Hello,
To everyone reading, welcome to my website and thank you very much for joining me on the start of this journey.
So here's a little bit about me, why I'm blogging and creating content, and what I hope to give and to get out of this.
I'm an aspiring Solicitor from West Bromwich in the West Midlands. The town is around 5 or 6 miles out from Birmingham, the main hub of the region. Its a small town, in need of a bit more regeneration, but we have a decent football team with a great following!
At the time of writing this I am not yet qualified, and was recently made redundant from my role of Paralegal at a small start-up private practice firm in the centre of Birmingham ....... nice one, coronavirus!
I attended former polytechnic Universities where I graduated with my Law degree and LPC at Distinction grade. During my undergrad degree I was a member of the NTU LEX Society, and the NTU Music Society where I would play bass guitar with my peers and other society members and have some fun.
I'm also a member of the neurodiverse community - hence the nickname The Neurodivergent Lawyer. Though I'm not a qualified lawyer yet, I'm working towards that goal and getting closer every day through one way or another.
I guess I took inspiration from in part Joe Wicks who gave himself the nickname "The Body Coach", and the movie Divergent whereby the meaning of the word is to be different, dissimilar or to develop in different directions, which is somewhat similar to the word "diverse" anyway. Though "divergent" has a catchier ring to it! Also, the movie wasn't too bad, passable for an average book-to-movie adaptation of teen fiction.
But I digress!
I am diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome, which means I fall on the autistic spectrum. But what exactly is it?
Well, the simplest way of putting it is that we see the world differently to those who aren't autistic. But that's not exactly the most helpful answer as the term Autistic Spectrum Disorder covers a hugely wide range of difficulties that may be present, either obviously or subtlely. There are social difficulties that we encounter, as well as difficulties in work and study. Some even cross over and are not mutually exclusive to one set of difficulties or the other.
I won't overwhelm you with details of the difficulty in this post - that can be for a later post where I can explore this even more with you. But hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of how we are different from the "neurotypical" person.
What am I hoping to achieve with my website?
Certainly I'm looking to try and inspire, encourage and add value to anyone who identifies as, is on the path to diagnosis, or is diagnosed as being on the spectrum or with an invisible difficulty such as autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD or other neurological differences that aren't necessarily typical. I am hoping to inspire anyone reading who might be thinking of entering the legal profession or another professional service, encourage anyone reading who is a member of the neurodiverse community to have faith, work hard and believe in themselves so that they can achieve whatever they set their minds and their hearts to, and add value to readers by offering some further education or input into our strengths and challenges whether they are students, junior professionals, or senior professionals or employers. Whilst doing all this, I'm hoping that I'll also be able to educate by giving some insight as to what our strengths are and how we can use them to our own advantage and to our workplace's advantage, but also if we need that bit extra support what might be helpful to us.
Though I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't doing this for myself also! Through this, I'm hoping to improve my employability and desirability to peers and potential contacts in the industry. I'm looking to improve my self-confidence which, to be brutally honest, isn't all that great right about now! I'm looking to learn more about self-promotion and digital marketing and advertisement, especially as the industry I am a member of also asks of its workers a good deal of sales and promotion acumen, especially when trying to attract new clients or investors.
Some of the things I'd like to talk about here include:
Neurodiversity and diversity as a whole
Focusing on the different difficulties with the help of 'lived experts' like myself and my peers and the help of other articles from reputable sources
Employability skills, and if our difficulty makes it difficult how best to use it to our advantage
Studying as a neurodivergent
Different ways to qualify as a solicitor, my goal
News and developments that I'm interested in
along with a lot more that I hope will be interesting to you.
I also don't want this to be just about work because there is obviously the human behind the worker, and we all have our own ways of relaxing and enjoying ourselves. I've got a number of hobbies and things I enjoy doing and I'd like to share them with you too. We can't be working non-stop and we are not robots. Our hobbies and interests make us interesting and gives us something else to talk about and an insight as to who we are as individuals.
Don't forget to check back regularly as I'll post photos of these exploits too!
I'm going to continue blogging about these things in the hope that it might inspire, encourage, educate and add value to everyone reading it. I'm hoping to start adding audio or podcasting in the near future and hopefully reach more by audio, maybe on your commute to work or when you're having a break at work or home.
I plan on being open, honest and at times frank, as I believe in that myself and would expect the same in return. So if there's something I don't know, I'll point it out and then educate myself. If something deserves to be told straight and without any sugar-coating, then I'll be doing just that. Maybe that means that some of my content might contain some not-so-subtle language or phrasing.
I hope that you'll continue to support this vision and that you'll join me on this journey. Please do get in touch, let me know what you like and what you'd like me to try and cover.
Until then, be well and stay safe! :)
Credit: Welcome photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash