Here I describe the Engineering and Healthcare work I have undertaken, my Autistic Talents and Interests, some Lived Experiences associated with being autistic and skills gained in each area.

 

I have been fortunate to have worked in a range of industries, lived in remarkable places and have become friends with some incredible people. My life focus has been to gain skills and help people. After seeing the power of engineering in Khayelitsha South Africa as a teenager, I was inspired to focus my career in biomedical engineering, with the aim of improving quality of life.

My interests have moved from mobile robotics, gait and posture, how mobility impacts quality of life, to how we interact with our environment, how we neurologically, physically and emotionally embody the physical spaces around us.

I am highly multi-skilled having worked in healthcare, defence research, manufacturing, the space industry and other cutting-edge R&D environments, alongside ‘rent paying jobs’ such as working as a production progress chaser, industrial storeman, sound engineer in nightclubs, bar cleaner, play work supervisor, event management, University warden, SEN teaching assistant, prison officer, staff training coordinator, scientist and university lecturer.

Working towards my goal of becoming a Clinical Scientist in the NHS has taken me on an intense journey through life that some have described as like Forrest Gumps - running through a minefield waving enthusiastically at people looking on in horror. Without any A-levels I pushed myself to get into University, but became homeless. So pushed myself again and gained an MSc, PhD and Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Science, and then lectured at undergraduate and postgraduate level, mentoring NHS Clinical Scientists.

I am late-diagnosed autistic. As a consequence of autism I have many first and second-hand experiences of intense traumas, and therefore extensive experience of the mental healthcare approaches in the UK, and how lives are designed and rebuilt.

My overriding passion is in sharing the lessons I have learnt from my experiences, particularly in training the next generation of medical engineers and scientists to think in a more global way about how they contribute.