Joshua Muggleton - Short Biography

picture of Joshua Muggleton
Joshua Thomas Bailey Muggleton, born 7th July 1989 is a speaker, writer, and consultant on Autistic Spectrum Disorders, best known for his work as a conference presenter, blogger, and his media appearances with Channel 4's YearDot project. Joshua has Aspergers Syndrome, a form of Autism.
Early Life
Joshua was born in Guildford, Surrey, UK, in 1989. As a child, Joshua seemed a little different to other children in his pre-school playgroup, but appeared to be coping OK. At age 5 Joshua was home schooled by his mother Julia, an experienced school teacher. However, after 2 years, the needs of his autistic younger brother became apparent and Josh joined a near by, well respected primary school. Joshua experienced difficulties integrating with his peers and soon became the victim of low level bullying. The school attempted to try and integrate him into school life by assigning him a “buddy”. However this scheme did not work. Joshua quickly became the butt of jokes, and was always given the worst jobs in games by his “friends”. During this time, he was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dyspraxia.

Secondary School

Just before Joshua was transferred to one of the top secondary schools in Surrey, his parents requested a meeting with the school to try and put in the support he would need. This was turned down. Within the first half term, Joshua was suffering from severe depression and by Christmas, he had attempted suicide. Joshua found some solace in horse riding at his local stables, where he worked on Saturdays. Despite repeatedly telling his schoolteachers about what he was experiencing, the school did not do anything to help. Joshua has regularly stated that he does not blame the teachers for their lack of understanding due to the fact they didn’t have any training on Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Joshua was referred to Child And Family Mental Health services, where he regularly saw a clinical psychologist. Shortly after this, he was formally diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, something Joshua says did not come as a surprise. He said that he had self diagnosed himself when listening to a recording of a lecture by Tony Attwood, a world renowned speaker on Aspergers syndrome.

Life Post Diagnosis

Joshua’s mental state got progressively worse, and his school attendence continued to decline. In early 2004 Joshua had a nervous breakdown and was unable to attend school. At this point, Education Other Than At Schools service (EOTAS) tried to re-integrate him. However, after 9 months of trying to be re-integrated, his psychiatrist signed him off school because his mental health had suffered too much.

Because of the stress levels, Joshua said that he was unable to remember much of his school experiences, and that he had to “express study” his GCSEs in the next 5 months. The local council provided 5 hours one to one tuition, which his parents supplemented with another 2 hours. He also took part in an online learning program run by Satellite Virtual Schools. Because of the huge stress his school had caused him, Joshua was unable to take his GCSEs at school, and had to take them at Surrey County Council offices. During this time, Joshua took gave his first talk to 20 SENCOs for 20 minutes. This went down well and would prove to be the stepping stone onto other talks. Joshua achieved grade C in GCSE Maths, Business Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, ICT, English Literature and English Language, along with a B grade at Religious Studies.

Over the next summer, Joshua spent time trying to find a form of education that he could participate in while recovering from his experiences. From September 2005 to February 2006, Joshua studied AS level Maths, Computer Science, Physics and Economics with Satellite Virtual Schools. During this time, he was offered his second speaking opportunity, this time talking to masters degree students. After Joshua’s January GCSE modules, Joshua felt that he could not continue to study in this way as he learned better in a class room setting, which Satellite school did not provide.

Shortly after, Joshua gave a talk to aprox 100 people at the 2005 National Autistic Society members meeting for the south east. After an extremely positive reception, Joshua was offered the chance to be a key speaker at the National Autistic Society's launch of their Make School Make Sense campaign in the House of Commons. After another positive reception, Joshua started to get lots more talks.

That summer, Joshua was again looking for a place to study, after some searching, Joshua found a residential college based in Somerset - Farleigh Further Education College in Frome. Joshua was offered a place at short notice due to a last minute cancellation. The college provided him with food, accommodation, and one to one support both when boarding and when attending The City of Bath College, where Joshua studied Maths, Business studies and Physics. In November 2006 he was interviewed for the BBC Radio 4 program “Am I normal?”, and also a live prime time interview for BBC Radio 5 live, and BBC Radio 1. He also gave an interview to a major tabloid newspaper.

The next summer (2007), after reviewing his AS level grades, Joshua decided to drop AS physics (in which he achieved a D grade) in favour of AS psychology. Joshua also did an interview for a More 4 News segment, alongside other talks that year. Shortly after starting his second year of A levels, Joshua found that he had a talent for Psychology, and was encouraged to take the whole Psychology A level in one year. University applications followed - something he previously thought he would not be able to achieve. Later that year, Joshua did a live international broadcast for CNN.

In early 2008, Josh was offered the opportunity to take part in Channel 4’s YearDot Programme, a TV and Internet based project, which followed him and 14 other young people though a year of their lives. In August 2008, Joshua achieved an A grade in A level Psychology, an A grade in A level maths, and a B grade an A level Business studies, and was consequently accepted into the University of St Andrews to Study Psychology.

Now in his final year, Josh regards St Andrews as home. He joined the union technical production crew, putting on events on a daily basis in the union, which he now heads up. He is on the Union Council, and is a regular union DJ.

In his free time, Josh enjoys reading (mostly fantasy fiction or Jeremy Clarkson), Watching DVDs (mostly comedy and drama), spending time with friends, Skiing, Technical Production, and DJing.

Joshua says his main goals in life are to raise awareness of Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and to become a Clinical Psychologist.