Fixers

Hello, Kobi

I spoke to you at Crew 2000, last week and was very interested in what you had to say.  I wasn't sure if I had a reason to be there at first, but when you spoke about the age range being relaxed for people with learning disabilities, I realised I might be able to get involved.

I don't know if my thoughts might be relevant, here.  I have a hard time absorbing lots of information all at once, and there were times when I was thinking about my own ideas rather than listening to what you were saying.  Sometimes I tune people out a bit, and it can appear to be rude, so sorry about that.  This also means that I might be about to make suggestions that are completely out of step with what Fixers helps people with - and you may have already covered that last week.  And I have a suspicion that some of my thoughts are too specific to me personally, so might not be workable.  That's all cool.  But I figure the only way I can find out is to ask you.

Anyway, my thoughts are not related to my work at Crew.  They're more connected with the difficulties I've been experiencing with my autism.  I have a small business, that is doing OK - but could be doing a lot better, with the right promotion.  Viral marketing would be amazing.  If you can't work with one person's self-promotion - and I completely understand if that's the case - then I still believe that the difficulties of autistic people could still benefit from a bit of awareness.

I have a lot of experience with varying degrees of public speaking.  I used to be an assistant team leader with the Prince's Trust Volunteers and I've done a bit of work promoting a friend's business in Glasgow.  In my current business, I arrange art classes for groups of girls - mostly hen nights, but also birthday parties, retirement parties and things like that.  This is more about entertainment than education, though, because the girls really just want to have a laugh and see a naked man.  So I'm the centre of attention at these events, where I have to set up drawing challenges, rely on a bit of banter and entertain the girls for an hour or so.  I've had to deal with some tough crowds in the past, and have always managed to do a good job.  So, in varying forums, I am very comfortable with standing up, talking and interacting.  This is not a characteristic that's all that common among autistic people, by the way.  And for me, it's been a learned characteristic rather than a natural one.  I had to overcome some personal challenges along the way.

You can read a bit more about the business here, if you're interested.

There are a variety of things I believe I could do with the right promotion - and they're all things I feel I'm very suited to do, if I can just get started.

I can speak publicly about autism.  I would be giving people a personal insight into the condition and how it applies to me.  This can also cover the general misconceptions and can touch on how some details can vary wildly from one person to another.  There are a lot of people these days who are speaking about autism, but I believe that we should also be able to speak for ourselves.

I can speak about the difficulties in business promotion.  This is something that is particularly relevant to me, because of my own business.  But the employment statistics where they apply to autistic people are disproportionate to where they apply to neurotypicals (that's the word for you "normal" people).   So when an autistic person finds it more difficult and has to overcome more challenges to even get into work at all, then someone like me - with a moderately successful business - is in even more of a minority.

I can speak about my art.  I have a profile here, if you're curious.  This is also relevant to my autism, because it came about as part of what was - quite literally - a life changing experience.  In 2009, I was in a car crash which damaged my shoulder and ended my previous career - a job which was taking up a minimum of sixty hours every week.  When I suddenly found myself with too much free time on my hands, I filled it with digital photography and digital editing.  The car crash in 2009 was a near-death experience and a catalyst for a lot of changes.  That sounds melodramatic, but it's still completely true.

(In fact, all the speaking options touch on 2009 in varying degrees - the relevance of it can't be understated.)

It might also be relevant that I taught myself some video editing techniques using my Mac and made up a couple of videos.  I've posted a couple of them on my YouTube profile.  One of them is a slideshow I made up from pictures of my brain that were taken a few months ago - part of a study in autism.  A couple of them are something I made up with my cousin a few months ago - we had a few drinks, recorded ourselves and I edited the footage a couple of days later.  That one gets a bit sweary, though.  And the others are a couple of musical slideshows I made up.

I know there's a lot in this email - and that it probably sounds pretty chaotic.  And I realise that it's probably outside of what you were discussing last week.  But I'm still hopeful that we can pick up something and make it work.  I hope you get back to me with your thoughts.  I'm keen to see if we can get a project going.

Graham