Flourishing at work with reasonable adjustments: autistic co-trainer journey on The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training

In this insightful interview, we understand the employee experience of Lauren Saunders-Love, a passionate autistic co-trainer changing the culture in health and care for people with a learning disability and autistic people through Oliver’s Training.

Lauren is part of a trio of approved trainers who deliver the Tier 1, hour-long, online, interactive training session in Bedfordshire for The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training. Lauren takes the role of an autistic co-trainer and works alongside a co-trainer with a learning disability as well as a facilitating trainer.

In the training session, the co-trainers describe their lived experiences, bust common myths, and explain how reasonable adjustments and communication can make health and care services more accessible and safer for all.

I’ve gained confidence speaking in front of other people. Until a few months ago I would have had very little.”

Can you tell us about the jobs you had before you became an approved autistic co-trainer for Oliver’s Training?

Before working for Autism Bedfordshire I had only had short-term, freelance jobs and had not been able to secure work with regular hours that was suitable for me.

I have very limited ability to travel and use public transport, which has been a huge barrier to employment, therefore being permitted to work from home has helped me enormously. I live in a small town where most of the available jobs are customer-facing, including the often busy, fast-paced environment of retail and the service industries. With lots of people and sounds, they are simply settings I cannot cope in.

Now in the co-trainer role, I am really enjoying working and delivering Oliver’s Training, as I can draw on my own lived experience to educate NHS staff and help improve their services. I find this very rewarding as in most other situations my Asperger’s* and learning difficulties make certain aspects of life more challenging for me.

How has the team at Autism Bedfordshire facilitated your introduction to your co-trainer role?  

I find uncertainty distressing, especially when I cannot plan, fortunately this need has been respected by my facilitating trainer, who from the beginning has been willing to answer my many questions. Additionally, if I don’t understand how she has explained something in an email, she is more than happy to explain it in a different format, for instance on a call using Microsoft Teams.

I have found the gradual approach to increasing my working hours to be beneficial emotionally. As I am not used to longer work hours, this approach has prevented me from becoming stressed and overwhelmed.

My facilitating trainer ensured that were was plenty of time to practise the webinar, which I was very concerned about. My fellow co-trainers have been really supportive and have been willing to do extra practice with me outside of our team meetings. I’ve gained confidence speaking in front of other people. Until a few months ago I would have had very little.

What other adjustments and support has the team put in place to help you deliver Oliver’s Training?

Having access to the lived experience questions prior to the webinar allows me to plan answers to the questions so that I do not feel put on the spot. If I couldn’t view the questions beforehand, I would struggle to explain in detail the impact my Asperger’s* and learning difficulties have on me, as my processing delay would prevent me from fully understanding and interpreting the questions in time.

My dyscalculia makes it very difficult for me to manage and to keep track of time, though having my facilitating trainer present during webinars supports me and allows me to focus on delivering.

The audience having their cameras off for the first section prevents me from being distracted by people’s facial expressions, which I may misinterpret, and could cause me to lose confidence in what I am speaking about.

I am supported with the audience participation, although I enjoy discussing what people have shared, if I were expected to respond to all of it, I would find this overwhelming, as I want to give everyone an equal amount of time, but this isn’t always possible.

My processing delay also means I take much longer to read text and answer questions, therefore having my facilitating trainer read out the responses, enables me to think about my answers and means we can get through the section more efficiently.

What has been your biggest achievement in this role so far?

I have started to deliver two Tier 1 webinars a week, though this may not sound like much to someone neurotypical, this is a significant achievement for me. When I started, I was very worried and concerned about being able to deliver the webinars fluently. Over the last few months my confidence has grown considerably, and I am more comfortable answering questions from the audience and generally interacting with them.

Despite this new-found confidence I still find delivering webinars very tiring, but the gradual build up has helped me manage this.

Do you have any advice for people who are considering or have recently started the co-trainer role?

The first time I got in contact with Autism Bedfordshire, I withdrew my interest from the co-trainer role, as I did not perceive myself as being capable enough. I am not a confident person and so never imagined that I would be able to speak in front of a group of total strangers.

To anyone considering applying, you aren’t thrown in the deep end, and you won’t be expected to start delivering webinars immediately. When I started, I and the rest of the team spent a couple of months just practising the webinar in partners. A worry I initially had was that I would be expected to speak in front of people independently, this is not the case, you are always accompanied by a facilitating trainer and another co-trainer. It’s always worth remembering that if we don’t tell “neurotypicals” what it’s like, then they’ll never know.

To those who’ve just started, remember that no one was 100% confident at first. Even those experienced at delivering webinars still face anxiety, they just might have got better at managing it. When delivering webinars think about how you’d want to hear the information if you were receiving the training yourself; for instance, I speak slowly so that people can understand and don’t become overloaded.

At NHS England, we want to thank Lauren and the team at Autism Bedfordshire for their commitment to Oliver’s Training and being a voice for those who are not always heard.

If you’re interested in becoming a co-trainer like Lauren, visit the express an interest webpage.

To find out more about more about how to involve people with lived experience in The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, visit the employer resource webpage.

*Aspergers is a term that is not used diagnostically anymore, however Lauren prefers to use this term to describe herself.