Talking with U . K . journalist and author Lydia Wilkins By Lisa Guthrie Deabill
U . K . freelance journalist and public speaker Lydia Wilkins recently added another title to her resume — author .
Wilkins , who has autism , published The Autism Friendly Cookbook in November , 2022 . She also serves as ambassador for AccessAble , an accessibility guide in the U . K . and Ireland , for people with disabilities .
AfA : Tell us a little about yourself and how you got to where you are today .
Lydia : I ' m a freelance journalist specializing in disability and social issues . At a very young age , I had always known that I wanted to do something wordy . I was the child who was always with their nose in a book ! I learned pretty quickly I can ' t write fiction , which is sort of connected to my autism diagnosis , and switched to journalism almost by default , really . Since I graduated , I have covered disability related stuff such as when it came to people shielding millennials in the U . K . versus social issues like the fate of dolphins and overfishing where I live . I sometimes act as a speaker and can be found creating podcasts . It ' s quite mixed !
AfA : Congratulations on the publication of your book , The Autism Friendly Cookbook . Why did you decide to write it ?
Lydia : It happened due to an accumulation of events around the first COVID-19 lockdown here in the U . K . I never thought I ' d write a book ! I was 21 at the time . Speaking to others sparked the idea . So , here is the sum of everything I have learned and researched with 100 recipes , illustrations , adaptations and more .
To Table of Contents
Accessibilty for All 63