Reflections on My AHP Careers Fellowship and the Autistic-Led Resources Webinar
Callum MacKinnon, Specialist Occupational Therapist
Founder & Executive Director - BounceOT
AHP Careers Fellow 2024-25, NHS Education for Scotland
As a Specialist Occupational Therapist, I had the privilege of presenting at a recent webinar that explored a groundbreaking project where autistic people co-designed resources for health practitioners. This project, which I had the honor of being involved in, was part of my 10-month AHP Careers Fellowship, funded by NHS Education for Scotland.
Over 410 people attended the webinar on Thursday 27th February 2025. The presentation was recorded and will be made available on TURAS Learn for people to access anytime, anywhere.
The webinar was a remarkable opportunity to share key insights and findings I gathered throughout my Fellowship project. During the session, I, along with other presenters, discussed the powerful impact of involving autistic people in the creation of resources aimed at improving healthcare access and experiences. The key takeaway from the webinar was clear: when we design services with neurodivergent individuals, we not only meet their needs but enhance the care for everyone.
Throughout my Fellowship, I had the chance to explore how these resources are being integrated into practice and how they are helping to shape more inclusive and effective healthcare.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing updates on the findings from my Fellowship, diving into the feedback from both autistic participants and healthcare practitioners, and reflecting on how these insights will continue to influence my work and the wider health and social care sector. This project has reinforced the importance of co-design and inclusion, and I’m excited to share what we’ve learned so far, with the hope of continuing to inspire positive change in healthcare services.
Our Co-production journey...
You Don't Know What You Don't Know
For our AHP Careers Fellowship, funded by NHS Education for Scotland, Ursula and I were allocated 1.5 days per week for 10 months to work on a project and complete leadership training. We were responsible for setting our own learning outcomes and were paired because we both wanted to focus on working with autistic adults and learn about coproduction.
Initially, we thought we already understood coproduction and were practicing it well. However, taking the time to explore the theory, various terminology (such as "cocreation"), and the detailed process made us reflect on our approach. A key learning point was realising that "you don’t know what you don’t know." Without pausing to evaluate whether our current approach was the best, we wouldn’t have recognised the need for change.
What Ursula and I did in NHS Lothian & NHS Fife...
Ursula:
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7 autistic adults & 15 SLT staff were invited to share their views on the Autism Informed E-Book.
Those with lived experience chose what would make the biggest difference to them. SLT staff explored ways they could make changes within their teams.
NHS Fife...
Key words used to describe the eBook - within wordcloud
Key words include:
Engaging; Informative; Accessible; Important; Evidence based; Needed; Clear; Informed; Helpful; Encouraging; Good; Easy read; Essential; Surprising; Valuable...
What is already going well within NHS Fife, and across parts of NHS Lothian...
Inclusive ways of working already include:
- Shared email inbox - 2 way communication with patients
- Environmental changes/ adaptations - within appointments
- Running online groups - not just F2F groups
- 1 way text system - for appt reminders and essential updates to patients
- Flexible appt times and location - we meet people where suits them (e.g. at home, community areas and/or wherever the patient is most comfortable)
What are the barriers staff facing (implementing best practice advice from experts by experience)?
Changes to practice already...
Our Key Learning & Reflections
