Inspirational stories
Auto-Circle Spectrum
draws posters in hope
to raise awareness
of how Autism affect
many peoples lives
Stephanie Nixon
Stephanie Nixon, like Jo Southall, uses her craft to help other people with disabilities.
Stephanie Nixon, President of the
Auto-Circle Spectrum Society, draws
posters advertising the University
of Northampton society to raise
awareness of learning disabilities.
Stephanie explains: “The drawings
I have done for the Auto-Circle
Spectrum Society help get people
interested and raise awareness around
the two campuses.
“The posters help students
understand what our society stands
for: acceptance, tolerance and
understanding. So, I use my craft of
drawing to help communicate our
message which raises the awareness
of different disabilities.”
Stephanie held a Disabled History
Month exhibition last year. Although
she was only able to hold the one
exhibition, she plans on holding more
in the next academic year.
“The society is all about celebrating
diversity of special needs on campus.
Exhibitions give us a chance to do
this. Although they are hard to
organise I find it worth it.
“Last exhibition we got a lot of
interest through the use of the
posters. Students wanted to learn
about the disabilities that exist. Some
first years were especially interested
in learning sign language to combat
the barrier between deaf people and
people who aren’t deaf.”
Stephanie talks about how the AutoCircle Spectrum Society can help its
members and discusses how different
disorders and disabilities can affect
people’s lives.
“This academic year, Auto-Circle
Spectrum Society has managed to
create links with the Additional
Student Support & Inclusion Services
Team (ASSIST) and the Special
Education Needs (SEN) department.
These links help provide support and
information to all members of the
society and non-members.
“Not only that but, during society
meetings, I research into the many
disabilities that exist and how each
one can affect people’s lives and
pass that information on through
my society. I believe it’s important
for students to be educated in the
variety of disabilities that exist but
also educated so they can get the help
they could receive from the university
if they are disabled or struggling to
cope with a learning disability.”
Anushka Vinales, a third-year
Geography student at the University
of Northampton commented: “For
my dissertation I’m investigating how
different environments can affect
students with learning difficulties. I
found that the majority of students
find one-to-one ASSIST sessions
useful. Therefore, it’s important that
students with learning disabilities
are able to access the help they need
from the facilities available at their
university.”
The society’s Facebook page can be
found at:
facebook.com/autocirclesspectrum
All photos courtesy of Stephanie Nixon
A
uto-Circle Spectrum
Society at the University of
Northampton uses crafts
to raise awareness of disabilities
around Avenue and Park
campuses.