PERSONAL
Joe is sensitive to light, touch and noise. When visiting restaurants or tea rooms, he will seek an area of low light, quiet place, preferably a round table and somewhere hidden or out of the way.
He carries his iPad Pro with him at all times and his Bose traditional over the ear headphones, playing soft music for calmness isolating background sounds and noise.
Joe took a semi retirement at the age of 54 in 2014 and tries to spends more time out of the office than in it.
His official day off is on a Thursday and he loses himself somewhere in the English countryside. He swims three times a week to maintain his fitness, and also helps to maintain the couple's large garden.
Joe is also an ordained minister -
www.revjoeellis.church AUTISTIC MELTDOWNS
If Joe has a meltdown, everyone around him knows about it. It could be a seemingly harmless trigger - past ones have included no t-shirts in the drawer, a tradesman being late, a word which sounds like sarcasm, the dog peeing on the floor. On most days these things would not be an issue but on the wrong day just one can cause chaos.
Not all meltdowns are equal - some involve shouting and swearing, others throwing items. In the past there have been holes in a wall and furniture upended. On a couple of occasions Joe has stormed out and not come back for a couple of days. Other times he just shuts himself in his music room to get some alone time.
He can sometimes see them coming and will take himself out of the situations; this happens more nowadays.
They are not very pleasant to be around but they are a common consequence of autism.
JOB
Joe is a full time professional karate instructor and holds a 8th Dan Black Belt and is of International repute.
Joe has chaired three National Governing Bodies; The All British Karate Organisation, Karate England and the National Association of Karate and Martial Art Schools (NAKMAS). He is the current National Chair of NAKMAS.
NAKMAS links are, as follows:
www.nakmas.org.ukwww.facebook.com/nakmasngbwww.twitter.com/nakmasngbwww.instagram.com/nakmasngb ISN'T IT NICE BEING NICE?
Joe runs a campaign known as Isn't It Nice...Being Nice? The campaign is aimed at being nice and kind to everyone and undertaking a random acts of kindness.
Take a look at Joe's website via:
www.beingniceuk.com ENGLISH TEA ROOM GUIDE
For over 50 years Joe has visited English tea rooms regularly in the same way as the majority of people people visit pubs. Joe doesn't drink, smoke, gamble or take drugs, never has done and never will do!
Joe runs the English Tea Room Guide and travels all round England visiting English tea rooms and reviewing them. He then awards a rating; Highly Recommended, Recommended or rather quaintly, Not My Cup Of Tea!
Here's a link to Joe's English Tea Room Guide:
www.tea-room-guide.org.ukwww.facebook.com/tearoomguide
www.twitter.com/tearoomguideuk