So Who Am I?
I’m Susanna Fantoni. I was diagnosed with focal epilepsy at the age of three, autism at 15 and depression when I was 20.
Throughout my life, I’ve constantly faced both direct and indirect discrimination due to a lack of understanding and stigma surrounding these conditions.
Over the years I have worked with multiple organisations and charities. I was a founding member of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Young People’s Forum for six years and a member of Young epilepsy’s Young Reps group.
Whilst at university I wrote for both The Huffington Post and The Guardian Student Blog about student life as someone with autism. Both articles are available to read via my Publications page. And I’ve spoken on multiple news broadcasts about my experiences.
The forefront of this site is my blog. I’ve been writing for over a decade now, it’s my main coping mechanism but also a way to spread information and awareness. A way of supporting people in similar situations to me and educating those who are not.
Growing up I always wanted to do something to help people like myself. Due to my health, I was forced down the media route, and as much as I love media and see it as a brilliant tool for education, my heart is set on research. I’m slowly working towards beginning a career and starting my journey towards a PhD.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on the Contact page.
What’s with the Tally?
I chose to use a tally as my logo because it’s a symbol that holds a lot of significance for me. Back when I was in school I used keep track of how many seizures I was having by drawing tally charts on the back of my hand. At times they’d travel all the way up my arm and at one point I even got accused of cheating in an exam because of it.
Then on 30th April 2011, Steven Moffat copied my idea, implanting it into my number one special interest, Doctor Who! Of course the characters on the show were keeping count of The Silence not seizures, but it still meant something to me and my friends as well.
To me a tally is a symbol not only of the struggles I’ve overcome but also everything I’ve achieved since. It’s blank, could be counting anything and that’s what makes these simple five lines so symbolic and why I choose to use it to this day.
