Alis Rowe's Blog, page 13

Brand new e-courses now available

Want to access training at your own time and pace?
We now have e-courses!

E-courses are a fantastic way to learn about autism in your own time and at your own pace. You log in to the system and access the material whenever you want. The system will remember where you are in the course.

We have worked really hard over many months to create these e-courses. They contain:

Narrated presentation: Narrated by yours truly, Alis Rowe
Animations: Sweet, charming animations to demonstrate teaching points featuring our character, The Girl With The Curly Hair
Visuals and infographics: No plain writing!
Reflective questions: (Optional) written assignments throughout where you can answer questions and reflect on your own experiences, based on what you’ve learned (see note below, these are available only on our platform, not the Udemy platform)
Quizzes: You answer questions throughout the course to keep your attention and test your knowledge. The quizzes are fun and visual!
Certificate of completion: Receive a certificate of completion at the end to add to your portfolio

Our e-courses are available on our website here or Udemy.

Our e-courses are discounted for our website subscribers.

We hope you enjoy them!

The post Brand new e-courses now available appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

A reminder of why my autism diagnosis is so important

Because I live a very solitary and quiet life, a life where there is very limited social interaction and where I work from home, I often forget that I have autism. Well, it’s maybe not that I ‘forget’, but more accurately that I’m not reminded of my autism so much.

I recently had to attend a large meeting (50 people) as part of a course I have joined. This is the first time I have been around people in a large group setting in around 10 years, ever since university.

During that meeting, I was reminded that I am ‘different’. I sometimes like to think that I’m not, but this meeting made it clear that I am. It was a highly unstructured meeting, with no definite end time, and no clear instructions as to what we would be doing. We found out during the meeting that the instructor would be selecting random attendees throughout the meeting to interact. This terrified me to the point I had a racing heart and tears in my eyes. I just wanted to leave.

I was brave and I stayed. I just listened and hoped I would not be asked to speak. Luckily I was not asked to speak, and I’m not sure what would have happened had I been asked to speak, because I don’t think I would have been able to.

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Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post A reminder of why my autism diagnosis is so important appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

Brand new e-courses now available

Want to access training at your own time and pace?
We now have e-courses!

E-courses are a fantastic way to learn about autism in your own time and at your own pace. You log in to the system and access the material whenever you want. The system will remember where you are in the course.

We have worked really hard over many months to create these e-courses. They contain:

Narrated presentation: Narrated by yours truly, Alis Rowe
Animations: Sweet, charming animations to demonstrate teaching points featuring our character, The Girl With The Curly Hair
Visuals and infographics: No plain writing!
Reflective questions: (Optional) written assignments throughout where you can answer questions and reflect on your own experiences, based on what you’ve learned (see note below: these are only available on our own website’s platform, not the Udemy version)
Quizzes: You answer questions throughout the course to keep your attention and test your knowledge. The quizzes are fun and visual!
Certificate of completion: Receive a certificate of completion at the end to add to your portfolio

Our e-courses are available on our own website here as well as the Udemy website.

Our e-courses are discounted for our website subscribers.

We hope you enjoy them!

The post Brand new e-courses now available appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

A reminder of why my autism diagnosis is so important

Because I live a very solitary and quiet life, a life where there is very limited social interaction and where I work from home, I often forget that I have autism. Well, it’s maybe not that I ‘forget’, but more accurately that I’m not reminded of my autism so much.

I recently had to attend a large meeting (50 people) as part of a course I have joined. This is the first time I have been around people in a large group setting in around 10 years, ever since university.

During that meeting, I was reminded that I am ‘different’. I sometimes like to think that I’m not, but this meeting made it clear that I am. It was a highly unstructured meeting, with no definite end time, and no clear instructions as to what we would be doing. We found out during the meeting that the instructor would be selecting random attendees throughout the meeting to interact. This terrified me to the point I had a racing heart and tears in my eyes. I just wanted to leave.

I was brave and I stayed. I just listened and hoped I would not be asked to speak. Luckily I was not asked to speak, and I’m not sure what would have happened had I been asked to speak, because I don’t think I would have been able to.

Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today

This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




Subscribe
Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post A reminder of why my autism diagnosis is so important appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

The 3 ways to connect with someone

I have often wondered why I get on well with some people and why being around others causes stress. When I thought about it, I realised that it was primarily to do with just three things!!

I realised that there are three main ways that people can connect with each other and those people who I don’t get on with are the ones who don’t use any of these ways.

I have also made a very good animation to explain this, which you can watch below!

The ways can be thought of as levels:

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This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




Subscribe
Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post The 3 ways to connect with someone appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

Developing a tolerance level

Tolerance can be defined as the capacity to endure something that we find uncomfortable. For the purpose of this article, I will say that we can be tolerant of two areas:

1) Situations

2) Error

I think that being tolerant to an extent is a good thing, but I think it’s sensible to decipher your own tolerance levels.

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This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




Subscribe
Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post Developing a tolerance level appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

How can I adjust to this new way of living?

We are currently living in challenging times, in which there is a lot of change and restrictions. Currently for most people this means only being allowed out of the house once per day for exercise. I receive messages from my friends. There is a trend in what they say. They say something like, “I am well, I’m just trying to adjust to this new way of living.” 

That sentence is very interesting. In my immediate world, not much has changed. My normal life is a life of semi-quarantine anyway! I am sure that many other autistic people also live similar, isolated lives.

The greatest change for me has been observing changes in the outside world. Now, when I walk through my high street, it is deserted. All the shops and cafes I would usually go to are abandoned. All the car parking spaces at the sides of the roads, which would normally contain parked cars, are empty. It looks like a ghost town. I remember the last cup of tea I had from the cafe before it closed.

I live in London. I have seen all the photos of central London in its abandonment. I know what central London is normally like. Now it is eerie.

Another change for me is noticing the change in other people’s behaviour. People who live ‘normal’ lives are no longer going out. People who usually see their family a lot, but are in circumstances where their family don’t live with them, are in contact only by phone and internet. Or sometimes through a safe distance of the window as one person stands in the front garden and the other waves from inside the house! It is bizarre.

If I do see anyone outside or in the supermarket, I see a lot of people wearing masks. This is now normal. People are looking different.

When I go to the supermarket, many of the shelves are empty. I am no longer able to purchase my normal food. Like many autistic people, I tend to eat the same things, the same brands, and I have always tended to buy my food in bulk because I know I will eat it over a long period of time. I’m no longer able to buy large quantities of the food I like. Even on the rare occasions in the supermarket where there are multiple quantities of an item of food I like, I only buy one or two. My diet is going to have to change for the time-being.

Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today

This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




Subscribe
Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post How can I adjust to this new way of living? appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

10 ways to stay productive at home

With COVID-19, watching the television, listening to the radio and reading the news can make it seem like the world is coming to a standstill. Even if you are stuck indoors, there are still plenty of things you can do to stay hopeful and productive.

When you are self isolating or social distancing, you will have more time than usual to do things:

1. Cleaning, cooking, gardening and DIY

Many people struggle to get things done normally because life outside the home can get so busy and hectic. If you are stuck at home, now could be a good time to get on with these things!

2. Do home workouts

There are a number of ways to exercise at home, even if you don’t have any equipment. Have a look online for “home workout routines”. You can even use a broomstick in place of a barbell or tins of food in place of dumbbells.

Maybe you have never lifted weights before. This might be a good time to learn how to lift weights with correct technique. Use this time to practice technique using the broomstick or tins of food.

You can of course also do exercises that require no equipment at all, such as planks, lunges and squats.

BBC article: Covid-19 – How to exercise whilst staying at home

3. Learn something new or improve your current craft

Watch and read tutorials online to teach yourself an interesting skill. If there is something that you’ve always thought you ought to be able to do yourself but haven’t got round to learning how to do so, now could be a good time to learn that skill.

4. Create things

Create something new. You and your creations are likely to be what the world needs right now! Make some music, do some art, write a poem. Share your creations with your social network to help others feel inspired and uplifted.

5. Get ahead of your duties

You could use this time to be extra efficient and prepare a lot of things that will need to be done in the future. For example, if you manage a social media page, you could create a lot of future posts and schedule/save them for later. If you manage a blog, you could write more articles to be published at a later time. If you have tasks with far-away deadlines, you could start working on them now.

6. Volunteer to help others

If you have vulnerable relatives or neighbours, do something for them. So long as you are healthy and well yourself (and depending on the latest Government advice), you could get some shopping for someone and leave it on their doorstep. You could make an online shopping order for someone.

There are a lot of local area chat groups to link people up with each other – find out if there is one where you are and get involved.

7. Call people

Make time to phone people to check they are OK and, most importantly, give them some company! A lot of people are currently isolating themselves and, if done for an extended period of time, this could cause someone to feel lonely and depressed. A friendly chat on the phone could really make someone’s day.

Vice versa, talking to other people can help you feel more connected as well. Being in touch with people can help people feel more hopeful and healed.

8. Structure your day

One major benefit of being at work or at school is that there is a structure. Structure is very important in keeping people productive and motivated. Make yourself an hourly schedule so that you always have something to do. If there is a dedicated time or specific plan it means it’s more likely you’ll commit to doing the task.

9. Consider whether there are alternative ways of working

Even if you are unable to go out to work, there may be a way to carry on working. A lot of work can now be done via the internet. If you are not working or commuting you have extra time to think creatively about alternative ways of creating an income.

10. Manage your anxiety

It is normal to be feeling very anxious right now. Acknowledge that you feel this way. Don’t ignore these feelings. It might be a good idea to limit your exposure to the news or to only receive news from certain sources. 

BACP: How to cope if you’re feeling anxious about the COVID-19 outbreak

 

I hope this article helps you and inspires you to do something worthwhile and positive.

 

Book Tickets for our Free Webinar – Coping with COVID-19 & Autism

The post 10 ways to stay productive at home appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

What “putting yourself in another person’s shoes” really means

There is normally some confusion over the phrase, “to put yourself in another person’s shoes.” It is confusing because it can be taken in two ways: 

Way 1) To imagine yourself in the other person’s situation

Way 2) To imagine being the other person in their situation

A lot of people seem to do number 1, but number 2 is actually the better way to get close to someone.

If this is confusing, watch our amazing animated film to understand:

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This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




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Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post What “putting yourself in another person’s shoes” really means appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.

Am I just an introvert rather than autistic?

I have always been a very quiet person and I am happiest when I am on my own. These are key aspects of introversion, which is feeling energised when on your own, (as opposed to extroversion, which is feeling energised when you are with others). Whenever I am spending time with someone, I can feel my social energy declining, and I am always relieved to be on my own again. Not because I didn’t enjoy my time with the person, but because socialising doesn’t energise me.

Introversion explains a lot about me. Learning about introversion has been really helpful. In fact, before I knew I had Asperger’s Syndrome, I just thought that the reason I was so different to others was because I was more introverted than them.

However, I have still always felt extremely ‘different’ to other (neurotypical) introverts – and this is because I am autistic.

I created a film to explain the differences between autistic introverts and neurotypical introverts. I hope you enjoy it!

Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today

This article is available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with receiving access to our exclusive animations and special offers – please click the Subscribe today button. If you are already a member, please log in.




Subscribe
Today


Why support
CHP?

Free Autism

Alert Card!

When you subscribe to The Curly Hair Project, 

you will receive a free Autism Alert Card worth £6!

The post Am I just an introvert rather than autistic? appeared first on The Girl with the Curly Hair.