iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Dan is always so generous with his praise of others, an exceptional person whether he’s uplifting my work or others!

Reposted by Sarah O'Brien

Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) @smkcampaigners.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

SMK is hiring? Could it be you? 📣Head of Programmes (£50-55K full time) 📣Grant Programme Manager (£33-35K part time) Deadline for applications is Tuesday 22 April by 11pm Find out more here 👉 smk.org.uk/get-involved...

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Simply having one of those days where things are hard and I'm repeatedly told that I'm rubbish at inclusive practice, which is a hard one to sit with when I know all the effort I put in to try to make things inclusive and accessible despite exclusionary, often immovable systems.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Accidentally forgot to take my POTS meds yesterday so I ended up accidentally fainting today, which serves as a useful barometer of 48 hours between meds means a complete return to business as (unmedicated) usual. My life revolves around silly heart-shaped tablets.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

The rhetoric around welfare benefits and social security being handouts was and will always be incredibly dangerous and downright insidious. Supporting all members of society is never a handout, it’s a safety net, a social contract of support for all.

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Reposted by Sarah O'Brien

The Mental Elf @thementalelf.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Diagnostic overshadowing in PTSD & autism: what do we know about trauma in ASD? buff.ly/0c0Hz5V Sofiia Karnatska blogs a systematic review of PTSD in autistic individuals, which provides some useful insights about effective assessment & treatment of #PTSD in #Autism. 🧵 THREAD

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Watching someone pick their nose, look at their find and then wrap their hand around the train’s grab rail on this morning’s commute pretty much sums it up. It’s the lesson that just keeps giving, don’t trust other peoples hygiene 🥲

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Unexpected barrier to accessible and inclusive recruitment? Application and recruitment platforms simply do not allocate enough storage space for Easy Read job information, and NHS cloud storage is restrictive, so we have to find a workaround.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Either I look like I’m visually impaired or need emotional support today because I’ve had so many people remark on “that dog is working” The dog in question

Monty, a pale golden retriever lays on pavement and smiling up at Sarah while wearing an orange harness and double ended lead.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Celebrating Neurodiversity Celebration week with not just one but two migraines from working less accessible than ideal work environments certainly feels like some sort of message to be decoded.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

LinkedIn is such an odd place, a role I was rejected from (applied in Aug '24) is now recruiting again, so either it was a lucky escape/bad role and it's a terrible place to work or whomever they hired instead of me wasn't a good fit. Either way, a great escape.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Celebrating st paddy’s day just as my ancestors would have wanted, withering the evening away with a migraine. I am in fact not the craic after a day of cracking people up 🥲

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

One of my ‘auras’ of an incoming shutdown is a drip that starts from my nose, almost as if my body thinks I need to cry with the impending level of overwhelm but it’s so confused that instead of tears it’s just a drip elsewhere in the ENT cavity.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

I got woken up in the night recently by something/someone breathing on my neck, which was a worry as my husband was working in central Europe at the time. Turn around, and it turned out Monty, my not very petite golden retriever, had snuggled his way onto my pillow and we were now sharing.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

With all of the news of changing the structures around health and care, I'm sure the team at @thekingsfund.bsky.social will be there to guide us through with animations of how everything works once the dust settles down. Their animation team are always kept on their toes.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

One thing I’d overlooked about delivering autism and learning disability training across health and social care was just how much I’d be defending my right to define and view myself in ways that don’t make me want to kill myself or see myself as a burden or packed with deficits! Fun really! 🫠

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Is there potential for inefficiency in NHS England? I mean of course but so can any organisation. Is it fair to drop this news publicly without due consideration to staff? Absolutely not. Either way, join a union.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

My Outlook app updated which means there has been a minor change to the display of my calendar, just something to process the change of for the next 3-5 business days. UI changes always throw me, whether it be a tiny shift or a monumental change, most of the time completely unnecesary.

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Reposted by Sarah O'Brien

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 28/01/2025

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

washingtonpost.com

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion

The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

An early birthday present from PLR letting me know that a whopping (to me) 515 people borrowed So, I'm Autistic from their local library in its first year of publication. That's huge, sometimes I forget I've written something people might actually see, read or care about.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Hello! My team are hiring two facilitating trainers to co-deliver Oliver McGowan autism and learning disability training across north London. ⏰ 20 hours per week, 9-month fixed term contract 💷 NHS band 6 with outer HCAS 📆 Apply by 26th January 2025 www.nhsjobs.com/job/UK/Londo...

nhsjobs.com

Job vacancy: Oliver McGowan Facilitating Trainer, 306 North London NHS Foundation Trust, London | trac.jobs

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

The mind is strong but the body is weak and I've pulled a muscle in my back from sneezing 🙃

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Alexithymia and poor interoception as key aspects of autism you say? idk what you mean aside from the eczema I developed while not realising I was actually quite stressed. 🫠

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

🤨 Does growth include reducing or restructuring jobs to reduce the human element? I wouldn't have thought so, nor does it feel positive in the face of why a hands on approach to public service is so necessary. People need to be accountable, not distant systems.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Incredibly silly thing, but I wear glasses everyday and have done for nearly 28 years. With a more stable income post-PhD stipend I’ve got my first eye test in over three years hat I’ll be able to afford new glasses from. I’ll finally have new frames.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Accidentally ended up with a sinus infection after catching a cold and I’m hoping my immune system will choose to be a bit more of an active participant in my life than my last experience of sinusitis that lasted a horrendous 14 weeks

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

In terms of levels of tired I’m currently experiencing I managed to get on a train that goes to my station BUT I accidentally got on the slow train because I read the platforms wrong. So that’s 20 more minutes of bright fluorescent lights than needed 🥲 I’ll get home but at what cost

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

I might have accidentally reinvented myself without even realising. Apparently I seem like an extrovert and nothing like a shrinking violet or wallflower. Which goes against what I’d thought others thought of my little autistic and awkward self.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Happy new year, I'm doing some conflict resolution training and to me, the 'assault cycle' triggers remind me of commonly missed signs before 'behaviours of concern' expressed by autistic people and those with a learning disability in in-patient MH services.

Environment - too hot/too cold/too noisy etc.
Other patients and staff around you
Meetings about their care or mental health
Loss of freedom
Change in routine or the routine itself
Frustration for any reason
Contact with family, for example a good/bad visit
Loss of contact with family and/or friends

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Watched a film earlier thinking that Josh Lucas looked like the love child of Kevin Costner and Matthew McConaughey, only to then stumble onto Yellowstone (very belatedly!) and who is playing young Costner but Lucas!

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Accidentally said “Happy New Smear” walking out of the nurses office today after, well, a smear test, rather than the more appropriate happy new year 🥲

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Trying to find a soothing balm for my nose (merry sickmas because I've got a cold), but everything that comes up is a balm for dog noses. Being ill with a blocked nose and sinus pain is the worst sensory experience for me. So overwhelming and I can't mitigate the overwhelm.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

We’ve already had people door knocking for the local elections… that are in May! We’ve not even had new years yet!

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Forgot to take my POTS meds this morning and y'know what, I can really tell the difference between even the lowest dose and no dose.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Currently trying to move any of my lingering internet accounts off of an ancient Hotmail account that is now beleaguered by a daily influx of spam, which shockingly (not) isn’t caught by Outlook’s junk detectors

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Reposted by Sarah O'Brien

Chronic Historian ♾️♿️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💜🖤💛🦓🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🍉🐺🐈‍⬛🧑‍🌾🌱🌳 @enbycriphistorian.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

If you are white and autistic, or neurodivergent in general, you should follow these folk. Autistic and ND spaces are incredibly dominated by white voices and it leads to an entrenchment of the problems white supremacy has already caused in autistic advocacy

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Just out walking Monty and heard some meowing, turns out it was a teenage girl meowing out the window of the car on the way to school?? Anyways, here’s Monty enjoying some nature with a model pose 📸

Monty, a golden retriever, wearing his orange jumper and orange harness stands on the edge of a high bank of earth in the woods and looks back over his shoulder as he grins, much like a model posing after tossing their hair over their shoulder.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

When I say that being autistic is often experiencing a mismatch between your expressive communication and receptive communication, this is one of those examples. Understanding is completely separate from expressing. There's also a mismatch through different means of expressing yourself!

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Don't worry lads, Christmas is on me this year! My PIP Christmas bonus just came in, I'll try not to spend it all in one place!

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

I thought I'd found the limits of my sensory sensitivities, that was at least until I've managed to get a splinter in a finger tip over the weekend. It's still in there, three fingerprint lines long, making itself known even without touching anything.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

We went on an adventure to see Santa Paws! We also learnt that he definitely knows what the word “cheese” means, and he doesn’t think it’s 📸, he leapt towards the camera for a cheesy treat.

Monty stood on two paws to look out a train window as were stopped at a station. He’s grinning and looking at his fellow travellers.

Monty sat on a bench on a train station platform.

Monty sat on a train seat. He’s grinning wasn’t meant to be, but it was the only way to scoot him out of the aisle.

Monty sat next to Santa in a grotto setup, he’s about to leap from his perch towards the photographer who has just shouted “Cheese!”

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

A new economics report, commissioned by @autismallianceuk.bsky.social and @autistica.org.uk, conducted by LSE, highlights the economic efficiencies in prioritising autism in policy and commissioning, pushing for inclusion in the Autism Strategy www.autism-alliance.org.uk/news/the-eco...

The Economic Case for Prioritising Autism in Policy and Reform report cover page.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I’m so intrigued by the what’s and whys of people not making it all the way through referral to completing treatment. I’ve got my guesses and own biases having had a couple rounds of talking therapies myself.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

The DWP is slowly processing my Access to Work claim, but the thing that seems to be holding things up more than most is the DWP questioning “do you really need that”, with the adjustments in question coming from a detailed assessment with an assessor who got to know me 🙃

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I’ve been in training today to learn how to co-deliver autism training, which, without a single bit of irony, I feel fairly qualified to do, but it has been an interesting learning point none the less to explore others approaches to content and how to manage questions.

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Sarah O'Brien @sarahobrien.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Facilitating on cloudy days is so “migraine core” for me 😭

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Reposted by Sarah O'Brien

The Anti-Christ Brosnahan @chrisbrosnahan.com · 10/12/2024

We seem to be very bad, as a society, at recognising and dealing with powerful men with bad intentions. If anything, we tend to idolise them and celebrate them. As a species, this doesn't seem like a good survival trait.

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