East Lancashire students take lead in autism campaign

5:20pm Wednesday 19th November 2008

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TWO students from East Lancashire are set to change the perception of autism in a new campaign.

To celebrate a five-year partnership between the National Autistic Society and the University of Cumbria, Zoe Wood and another youngster who is known as “Cornish”, will speak about the disability at a photographic exhibition exploring how autistic people see the world.

Both former students of ‘Principles and Practice of Working with Individuals on the Autism Spectrum’ at the Lancaster Campus, Cornish and Zoe Wood will share how autism has affected their lives.

Zoe said: “It will be a good opportunity to catch up with other people involved with the course and share my experiences of autism as a parent.

“I found when I studied it that it gave me a thorough grounding in methods of communicating with people with autism that I was able to apply to my own children.”

Zoe, from Nelson, is a parent of a seven-year old son and a twenty-year old daughter who both have autism.

Cornish, 49, of Earby, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2003.

He became a speaker on the course after enrolling to learn how to support people with autism.

The event takes place at The Gallery, The University of Cumbria, on Tuesday, November 25, at 6pm.