Christopher Barnett’s Post

Earlier this year I was thrilled when Lloyd's Register kindly agreed to become one of the sponsors of Autistic Pride Aberdeen. By way of thanks, Aurora offered them a couple free training sessions. Working with organisations to help support them on their Neuroaffirming journey, and validate the experiences of Autistic and otherwise disabled staff is an absolute passion of mine, and I love drawing on my past experiences as both an Autistic person and as someone who employed and managed Autistic people. Yesterday I had an incredibly warm welcome as we held the first session with their DisAbility Alliance looking at understanding neurodiversity as well as a wee look at Autistic communication, and my goodness, that was fun! The excellent feedback included: “informative” “very insightful” “wonderful” “really interesting, learnt so much” Wonderful to see attendees having lightbulb moments, and a few laughs along the way. Absolutely delighted, can’t wait for the second session in a few weeks. Bonus points went to those who spotted the (not so) subtle Star Trek references too. #training #event #autism #neurodiversity #neuroaffirming #neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #EDI #NeurodiversityInWork #IDIC

This week on Ableism In Action let’s take a look at the assumption there is only one way to have a good life. There are many ways to life your life, and a good life means different things to different people. For some people that means school, some it’s education other than school. It could be further education, or a job, volunteering, essential recovery time or something completely different. For some it’s a strong routine, or an abundance of flexibility. There are many different paths. For many of us, we often feel like we don’t have a good choice available and must take the least bad choice rather than what we actually want. For example, if school is causing significant trauma, home educating may be the only available option. Many Autistic people and families face issues when other people in our life don’t recognise our idea of a “good life” as being valid. This could be family members, or professionals whose role it is to support them. Making arbitrary judgements based on societal “norms” is a huge barrier to supporting Autistic people, and it’s essential we avoid doing so. Just because we don’t follow a prescribed path does not mean ours is not the right path for us. You may not see our progress but that doesn’t mean we aren’t progressing. Many Autistic people and families are shamed by others for making choices other than mainstream, and the impact that can have is why many Autistic people and their families would choose meeting the bear in the woods over the professional. How to show allyship? This is another easy one folks: listen. Properly listen to the Autistic person or family without judgement. They likely have had experiences you may not fully understand. Try to empathise with what they have been through and where they are now. Ask how you can make appointments more accessible and comfortable. If they have a goal they are working towards, help them to work towards that goal instead of invalidating it. If you are a professional and want to develop your understanding of Autistic lived experience to better support your clients, feel free to contact Aurora to discuss your training needs. #autism #autistic #training #ableism #allyship

Working with neurodivergent people (especially folks who were non-speaking or had more apparent support needs) I would see this ALL the time. Educators, support staff, family members, and other professionals I'd interact would work from the assumption that disabled adults could not understand them, be in control of their own destinies, or fundamentally have a good life. I saw things like... 🤦🏻♀️ Support staff sharing embarrassing/personal details about program participants as if they weren't even there 🤦🏻♀️ Employment coaches only looking for entry-level/minimum-wage roles for their clients and not having any disabled people on their teams despite advocating for employment equity (when I asked about this I was told the 'types of neurodivergent people we work with are different' - even though there was client overlap between our orgs 🫠) 🤦🏻♀️ Support staff infantilizing disabled adults and feeling entitled to 'be in control', forcing adults to do things like follow recreational programming when they were clearly unhappy and NOT interested (seriously it's supposed to be for fun - what the heck is that about). As this video points out, the expectations of those around you shape reality. One of the most impactful relationships of my life was finding a mentor who understood and believed in me. We ALL need people that will support us, champion us, and believe we can do more. That's why I'm building ND Connect (Neurodiversity Connect) - to help make more connections like these happen. It's also why I've structured the recreational programming we've offered to neurodivergent people through Viability for the past 4 years non-hierarchically. I don't decide the group norms, we as a group do. Some weeks I'm a facilitator, and some weeks I'm a program participant - just like all the other disabled adults in the group. Anyone can run an activity and as an org we just make sure people's access needs are supported to do it. This has led to people taking on leadership roles for the first time in their lives and them thriving in it. And it's led to consistent feedback from members like "this is the best program I've participated in". Presume competence. #Neurodiversity #Neuroinclusion #DownSyndrome #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek

Working with neurodivergent people (especially folks who were non-speaking or had more apparent support needs) I would see this ALL the time. Educators, support staff, family members, and other professionals I'd interact would work from the assumption that disabled adults could not understand them, be in control of their own destinies, or fundamentally have a good life. I saw things like... 🤦🏻♀️ Support staff sharing embarrassing/personal details about program participants as if they weren't even there 🤦🏻♀️ Employment coaches only looking for entry-level/minimum-wage roles for their clients and not having any disabled people on their teams despite advocating for employment equity (when I asked about this I was told the 'types of neurodivergent people we work with are different' - even though there was client overlap between our orgs 🫠) 🤦🏻♀️ Support staff infantilizing disabled adults and feeling entitled to 'be in control', forcing adults to do things like follow recreational programming when they were clearly unhappy and NOT interested (seriously it's supposed to be for fun - what the heck is that about). As this video points out, the expectations of those around you shape reality. One of the most impactful relationships of my life was finding a mentor who understood and believed in me. We ALL need people that will support us, champion us, and believe we can do more. That's why I'm building ND Connect (Neurodiversity Connect) - to help make more connections like these happen. It's also why I've structured the recreational programming we've offered to neurodivergent people through Viability for the past 4 years non-hierarchically. I don't decide the group norms, we as a group do. Some weeks I'm a facilitator, and some weeks I'm a program participant - just like all the other disabled adults in the group. Anyone can run an activity and as an org we just make sure people's access needs are supported to do it. This has led to people taking on leadership roles for the first time in their lives and them thriving in it. And it's led to consistent feedback from members like "this is the best program I've participated in". Presume competence. #Neurodiversity #Neuroinclusion #DownSyndrome #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek