Nanny Aut
This is the bit I really hate - I would much rather be talking about my child, my cat or autism - my current deep interest. Part of the reason I have set up Inside Aut is that it allows me to talk about my deep interest for hours - while making a real difference to parents currently drowning in a sea of bad information.
But I have been told that this is needed for the website - so here goes....
I didn’t have a promising start in life - non-speaking past the age of three, doctors advised my parents to forget about me and put me in an institution because I was a lost cause. Luckily my parents didn’t listen and by five not only was I talking but sent home from school for trying to talk politics in the playground. And have been talking a long streak ever since.
I have had multiple careers in my life, excelled in performance but still let go because I wasn’t a ‘team player’, despite my best efforts, including home-baked chocolate chip cookies - and I bake a REALLY good chocolate chip cookie. I now know the issue wasn’t me - the issue was that my masking made them uncomfortable and they couldn’t pinpoint why.
I have several degrees including a Doctorate and not one of those pieces of paper bought me long-term acceptance in the employment world. However, everything I learned, I have kept and used in other areas throughout my life - so the time wasn’t wasted.
My favourite careers were Design Engineer and Teacher, particularly teacher. It broke my heart to walk away from the teaching profession when I was given the stark choice - use bully tactics on your students or lose your job. Of course, the school didn’t put it like that - ‘Adhere more closely to our behavioural policies' I believe was the actual phrase.
Despite some pretty large indicators throughout my life, I went unidentified as autistic most of my adult life. And after identification, I was too busy being a teacher to do much about it. It wasn't until I walked away from teaching and some health issues forced me to stop for a while that I put my research training into practice and took the time to do the in-depth research that I needed to figure out how my brain works and how to work with my brain. This then turned into my blog on autistic-village.com.
And now I get to combine being an Engineer - how things work and how to get them to work to their best - with being a teacher and talking about my deep interest, autism. How perfect is that? I can even talk a little (with permission) about my child and the things that helped them on the way to being the incredible adult they are today.
I am greatly looking forward to meeting all of you and sharing my knowledge with you. When I started my journey, I knew very little (Rain Man, cough!), and needed to dedicate four years of my life to doing research to get to where I am now.
Parents don't have that time (at least I didn't) so I want to shortcut that learning journey for you and give you the answers you need - now.
Check out my courses & workbooks
About Inside Aut
Inside Aut is an educational, safe space for parents to learn about how to raise their children as authentically autistic.
We all love our children and want the best for them. Finding out how to do that is hard for any parent, often doubly so when their child is autistic. Suddenly there is no manual, no guidebook, only judgement for being a ‘bad parent’, when you are doing your absolute best. And that is not fair.
Inside Aut provides that manual. We teach you about your child’s needs and why they are important. We teach how to remove the barriers that are holding your child back. We teach how to guide your child to be their best selves. And this knowledge isn’t just based on my personal lived experience but years of hard work and research.
