ACER, the Autism Centre for Education and Research is a world leader, and was ahead of the curve when offering distance and online courses. Some six years ago, it was one of the very few places in the UK that offered post-graduate courses looking at the successes and needs of autistic adults.
Having worked for the last decade as a Specialist Autism Mentoring in Higher Education, I took up the PGCert as a way to extend my practice… and never quite got around to leaving.
How did you approach online learning?
I did a handful of the Advance Research Skills units online. They flip the idea of classroom; we would be set material to investigate before, and then use our time together to discuss and progress.
How did you stay in touch and connected with tutors and fellow students?
To stay in touch and connected with other students, we used WhatsApp and there were regular Zoom conversations with tutors. In both, there is a strange digital openness in being invited into each other’s homes to meet pets, and sometimes small children.
Tell us about your current role
I now work at CRAE, the Centre for Research in Autism and Education in the Institute of Education at University College London. There I work as part of a neurodiverse team considering the superior perceptual capacity of autistic people by talking to people. gathering narratives and creating experiments.
Being a mature student, my pathway to where I am now was through teaching as a secondary school Head of RE and – after a paternity break as a childminder – a teacher in a primary school autism inclusion provision. This was all done before I started at UoB. I’m now in my first post post-PhD.
What does a typical day look like?
Researching using all the tools to hand. A bit of neurodiverse negotiated thematic analysis, co-production of survey tools, participatory consultations, online experiments… I’m still trying to get my wonderful PI (Principal Investigator) to let me buy a gorilla suit to test being distracting in!
What has been the most extraordinary or memorable day on the job?
The most extraordinary days are always the ones when I get to listen to participants. They tell me wonderful stories of everyday brilliance.