There is one question I have asked for a long time, and the more I look into it, the more it exposes just how deep the stigma around autism still runs. Someone can say, “I’m dyslexic,” and in most everyday situations that information is accepted. You cannot see...

Last Thursday, I returned to Crossgates Primary School to see the boys involved in The Hero Within project before they broke up for the summer holidays. It was an important visit for several reasons, particularly because one of the boys will be leaving Crossgates and...

Winning one award for Autism: The Gift in the Curse was mind-blowing. Finding out that the documentary has now won a second, completely different international award feels quite unbelievable. The film first received a Silver Award for Best Documentary Short at the...

Dear Prime Minister, As you step into one of the most powerful positions in the country, you will inherit countless reports, reviews, consultations and recommendations relating to autism and SEND. You will be told that awareness has improved, that society understands...

I recently found myself thinking about the term SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) as I am collaborating with Manchester Metropolitan University on some groundbreaking training in health and care practice. What struck me was not the disability part. It...

Every time I read another autism article discussing boys and girls, men and women, I ask myself the same question. Where are people of colour in this conversation? The latest BBC report focused on research suggesting autistic girls may be underdiagnosed and that...

There are people who attend events, and there are people who take the time to really understand what they are seeing. That is why I was so pleased to read the recent article written by Raymond Smith for Inside Time following his visit to the private launch of the...

Today, the Latitude Film Awards Silver Award arrived in the post for Autism: The Gift in the Curse. It feels quite surreal. When the award was announced online, I was obviously proud, but there is something very different about having the actual award sat in front of...

There is a pattern I keep seeing in autistic children that is being consistently misunderstood, mislabelled, and mishandled. Sunday arrives, and behaviour switches - not gradually, but visibly. The mood changes. Sleep becomes difficult or disappears completely. There...