NADP Virtual Networking Event 2020

On Wednesday 26th August, NADP held an end of conference networking event. The theme of our NADP Virtual Conference 2020 was ‘Support Disabled Students – Supporting Ourselves’. Our networking event focused on the latter part of our theme ‘Supporting Ourselves’.

We asked our members to send us snippets of what they’ve been doing throughout lockdown to help themselves. We’ve combined some of them to show you… enjoy!

Array of woodcarvings including 6 magical looking doorways for fairies, a christmas tree with a face, toadstools and mushrooms, owls, bears, twisty ornaments and fairy kingdoms.

Our Operations Manager, Lynn (the face behind our 10 week virtual conference) has been creating these charming wood carvings during lockdown. After attending a woodwork course with her wife pre-lockdown, Lynn felt now would be the perfect time to practice and we think she’s got a knack for it!

Image shows homemade headbands with butterflies and flowers on and a painting of Frida Kahlo

One of our members, Michele Farmer has been getting crafty too! On the left, you can see her homemade hairbands and on the right, a beautiful painting of Frida Kahlo which we were all very impressed with. We obviously weren’t the only ones as Michele found someone who wanted to buy it!

Image shows homemade colourful plant pots, toadstools and mushrooms.

Sarah Todd, one of NADP’s directors and her son have been “going potty”! They rescued a few succulents from the garden centre and then handmade all the colourful cement pots you can see in the top left picture! They then moulded the toadstools in the top right and bottom pictures out of clay and painted them beautifully!

Image shows an array of tiny tombstones propped up on an egg box made out of clay with inscriptions on such as 'RIP Barry' and '1915 Chris lies here'

On slightly more morbid note, Sarah and her son began preparing for Halloween early this during and made this impressive array of tombstones!

Top left: ducks swimming down a river Middle top: walkway alongside river Top right: View down the river with trees overlapping river and boats on the right Bottom left: Brown and orange butterfly sat on nettles Bottom right: bumble bees sucking pollen from purple flowers

Fran Ahtuan from Loughborough University is lucky enough to have this beautiful river in her town. Along with many of us, she has taken up walking and discovered a passion for nature photography.

Leo Capella has taken to creative writing. Below is a poem Leo wrote for the National Autistic Society as part of the 2.6 Challenge in Aprul where he had to write a 26 line poem in 26 hours.

“One of the things that I’ve managed to do a lot of during lockdown and as we go into this brave new world is creative writing (including working on a rather fractious piece of Sword Art Online fan-fiction as well as my own original work) and poetry! Poetry and writing generally have always been a nice way for me to express myself and I’d say I became more prolific during lockdown as the need to reflect grew.”

Poem reads: Some Walks I make my walks through the streets of a town Knowing not all that is still yet to come Seeing greenery and flowers too I hold to what must be true. Being on the spectrum I’m used to isolation Yet I know that all my associates are not solitary persons. Under the umbrella of autism’s many raging currents. My shoes slap gravel then asphalt And tarmac of various intervals. Sometimes solid earth with maybe some turf As I take in this less intense And not entirely broken world. Cats stand statuesque and aloof But ready to approach and be friendly too Dogs bark and growl their warnings out Waiting for food to soothe their souls for now. Whether best friends with their owners of undisputed rulers Their territory is threatened by something greater Than all the different species living together I drift along under blue skies and sun With rain and storms sometimes pounding down. Wind also sometimes appears in this marathon I welcome it, the chatter lessens my fears and I roll on. I’m still looking though for that elusive rainbow of fortune. Yet as I hold to, I now that life itself will see us through.

Image of different resin designs including a pikachu head, tamagotchi, gameboy, planets and stars.

Our Administrator, Jo, has been following YouTube tutorials on how to make keyrings and necklaces out of epoxy resin. She buys the moulds and tools/chains online and experiments with glitter, dried flowers and colour pigments.

Top left: Head shot of Helen in head torch as night looking tired, just home from her 4am run Middle left: Helen in hi-viz yellow vest and running gear, with head torch on in dusk/dim light, standing in back garden Bottom left: Helen in running gear in daylight in back garden, jokingly flexing arm muscles across front of body Right hand side: Photo of Helen's husband and 5 year old son smiling with arm outstretched on a country lane.

NADP Director Helen Young, someone who attended every session of our Virtual Conference 2020 mostly coped with lockdown with the help of cocktail making (and drinking!). However, she also took part in ‘Endure 24’ as part of a relay team. This involved her running over four separate hours within a 24 hour period, including a 4am stint.

Very realistic painting of bluebells on the ground and trees, grass and blue sky in the background.

Jonathon Thompson from LSBU, NADPs Vice Chair of Professional Development found that painting, drawing and printmaking allowed him to get in touch with himself and connect with where he lives and what is happening in the world. He created this stunning painting of the bluebell woods behind his studio in Hampshire. “Working from my studio in lockdown has been a blessing in many ways which has now become my remote office, juggling the complexities of student support with views from my window”

On left: close up picture of Chablis wine On right: Picture of wine rack on wall, almost full with win bottles

Showing the sense of humour of our members and directors, we had a few submissions that deserve an honourable mention for how we coped with lockdown! Not the healthiest of coping mechanisms but I’m sure we’re not the only ones who got through a bottle of wine or two during lockdown!

Thank you to Hilary Osbourne for one of our cutest submissions! Hilary’s lockdown experience suddenly became much more interesting when Florence can to stay.

“Florence was one of the lamb triplets born in a nearby field and her mother was struggling to feed her. As the weakling of the flock, Florence needed some TLC for a few weeks to get her up and running so she could rejoin her sheep family in the field, so she moved in -and what a joy and privilege it was to have her. Florence thrived on her milk, our two Labradors adored her and she became part of the family. I have always had great comfort from my animals and I am a great believer in the therapeutic benefits animals can have on humans. Having trained and owned a PAT (Pets As Therapy) dog previously I have witnessed the benefits they can bring first hand, however I didn’t think it would have been possible with a sheep!! Florence, my little Coronavirus Lockdown Project, now living happily with her sheep family next to us in the field.”

Picture of a black Labrador and small lamb sitting side by side looking at the camera

Left picture: Close up of a black cats face looking into the garden - possibly watching birds Top right: A white and ginger cat sat in an army tank made out of cardboard Bottom right: Black cat on a red lead exploring the garden with a small teddy bear on his back.

Lynn has been having fun with her cats. She’s discovered that Tim loves exploring the garden on a lead and Zena very much enjoys her custom built tank! You can see on Tim’s back is the small teddy Lynn and her wife take on their travels.

Three images showing the process of Brian's gardening steps which are explained on the right of the image

Our Chair, Brian Lutchmiah sent in pictures of his garden and how he’s developed it over the lockdown. He’s added fencing, plants and built a wall at the back of his garden out of wooden panelling and a bicycle wheel as a window. He then built a small bench, a coffee table and a covering and has made the perfect coffee/wine drinking area!

Honourable mentions

And to finish it all off, a potato themed brain teaser from Brian..