I'm delighted to have been invited as a panellist for the ISAAC Pathways to Leadership webinar which took place on Monday 21 September, 2020 at 8pm GMT The LEAD committee for people who use AAC want to encourage people to become leaders within their own communities and within ISAAC. The...

Everyone likes to be liked, and for some people it seems that saying no is harder than for others. In the past I’ve been made to feel bad, that saying no is my fault. I’ve been scared or afraid of how the other person may act or behave. Particularly as...

When I started out employing personal assistants at the age of 12, as a family, we considered all of the different titles the role may be called from carer to support worker and personal support assistant. Speaking to friends who already had paid team members we settled for ‘personal assistant’...

Whilst I lived at home, then with only a handful of teenagers supporting me one at a time, it wasn’t necessary to have a team leader.  I’ve now experienced 4 different scenarios, the team being led by a case manager, led by a team leader I didn’t appoint, led by...

I mentioned in my blog in June about the importance of having positive relationships with personal assistants. The recruitment process is key to making a good appointment.  It is not something we want to rush as it is so important to get this right for everyone including the person choosing...

This is the second in a series of 4 posts about employing my own team. Having had personal assistants in my life for 7 years when I went to university I thought the transition to living away was going to be relatively easy.  Unfortunately, starting university with a team of...

My first personal assistant was employed using direct payments from Social Services when I was 12 years old. In hindsight the decision on who to employ was actually quite easy, although it felt both daunting and exciting at the time. Whilst at primary school (up to age 11) Kate had...