Happy New Year!

Welcome back to Adventures with Autism Works after what I am sure has been a much needed festive break for us all. First of all, Happy New Year for 2012 to you all and I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years' Eve, without eating and drinking too much! Such are the temptations during the festive season with all the chocolate and mulled wine around!


On a personal note, I can happily say that I had a busy but highly enjoyable Christmas, starting with the media work with Tyne Tees and BBC Radio Newcastle in the run-up to the festive season and getting my Christmas shopping done in time for the big day. One of the highlights of Christmas for me, and certainly the most laughable, was watching Mrs Bucket on the QE2 on Christmas Eve in a classic episode of Keeping Up Appearances* from 1993. It is said that some of the best comedy is the world seen through different eyes, including Asperger eyes, I especially find it hilarious when figures of speech are interpreted literally! Keeping Up Appearances is enjoyed by many other people with Asperger's Syndrome whom I have met. For me, the moment when Mrs Bucket point out that there are two empty seats at the captain's table, but the waiter the tells her that they are taken and the expression on her face when it is her sister Daisy and her layabout brother-in-law Onslow that turn up is just magic!


My New Year, I can also happily say, was a very peaceful one. One of the first things that many of us think about once a new calendar year is rung in is resolutions. From my mindfulness practice though, which I have been doing much of over the holiday period, I have understood that what has often been a source of anxiety for me is my 'list' of things that I would like to do, to attain as well as places to visit, not least because it takes me out of the present, as well as distracts me from priorities in hand. So rather than set out to do a list of things in 2012, if I have anything that resembles a 'New Year's Resolution', it is to live in the year as it unfolds month by month, week by week, day by day from moment to moment.


Immediate priorities at Autism Works include continuing to work with Sunderland Software City as well as marketing ourselves to hopefully win ourselves some more testing contracts. Within my role, my immediate priorities include putting together applications to the Flexibility Support Fund and also to the Deloitte Social Innovation Award, which if we attain it can attract funding. We are also in the process of awaiting an outcome to a funding bid to the Gatsby Fund, a Sainsbury Charitable Foundation Fund.


To see how 2012 unfolds at Autism Works, stay tuned. 


All the best for 2012,
Chris


*No matter how many times I watch Keeping Up Appearances, I still can't help feeling sorry for poor Richard!

Boy's Weekend & Season's Greetings

As a special treat for Christmas, I am giving readers of this blog a special Christmas present of a second entry this week, an early present for the big day arrives on Sunday.

In my last entry, I mentioned that the festive cheer didn’t end with the feature for Tyne Tees and the carols service, as there was something else that came early this Christmas, which also reflects one of the social aspects that we had hoped to develop at Autism Works. Instead of writing about common themes in this entry such as reasonable adjustments , recruitment processes, software testing techniques etc. to get us all into festive spirit I am going to focus on the social aspects of working at Autism Works, especially since our employee base has grown since this time last year.

Having experienced high-level social isolation as well as rejection, something that I have found during my adventure with Autism Works is that one of the best ways out of these two states for many people with Asperger’s Syndrome is through access to employment that not only matches their skills and qualifications, but just as importantly, where they feel included and valued. Last week, for the first time, I went on a ‘boy's weekend’ to Prague in the Czech Republic with a colleague from Autism Works, Daniel, who joined us as a software test analyst earlier in the year. The Czech Republic is famous for beer, but before anyone gets excited, for Daniel and I it wasn’t that kind of boy's weekend!

For Daniel, the trip to Prague was a big step, as it was the first time that he had been overseas other than with his family, opening him up to a new world, while for me it is something that I am largely used to. Something that we both had in common on this trip though was that it was our first time in Prague for both of us. Despite a bit of a false start when Dan inadvertently found out that the Post Office had given him the wrong currency, giving him Danish Kronas rather than Czech Karunas, once we got it sorted we both thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I had been told beforehand that Prague was supposed to be quite spectacular at Christmas, and indeed the city lived up to such suggestions. The Christmas Markets in the Old Town Square were beautiful.

Christmas Markets in the Old Town Square, Prague

While in Prague, we met with a friend of mine who lives in Prague, Barbora Studihiradova, with whom I had done the Routeburn Trek in New Zealand back in 2010. 

Me, Daniel and Barbora at the Czech Inn Hostel, Prague

While doing this trek, little did I know that back home, Autism Works was little more than a twinkle in the eyes of Peter Macdonald and Lesley Lane, Chief Executive of ESPA. Little over a year later, the inception and progression of Autism Works has provided me with a job that I enjoy and where, most importantly, I feel that my quality of life has improved dramatically, as I highlighted in the Tyne Tees feature, as well as introducing me to new people, including Daniel, to whom Autism Works and ESPA through giving him his Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis has introduced to a completely new world after a period of personal difficulties.

The Routeburn Trek , New Zealand, 2010. Barbora is standing next to me to my right behind the sign

All staff at Autism Works as well as all those who have been involved with the company would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2012, when this blog will resume again.

Season's Greetings Everyone!

Following on from our Tyne Tees feature, Peter and I did an interview for BBC Radio Newcastle this week, which you can listen to clicking here Jump to 37.16 

Tyne Tees and Christmas Carols

Seasons Greetings and welcome back to Adventures with Autism Works. You may be wondering why you are getting a blog entry from me on Monday rather than on Friday is because Christmas came early last week for Autism Works!

Last week was one of the most interesting and exciting weeks that I have had at Autism Works, as we made it onto regional television! A feature about Autism Works was shown on ITV Tyne Tees' North East Tonight, in which I talked about difficulties that people with Asperger's Syndrome often experience when trying to obtain employment as well as the effect that it has on their quality of life, before later talking about how, at the same time, people with Asperger's Syndrome can make really good employees if given a role that suits their skills and abilities. Meanwhile, Peter went over the statistics of adults on the autistic spectrum in the UK not in employment as well as the effects that this has on the public purse, costing the UK over £2 billion per year, a hugely unnecessary cost when one considers that many of the 85 per cent of adults on the autistic spectrum are not only willing to work, but also often have a lot of unused skills and abilities to bring to the marketplace.

Paul Shattock, ESPA's Chairman and President of the World Autism Organisation (for whom Peter and I did a presentation for at the Stadium of Light in December), then went on to say how vital initiatives such as Autism Works are with so many more children and young people now being diagnosed with ASC much earlier in life for when they reach adulthood. If you missed it, you can view this feature on ITV Player by clicking here

While the feature was being screened, I was at a Christmas Carols Service at St Mary's Church in Newcastle. The service was hosted by Alfie Joey from BBC Radio Newcastle, on whose show I have had the privilege of appearing twice, including to review the stage version of Rainman two years ago. You could certainly see how much Alfie loves Christmas in the way he hosted the service so enthusiastically and I was delighted when he recognised the Autism Works logo on my shirt! 

With Alfie Joey from BBC Radio Newcastle

The appropriately-named Inspiration Choir gave a great performance of our favourite carols with the audience joining in. In between the signing, there were some readings from local media personalities, including television presenter and author John Grundy, who gave a reading from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, bringing the story to life wonderfully well before Hannah Bayman, from BBC Look North's Weather Team gave a very passionate reading from Luke after, earlier in the week, doing the Look North weather forecast on ice skates! 

With Hannah Bayman from the BBC Look North Weather Team

All the proceeds raised from the service went to Save the Children. But the festive cheer didn't end there - far from it. In keeping with the spirit of Christmas, I am offering readers a special treat this week with a second entry later in the week. Stay tuned to see what came next. In the meantime, Merry Christmas everybody!

Autism Works would like to thank John Hart from Sunderland Software City and Derek Proud from Tyne Tees for their work in giving Autism Works airtime on Tyne Tees. 

Autism in Mind Birthday Celebrations, the Olympics and Euro 2012

Welcome back to Adventures with Autism Works. last Friday, Peter and I attended an event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Autism in Mind (AIM), a Sunderland-based support group whose mission is to both support people with ASC and their families and raise awareness of ASC. Through my work, I have had the privilege of visiting and working with many autism charities, and something that many of them have in common is that they have originated from the hard work and dedication of families affected by ASC.

When AIM and many other regional autism charities started out at around the close of the last century, which was also around the time of my own diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, awareness of Asperger's Syndrome was, for the main part, minimal. Ten years on though, we have seen some quite remarkable advances in ASC awareness, to the point where people with considerable influence at regional and national level, including councillors and members of parliament, have taken notice. That this is possible has largely been down to dedicated individuals such as Carole and Terry Rutherford who were instrumental in starting AIM.

In 2002, when AIM was in its infancy, Terry too a 2,500 mile trip around the UK collecting 6500 signatures for the group's Call for Action campaign. This campaign was the used to petition parliament for change. As well Terry at AIM, Kevin Healey, Chair of Staffordshire Adult Autistic Society, has also played a huge role in obtaining signatures to put before parliament to campaign for much-needed change in relation to ASC. For all his tireless work for the cause, we are delighted at Autism Works to hear that Kevin has been selected to carry the Olympic Torch during its 80-day tour of the UK before the London Olympics open.

Though thanks to the efforts of such dedicated groups or people, ASC awareness is so much stronger than it was when AIM began, there is still much to be done. One of the next steps is to raise further ASC awareness within employers across all sectors - public, private and third. Hopefully, I can contribute to this with both Autism Works and through the Sunderland Autism Working Group's Employment Sub-Group, which I have taken up a role within to help plan an event to bring together a range of major employers within the region to promote the benefits of employing people with ASC.

On the theme of sport, I sat through the razmataz of the draw for Euro 2012 which takes place in the Ukraine and Poland just before the Olympics open in London around this time last week, waiting to see who would be playing who in the first round. England were drawn into, what I felt was, potentially a tricky group with France, Sweden and the co-hosts the Ukraine. I will be supporting England at heart as it is my home nation, but I am not expecting anything special given their largely pathetic record at major international tournaments. Personally, I think that one of two things might happen, that they either have as poor a campaign as they had at the 2010 World Cup or they may uncover a new star that inspires good performances for a change, perhaps like Paul Gascoigne emerged as a new star the last time England enjoyed an extensive run in a tournament on foreign soil at the 1990 World Cup - such great memories!

To see how awareness of ASC continues to unfold, be sure to stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works.

Many congratulations to Kevin Healey on being selected as an Olympic Torch Bearer

Bids and Training

This week at Autism Works has seen me giving some training at Connexions in Sunderland and starting on putting together another funding bid, this time to Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneer Fund. Readers of this blog will be familiar with the themes of 'coming out of your comfort zone' and 'thinking outside the box'. From the training session that I coordinated with Connexions, both myself and the Connexions staff agreed that these two themes play a key part in understanding Asperger's Syndrome as well as coping with it, including tailoring recruitment tools to accommodate people with Asperger's Syndrome.

My last entry was largely about how people with Asperger's Syndrome spend much time operating outside their comfort zone. In addition to this, I also often find, and chances are that those with Asperger's Syndrome reading this entry may perhaps also feel this, that to function effectively it can take quite a bit of effort to think outside the 'Asperger Bubble', which to some extent can influence thoughts and actions, as well as being able to read other people. But when doing an activity with the Connexions staff on forming suitable questions to ask candidates with Asperger's Syndrome in a job interview, the staff were first to admit just how hard it is, as it takes a lot of thinking outside the 'professional bubble' that they are used to working within to make such adjustments.

Readers may also remember that two sample interview questions that we like to talk about have have a good chuckle over at Autism Works when we talk about this subject are:

How would you describe yourself as a 'good communicator' at all levels?


What sets you apart from the other candidates as to why you are the best person for the job?

As I am sure most will agree, they are both pretty stupid questions, not least because the first question contains the vague statement 'good communicator'. When I asked the staff about how they would rephrase these questions so that they made more sense to a candidate with Asperger's Syndrome, the first thing that they admitted was how hard it was. It is particularly hard as they have to think from the perspective of the Asperger's Syndrome candidate, and how they would interpret and answer such questions. Suggestions that they came up with included explaining what they meant by terms such as 'good communicator' or 'good team player'. Though these suggestions are helpful, what it is often best to do where possible is to make interview questions as specific to the job that the candidate has applied for as possible.

Often, when talking about previous job interview experience, in hindsight most of us seem to agree that many of the questions we have been asked in such situations are irrelevant to the job we have applied for. Often, for a person with Asperger's Syndrome learning how to succeed at a job interview is the hard part, more so than learning how to do a job. An analogy that Grayson, our Test Manager, used was how when you are 'learning to drive', you are learning to pass your driving test more so than drive on the road.

I am progressing steadily with pulling the company's Operational Manual together, including the company's recruitment policy and I am also revisiting previous funding applications that we have put in to help prepare for the bid to Deloitte. Elsewhere, now that it is coming towards the end of November, I am starting to prepare for Christmas as well as planning on entering Mastermind again. Be sure to watch this space to see how this progresses.

Beginner's Mind and Pudsey Bear

Last week, I talked about coming out of comfort zones, something which many people with Asperger's Syndrome, including myself, feel that they spend much of their time doing. This theme has been talked about quite a lot in Asperger forums within the social networks this week, with one comment suggesting that because people with Asperger's Syndrome spend so much time operating outside their comfort zone that it creates low-level anxiety that can result in a weaker immune system. In this entry, I am going to go a little further looking at how coming out of your comfort zone can develop Beginners Mind, a useful strategy when learning new tasks.

In relation to Asperger tendencies, including with the positive aspects of the condition such as curiosity in searching for information and good memory to store knowledge, facts and figures, it is often so difficult to put it aside for a while, to the extent that one may loose touch with what it is like to be new to something. As readers of this blog will know, I have personally found mindfulness practice, including meditation and basic yoga helpful for this. But even within such techniques, I have found that it can be easy to stay with a practice formula which becomes one's comfort zone to the extent that there are different elements of practice that get lost. 

Over the last week though, I have found that it is helpful to explore the practice from a beginners' perspective by revisiting techniques that I don't practice as regularly as others. One of the advantages that mindfulness practice has to help develop the refreshing quality of beginners mind is that there is a huge range of techniques, including over 80,000 known movements in Yoga, so there is plenty of scope for revisiting enabling different and new experiences. Just by revisiting a technique or movement that one practices perhaps infrequently,  we can experience what it is like to start or attempt something that is unusual or new to us.

Since working on our first contract at Autism Works, uncharted territory for the company, it has brought some new tasks and duties to my role as Operational Manager, including processing costs of sales spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel. When approaching learning new or different tasks, applying beginners' mind not only helps one be present with learning the task, but also helps one to un-learn methods and put any knowledge and expertise aside where necessary, so that old habits don't interfere too much. 

Where I find beginner's mind particularly helpful though is when I am giving training as much as when I am receiving it, which helps me when understanding the perspectives of who I am providing training for much better. When one has done something for a number of years and accumulates a high volume of knowledge and experience, this can be become a handicap when it cuts one off from new experiences and understandings of a particular subject, including Asperger's Syndrome. Approaching the subject from a beginners perspective often allows me to learn as much from the audience I am training as they learn from me.

Today is Children in Need day, which reminds me of something that I used to get a lot of fun out of doing in my previous job - dressing up as Pudsey Bear! Disguised as Pudsey, I would scour Durham County Hall with two students from Durham Trinity School for donations, and we broke the record quite a few times! When people asked who was in the bear suit, the students would say that this this is Pudsey Bear himself, so that I could get away with making rude gestures at the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive! Unfortunately, at Autism Works we don't have a bear suit, though I have done my bit this year purchasing a BBC Look North Weather Calendar, the proceeds of which will go to a very worthy course. If you would like to purchase one of these calendars with some lovely images of the North East of England, click on Pudsey below:

Applying beginner's mind may also hopefully help me with writing future blog entries, to find some relevant new approaches. Be sure to stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works for more refreshed approaches and to tune into Pudsey on the BBC tonight.


Autism Works would also like to thank everybody who has donated or been involved in fundraising for  Children in Need 2011 

Testing and coming out of Comfort Zones

This week has been quite a testing week for me and the team at Autism Works. Using the word ‘testing’ seems quite appropriate working for a software testing firm! When I say testing I don’t necessarily mean that it has been a difficult week, but rather a learning curve in that I am learning new processes within my capacity as Operational Manager. In one sense though, when new duties are beginning to find their way into my role, it gives me a feeling of how my job is developing, as the company grows.

Despite the extensive mindfulness practice that I have undertaken over the last two years including meditation practice and basic yoga, it still sometimes takes me quite some effort to come out of my comfort zone in working environments and I have in particular noticed my tendency to ‘shy away’ from numbers! This tendency perhaps partly relates to me not being used to working with numbers as much as I am with letters and words as well as being hopeless at maths when I was at school, contrary to the stereotype that people with Asperger’s Syndrome are good at maths!

This week, I have been learning how to do Cost of Sales spreadsheets to calculate the profitability of the work we have been carrying out. From my previous blog entries, you may remember me talking about how developments in history rarely occur in isolation. Such processes are also visible in the development of an enterprise, especially if the enterprise is one that is breaking relatively new ground like Autism Works. Acquiring our first contracts from clients has seen us adapting to different ways of working in line with the clients’ requirements as well as bringing me new tasks, for which I have to learn new processes and, in some cases, unlearn old habits. The combination of learning and un-learning helps one revisit task and duties that may not have been undertaken in a while, from where skills so often get lost.

As well as shying away from numbers, I have also noticed that I have a tendency to procrastinate over software packages that I am not familiar with, largely because I don’t use them as much as others particularly Microsoft Excel. I am confident though that the more I use it regularly, I will become more accustomed to it. As the cost of sales spreadsheet that I am working on is our first, so it is a process where we will very likely have to learn from mistakes to get it right for our business.

Elsewhere, since my last blog entry, I have been in situations where I am largely within my comfort zone, giving training on Asperger’s Syndrome to staff at ESPA, which ironically involves interactive activities where staff are encouraged to come out of their comfort zone to experience  what it may be like to have Asperger’s Syndrome, which is often quite fun! In the meantime, stay tuned to New Aspie Horizons for the latest developments in the world of Autism Works.

Autism Works staff would like to take this opportunity to pay our respects for Remeberance Sunday this coming weekend.