Raising awareness of autism, one story at a time

Ever wanted to tell the world about your experiences with autism? AAN Ambassador Helen Kelly explains why she started her blog, mumwithoutportfolio, and what she hopes to achieve through sharing her family's story:

I started writing my blog mumwithoutportfolio in July 2011, two months after my youngest daughter Emily was diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum. There were a number of reasons why I decided to write this originally it was because I felt very alone and left to understand what it all meant for my daughter and our family but I also wanted to raise awareness about Autism and what it is like trying to see the light through the tunnel. I was very surprised by peoples reaction to my daughters diagnosis which ranged from well she doesn’t look like she’s autistic to she’s not autistic she just needs to learn. It was the drive to try and change people’s opinion of children on the Autistic Spectrum that spurred me on to write my blog because I am very much of the opinion that education brings awareness.

Topics I have covered throughout my blog posts have included shopping, school, friends and the death of my dad due to lung cancer. Although the posts haven’t always been upbeat they are always a true reflection of life and honest.

I have help pages on my blog which provide a bit of information and also directs people to the NAS website this is because I would not like to give anyone the wrong information as I am not an expert in Autism but I am an expert in how autism affects my daughter and my family.

I have received comments from people who I don’t know supporting me and have recently set up a Facebook page for the blog. I also tweet my blog page under the hash tag Autism awareness and I have met many people through this.

I would encourage other ambassadors to plunge into writing a blog, it’s free you can do it when you want to and most importantly you get to raise awareness and educate people.

Undiscovered Workforce campaign gathers pace

We've had loads of interest from ambassadors and champions in our Undiscovered Workforce campaign on employment. The campaign asks MPs to take the lead in creating employment opportunities for their constituents with autism, by bringing together local employers, people with autism, the local authority and other services in the community. The aim is to raise awareness of the difficulties facing people with autism who are looking for work and to ensure there is specialist support available for employers, as well as employees, to help people with autism succeed in the workplace.

Helen Kelly, an Ambassador from Tyne and Wear, supports the campaign because she is concerned for her 12-year-old daughter who has autism. "Her future worries me", she says, "She will be trying to get a job and I think her autism will be a disadvantage. There needs to be more awareness of the condition out there and people with autism should have the right to the proper support in a job".

Although she admits she was a little nervous at first, Helen wrote to her MP on the issue - the first time she had ever contacted him. However, her feelings soon changed when she realised she'd been sent a standard letter: "To be honest, I was a bit annoyed to get a generic email in reply. This is a serious thing - you can't just send a generic response".

Helen contacted the NAS with her MP's reply and we gave her a special response letter we've written for Ambassadors and Champions to send when they're not satisfied with their MP's response to the Undiscovered Workforce campaign.

Now Helen's looking to the next steps in her campaigning: "I would like to meet my MP and put my case forward. This is a real issue, not only for people who are in the workplace now but also for those people with autism who will be working in the future. There are thousands of people in this situation, and the have the right to work like everybody else"

If you want to support the Undiscovered Workforce campaign you can send a letter to your MP through our website here: www.autism.org.uk/undiscoveredworkforce. If you've already sent an initial email and haven't received a reply or aren't satisfied with the response you have received, don't be afraid to politely challenge them on it. Or if your MP asks you how they can help, make sure you take them up on their offer. Get in touch us at aan@nas.org.uk and we'll give you advice on what to do next. 

There are loads of great things going on with the Undiscovered Workforce campaign around the country - we've had MPs writing to local businesses, organising breakfast events and pushing Local Authorities to set up supported employment services - don't let your area miss out!

Fixing SEN?

Last week a group of campaigners got together to discuss the Government’s proposals for reforming the special educational needs system. The focus group, held at the NAS’ Manchester office, brought together the expertise of people on the spectrum, parents and professional knowledge, and focused on what needs to happen to make the system.  Key issues that came up included:

• the importance of schools talking to parents and listening to what they have to say
• teachers having appropriate training in autism and relevant skills to work with children on the spectrum. Often these skills can look like good practice in working with other children but are particularly important for young people on the spectrum
• the importance of autism and equality awareness among other pupils as well as staff

Latest News: Since this focus group, the Government have finally published more details of their plans for SEN.  Their long-awaited "Next Steps" paper confirms the Government’s plans to progress the proposals made in last year’s Green Paper.

You can read the report here

You can read our response to the announcement here