Publish date: 29 March 2021
Supporting Autism Awareness Week 2021
This week it's autism awareness week and here are some of the ways you can get involved...
1. Complete your autism awareness training
If you work in our mid-Mersey boroughs, book yourself onto one of these fantastic autism awareness sessions delivered by our Autism and Mental Health Team.
If you work in Wigan, contact our Autism Diagnostic Service for training details.
Feedback about these training sessions has been excellent with staff sharing the difference is has made to their practise.
“The session really sparked off some new ideas for me. It shone a new light on current/previous clients’ presentations/difficulties, and the fact that a colleague emailed me straight after the session with similar ideas suggests that there is definitely a need for us all to think more globally about some of our clients’ presentations and needs”
2. Learn more about autism
There are different ways you can develop your understanding about neurodiversity, celebrate our differences and learn about experiences. Here are some recommendations:
- Watch a documentary – we recommend Chris Packham’s documentary ‘Aspergers and Me’ available on BBC iplayer
- Read a book – we recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ by Mark Hatton or ‘Odd Girl Out’ by Laura James.
- Listen to a podcast – we recommend ‘The Autism Podcast’ which is compiled by the London Autism Group Charity
- Watch a TED talk – we recommend watching Rosie King’s TED talk
3. Test your knowledge
Take a quiz with your team to see how knowledgeable you are about autism. Try this one from the National Autistic Society: Take the quiz
4. Find out how Covid-19 has affected autistic people
You can find out more about how Covid-19 has affected autistic people by looking at the National Autistic Society’s website. This includes information about vaccines, understanding changes to restrictions and how to promote mental wellbeing during the pandemic: www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/coronavirus
5. Join a vitrual drop-in sessions (for Wigan staff)
Our Wigan Autism Diagnostic Service has arranged virtual drop-in sessions. These will be hosted for an hour which will include us talking about autism and thinking about how to make some adaptations to your practice. We will host two sessions, one will be focused on community / outpatient services and the other will be focused on Inpatient services and the wards.
We will also be joined by some of our experts by experience who work alongside us to offer their perspective.
Please use these sessions as an opportunity to ask any questions about autism or how to make reasonable adjustments.
Dates for your diary:
Autism and inpatient services
Tuesday 30 March, 12 noon – 1pm
With Carol Harmer and Lyndsey Martin from the Therapies Hub.
Click here to join the meeting
Autism in outpatient and community services
Thursday 1 April, 12noon to 1pm
With Laura Greer, our expert by experience.
Click here to join the meeting