21andsensory Podcast

On today’s show I have special guest David Holmes who is the founder of Big Life Adventure. 

Big Life Adventure is a fun, safe, and supportive online platform designed especially for people with learning disabilities and autism. It helps you explore your interests, set goals, connect with others, and express yourself – all in one place. 

David made headline news a few weeks ago when he warned that the new online safety act risks inadvertently excluding people with learning disabilities. Under the Act, social media platforms are required to carry out strict age checks - using ID checks or AI face recognition -  to keep children away from harmful content. For many people with learning disabilities, these systems are unworkable and I’ll be chatting to him more about this.

Links:

On today’s show I have the wonderful special guest Anna Zoe Quirke. Anna is a queer and autistic author, librarian, and freelance writer from the North of England. They’ve written books, scripts, poetry (and much more).

Their novel ‘Something to be Proud of’ won the Northern Writers’ Award for Debut YA Fiction in 2022, was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize, was published with Little Tiger in June 2024, and was nominated for a Carnegie Award in 2025. Their most recent book ‘ Sad Girl Hours’ was published in September this year.

In her freelance work, Anna writes about mental health, disability, neurodivergence, and LGBTQ+ topics for various charities and organisations such as Kooth, the UK’s largest digital mental health service.

They’re at their happiest writing stories about chaotic queer and disabled people finding and claiming their place in the world.

Anna's Links:

IT'S EPISODE 100! WOOP!

Thanks for listening and subscribing to the 21andsensory podcast over the years - it really does mean a lot and I hope you have enjoyed all the guests I've had on so far...more exciting guests to come too!

On today's episode I have a very special guest to celebrate the 100th episode...but you'll have to click play to find out who it is!

My 21andsensory links:

On this month's 21andsensory Podcast I have the wonderful special guest Lucy Powrie. Lucy is a neurodivergent author whose dream is to fill bookshelves with as many books featuring proudly autistic and ADHD characters as possible – just like her.

Very excited to announce that on this months 21andsensory Podcast episode I have special guest Rachel Morgan-Trimmer

Rachel is (and does) many things including being:

• An International keynote and TEDx speaker

• A neurodiversity consultant and trainer

• An entrepreneur

• …and an author!

Rachel founded Sparkle Class in 2019 which has since rebranded to Firebird which is a company that delivers training on how to create an inclusive workplace and society for people living with ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism and Dyspraxia.

Firebird have worked with clients such as the BBC, NHS, HP, and the British Academy to name a few. Rachel is the author of ‘How to be Autistic’ a free ebook that aims to guide autistic people through what being autistic means, how to manage challenges, and help them to find their own purpose.

Also this is my favourite bit of the book description:

It will help ‘empower you to live as the shiny authentic autistic you were always meant to be’ 💫

So I am very excited to chat to Rachel about everything she does!

Rachels links: