Aside from my very broad ranging work in the arts, I'm an international best-selling author diagnosed with having autism with nine books in the field of developmental 'disabilities'.
I am a qualified teacher as well as being an international speaker and in 2002 I was one of the elected panel members for the Medical Research Council's Review into the causes of Autism. I have also been the subject of three international television documentaries.
Like a handful of other professionally qualified Autism Consultants on the Autistic Spectrum, I am consulted with in a professional capacity by people in the Health Service, Human Services, the Dept of Education, private schools, care homes, charities, parents and people with autism-spectrum conditions themselves.
Because of the frequent overlap with autism spectrum conditions I have also worked with those with identity and personality disorders, a range of mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders, dietary disabilities, neuro-developmental challenges and communication differences.
With a post graduate teaching qualification and after years of voluntary work in the disability field, I began doing paid consulting work since 1997 and founded the 'Alternative Approaches to Autism Consultancy (AAAC)'.
I have worked with over 600 people on the autistic spectrum, often some of those with the most severely challenging issues as well as working directly with parents themselves and with people with a range of related challenges.
I have run a group for socially phobic women since 2003 and in 2005 my husband Chris Samuel and I founded Auties.org, specialising in self employment opportunities for people on the autistic spectrum which also runs activity and dinner clubs, focusing on empowering what is often one of the most isolated and disempowered groups in society.
I consult on a wide range of areas with a very broad knowledge base of approaches and services and an innovative and motivational approach to addressing challenges which narrower ranging services may have have failed to meet.