Growing a Social Enterprise, Colour Coding and Monsters

With it being the holiday season, August tends to be rather a quiet month in many respects, hence the lack of activity here on Adventures with Autism Works. As some may have seen in blogging activity elsewhere on the Jessica Kingsley Publishers blog, my personal emphasis throughout the summer has been on continuing mindfulness practice as well with training for my upcoming trek to Kilimanjaro, which is now less than a month away. The arrival of September though has already brought some interesting experiences and developments.

This week, I have been across to Merseyside to give some training on mindfulness practice and Asperger's Syndrome to Wirral Autistic Society, an organisation similar in some ways to ESPA, who provide educational and residential services to adults on the autistic spectrum, including Asperger's Syndrome. It had felt like quite some time since I did my last talk, so I had wondered if I may come across as 'rusty', but largely thanks to a very understanding audience, I managed to find flow through the talk given in two parts, the first being around the relationship between Asperger's Syndrome and the effects of mindfulness, and then in the second, some simple mindfulness practice exercises.

Later in the day, I also got to hear Dean Beadle speak about his experiences of Asperger's Syndrome, which was highly entertaining, so much for any stereotypes that suggest people on the autistic spectrum don't have a sense of humour. Being ten years younger than myself, an advantage that Dean has is that he is closer to his childhood, including his school experiences than I am now. Despite the hardships he went through during these years, what I was so impressed with about Dean's speech was how he was able to recall it with such humour, as well as without laying blame to anyone from his past, even professionals who unofficially diagnosed him as a monster! Feedback from  the audience though suggests that that 'monster' has evolved into an inspiration!

Wirral Autistic Society Garden Centre at Bromborough Rake

Those who follow Autism Works on Facebook may recall various comments about extending employment and meaningful activities for adults on the autistic spectrum beyond IT. An encouraging sign that I was shown at Wirral Autistic Society that this is being taken into account is with social enterprise that they are growing in more ways than one - a garden centre that provides employment and meaningful activity opportunities for their service users The visit tied in nicely with what I was talking about as regards to noticing the effects of mindfulness practice which are more likely to take shape in plant time than in clock time. Such an approach can also be therapeutic for people on the autistic spectrum in a working environment. Gardening is an activity liked by many people with Asperger's Syndrome I have met as a garden provides a personal space for them in which to step back from the flow. In this way it is a good activity in which to practice and cultivate mindfulness, while plant cultivation takes place.

Colour-coded pricing system

From a practical perspective, the garden centre has also found that adjustments implemented and innovations developed to accommodate the needs of people on the autistic spectrum can also have benefits for those not on the autistic spectrum. to help accommodate aspects of autism such as visual thinking and need for routine, staff at the garden centre follow visual timetables, including colour-co-ordination, similar to the software testing flow diagrams on the office walls at Autism Works. An innovation that has helped customers when coming to the centre to buy plants is a colour-coding system for pricing of plants.  

Just like giving my first talk and workshop for quite some time felt, writing my first Autism Works blog entry has taken some effort, but once I find flow with something, it generally starts to come together and appear much clearer to me. Hopefully I will find flow for challenges and commitments I have in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works to see how this unfolds.

I am due to fly out to Tanzania for my Kilimanjaro challenge in aid of the Daisy Chain project, supporting families affected by autism, on September 29th 2013. Donations can still be made at my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/ 

The Lindisfarne Gospels, Adult Badgers, Turtles, Snails and Geldard's Quiz

In what seems to have been an ever-eventful last few weeks, my latest instalment here on Blogspot sees me visit the theatre to find out about a funny thing that happened on the way to Durham before learning some interesting facts about animals, including snails, turtles and adult badgers. Back in the office, meanwhile, I am getting to grips with Salesforce, the cloud computing customer relationship (CRM) management product, to help with marketing Autism Works to potential clients.

Viktoria Kay, Robert Hudson and Chris Connel

To coincide with the visit of the Lindisfarne Gospels to Durham, playwrights have put together A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Durham, a hilarious play with a touch of Terry Deary's popular series Horrible Histories to it, charting the gospels' origin to their journey from Lindisfarne to Durham to escape Viking raiders in the 8th century AD all the way up to the present. Starring Chris Connel, Viktoria Kay and Robert Hudson, who take on various roles within the show throughout 1,500 years of British history, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Durham, manages to do what William Shakespeare described as compressing years into an hourglass as well as combine education with comedy!

Various themes were used in sketches to describe key events in British history including a Brian Clough spoof of King Harold, with an arrow through his eye, describing how his tactics let him down at the Battle of Hastings and blamed fixture congestion of battles up at York and and at Stamford Bridge for the defeat by William the Conqueror and then the cast appearing under the guise of the Strollin' Bones rock band touring the North of England with the Gospels until the reached Durham! My personal favourite bits though were the Ken Dodd impersonations about how St Cuthbert went to the library to ask for a book about American Indians, and the librarian said: 'Do you have a reservation'!

With Ian Geldard, of Geldard's Quiz

What the audience and critics were most intrigued about though was how the Lindisfarne Gospels were equivalent in weight to an adult badger. At a quiz night, hosted by the highly entertaining Ian Geldard at the Salvin Arms in Spennymoor, County Durham, I learned some more quirky, though interesting facts about animals. As well as testing your knowledge, quizzes are also great for picking up knowledge. Geldard's Quiz format includes a round called the 'surprise round', which answers true or false questions, where the answers genuinely do spring a few surprises. from this round I found out that snails can sleep continuously for as long as three years and that turtles can breathe through their backsides!

Geldard's Quiz also ran a raffle to help raise much-needed funds for the Daisy Chain project courtesy of some generous prize donations by Sainsbury's, Morrison's and Saks Hair and Beauty. Ian, who delivered the quiz, also gives talks on autism from the sibling's perspective regarding his brother Mark who has autism and is also one of Durham County Council's youngest county councillors to add to his many talents.When I first heard Ian speak about his experiences of growing up with Mark, who has classic autism (at the more severe end of the autistic spectrum) it helped open me up to how autism, including Asperger's Syndrome, affects not just the individual on the autistic spectrum, but others around them, particularly their immediate family, and their perceptions. When growing up, Ian wondered why his brother had different food at meal times and why he went to a different school. The Geldard family are a huge inspiration to me as to how they make every effort to help Mark lead as fulfilling and as independent a life as is possible for him, despite the challenges that come along the way.

As shown by the Geldards, understanding within families affected by autism is important. Access to the right support for families can make a huge difference in enabling this. Of services that Daisy Chain provides is a group for autism siblings, where they can share thought and feelings, which can be accessed at the following link http://www.daisychainproject.co.uk/sibz In the meantime though, it's back to Salesforce.

Huge thanks to Ian Geldard for the raffle and also to Sainsbury's, Morrison's and Saks Hair and Beauty for their prize donations. Donations can still be made towards my Kilimanjaro challenge in aid of the Daisy Chain project, supporting families affected by autism. To find out more, you can visit my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/ 

Midnight Sun, Returning to Earth Customs and Applying Compassion to Directness and Honesty

What a fascinating two weeks it has been for me and for a lot there is for me to write about this week, after taking some time to get used to customs on Planet Earth again after feeling like I had come back from Grand Tour of the Solar System trekking through Iceland's Laugavegur region. Coming back home, I attended a retreat and Dhamma talk by respected Tibetan teacher Chamtrul Ringboche on Inner Peace and Compassion.

Beautiful colours in Iceland's Laugavegur region

Those who have heard me speak or who are well versed in Asperger literature will likely be familiar with the extra-terrestrial theme in imagining you have landed on another planet and you don't know the customs or social conventions of its inhabitants, rather like how Mr Spock has difficulty understanding human courtship. This is how it may feel like to be a person with Asperger's Syndrome. but as a person with Asperger's Syndrome, I felt I experienced this coming back home after being away more so than having been in an environment outside my comfort zone! Not only was the landscape so other-worldly, but I also experienced a week without darkness with the Midnight Sun!

Geysers and lava flows

The smoking geysers in the sulphur hills could give a clue to what Enceladus may be like. What is the most surprising feature to many visitors to Iceland though is its desert landscapes, something one wouldn't expect to find in a land close to the Arctic Circle. The deserts, which are caused by soil erosion resulting from glaciers melting courtesy of volcanic activity, including from Ejafjallajokull, which famous halted all air traffic for a while in 2010, reminded me very much of the surface of Mars. Trekking into an area of forestry towards the end of the route though felt like coming back home to Earth!

Taking on Iceland's Laugavegur trekking route was my second serious bit of practice in my bid to summit Africa's highest peak in October. Though not a high-altitude trek, it was both a demanding and thrilling experience in its own right, especially covering 24km on the first day crossing snow, ice fields, lava fields and volcano ash not to mention fast-flowing rivers! As well as trekking across different surfaces, what made the trek particularly exciting for me was the huge contrast in colours present in the landscapes created by a combination of glacial and geothermal activity and different micro-climates from bright sun, strong winds to heavy rain. coping with such change is a challenge to anyone, especially for people with Asperger's Syndrome, but what was a much bigger step outside my comfort zone was sleeping under a sky where the sun didn't set! Fortunately, there was plenty of rain during the evenings, the sound of which on the tent roof somehow aided my sleeping patterns.

Other-worldly desert landscape

After completing the Laugavegur trek, a total of 60km in four days, I felt like I had done a grand tour of the Solar System, seeing similarities in the landscape to images captured by space probes visiting distant worlds, with craters and lava flows being similar to Io, one of Jupiter's four largest moons with many active volcanoes, the glaciers similar to the ice surface on another of Jupiter's moons Europa while the flood plains reminded me of the images of the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, captured by the Huygens probe dropped by Cassini onto the surface of Titan in 2005. On its mission to Saturn, Cassini also spotted geysers erupting on Enceladus, another of Saturn's moons.

Kulusuk, Greenland

Though Laugavegur obviously doesn't match Kilimanjaro altitude-wise, what was good practice on this trek for Kilimanjaro was crossing different surfaces, including volcano ash, of which part of the Lemosho Glades route covers, including walking on an angle with the feet often sinking into the ash. While in Iceland, I was also fortunate enough to visit Greenland, where I saw yet another contrast, this time in lifestyle. we have a tendency to become very used to home comforts often relating to what we may expect from our living standards, that we may forget that there are places where such standards may be very different, and often much harder. This was very visible in Kulusuk, the village in Greenland I visited, where nothing other than moss can grow and where employment opportunities are very limited. Like the Sherpas and Tibetans, many native Greenlanders don't expect to live very long lives, so despite such harsh conditions, they become accustomed to living in the moment, including making as best use of the present that they can and by being happy in the moment.

Respected Tibetan teacher Lama Chamtrul Ringboche gave some helpful guidance on happiness during his public talk in Bellingham, Northumberland. Describing happiness as the essence of humanity, Chamtrul also said that a good foundation for happiness was compassion. I have spoken of how compassion can enable understanding Asperger's Syndrome, but when listening to Chamtrul's talk, it also occured to me that compassion can enable people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome to understand each other. What is still sometimes confusing with Asperger's Syndrome to me is an aspect that is often considered a strength is the directness and honesty. Because people with Asperger's Syndrome have a tendency to tell it like it is, it can sometimes falsely come across as bitter and twisted or even cold hearted, especially in one channel communication such as E-mail or when posting on social media. This is where applying compassion to both communicating and listening can help overcome such confusion, to help save someone's feelings as well as to understand that no harm is intended through directness and honesty. Stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works for more on this theme and others related to it.

Donations can still be made towards my Kilimanjaro challenge in aid of the Daisy Chain project, supporting families affected by autism. To find out more, you can visit my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/ 
    

Mindfulness of Trekking in the Mist

Welcome back to Adventures with Autism Works after a fascinating visit to Cumbria with my colleague Dan Cottrell, who originates from this part of the world. From my last entry, you will know that I was due to set out for the Lake District for my first serious bit of practice in my bid to summit Africa's highest peak Kilimanjaro in aid of the Daisy Chain project by taking on England's highest peak, Scafell Pike (978m). I can happily report that the trek up Scafell Pike was both successful and above all, enjoyable.

As well as the often spectacular scenery, what has made mountain treks that I have had the fortune to experience so enjoyable has been the company I have done them in. Dan and his brother Ben, who joined us on the trek, were great company and clearly enjoyed the experience as much as I did, despite it being misty at the summit. What was interesting was the different individual challenges that the trek was for the three of us, and what we found about walking outside our comfort zone of walking on flat pavements and floors or going up staircases.

Lake Wastwater emerges beneath the mist

Ben, struggling with motor co-ordination being dyspraxic, initially found it difficult to get used to different walking techniques needed to go up some steep rocks. Remembering mindfulness of walking practice,  I suggested to Ben that it might help him to focus attention on each step rather than the distance to or height towards the summit, just by being with each step as you make it. When taught mindfulness of walking, the three aspects of the technique involve focusing on the lifting, moving and putting of each step during the exercise. When trekking though, because the terrain is often so uneven or slippery, in addition to putting an extra aspect to focus on is placing, bringing an awareness of where you are placing your feet with each step, including being wary of the gradient and surface of each placing, including stepping on slippery surfaces and also being aware of balance and gait. Awareness of when to adjust walking speed also helps.

At Scafell Pike summit with Dan and Ben

What we had anticipated from the weather forecast was that the conditions would be highly variable, which turned out to be the case. At the starting point, Wasdale Camp car park, the weather was quite warm, but as we gradually ascended, it started to become cloudier and windier while the temperature dropped. This is where the sensory aspect of trekking become noticeable, in how our senses cope with changing temperatures, including how our skin responds to colder temperatures.

Where mindfulness of walking helped particularly was on the way back from the summit. Trekking downhill is often harder on the joints, but it is often easier to slip over by stepping onto loose gravel when coming down! All three of us had different levels of tiredness when we completed the trek, but when I attempt Kilimanjaro in October, I will be doing this and more each day for ten days!

Including offline donations, my fundraising for Daisy Chain has now exceeded the £1,000 mark! A huge thank you to all who have very generously donated so far. To help further increase the total, I am looking at holding raffles locally, if I can hopefully obtain some generous prize donations. In the meantime, donations can be made online on my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/

Special thanks to the Cottrell family for their hospitality during my time in Cumbria, including to the frieddly family dog Tara

Prelude to Kilimanjaro I - Scafell

Welcome back to adventures with Autism Works! After an interview on Radio Tees and a Quiz Night, preparations for for my attempt to summit Kilimanjaro are getting more serious, as well as physical! This Bank Holiday Weekend, I have my first bit of practice in the build up, which is a trek up England's highest peak, Scafell Pike in the Lake District (978m). Though, altitude and climate-wise, it may seem a long way from Africa's highest peak, but it is a challenge in its own right.

In common with other treks I have completed, Scafell has an interchangeable climate of its own. Coping with and adjusting to interchangeable weather, as well as being good preparation for the bigger challenge to come later in the year, also helps me in relation to coping with stress and anxiety. Like many other people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, I do still sometimes find change difficult to manage. It was through trekking in interchangeable conditions that I began to realise that it was more helpful to be with and open up to change rather than resist it.

Scafell Pike (978m)

As well as the physical aspect of preparation, the trek up Scafell is also good sensory preparation, not just in getting a feel of the outdoors, but also getting used to outdoor clothing, which during most 'normal days' I tend not to wear. To help get the best experience out of a trek or climb, it helps to have clothing and footwear that one is comfortable in. This is where trekking can also help those who experience sensory difficulties in relation to autism by being with and opening up to them. 

Accompanying me on the trek up Scafell Pike will be Dan Cottrell, one of Autism Works Software Test Analysts, who is originally from nearby St Bees in Cumbria. On a clear day, it is possible to see England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland from the summit of Scafell Pike. However, forecasts suggest that it will be cloudy when we intend to go. To donate to my Kilimanjaro trek in aid of Daisy Chain, my sponsorship page is accessible at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/

To find out how Dan and I fare going up Scafell Pike, stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works!

Coming Alive, Being Uplifted and Interdependent Networks of Values

Whereas last week's adventure took me to Scandinavia, this week has brought me back a little closer to home, to Middlesbrough where I have been speaking at the MAIN Project's World Autism Day Conference, talking about key issues regarding the Working Together for Change agenda and the Autism Strategy. The highlight of the day though was some superb performances from Middlesbrough's Beverley School Choir and Scott James, whom you may remember also spoke at the Autistic Voices Conference in Manchester in December.

With the highly-talented Scott James

It is incredible how people with Asperger's Syndrome seem to 'come alive' in certain situations. A week ago, talking on Saturday Morning Live, Will Hadcroft, best known as the author of The Feeling's Unmutual and the Ann Droyd series, described how, as a person with Asperger's Syndrome that though he still feels uncomfortable in social situations, when giving a talk on Asperger's Syndrome to an audience, he 'comes alive'. Similarly, giving talks on Asperger's Syndrome has brought me to life, and I also feel that it has enabled people to see who I actually am. Another speaker with Asperger's Syndrome described being on the autistic spectrum as like being in a film, but whereas others seem to have a script to read from, you don't, making it difficult to know what to say sometimes. Scott James, who gave some performances that uplifted the audience, including myself, came alive in a similar way through singing, which he found to an effective way for him to express himself. From his performances with Middlesbrough's Beverley School Choir, it was easy to see why Scott's self-esteem changed dramatically, despite having been written off by so many, when he discovered his hidden talent after a series of singing lessons. As well as performing his hit Through My Eyes, he also performed some tracks from his new album due to be released later this year.


Going back to last week's visit to Denmark, I also observed some values within Danish society that can be learned from effectively in the UK, including enabling the recently passed Social Value Act to deliver. Danish society is shaped around a network of values built on relations of interdependence, a theme that I have talked much about here in a spiritual context. In an economic context though, one of the purposes of the Social Value Act, is to put people before profit, considering the impact that a procurement will have on the local community. This where an awareness of interconnected values helps, as the procurement that offers the best social value may not be the lowest-cost, but rather the one best-placed to be of benefit to the local community, including the local autism community. After all, autism and Asperger's Syndrome affect those not on the autistic spectrum too.

Similarly, one of the main reasons why I chose Daisy Chain as my charity to do the 2012 Bupa Great North Run for was largely because I was impressed with how they had got local businesses on board. I have organised two events in April to continue to raise funds for the charity, including a quiz night and a gig, which will take place on 19th and 25th April respectively. The quiz night will be hosted by Ian Geldard, who has given many seminars on autism from the sibling's perspective, growing up with a brother with autism. The gig features Sheikh Ya Mojo. Fronted by the talented Andy Atkinson, Sheikh Ya Mojo play rock and blues classics from the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Ray Charles, Dr Feelgood and many more. For more information on these events, click on the posters below. To find out more about my challenge, please visit my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/






















In the meantime, I am looking forward to getting some practical software testing experience in the coming weeks. But to hear how these events go as well as my training and preparation, stayed tuned to Adventures with Autism Works. Happy Easter!

Special thanks to the MAIN Project for inviting me to speak at their World Autism Day Conference and well done to Middlesbrough's Beverley School Choir for raising funds to buy supplies for Romanian schoolchildren, which Scott James will take when he visits Romania next month. I wish Scott every success with his visit.

Scandinavia, Crossing the Road, Mindfulness and Pragmatism

Welcome back to Adventures with Autism Works. This month the adventure has taken me to Scandinavia, where I have been delivering some seminars on Asperger's Syndrome and Mindfulness, including talking about how the effects of mindfulness practice enabled me to settle in when starting at Autism Works as well as also offering some simple mindfulness practice exercises, including mindful eating.

When describing what it is like to be a person with Asperger's Syndrome, one of my favourite analogies I like to use is that of a Vietnamese motorcycle rider in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where you are not familiar with the local road rules or the road crossing conventions of the pedestrians, who are used to walking into the traffic when crossing the road. This month, during a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, I saw the opposite, where pedestrians only cross roads at road crossings when the green light comes on, whereas sometimes in the UK when the red man is still on but there is no traffic and we cross the road.

Colourful houses at Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Chances are that Danish pedestrians may well be waiting all day long to cross the road in Hanoi or Saigon! However, the effects of mindfulness practice helps us to cope with coming out of our comfort zone and adapt to our surroundings, wherever we happen to be. A change of location also enables us to notice our habits more clearly. At the conference, as well as talking about how the effects of mindfulness practice enabled me to settle in when staring my role at Autism Works, in the practical workshop I gave later, I talked about how two aspects I like most about mindfulness are its simplicity and flexibility.

Simplicity and flexibility enable mindfulness practice to be accessible at just about any time of day, and enables one seeking mindfulness practice to fit practice around their schedule, however busy or chaotic, rather than shaping your schedule around it. Autisme Center Danmark, who organised the conference, very kindly game me some extra time which I could use to introduce simple mindfulness practices, as well as how to practice mindfulness within routine or habitual parts of our day, including brushing our teeth and eating. One of the practices I offered was mindful eating. If anyone reading this blog has done the eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course, they will be familiar with the raisin exercise, where you eat a raising very slowly. When I was first introduced to this exercise, something that I found was that when we eat, we don't often experience what we eat in full, perhaps because we are more concerned with satisfying our appetite. by taking the time to eat slowly and the allow digestion of when we eat, one gains an appreciation of its taste, texture and after-taste. As mindfulness practice can be built into and around busy schedules, in this way it is pragmatic. Similarly, a concept that originated in Denmark, Specialisterne, on which Autism Works is partially modelled, shows that Asperger's Syndrome can be applied pragmatically by applying its strengths and qualities to one's surroundings in a productive way that has benefits for the wider community. 

Statue of Tycho Brahe, Ven Island, Sweden

Another aspect of mindfulness one of the other speakers talked about was, using an image of a rough sea, was how there are many things that the eye alone doesn't see, but our other senses can pick up that we are often oblivious to. During my visit to Scandinavia, I found time to visit the Island of Ven, in the Oresund Sound between Denmark and Sweden, from where the astronomer Tycho Brahe observed the comet of 1577. Without the aid of a telescope, Tycho was able to determine by using a measurement not apparent when both our eyes are open, parallax, that the comet was further away from Earth than the Moon. Unlike the Moon, the comet of 1577 had no observable parallax, a displacement of an object's apparent distance when seen through two lines. Similarly, when we hold up a finger and observe it with our right eye closed and then closing the right eye and opening the left, its position appears to move, because each eye sees a different picture. Observation is how many people with Asperger's syndrome learn non-verbal social skills, observing how others do it.

On the subject of comets, some of us have been lucky enough to see Comet Panstarrs in our skies last week, though cloudy weather has made spotting it difficult with the naked eye. Panstarrs may not return for another 100,000 years, but if you missed it, don't worry, as there is another tailed visitor due to pass by in November, Comet ISON, which could possibly be brighter. Hopefully skies will be clear for the visit of ISON. 

Elsewhere, I am still training for my attempt to summit Kilimanjaro in October to raise much-needed funds for Daisy Chain To find out more visit my sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR/ To see how this unfolds, including planned events and adventures during the next two months, stay tuned to Adventures with Autism Works.

Special thanks to Autism Centre Danmark for inviting me to speak in Denmark, for their wonderful hospitality and for giving me a truly memorable experience.