In this piece I reflect on my journey to becoming a manager and leader and encourage you to question assumptions prevelent in neurotypical culture. — Intentionally Aimless Despite the area of work I specialise in — employability education — I’ve always been somewhat aimless in terms of career direction. Rather than see this as a shortcoming, I consider myself intentionally aimless. I need to live and breathe a thing, embody it, understand it from all angles, before…

My experience of making sense of the world as an autistic person and systems change maker. The illogic of my logic Writing this has tangled me somewhat in knots. I keep tripping myself up on the seeming illogic of being able to make sense of complex and chaotic things while simultaneously finding it impossible to…

My perspectives on inclusivity in systems change practice as an autistic practitioner. Framing my positionality First up. I am a white, Irish, autistic woman. Some of these descriptors come with great privilege and power attached. Others with distinct disadvantages and prejudice. In approaching writing about inclusivity I do so knowing my experience doesn’t…

My experience of working with, and through, chaos as an autistic systems change practitioner. The chaos of every day Being autistic I find most unfamiliar situations totally chaotic. I’m not just talking about the life-altering stuff, like starting a new job or moving country. I’m talking about minor undertakings, like going to a new cafe…

My understanding of complexity as an autistic systems change practitioner. Complexity is a word that popped up throughout my Basecamp journey with School of System Change. It was so ubiquitous that it caused me to reflect on how in flow my brain feels when grappling with complexity. I enjoy turning…

My experience of pattern spotting as an autistic systems change practitioner. Full disclaimer: patterns and pattern-spotting in systems thinking were utterly mysterious to me for most of my Basecamp journey. In the process of waiting for the act of pattern spotting to be demystified, the penny clumsily dropped. Daily I…

This is a starting point I have to remind myself that there is no end, no static moment at which I arrive at being fully myself. To wait until that moment would be to tie to myself to a perpetually blinking cursor, taunting me from the glare of my screen. So I write. I write…