One-day online autism conference with Anna Kennedy on March 17, 2014

[Adam Feinstein]

www.awares.org/conferences

We are delighted to announce that the latest in our series of monthly
one-day online autism conferences is with Anna Kennedy. Join us next
Monday (March 17, 2014) to put your questions directly online to Anna, who
is a leading British autism campaigner, lobbyist, author and mother of two
children on the spectrum.

Register right now in the Awares Conference Centre (
www.awares.org/conferences)

Teesside University Honorary Graduate Anna Kennedy OBE is the mother of two
boys, Patrick and Angelo, who are both affected by autism. In 1999, having
been turned away by no fewer than 26 special needs schools when searching
for appropriate educational facilities for her sons, she decided to take
matters into her own hands and remortgaged her home to transform a derelict
council building in Middlesex, West London into Hillingdon Manor School.
The school, which is now a centre of excellence for children and young
adults with autism, has 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. In 2008, Anna co-authored her best-selling
biography 'Not Stupid' which poignantly portrayed her struggle to find
appropriate provision for her boys - a story which will be familiar to many
parents who feel they could not get what they felt their children needed
from the local education authority. Anna's story appeared as an hour long
BBC 'pick of the day' Video Diary documentary and her story has been
featured in numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Times
Educational Supplement, The Times, The Observer, The Guardian, The Daily
Mirror and The Daily Mail. Anna is regularly invited to speak at
conferences on the subject of autism and has also taken part in many high
profile TV talk shows, debates and news programmes. Recently, Anna met with
the Department of Health to share results of their charities survey on
autism diagnosis. Anna will share these results and feedback at her
presentation in April at the University. In 2008, she merged her school
with Hillcrest Autism Services to gain access to greater resources to
continue her work. Anna went on to win 'Woman of the Year' in 2009, an
award run in conjunction with The Observer newspaper and during the same
year was also the recipient of the coveted Institute of Directors (IOD)
Chairman's special award for outstanding contribution to the community.
Samantha Cameron named her the Daily Mail's most Inspirational Woman of the
Year 2010 and most recently Tesco Mum of the Year 2013. In November 2013,
Anna, who is from Middlesbrough, received an Honorary Doctor in
Professional Achievement from the University.

For further details about this and all other Awares online conferences -
hosted by Autism Cymru, Wales's pioneering national charity for autism and
run by myself, Adam Feinstein - please contact me at: ***@autismcymru.org

Best wishes,

Adam Feinstein



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AWARES Conference Centre
http://www.awares.org/conferences