My working life has been greatly affected [sigh]. I used to work as I said in the music business and then I had my daughter and I used to run, before we knew she had Asperger syndrome, I did things from home I had a music group for pre school kids and a drama group and all sorts of stuff like that. And then when she got diagnosed with Asperger syndrome I become so focused on that and became so knowledgeable and become known as a useful resource of knowledge about the condition, that I was approached by lots of people to do talks and run courses, which I have done. We have run Asperger's courses at our local community centre. I now go round to talk to mental health teams, schools, colleges, social care, departments and to give talks about Asperger's raising awareness and of course I have got a teaching qualification so I also have a job working at [college] teaching Asperger's youngsters, well not youngsters, between 16 and 19, but they come in through the learning disability route because they have, they went to special school and got a statement and stuff, so that is the area that I teach, so if I hadn’t known about Asperger syndrome, if it hadn’t hit me all these parts of my life which I never knew I had the ability to do before, have come about simply because my daughter had Asperger's.

 

Otherwise what would I be doing now? I am too old to be in the music business. I would have left long ago. I would have been an old dear doddering around in a mini skirt and red hair. That wouldn’t have suited. So I don’t know where I would have been. Perhaps I would have just been married and pootling around in the garden, although knowing me, probably not. I would have got involved in something. I would have done something with my life. But Asperger's has given me purpose and meaning, confidence, value myself more because I know that I am valued by other people. So in that sense from the object of an intellectual point of view, it has been a positive for me.