Dyspraxic in the kitchen

The joy of soup

Being Dyspraxic I am a bit of  a nightmare in the kitchen and inviting someone round for dinner is not a treat for them!

Because I don't enjoy cooking I get bored and walk away, which often results in burnt dinner - my poor girl learnt to cook as soon as she was able - I currently have 2 burnt pans sitting awaiting attention.

Presentation is the other thing that I lack and presentation is pretty important in cooking I think and  I do actually love good food.

It's really important to me to eat well to keep up my strength and convenience food is such a nightmare. It's so tempting to use but it's expensive and lacks nutrition.

Luckily some time ago I discovered that I love home made soup, so I got a wizzer  (and you can pick one up for a tenner) and have never looked back.

Soup can be easy, quick, highly nutritious and  because you liquidize it it doesn't matter how it looks! so I am mostly rewarded with approval. I still sometimes burn it but hey ho.

I wanted to share this Armenian soup recipe  from my ancient  Cranks cookbook because it is soooooo  easy, delicious and best of all, as we are all broke in January,  it costs about 50p for 4 people.

Here it is..
*2oz red lentils
*2oz washed dried apricots
*1 large potato
*2 pints of veg stock
*Juice of 1/2 a lemon
*1 tsp of ground cumin (I grind the seeds because  it smells amazing)
*Lots of chopped parsley about 3 tablespoons (I have parsley growing all year round)
*Salt and pepper to taste.

Here's the amazing bit... Chop the potato and throw everything in a pan. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 mins. If the potato breaks up easily it's ready. When it's cool wizz it with a blender, or mash it and eat it .

What really works for me is to make too much and freeze portions for those days when I really can't get my act together but need good food.

If you make this please let me know what you think.

Also I'd love it if you would share your easy but healthy meals and I will try them (but I am a veggie)  

Jane x

Self-employment and Disability, the Unrealised Potential?

Potential?

This post originally appeared on Reaching New Heights May 2013

During World Autism Awareness Month and I read the following rather disturbing statistics in the Guardian 

• Only 15% of adults with autism in the UK are in full-time paid employment and only 9% are in part-time employment.

• 26% of graduates with autism are unemployed, by far the highest rate of any disability group.

• Of those who do not currently have a job, 59% do not believe or think they will ever be able to get one.

• According to the National Autistic Society, most of the 300,000-plus working-age adults with autism want to work but are held back by a lack of understanding of autism and a dearth of specialist employment services.

• Only 10% of adults with autism receive support in finding work but 53% would like it.

• 79% of adults with autism who receive out of work benefits say they would rather work.

• 37% of adults with autism have never had a paid job after the age of 16 and 41% of people over the age of 55 have spent a period of more than 10 years without a paid job.

• 51% of adults with autism in the UK have lived through a period in which they have had neither a job nor access to benefits. Of those, 10% have been in this position for a decade or more.

• Of those who have worked, about a third said that they had experienced bullying and felt that they had received unfair treatment or discrimination as a result of their disability.

These statistics are shocking as, even with the breadth of the spectrum, they are referring to some people with the highest IQs in our society. The issue seems to be that many employers simply don’t know how to manage people with autism.

Earlier this month  Phil Jones  came up to Morecambe and run a seminar on self-employment as an option for young people, motivated by the fact that  entrepreneurship is not taught in schools and yet for some young people self-employment is absolutely the right option.

And this really got me thinking …

I have hearing and speech problems after a bodged tonsillectomy at the age 4, but it is the newly  diagnosed dyspraxia that has given me more problems in my life.  It was only going self-employed that I have understood that fully. Dyslexia tutor Kerry Pace is also dyspraxic and I noticed how she posts about looking after herself, so I decided to do a short series of blogs by me, Kerry and other people with disabilities who have chosen self-employment and how that  has worked for us.

My Story

I only made the leap into full self employment  two and a half  years ago when I set up Jane’s Social Media, although I had been a part time self-employed trainer for some years before that.

 The most striking thing that I have noticed is that I haven’t been really ill since.  With Dyspraxia I get very tired and would catch flu, or some other virus, every winter. Being self-employed though I get to notice when I am too tired as I knock things over/ drop things/ crash into things much more.  As an employee I would have to just carry on until I dropped, as a self-employed person I can listen to my body and I can then just sit for an hour, lie on the bed or go for a walk. I also don’t skip meals or eat as much fast junk as I used to and I ensure that exercise is time tabled into my week, including a monthly walk in the hills and a good old natter with my friend.

It has made parenting easier too as I am home most days when my daughter gets in from school, that means she gets attention, and the house is generally a calmer happier place.

Of course the really great thing is that self-employment allows me to use my creativity which boosts my self-esteem and as a friend said last week I have never been more comfortable in my own skin. I now know that my wiring really suits being an entrepreneur and I love how many ideas I have and that I can explore those without a ton of red tape!

Over the next couple of weeks I will post guest blogs by other people with disabilities that have chosen self-employment. If you would like to share your story please get in touch.

I would love your feedback, so please leave a comment below.

In December 2013 @Lancaster our very popular local magazine published an article about Dyspraxia. They got their maths a bit wrong, but a full page spread is a full page spread and I was most grateful.

 Check it out on page 44.

Dyspraxia and Self-Employment

I have written 2 guest blogs on self employment and dyspraxia  for the site 

How To Work From Home.

Here they are below..

An award-winning disabled entrepreneur on why working from home is the ideal choice

Jane Binnion has provided today’s guest post on how working from home as a disabled entrepreneur has enabled her to lead a full working and family life after many years of struggling with an office job:

Life before home working

For about 7 years I was part time employed and part time self-employed, then 3 years ago an accident left me unable to drive for a few months. During this time I made the decision to go full time self-employed, but more importantly to work from home.

to read the rest of the article click here

The disabled entrepreneur – a work in progress

More from award-winning disabled entrepreneur Jane Binnion

Earlier this year Jane Binnion wrote about the positive option of self-employment and home working for thedisabled entrepreneur.

I’m delighted that she’s back with another guest post about her progress…

because what she’s learnt is a useful lesson for all of us:

By September of this year, half way into year three of being a disabled entrepreneur, I was aware that I was VERY tired. And then I got anxious. I’m on a business growth programme and I got scared that growing just involved more hours and even more tired.

I choose to work from home for the flexibility it gives me in terms of resting when I need to, BUT I found that I am never at home anymore as I’m out and about delivering training, at planning meetings, or networking. I had lost the work/life balance that was so important to me as a disabled entrepreneur and I really couldn’t carry on like that.

What to do?

to read the rest of the article click here

I would love to hear your comments on disability and employment.

The launch of my first children's book about Dyspraxia - You're So Clumsy Charley

The launch of my children's book, You're So Clumsy Charley.

Press Release.. 

Jane Binnion, Colin Shelbourn and  Paul Johnson joined forces to produce a national first – a children’s book about Dyspraxia. The book, which also marks the first book from Funky Gerbil Press that Paul runs, hit the booksellers’ shelves just in time for the Christmas rush.

You can find out more about You’re so clumsy Charley, which explains what it is like to have dyspraxia from a child's perspective at www.funkygerbil.com. 

Inspired by her daughter, Jane Binnion put pen to paper to raise awareness of this widely misunderstood condition estimated to affect 1 in 10 people.

She says “I was inspired to write You’re so clumsy Charley as at the time of realising my daughter also had dyspraxia, I automatically went to the library to find children’s books that deal the  issue in an age appropriate way, so that she understood that she was not the only child in this situation. The library had nothing and I was then shocked to see that there was nothing on Amazon either, there was simply nothing on the market aimed at children.  So I decided to write something for children myself. Whilst my daughter was initially sceptical, she is now really proud of me. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this book and have obviously been inspired by her feelings and experiences as well as my own.”

Charley and his family are brought to life by cartoonist Colin Shelbourn, who is renowned for his comic strips as well as being Britain’s first radio cartoonist. “It was an unusual idea” says Colin “that engaged me straight away. It was about a boy with dyspraxia, a little known condition which is often misunderstood, particularly by schools, carers and parents. The book is designed to tell a story, engage the reader and help those with the condition to feel good about themselves.”

Paul Johnson said: “It’s doubly exciting to launch Jane’s book, as it marks the first book Funky Gerbil Press has released. Our goal is to draw attention to conditions and issues that prevent young people from realising their full potential through the misunderstanding of others. In the case of You're so clumsy Charley, we chose not to name dyspraxia in the story because this book is for every child that is different.”

Jane says:  “If my book helps children to feel better about themselves and enables parents, teachers and carers to see things in a more positive light, then I will be a very happy lady!

You can view the book here