Autism campaigner Anna to give talk at Teesside

Autism campaigner Anna Kennedy OBE will give a talk at Teesside University drawing from her own personal experiences of living and working with autism.

Anna, who is mum to sons Patrick and Angelo, who are both affected by autism, will talk about the challenges and obstacles she faced, which led her to launch her own charity.

Living and working with autism, can be heard from 5.30pm to 7.00pm on Tuesday 22 April, at Teesside University’s Centuria Building, Room H0.01.

Having been turned away by 26 special needs schools which searching for appropriate educational facilities for her sons, the Teesside University honorary graduate took matters into her own hands.

She took the bold step of re-mortgaging her home to transform a derelict West London building to create Hillingdon Manor School.

The school, now a centre of excellence for children and young adults with autism, earned considerable recognition for its outstanding work and early in its life caught the imagination of Esther Rantzen who is now Hillingdon Manor's patron.

Since then, Anna’s story has been widely reported in the media and she is regularly invited to speak at conferences on the subject of autism.

Anna, who is originally from Middlesbrough, became an Honorary Doctor in Professional Achievement at Teesside University last year.

More recently, Anna met with the government’s Department of Health to share results of a survey on autism diagnosis. She will share these results and feedback at her presentation at the University.

During her visit back home to the region, Anna also visited The Daisy Chain, based in Norton, which helps families with autism. Anna recently accepted a role as patron to The Daisy Chain charity.

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