Over the past couple of months there have been a few new readers joining us here at The Autism Page. So I thought it might be helpful to do a bit of an introduction and update on me and what the site is all about.
Who am I?
I am Jade a married mum to two boys based in the West Country (UK) between Bristol & Bath. After my eldest (who just turned 8!) was diagnosed as autistic at 2 and a half I started The Autism Page. I had wanted to try blogging for a while but had struggled to know what to write about.
Prior to having kids I had worked in information sharing so as I began to learn about autism I wanted to share what I was learning. I found I was wading through so much information and spending a lot of time checking what was helpful and what was rubbish. This is the reason I started to share the information here. In the hope that it would help parents new to autism to easily find the information they needed. I am not the best writer, photographer or expert but I do think the site is a great for signposting to useful information. Hopefully you can forgive the imperfections.
What do I do?
The boys are growing up and now they are aged 8 and almost 6, they are both at school in the day. This has allowed me to expand what I am doing and work more in the daylight hours. I currently work for Bristol Autism Support a local charity supporting parents and carers of autistic children. I love that this job enables me to learn more about autism every day. Which in turn supports my own family whilst I am supporting and helping people when they need someone to turn to.
I am now also working as a Parent Practitioner on the Teenage Life Courses provided by Bristol City Council to parents and carers of autistic teens. I never imagined I would go into training but really it’s just another way of sharing the information that I have learnt.
Whilst The Autism Page is still a fairly small blog it does now reach far more people that I ever expected. This is fantastic but also a little daunting sometimes. I know how important it is that I am sharing accurate and valuable information. Whilst I have definitely made some mistakes along my blogging journey and would love to change / improve many things on the site I am still proud of how much helpful information I have managed to share. I know how much the information has helped me and my own family.
I have been very privileged to work with some great brands / companies over the last few years with a wide range of consulting opportunities. This has really enabled us as a family to try so many different things to support our children and find what works well for them and us. I really enjoy doing the product reviews on the site and we have tried so many great sensory toys that I probably wouldn’t have tried without them being offered to us.
Behind the Scenes
I am sure you have noticed that I don’t often share pictures of myself and I never share pictures of the kids faces. This is hard as I am so proud of my beautiful kids. I would love to share pictures of their happy smiles when they review a new product or using a strategy I am sharing. However in the interest of their own anonymity and safety I decided to keep their names and faces private. As for me I’m not a fan of being in front of the camera so do avoid it and really The Autism Page isn’t about me. Yes I have written most of the posts but for me it’s is far more about sharing the information than sharing myself.
Where do you fit in
I set up the Autism Page Network over on Facebook because I wanted to connect further with those of you reading my blog posts. This has been a great way to get to know some of you. I hope that over time it will grow even more. For me making connections with other people who I can talk to about autism, learning and supporting each other along the way is so valuable.
I have so many ideas / notes / plans for what I want to offer at The Autism Page and I am sure it will continue to grow over the years. I would love to know what you want to see more of / less of. Do you have stories / information to share? If there is a topic you want to know more about drop me an email (jade@theautismpage.com) and share your thoughts with me.
Behind the scenes The Autism Page is just me (with the odd bit of help from my husband or friends). There is no tech department, no marketing support and no budget for anything. That’s where a little help from those of you who find The Autism Page helpful can make a real difference. If you read a post that’s helpful please share it / like it leave a comment. Every engagement from readers helps to boost the site or social channel and this helps more people see it. It can be hard to reach the right audience for some of my posts because some of them are a bit specific. So the more people that see them the more likely they will reach the right audience.
If you find some of my posts helpful I would really appreciate you following me on Facebook & Instagram (I am also in twitter and Pinterest if that’s your thing) as it can make a big difference. And please do drop over and join in the conversations over at The Autism Page Network.
