Pages within the news section:
- Main News Page: The main news section of the website;
- The Wayfarer: News on Stuart Vallantine himself.
- Website Development News: News on www.stuartvallantine.co.uk.
- News Archive: Past stories.
Stuart in Print
Saturday 22nd March 2008
Asperger Syndrome and Employment: Adults Speak Out with Asperger Syndrome
This month has seen the launch of an exciting new book on Asperger Syndrome and Employment by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Co-edited by Genevieve Edmunds and Luke Beardon, the book includes contributions from persons on the autism spectrum. Each of these persons are members of an Asperger Syndrome social networking group 'Aspie Village'. As a member of this group, I was invited to contribute a year ago.
Based on my experiences in work, I wrote a 6,500 word chapter. On a personal note, this is the first time my work will be seen throughout the world in printed form.
For further information, log on to the website of Jessica Kingsley Publishers. The book will be available in paperback form, priced at £12.99 and is a 'must read book' for any Aspie school leavers.
Success at Bolton Arena
Updated on Wednesday 28th March 2007
All three talks at Bolton Arena a success.
Stuart Vallantine kicked off the first quarter of 2007, participating in three successful lectures at Bolton Arena in Horwich
The first of three talks took place at the Bolton Arena in the morning of the 15th January 2007. After a nervous 10 minutes, Dukinfield's spokesperson for Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder made a good performance which inspired the 38 strong audience.
The second talk surpassed January's success with further audience reaction. This talk saw the introduction of PECS [Pictorial Exchange Communication System] symbols - drawn by the man himself - on a bus to Bolton.
The third talk continued the success of February's talk, with a similar positive audience reaction. The same PECS symbols seen at the previous talk resulted in one delegate asking where she could order them from! They were limited edition Stuart Vallantine drawings designed solely for presentation rather than practical use.
What inspired the audience most was the fact that a person on the autism spectrum rather than a medical expert created the presentation.
For anyone who attended any of the three 'Meeting Your Needs' lectures, many thanks for your attendance and the comments.
Bolton Calling
Tuesday 12th December 2006
Three chances to see Stuart Vallantine at Bolton Arena in 2007.
Regular readers of this section may assume I have taken up boxing, or gained a support slot with a half decent rock band.
If you have, you are wrong on both counts. In a venue more synomynous with Amir Khan, I will be doing a series a talks at Bolton Arena. These will take place in the January, February and March of 2007.
The talks will focus on early years provision for children on the autism spectrum. These will include comparisons made with two examples in the Bolton area, and some reference to my own experiences.
East of the M60
Thursday 24th August 2006
New blog launched.
Accompanying this very website is a new web venture, 'East of the M60'.
'East of the M60' is the official blog of Stuart Vallantine himself, with due focus on transport, technology and his area.
Lovingly created using Wordpress, an open source blogging content management system, this blog includes opinions on television, transport and the like by yours truly [the author of this website].
The web address for 'East of the M60' is http://mancunian1001.wordpress.com.
When Stuart met Donna
Thursday 10th August 2006
The Travelling Poet meets fellow wayfarer Donna Williams in a Sheffield church.
On the Saturday before the second May bank holiday, I met up with fellow comrade Donna Williams, during a lecture in a Sheffield church.
Her lecture, 'Autism as a Fruit Salad' was well received by an audience of nearly three hundred persons. As well as the talk itself, she was supported by Philippa Rogan, who had a 15 minute slot comprising of her own musical compositions. Regular readers of this section will remember Philippa from my previous article on my Sunfield talk below.
Donna enlightened the three hundred strong audience with her description of autism being a 'fruit salad' of several splinter conditions of varying degrees rather than one homogenous condition. Her vocal delivery was augmented with descriptions of her life experiences sourced from "nine books including four autobiographies".
Prior to her talk, I was ordered by Donna herself to read one of my poems, 'Celebrating Differences' (which appears elsewhere within this site) and give a brief description on Auties.org, a useful directory for persons on the autism spectrum to showcase their talents from fine art to web design.
