Jo Feaster

I am Joanne (Jo) Feaster, a late-identified autistic and bipolar woman. I am married and live in Leeds with my husband and my two children. My children are both relatively recently diagnosed as autistic and have ADHD, with my eldest also being dyslexic. I subscribe to the social model of disability and the neurodiversity paradigm. I see our strengths, positive qualities, and spiky profiles just as much as I recognise the barriers we face from society.

We have had mixed experiences of the SEND system in Leeds, and I joined the PCF as a volunteer representative as way of sharing my skills and experience, both professionally (I’m an experienced administrator), as well as a mental health and neurodiversity advocate, to hopefully improve things for SEND families in our city.

I have enjoyed the range of opportunities to get involved that the PCF offers and have learnt a lot of information useful to me as an individual parent carer since joining, as well as feeling positive that I am contributing to a collective process for improvement.