My name is Jenn and I am autistic. It could however just be that my name is autistic and I am Jenn. You see both these concepts are interchangeable in my head; existing the same space. They join my other identities as a mum, a fashion designer, a digital marketing professional, a business owner and…
Air and light and time and space: how successful academics write (a book review)
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…
Social change, and how it is like making sand.
This week, alongside several other people, I am about to embark and what will probably turn into a lengthy and complex complaint regarding my treatment within the NHS. This is sadly the third time I have had to undertake such a journey. The previous two related to both my experience as an inpatient and also…
My United Kingdom travels
In amongst all the Brexit anxiety and heightened awareness of the climate damage that air travel causes I have tried to spend more time exploring the United Kingdom this summer, rather than relying on the old fall back of a cheap package holiday. Time away this summer break has been particularly important. Last summer, most…
Support spaces in Derby
There are umpteen different local and national phone lines available for people who are experiencing distress or looking for someone to talk to, but having been in this situation myself these can often feel lacking. I have recently become aware of several community based projects specifically designed to support the citizens of Derby face-to-face, at…
Derby’s food heroes
Having lived in Derby, albeit in two houses now for nearly seven years, I am reaching the watershed where it will overtake, in the next eighteen months, the places I have previously spent the longest in my life. I have had a rather nomadic existence up until now but overall I like Derby. It has…
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…
DLINKS library logo
Derbyshire is a large county with a diverse spread of population and geography. Much of this is covered by the Derbyshire Community Foundation Trust, whose staff can struggle to reach a medical library in the course of their work, given commuting time. Collaborating to solve this problem, the three library services across the different trusts…
The beginning…
This… Researchers cannot assign value to one meaning without acknowledging the role that they personally play within this construction (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). Qualitative research has usefully attempted to acknowledge this limitation through reflexivity (MacBeth, 2001; Willig, 2001). Reflexive research requires an awareness of the researcher’s contribution to the construction of meaning and the improbability of remaining neutral,…
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…