I've worked with people who have learning disabilities for over a decade, in a variety of settings (classrooms, colleges, work placements, residential homes, hospitals, even swimming pools...) supporting, teaching and having a great time!

After graduating in Psychology, I worked briefly with adults with mental ill health, before discovering a real passion for the field of Learning Disability. I taught mainstream pupils with SEN in Poland, and then managed an InterAct charity project for adults with moderate and severe learning disabilities to build up computer (and a lot of other) skills.

Most students relied on symbol-support to make sense of text, and I learned about computer packages that could be used to create symbol-supported documents. A fan of symbols from the outset, I learned to make information really accessible to non-readers and use symbols every day now with people all over the world.

I worked for Widgit Software training people all over the UK in the use of lots of symbol-based and early literacy software. Widgit produce the Rebus Symbol Set, which they've kindly agreed to let me use for the buttons on this website.

Until recently I lived in Manchester and worked as part of the Information Team at Inclusive Technology. Now, back in the south, I'm an Assistive Technology Specialist with CENMAC and assess children for the use of different hardware and software to aid their communication. When I'm not co-managing Check The Map, or working on my MEd (Autism) degree, I also keep busy by writing articles for journals and websites, making a variety of accessible documents and giving presentations on SEN / ICT topics.

To contact me just click this link to send me an email.