Given I am about to begin writing my dissertation the process of ‘how’ to write, as in, finding the time, space, company, motivation and craft to write are of interest to me. Writing has always been an agonising, if increasingly more rewarding process, as I find my own style and confidence in the feedback that…
Category: Autistic
The ethics of ethics
So I have to make my position very clear here. I am in no way denying the need for an independent ethics approval process, within either the academy or the NHS. The need to ensure absolute protection for vulnerable groups and individuals is paramount. Ethics reviews also ensure research methodologies and rationale are robust. As…
Autism Dialogue Conference 2018
This year I have participated in the Autism Dialogue programme developed by Jonny Drury, in Sheffield, based upon Bohm Dialogue principles that are widely used in business and academia. The inaugural conference took place on the 14th December 2018 and I was invited to speak about the impression that AD had on me. The process…
People are more than their diagnoses.
“It was this prognosis of doom, this life sentence, this death before death that I instinctively rejected when the words “You are wrong” formed silently within me. With the wisdom of hindsight I understand why this moment in the psychiatrist’s office was a major turning point in my recovery process. When I rejected the prognosis of doom…
Dialogical practice
The idea of dialogue, in relation to my developing professional practice, and also within my research work, seems to be occurring more and more frequently. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a dialogue as either: A conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film. ‘the book consisted of a series…
NHS England ‘Act, Listen, Do’ event – March 19th 2018
Today I attended the first meeting with the wider NHS England Autism team, which I would describe as small but perfectly formed. I had already spoken to Sarah Jackson on Twitter, and also met Aaron Oxford after speaking at Skipton House in London but this was my chance to meet the rest of their colleagues…
Sexual Health & Disability Alliance – 12th March 2018.
Today I was invited to speak at the the first SHADA event of 2018, which has a specific focus on the autism spectrum and sexuality intersection. This is of growing interest to me, but the original invitation was extended last summer in June. The timing was auspicious to say the least. The event was attended…
South Derbyshire CCG ‘personal health budget’ video
“Jen agreed to be filmed to talk about her lived experience of a personal health budget. Jen not only articulated the positive outcomes of the experience, but was able to provide some valuable insight into how to make the process better. Jen comes from a marketing background and was also able to review the film…
Coming up for breath.
The last few weeks have been completely crazy and I’ve barely had enough time to sleep, let alone take stock and write. I have been involved in so many things, so many amazing pieces of work that it’s a bit tricky to know where to begin, so I’m going to start with a few highlights….
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – access to reproductive services for disabled women
The venue was the college itself in London, a building lined with rather magisterial portraits of former alumni and professors. The conference covered all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, from sex education in schools, through to family planning and contraceptives, via pregnancy, labour and birth, with some stop-offs around the menopause and also sex…