29 March 2021

One Community dedicated Friday’s show to National Autism Awareness Week. We were joined by Andrew Carpenter, Autism Lead for Adult Social Care in Westminster City council and Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Andrew led a conversation on how autism is talked about, he said, “The autistic community is voting to be called autistic, not a person with autism, not having autism, not living with autism. I am Autistic, there’s no non-autistic Andrew inside a shell struggling to get out, it is who I am”

Joining the powerful conversation was Councillor Cem Kemahli, Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Cem discussed his support for the autistic community and how he planned to implement the recommendations Andrew has as the Autism Lead in Kensington and Chelsea.

Dr Sarah Blainey, Principal Clinical Psychologist and Autism Specialist spoke about her new role as an CNWL’s Autism Specialist. She also discussed a new project that aims to better understand the experiences of autistic people in inpatient and crisis services. Find out more about the project here.

Also on the show was Colleen Simon form the Dual Diagnosis Team who led the recovery slot this week with Raymond O’Brein from Turning Point. They discussed Turning Point’s Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Women’s Service (DAWS) and how they help women in Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster. A member of DAWS joined them to discuss her experience using the service and the inspiring recovery journey she has been on.

As always, One Community’s fantastic regular guests were there, Evvy Miller reading Life of Pi and Laura Cavill our Poet Laureate with her own composition.

Catch up with the show here: https://zoom.us/rec/share/zhTqcWsgTItW7fAd9E6HgJ4inFzIMx4-LmiKJJPLwKklEo09NLE1V4QtYnI7xdoH.8pN7gZQykCTE-woI?startTime=1616761952000

One Community Radio is going on an extended break for Easter but will be back on 23 April at 1pm.