasn't for some unrelenting and cruel disability. It stares at me, holding me back, like it is jealous...
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Now you are autistic, get on with it (alone)!
As I was driving into work today I could feel this sudden gust of anger. I feel like I need to make sense of these feelings and state my absolute disgust with the way the whole diagnosis process went. In fact, I would suggest that it was not only neglectful but emotionally damaging to drop a bombshell onto someone and not offer any follow up support.
Recently I have been taking a trip down memory lane and looking at both my Dyspraxia and Asperger's...
Friday, 17 February 2017
A medical solution to a not very medical problem - occupational health
I decided that I would be proactive at work and request that HR refer me to occupational health.
What I wanted was to have my autistic needs formally recognised in terms of my seating arrangements when we move to a new site later in the year.
What I was seeking to avoid was to be placed in a large open-plan office surrounded by noise, lots of people and near a high traffic area. The last thing I would need is to sit nearby to the printers! That...
