The Autobiography of a Supertramp Fanatic
The story of Stuart Vallantine (Page 1)
Contents
Introduction
- Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, June 1979;
- Regarded as 'autistic' and 'hyperactive' in his early years;
- Language acquired from television programmes and commercials.
Stuart Vallantine started life in the middle of June 1979, on the outskirts of Ashton-under-Lyne in the midst of a 1970s maternity ward. For someone mad on public transport, Stuart arrived two days late! All was going well prior to reaching what we now call the 'terrible twos'. On reaching two, Stuart went on strike for two years.
More seriously, the infant performance poet and visual artist was mute for that period. At this stage, he was thought of as being "autistic" and "hyperactive". After the usual 'mama', this was replaced by some pointing and tantrums. On joining playgroup in 1982, and Yew Tree Nursery the following year, Stuart enjoyed more solo activities such as painting and even reading the newspapers used to cover the painting tables. Spoken language was regained, albeit stunted. Most of this came from television programmes and commercials.
By 1984, Stuart was ready to start 'big school', with a shift from half day to full time attendance. He was seen as naughty and often wandered around the open-plan school layout. A visit from Nana, whilst picking Stuart up saw a change of opinion from the teacher.
By January 1985, Stuart left the bottom infants class to join 'Bay 8', the special needs class at Yew Tree. He resided there until July 1986, which saw him transfer to the juniors. It was there where his drawing skills were noticed, as well as his sensitivities. One memorable incident involved spending a minute in a dustbin. The assistant stated that if I was naughty I would have been thrown in the dustbin. A persistent fear was the fire alarm.
The Road to West Didsbury
- Four day assessment and place at Ewing School;
- Three happy years at Ewing School;
- Emphasis on improving language and social skills.
After determination by his family, April 1986 saw Stuart embark on a four-day assessment at Ewing School in West Didsbury. The school specialised (and still does) in specialist provision for children with speech and language difficulties. His drawing skills and extraordinary memory was noticed after the four days. It was there where Stuart Vallantine was diagnosed with Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder. This is now regarded as a form of high functioning form of Autism Spectrum Disorder alongside Asperger's Syndrome.
Stuart spent three happy years at Ewing School, between January 1987 and July 1990. The main facets of the school's curriculum included weekly outings to places within an hour's drive of Ewing, tea parties on a Friday afternoon and Tuesday swimming lessons. The first two facets of Ewing's curriculum were designed to enhance social skills. This was all in addition to the more serious educational side, including speech therapy, literacy and numeracy.
Unlike most schools, all teachers, apart from the headteacher and deputy headteacher were addressed on first name terms.
Into Mainstream Education and Further Education
- Joined All Saints RC High School, September 1990;
- Bullying led to continued education at local college and YT scheme;
- Shift from technical to creative courses proved more fruitful.
The year 1990 saw a transition to secondary school education, where Stuart spent five years at All Saints R.C. High School in Dukinfield.
Despite generally good academic progress, considering the transition from special school to a mainstream comprehensive, Stuart experienced some verbal bullying. Most of this came from pupils in less organised lessons, such as P.E. and break-times.
Indecision and poor career advice led to Stuart joining an electronics Youth Training scheme in Ashton-under-Lyne. This decision was made after low GCSE grade expectations and a need to break away from All Saints, despite pleas to join the Sixth Form college. After receiving 4 GCSE grades between A* - C, Stuart opted for the BTEC National Certificate option of the programme.
In April 1996, his Youth Training provider moved to Tameside College. This led to greater resources, though problems existed between fellow trainees and college students. Stuart completed his first year of the BTEC course with promising results. The following year seemed promising.
Alas this wasn't to be, with a change of tutor and teaching style hampering Stuart's efforts to complete year two with respectable results. On the Youth Training front, it had taken till February 1997 for Stuart Vallantine to gain a suitable placement. After odd jobs helping students and working with computers, Stuart finally got a place with the administration department of the School of Engineering and Automotive Technology. No permanent job came of this.
Unemployed, Stuart continued further education on a part-time basis, doing courses in Desk-Top-Publishing and Media. Between 1997 - 98, Stuart was qualified to NVQ Level 2 in Desk-Top-Publishing. Between 1998 - 2000, Stuart successfully gained a GNVQ Advanced in Media, Communication and Production.
Entering the World of Work through Revolving Doors
- Developing the work ethic;
- Gaining further social skills;
- Further experience gained with local theatre group.
Joining the Labour Government's much vaunted New Deal scheme, Stuart began what became a two and a half year association with Groundwork in Tameside. This came about through two one year terms under the New Deal scheme (February 1999 - February 2000 and September 2000 - September 2001), interrupted by unemployment and augmented by some voluntary work, including a 13 week Prince's Trust Volunteers programme.
The course included community projects, fundraising, outdoor pursuits and organising a presentation. The latter included skills which would later prove useful in the format and running of public speaking engagements. On finishing the course, Stuart began what started off a week long, though grew into a 3 week interview skills course. Ironically, he spent most of the period in job interviews!
On finishing the interview skills course came a recommendation by a fellow member of my Prince's Trust team, over the Millennium Volunteers scheme. Stuart joined the Millennium Volunteers, doing over 200 hours voluntary work for NK Theatre Arts, a long established youth theatre group. During this placement, Stuart designed tickets and posters and gained familiarity with the 347 from Ashton to Haughton Green.
