About Eliza Jane

With a lifelong passion for books, stories, and the written word, I'm a writer and recently qualified proofreader. I trained with the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders and remain a member with a desire to gain the work experience required to progress through the levels of membership. I’m also a qualified bookkeeper with a history of working in accounts, credit control and admin. In the past, I qualified as a hypnotherapist (hypnotist in the US) and, while I never practiced, I have an enduring interest in psychology and helping others. I also worked in the community care industry for twelve years.

In 2018, the direction of my life changed unexpectedly. No great trauma occurred, but my life took an unexpected turn when a curtain that had cast a shadow over my life until that point pulled back slightly, allowing a pinprick of light to break through. It was then that I realised I might be autistic. After conducting several months of research, I embarked on the journey to diagnosis in 2019.

Three years after the initial assessment, I received confirmation of my diagnosis. It had been a long and frustrating road, but finally, my life experience made some sense. What really baffled me was how an autistic adult could live for so long without their difference being realised. Surely someone must have known!

In my case, the reason was frighteningly simple. I’d always enjoyed learning and therefore, school hadn’t been a problem. Recognition of neurodivergence in children has improved in recent years, but for my generation, teachers only noticed us if we were disruptive or falling behind and even then, it was unlikely they would know why. I was neither struggling academically nor causing problems in the classroom, but because of the lack of diagnosis and subsequent lack of help or support in a social sense, my complimentary and positive school reports made no difference to my life after school.

From the start, I received odd looks from other people and found myself on the receiving end of spiteful behaviour without knowing why. Worse than that, I always felt that I was living my life with one arm tied behind my back; that people were actively stopping me from progressing at work just because they didn’t like me.

Three years is a painfully long time to be forced to wait for a diagnosis when the reason for your struggles has not only had a tremendous impact on your life, but continues to do so. However, it reflects the exponential demand for assessments in a society that's slowly awakening to the reality of other types of brain function and mental processing. For me, the wait was worth it. I’m proud to be a detail-driven autist and my writing projects now focus on raising autistic awareness and acceptance of this heavily misunderstood neurotype.

Discrimination exists in many forms, and for most minority groups, is already being addressed. However, this isn't the case for those whose difference relates to brain function. People like me are gaining some traction in bringing an awareness of our reality to the rest of the world, but without understanding, there can be no tolerance and without tolerance, there can be no acceptance.

The lack of awareness in relation to the broadness of the Spectrum leads many people to believe that all autistic people can't exist without significant support. In truth, many autistic people don't ‘appear’ to be disabled at all, but that doesn’t mean they're not struggling. Rather, they're creating a long-term challenge for themselves by masking excessively, or people assume they're ‘bad’ neurotypicals and punish them instead of offering support.

This is a situation that desperately needs to change. For that reason, I have written a book to raise autistic awareness. I hope to improve relationships in the workplace and enable those autistic people who're struggling to be granted the chance of a better life. It will be available from 15th October 2024 on Amazon and other retail outlets. I'll share a sample chapter on this website before then. If you want to know about me, I can’t think of a more thorough introduction than reading this very personal book.

In the meantime, if you require writing or proofreading services, please contact me by email at: Eliza@awesomescribblersunited.uk for further details. Please see the ‘Contact me’ section for guidance on information to include in your enquiry and the ‘which service’ tab to check that it is a proofreader you need, rather than an editor.