It's that time of the year coming up when we can all take part in raising awareness about autism and maybe do a little fundraising too. Not that we shouldn't be doing that all year round but this week, between the 1st and 7th April the National Autistic Society have set up some events for everyone to enter into.

You can sign up for a free pack which will give you lots of information and which also includes a spectrum cake recipe from Jane Asher, a quiz from The Chase's Anne Hegerty and a fun wildlife sweepstake poster from NAS ambassador Chris Packham.

Sign up soon for the Spectrum Night Walks which are taking place on the 6th April in London, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and Glasgow. A fun way to raise money but the last chance to sign up is on Monday 25th March  so dust off those walking shoes quickly.

You can push yourself to the Virtual Challenge - 7K for 700K where you could cycle, run, or swim 7K for the 700,000 autistic people in the UK. This can take place anywhere you want all you need to do is book on the NAS website to enable you to receive support, information and the all important medal at the end of your challenge. You could even have your own medal awarding ceremony to finish off.

If you work in school then sign up for a free schools pack The primary resources include the Trummies - six colourful characters celebrating difference and diversity and the secondary resources feature Niall Aslam from Love Island who is autistic. When you sign up you can be entered into a prize draw for a school visit from Anne Hegerty so get raising all your trivia and become quizzing experts in preparation, just in case.

Phew, what a lot to do....for all the information about Autism Awareness Week just go to the National Autistic Society Website here at:
www.autism.org.uk

Thank for reading today and hope you can get involved in some way. I will be back tomorrow for Pass the Remote Sunday but for now......

Take care.

It's been World Autism Awareness this week and I seem to have been hooked on grabbing more information about the Autism world with regard to Women. It all started with wanting to find a good book to read about Women and Autism so I went for 'Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder' by Sarah Hendrickx. I am still reading this so I will review it properly in a future post but it is brilliant. It is a big eye opener as I don't think we have realised just how differently women present themselves with Autism. This has a massive effect on life, diagnosis and general experiences. I am amazed.

I then watched the Channel 4 Documentary 'Are You Autistic' which mainly featured women and girls but did involve two people, one male, one female who go through the diagnosis process. I loved this programme, I felt quite connected with it. It made me realise how some of the women's behaviour felt quite familiar. Certain situations such as going out to be sociable and not really seeing the point of small talk made me smile and the speed dating scenario was a revelation when it demonstrated how easy women masked their Autistic traits. I don't want to give too much away if you've not seen it so if you want more information about the programme go to the NAS website here at:
www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/media-centre/news/2018-28-03-are-you-autistic.aspx 
You can catch up with the programme if you missed it on All 4.

I felt quite emotional really as someone who has a feeling that something hasn't made sense along the path of life in many ways. So for even more information I decided to sign up to the new training module provided by the National Autistic Society about Women and Girls. 

Wow, I want to stay in this course forever as I feel quite at home with all the information in it and the comments from people such as Dr Judith Gould, Sarah Hendrickx, Lana Grant and Tony Attwood It's as if someone has just written my life story, well a fair bit. It's amazing and I have to thank one of the contributors to this module who is our very own Lorraine MacAlister, she is Trainer and Consultant with the NAS and all round lovely lady. It is fascinating and well worth doing if you have an interest here. It is aimed to support clinicians and professionals initially but it has so much useful information for anyone really. 

I don't absorb information very well most of the time although I do have a go and some studying but this I can really take in. It's probably because I'm really interested. I'm terrible when reading books as I tend to zone out and think about other things, I end up having to back track to contuse with the book. Talk about life getting the way!!

This module is free for a year thanks to the Pears Foundation who have kindly funded this project. So go and take advantage of it. You will need 120 minutes of your time but once you set up an account, you can complete it in stages to make it easier. 

It certainly shakes things up regarding Autism. I didn't realise how much us women can mask or camouflage our behaviour and it's no surprising that women get mis diagnosed or Autism goes unrecognised. It's time for change. 

I feel a massive amount of gratitude to those who have brought this to life and worked on these projects whether it's books, tv and training. It's certainly gave me a lot of food for thought.

So if you would like information on how you can sign up for the Women and Girls Module go to the NAS website here at:
www.autism.org.uk/professionals/training-consultancy/online/women-and-girls.aspx

It has all the information you need such as what is involved and who is also involved, I can really recommend it. 

Thanks for reading today, I hope you've had a great World Autism Awareness Week doing lots of lovely things to raise awareness. I will be back tomorrow for Pass the Remote Sunday so until then take care.

Last week I mentioned that I was going to be attending an event run by a charity called Sunshine Support regarding legal help with EHCP - the Education Health Care Plan. The EHCP is a legal document which takes over from the Statement of Special Needs and is put in place within an education setting to help a child or young person receive support and enable their needs to be met. 

Nathan Davies from HCB Solicitors was on hand last week at The Roundhouse in Derby to give advice to parents who are having a really difficult time with certain issues regarding this process. There were alot parents, too many in fact that are just not getting the EHCP in the allotted time given, it may lack detail in it's presentation and some people even come up against a brick wall when applying for one. 

Apparently although Derby City Council feel they are on target to get all the EHCP's transferred over by the deadline in April there are a lot of people who would disagree. We had to wait a long time for ours to be completed but then it was rushed through for when my son transitioned to college post 16. It then took a while to bring the plan up to date as a lot of information was years out of date regarding his situation. It did get done eventually but there are families who are going through a terrible ordeal. This has not only led to stress within the family unit but can create massive mental health issues for the young person themselves as they may not be supported in the correct way within their education setting.

It was an eye opener really and the advice Nathan gave was very good. I too got some advice and another contact to get in touch with regarding my  situation with post 18 legal help. I am going to seek this advice and hopefully put something in place for adulthood. If you get a chance to go to any talks given by HCB Solicitors or forthcoming events provided by Sunshine Support then do go as they are all very friendly and will help you.

You can find Sunshine Support on their Facebook Page at:
www.facebook.com/SunshineSupportCIC/

and if you need to contact HCB Solicitors you can get more information on their website at:
​www.hcbgroup.com

Don't forget that Autism Awareness Week starts next week from 26th March to the 2nd April - if you would like more information about this and how you can get involved go to The National Autistic Society website here at :
www.autism.org.uk

Have a great week of raising awareness!!

Take care and I will catch you tomorrow for Pass the Remote.