Making a difference as a Councillor

It has been over three weeks since I was officially elected as Councillor in South Heaton, in Newcastle. And what an exciting and busy time it’s been over the last few months, with a well-fought election campaign and many hours of pounding the streets and meeting people beforehand to gain the welcomed success achieved on 25 April. Not least grasping the opportunity to raise awareness for The National Autistic Society in personal campaign literature along the way. Every little helps!

It was great to be out and about meeting residents in the ward and feeling able to share my personal story and purpose for wanting to become involved in local politics in the city. As many families and individuals know there have been huge amounts of excellent work undertaken up and down the country by the NAS, other charities and public sector organisations over the years to support those individuals and their families living with autism, but as with all things more can be done to improve things such as levels of awareness, access to services, therapies, pathways to diagnosis, training for staff and real choice, to name but a few. The approach to all of the aforementioned is ever more important in the current economic climate where funding is limited and organisations are feeling the pressure.

Running for Council was a natural step for me personally, and one where I felt I could make my best contribution, having been inspired at the NAS training event in London by speakers, NAS staff and fellow Ambassadors. Being able to make a positive impact and contribution to improve the lives of people and families living with autism was the way I hoped to go forward and so the journey began.

Since being elected I’ve managed to take part in a ‘round the table discussion’ along with others about ‘Making Rights a Reality for Disabled People’ meeting Liam Byrne MP and Anne McGuire MP. It feels rewarding to see that the hard work to gain election success has provided the opportunity to feed into such discussion and perhaps even future policy. It is important to me that the views of real people, tackling and facing issues on a daily basis are shared with those who can make things happen! Even in the smallest steps.

For me this is just the beginning of a two year journey as Councillor (more beyond if I’m re-elected) to progress work towards a better life for all residents in the ward and across the city –impacting, challenging and debating where I can across health, social care and education and other services to improve quality and choice. As part of that work remit I intend to keep the vision of individuals and families in mind as I evolve into my new role and take on the great responsibility of serving the public.

Denise

Raising Awareness of iss facing those with autism from Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) Communities

Campaigning is a crucial part of raising awareness. Being on the spectrum or being the carer of someone on the spectrum is an experience that most people find difficult to comprehend. Therefore as difficult as it may be, we need to be the driving force behind campaigns that highlight autism and how it affects everyone around us.

On 12 February, the NAS, with the support of Diane Abbot, MP, launched a new project to raise awareness of the specific issues facing those with autism from Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) Communities. This was a one of a kind event which had a fantastic turnout and achieved attendance from MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum.

So why have a BME specific campaign?

In a report by NAS (Missing out, 2007) it found that 24% of BME children had been excluded from schools, while 78% said their local authority did not provide support to their children during exclusion and more than half of parents from ethnic minorities whose children have autism did not have a choice of school. BME parents were also “significantly” less satisfied with their child’s academic and social progress compared to their white counterparts. This painted a stark picture of access to educational services within the BME autism community.

Seven years on and these issues are still pertinent; more so, given that resources are rapidly declining and unfortunately those who demand services are more likely to gain access to them.

There are clear issues which highlight the plight of many people with autism within the BME community. Firstly, evidence about the prevalence of autism in various communities and its impact on family life is inconsistent. Evidence has highlighted that communities may not be aware of autism, their rights and relevant services. Finally, services that are available do not always meet the needs of these families.

For me personally, I have never thought about the link between ethnicity and disability and how a substantial amount of the autism community is currently facing double discrimination. I suppose this is more of a reflection of how insular the fight becomes for you on a daily basis that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Going to the event, was an opportunity for me to think about the greater impact current changes are, and most certainly will be, having on all of us. If members within our community are not able to access even the most basic help with regards to finding much needed support then we clearly are failing in our own roles as advocates and champions. I hope this event is one of many that will pave the way for highlighting this issue more and make accessibility to information that little bit easier.

I am delighted that we were able to get a substantial presence for autism within parliament and I am extremely hopeful that it will provide some much needed support to our fringe members who do on a daily basis feel even more marginalised.

PigPen tribute for Gabriel

PigPen held it’s first show in 9 months at the end of February in memory of it’s co-founder Gabriel Hardisty-Miller who passed away last year. It was held at the spiritual home of PigPen- The Macbeth, Hoxton. If you’ve been to The Macbeth and you’ve been to PigPen, you’ll know why.

Gabriel was the brilliant taste-maker and curator behind PigPen. He was a non-verbal young man with autism. During the four years of PigPen he chose a plethora of electric and excellent acts using his yes/no comm device. He was a tireless campaigner with the National Autistic Society, a role model for raising awareness and encouraging people to think differently about disability.

It was only fitting that all profits form the PigPen Memorial Show went to the NAS.

The proceedings kicked off with a poignant procession from Gabriel’s estate down the road to the Macbeth. The procession was part of the Dron Festival at Hundred Years Gallery, Gabriel’s famous PigPen throne (that he always sat on during the shows) was decorated with garlands of flowers and lights and processed with bell ringing family and friends.



From here the marathon of performances began. The first half of the show saw PP stalwarts Eddie Halliday, Robyn Steward, Bram Arnold, Captain Spoon and Charlotte Young take to the stage for acoustic and performance art sessions. Then followed a beautiful tribute to Gabriel by jazz singer Sarah Niles with Rob Grundel on keys. For anyone that remembers the Roy Davies Jr, Peven Everett dance floor classic- ‘Gabriel’, Sarah did the most moving version of this.

As ever, DJ’s Brian Turner (AKA Bram Arnold) and Good Grief kept the crowd bubbling in between acts with a trademark blend of soul, indie pop and odd music from their varied record collection. The vegan chilli ran out within the first couple of hours and there was the latest edition of ‘Snizz Comics’ by myself.

Christine Binnie (with help from Tom Madders of the NAS) ran the PigePen Art Raffle with gusto. With such a fantastic array of prizes it’s not surprising this alone raised £250. We had artworks by Robyn Steward, Lewis Heriz, Martin Kingdom and myself, Dean Atta’s debut poetry collection plus a £150 meal voucher at a fancy restaurant up for grabs. Needless to say, all prizes went to very happy winners!

The first half of the show ended with one of South London’s finest voices and began with the same- Mr Joel Culpepper (one to watch people), following him PigPen legend with a capital L- Tim Ten Yen, poet extraordinaire Dean Atta and despite motor troubles- Honkeyfinger with their trippy, sweltering blend of psych -swamp rock. How could we possibly fit in anymore you say? Well we did.

United Vibrations opened their set with their beautiful and moving piece ‘Don’t Be Sad’ and continued to uplift us all in a way only UV could. Finally DJ/Producer Noel Eeteks (who grew up in the house next door to Gabriel) took the helm on the ones and twos and saw PigPen well into the night.

Not only was this a very special night that managed to raise £520.60 in Gabriel’s name, it was also a show that saw Gabriel very much present. The acts he chose and nights he curated were an extension of his unique personality, it felt as though the PigPen Memorial Show was as close as we could get to having him with us again. It was a blast from an entertainment point of view, also spiritual to feel his presence again. A huge thanks to all involved- far too many to mention.

On a final note, many people have been asking me on the future of PigPen and Snizz comics, all I can say for now is watch this space….

Ben Connors

David's Art Exhibition

I began painting as a pastime in late 2006 so I had something to do in the run to the Christmas of that year after what had been a difficult year.

I began painting on Watercolour paper and even managed to do some paintings for my family as Christmas presents. Within 6 months I had "progressed" to painting on canvas using pallet knives in addition to the trusty paintbrush.  I was mainly doing abstract paintings as I was finding my way as my art skills developed.  In addition to the paintings I was attended free art classes including Jewelry Making & Pottery, skills at which I also became very good at. 

I was making jewelry for friends and members of my own family when it came to Birthdays and Christmas.

In 2007/2008? I held my first art exhibition which was covered by SLC in their newsletter at the time.  The exhibition was held at BBC Radio Lancashire and we appeared on "Gilly in the Afternoon" hosted by BBC Radio Lancashire Presenter John "Gilly" Gilmore and we discussed my paintings & Autism.  In the following years I displayed my paintings whenever the opportunity arose at various events & locations like Worden Arts Centre when I was involved with the now (sadly) defunct Shaw Trust Artworks.

In 2011 I sold a canvas painting of a church to a friend in Manchester.

When Pop Group Oasis released the music video "The Masterplan" I became interested & inspired in the paintings of L.S.Lowry who became famous for his paintings of industrial landscapes and of course "matchstalk men and matchstalk cats & dogs".  I began doing industrial landscapes and paintings of old mills & houses using an old maths drawing set and acrylic paints.  Whenever I was out & about I sometimes took pictures of interesting buildings & landscapes and these became a genesis for some paintings, even though I used a bit of my own artistic licence and continued to do some abstract paintings.  I'm a regular visitor to the Lowry Gallery on Salford Quays, Manchester.

Before Christmas 2012 I saw a chance to display my canvasses at Chorley Library and they agreed.  The exhibition runs from the 3rd - 16th January but could run until the 31st January.

All the paintings are for sale.

David Robinson
(Chorley)

Maz's fundraising diary

With my 40^th birthday approaching and feeling slightly dubious, I decided I wanted to do something that could make a difference. Something with depth and worthwhile. Asperger syndrome is something that is close to my heart and I wanted to raise awareness and funds for children on the autism spectrum.

My idea was to gather some close friends and organise a trek in Snowdonia on my birthday. With two months to plan the trip, I contacted The National Autistic Society and they kindly supported me with ideas and importantly with helping receive press coverage. The trek was a success and raised over £500.



Maz and his friends on their Snowdonia trek

With the first event under my belt, I didn’t want to stop there, so I decided to carry on and organise more activities. I set up my own charity page on various social networks to help raise more awareness of autism. My next mission was for me and a group of friends to visit ALL 20 Premier League clubs in just two days!

Although there are so many children on the spectrum who love to play and watch football, there are not many football coaching schemes suitable for them. Local football clubs are often unable to cater for young people with a disability who want to develop their footballing skills to get more enjoyment from the game, without necessarily aspiring to become professional. This means that many children are missing out on the opportunities that are open to non-disabled children.

We received some great responses from clubs such as Chelsea and Spurs, who invited us for exclusive VIP days at their grounds!

A VIP tour of White Hart Lane, Spurs’ ground

After visiting all the clubs in 33 hours, I then arranged an Auction Party to sell all the memorabilia we had collected on our tour. The items included a signed Spurs top, signed Chelsea football and a signed Pelé top!

On the night we managed to raise over £3000 and had a great time increasing awareness of autism.

Here is to more events in 2013!

Maz Ataie

Great work by AAN Ambassador Akib in Birmingham

Akib Qadir from Birmingham has been getting involved with what's happening in his home city. Over the past few months he has met with Birmingham's autism lead and has been writing a report on his personal experiences of diagnosis and trying to access support
 

At their meeting this month the Birmingham Autism Partnership Board discussed his report and the recommendations for change that he proposed. They are going to use this to strengthen and improve the local strategy that they are now drafting. They have also invited Akib to play a leading role in the public consultation they will be carrying out on their local strategy in the new year.

Akib has also now approach by a member of the National Programme Board who is keen to hold a similar discussion on his report at a national level.

Commenting on his success with the Partnership Board, Akib said "It's really good to be involved in the heart of the decision making process as no decision about autism must be made with out us."

Scottish trade union support better employment opportunities for people with autism

Earlier this year, NAS campaigner David Nicholson had a very positive meeting with Terry Anderson from the Scottish Trade Union Congress. Here's what he had to say about it:

 

 

This summer, I was accompanied by Robert MacBean, the NAS Policy and Parliamentary Officer in Scotland, to a meeting with Terry Anderson from the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) in Edinburgh.

The meeting came about after I did a dissertation on the issue of autism and employment. The research  looked at possible ways of how we could get more people with autism into employment and retain that employment. One of these ways was getting the trade union movement involved in helping get people with autism into the workplace. Therefore it was decided that meeting someone from the STUC would be the best way to seeing what, if anything, the trade union movement could do to help and if there were anything that they were doing presently which was helping people with autism get into work.

Terry was keen to listen to the points that Robert and myself put across on the issue under discussion. I emphasised the fact that only 15% of people with Autism were in any kind of employment, either full-time or part-time. I was also keen to stress to Terry that people with Autism often faced bullying within the workplace from fellow colleagues as well as the employers themselves. I stressed that this was down to a lack of awareness of the condition and that perhaps there could be a role for the trade unions in helping ensure that employers and employees were made aware of autism.

Terry understood my concern and highlighted that employees within the workplace could get support or assistance from the union if they were getting bullied by fellow workers or their bosses. If they weren’t in a union, then what happened was that they could phone up for assistance but this only lasted for a period of a year or so before that helped ceased. If the employee wanted to receive further help after that period then they had to join the relevant union for example Unite, GMB or Unison amongst others.

Terry also said that he was aware of the union helping a few people with autism out when it came to employment tribunal hearings but I was glad to hear that these were rare occurances and that often things were settled before they reached the tribunal stage

Terry made one point which really excited me that perhaps in order to ensure that the workplace becomes a more autism friendly place that employees with autism (who were in a union) could become union reps (shop stewards) so that they could then help fellow employees with autism but to also help make employees and employers understand autism more. I think this is an idea which has got potential and I would certainly give serious consideration to becoming a union rep if I were to find work.

 
Robert also informed Terry of the on-going campaign being run by the NAS entitled The Undiscovered Workforce and I hope that the STUC can play a role within that campaign. Before the meeting ended Terry stated that there was an STUC Disabled Workers Committee which also held an annual conference and he recommended that this was perhaps another channel that both Robert and myself could explore further.

Overall, it was a very positive meeting and I look forward, along with Robert, to having further dialogue with the STUC in the near future.