Karen Melvin
@kitmelvin.bsky.social
Speech and Language Therapist, North West of Ireland. Trainer and Registered Intermediary (Criminal Justice). Passionate about Justice, Human rights, Autism and Intellectual Disabilities. Neuroaffirmative and always curious. She/her
Couldn't agree more. "It feels like when there are projects to be scrapped or cuts to be made Magee is first in line"
Adam Melvin@adammelvin.bsky.social · 2mo agoAir Dome plans at Ulster University's Magee campus scrapped www.itv.com/news/utv/202...
Grit. Growth mindset. PBIS. Every generation of education reform produces the same product: a marketable intervention that locates the problem in students' attitudes and behaviors rather than in structural conditions. Behaviorism didn't go away. It got a rebrand. stimpunks.org/access/educa...
Education Access Series: Broken by Design, Sold a Fix, Owed Justice
Schools fail neurodivergent students. Not by accident. By design—by ideology, by architecture, by a century of assumptions about whose bodies and minds belong in a classroom. This series documents…
stimpunks.org
GLOBAL MAJORITY PARENTS OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN I'm sharing this on behalf of Reena Anand. Reena is writing a book for the Global Majority Parents of Autistic Children. It's well underway and will be published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd. Share your story here: bit.ly/43aIaSj
Share Your Story: Raising an Autistic Child as a Global Majority (Black, Asian or Mixed Heritage) Parent
Thank you for your willingness to share your story. I’m writing a book to amplify the voices of global majority parents raising autistic children around the world. Many parents feel isolated, particul...
bit.ly
Looking for trusted support and practical resources for those who live with, work with or love an autistic person? Visit #AutismCentral for information, guidance, and tools to support autistic people of all ages and their families. Explore more here: 👉 www.autismcentral.org.uk
Please share✨ Great opportunities for young people in Ireland. This work experience could bring your to new places, new spaces with people from so many cultures & could change the trajectory of your life 🤩💪🏾 Give it a go! #spéirghorm #EU #Disabled #ChronicIllness #MS #JobFairy
EU Council@consilium.europa.eu · 8mo agoWe offer up to six paid traineeships each year for EU nationals with disabilities. Interested in gaining work experience at the EU Council? 🗓️ Apply by 19 March. More info 🔗 link.europa.eu/44GyXw
Mandelsons fingerprints seem to be all over this questionable deal with a very problematic company. More scrutiny is needed as concerns from BMA and GPs appear to be dismissed or minimised. Where is the governance? notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-tar...
Say no to Palantir in the NHS
NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org
We have availability on our Discovery Programme starting 18th Feb for 18-24 yr olds. 6 weeks Neuro-affirming exploration of Autistic identity. Online 7-8.45pm (UK) Funded spaces available thanks to Rethink Ireland Hope to see some of you there! Register here: thrivingautistic.org/discovery-pr...
#IrishGovernment close the loophole so that our country is not complicit in these breaches of #HumanRights
Joe Noonan@joenoonan.bsky.social · 8mo agoIrish Times: US aircraft carrying out secretive deportations to Africa and the Middle East have landed in Shannon Airport on 10 occasions in the last year. Deportees are kept in chains on the aircraft. Our Govt does not want to know. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026... @gbrockell.bsky.social
Turning a blind eye to US shenanigans at Shannon Airport cannot be permitted to continue. Rendition flights were such a dark and shameful part of our history. #spéìrgorm www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
Use of Irish airport for US deportation flights to Israel called ‘reprehensible’
Irish politicians condemn use of Shannon airport by private jet en route to Israel, owned by Trump donor Gil Dezer
theguardian.com
For #neurodivergent #artists #writers #theatremakers based in the UK, this looks fascinating. #actuallyautistic www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/springboar...
Springboard Neurodivergent Arts Network: Launch Event
Join Mainspring Arts online to celebrate the launch of Springboard Neurodivergent Arts Network
eventbrite.co.uk
Petition to sign, if you so wish: Merlin, who operate theme parks such as Alton Towers, apparently decided that autistic and ADHD people don't count as having real needs, and are no longer eligible for their usual ride passes if they find queues impossible. What?! Please share. c.org/4wjnPYRCPK
Sign the Petition
Hidden Disabilities Still Need Support: Change The Ride Access Pass System Immediately
c.org
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue
www.bmj.com/content/392/... Autistic girls & women: By age 20, they were diagnosing pretty much equal numbers of men & women. Huge study, whole population of Sweden born 1985-2020. Not 1 in 10. Not 1 in 4. Not 1 in 3. Equal numbers, just about. 100 years of research, most based on the wrong info.
Time trends in the male to female ratio for autism incidence: population based, prospectively collected, birth cohort study
Objectives To examine changes in the male to female ratio in diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over a 35 year period, providing temporal trends in diagnosis (incidence rate), the male to fem...
bmj.com
The most gorgeous package arrived this week from @ciaraioch.bsky.social .. Mini Mná with a who's who guide for the curious young minds in the house. Beautifully packaged with a bunch of gorgeous free delights in there too. It is a treasure trove of beauty #art #speirgorm
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
www.state.gov/u-s-support-... Our gentle reminder that the US agreed the deal between the UK & Mauritius on Chagos Islands. Here, the statement by Marco Rubio on the subject, with support from POTUS. I've no idea what the US President means by it being "an act of great stupidity", therefore.
U.S. Support for UK and Mauritius Agreement on Chagos Archipelago - United States Department of State
Today, the United States welcomed the historic agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory—specifically, the Chagos Archipela...
state.gov
📺 Today’s report: X didn’t respond to the Government or the EU - so we went to try to have a word. Meanwhile, AI Minister urges EU to immediately suspend Grok and says she’ll speak to the Taoiseach about the Government off X. 🗣️ @conorom.bsky.social @virginmedianews.bsky.social
Very good from @nixonsimon.bsky.social on how Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" poses a grave threat to Europe that its leaders urgently need to wake up to bylinetimes.com/2026/01/06/d...
Trump's 'Donroe Doctrine' Is an Existential Threat to NATO and Europe
The US President's plans to capture Greenland pose a grave threat to Europe's future that its leaders can no longer afford to ignore, argues Simon Nixon
bylinetimes.com
Brilliant thread @ciaraioch.bsky.social talked me into ordering a print this morning for the day that's in it. #NollaignamBan #spéìrgorm
Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨@ciaraioch.bsky.social · 10mo agoHappy Nollaig na mBan! Here's a piece celebrating some of Ireland's most interesting women, with a thread about each of them here: bsky.app/profile/ciar... Prints also available (currently on sale): www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...
In what's now become an annual tradition, I've written another piece for The Gist about how and why I hate A.I. On a bubble about to burst, a future rotted to its core, and the limits of the Mrs Doyle Theory of artificial intelligence. www.thegist.ie/guest-gist-2...
Guest Gist: 2026, Our Already Rotting Future
Seamus O'Reilly warns of AI maximum bubbledrive this year.
thegist.ie
Concerning but nothing new here. Farage was also at this in his support for Irexit and was shown the door. Bannons ignorance about Ireland is telling but equally we shouldn't be complacent with open threats of interference in our democracy. #spéìrgorm www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
Steve Bannon promises ‘Irish Trump’ and says he is working to form ‘national party’ in Ireland
Former White House strategist says he is ‘behind the scenes on the Irish situation’
irishtimes.com
Shared via @thrivingautistic.bsky.social - I have been facilitating this course over the past year or so, and highly recommend!
Thriving Autistic@thrivingautistic.bsky.social · 10mo agoIt is almost the new year.... why not consider signing up for our neuro-affirming Discovery Programme to find out more about your Autistic identity in 2026 Fully funded for Irish citizens & sliding scale of fees for international participants www.thrivingautistic.org/discovery-pr...
Bees, glorious bees! 🐝 #spéirghorm #Bees
The Bee Guy@thebeeguy.bsky.social · 10mo agoIt’s #winter. The buzzing has stopped - mostly. So what’s happened to all the #bees? Let me explain. Please #repost this thread. Don’t just like/look. It literally takes you a second. Costs you nothing. Bees are in trouble and need you good people to help. Thank you. #share #nature #education 1/14
Happy Solstice! Longer, brighter days ahead 💚 #speirgorm
💀💀 Guy Le Mort 💀💀@guylejeune.eurosky.social · 10mo agoThat Arthur C Clarke quote about technology and magic comes to mind. The builders of Newgrange would be incredulous that people around the world could watch the solstice sunrise on hand-held devices. We have come so far and yet the magic of stones and ideas still captivated us like little else.
#speirgorm #spéirgorm #spéirghorm #speirghorm If you are missing the feed, it's here and once you have it pinned you don't need to worry about spelling variations as they are all incorporated, thanks to @c4itnr.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/did:...
dóchas is grá@dochasisgra.bsky.social · 10mo agoBig thanks to @c4itnr.bsky.social for both originally setting up and restoring the #speirgorm feed. (It incorporates all the common spelling variants so no need for spelling anxiety or controversy.)
Cracker of a modern Irish Christmas song from Autamata - Liberty Bell #Spéirghorm youtu.be/DWrDQ3XvIO4
Autamata - liberty bell
YouTube video by Ken Mc Hugh
youtu.be
