WHY I RIDE FOR AUTISM - MICK

Hi, all.

I came across this great group of people last year after searching for something that I felt I was missing. After a superb ride and a warm welcome from the riders and the team, it became clear that I had found it.

In response to the significant question I've been posed, "what is my connection to autism" and why SGBFA?

Here is a rambling tale of my experience which I hope will be of use to fellow SGBFA members, supporters, and riders.

Me

After 26 years as a motor vehicle technician, I came to a stage in my life when a change in direction was required. Married with 3 children, this was a scary and risky prospect. At the age of 41, a considerable career change was planned.

For a number of years, as a family, we provided respite foster care for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. Most of our regular looked-after young people lived with autism.

What was I looking for

I think at the time my thoughts were just around making a career change that would continue to support our family, but further considerations gave me a guide of which way to head. The things to consider were many; some family-related, some through friendships and volunteer work, and some based on earlier life experiences. The key ‘must-have’ factors coming from this were family security, personal achievement, self-fulfillment, and to make a difference.

How to get there and is a change possible

Sitting in a classroom with students half my age, on my first ever day at university was a super scary experience. Especially for someone who had previously only ever studied on a practical vocational learning route. Yes, initially it was very intense and challenging but eventually became a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Most importantly, this experience firmed up my future aims. To make a difference for young people.

Where next

Following my study time, I gained employment as a Careers Advisor. Then, following further specialist study, I became a Learning Difficulty and Disability Adviser with the then young people’s Connexions Service. An appointment as a Special Needs Officer with the Local Authority then followed.

my role entailed

Keeping the young person at the center of any planning to ensure the correct learning environment was found with the right support. The most important and most rewarding part of my role was to get to know and understand the young person, their needs and wants, their families and carers, and their support systems. Due to a lack of local provision for such high needs, it was also my responsibility to seek suitable out-of-county placements and secure funding from education, health, and social care; then to keep these placements under review.

The young people I had the pleasure to work with were those with the highest needs in Derbyshire, right across the full range of SEN. Many of those were living with different levels of autism.

During my time in this role, I undertook a number of additional duties. Importantly, these underlined my initial aim of improving outcomes and choices for young people. These additional duties included a secondment to a personalization planning project called 'My Way'. This was a project to introduce and integrate person-centered thinking and planning approaches across young people's services. This included radical changes to school and special college reviews in which young people were supported to be in control by using different environments, approaches, and tools that enabled the young person to be at the center, whatever their needs. The benefits to the young people were immediately evident.

Another project I took on was to identify the lack of suitable local provision for my young people. Having identified a serious lack of appropriate provision in my geographical area, I was highly instrumental in successfully changing the status of one of my schools to provide post-16 SEN provision. This continues to make a massive difference to the young people who attend.

My last significant piece of additional work was to be part of developing the move from Statements to Education, Health, and Care Plans.

Being constantly inspired by discovering the often previously hidden ability and resilience in the young people I work with became my drivers which forced me on through the resistance and barriers often presented by the systems I worked in. The greatest challenge was trying to get the establishment and organizational infrastructure to understand and accept the need for a shift of power to the young people and to make it become ingrained in all future ways of working. I decided to leave the service 6 years ago after 17 years in post. Despite the organizational challenges, I am happy that the main thing I recall about that part of my working life is the satisfaction of seeing happier, more fulfilled young people and fewer families left alone to battle with the system.

Why SGBFA

After reading the above, this question has probably already been answered. What better way is there to share my experience of spending many valuable years with such inspiring young people, especially while continuing my lifetime’s enjoyment of motorcycling with like-minded riders.

I’m glad I found you and it’s great to be involved!

Mick Handley