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The Velvet Bulldozer
is Sandy Row

Writing a book about your battle for educational rights for your children is something that not all writers are called to do; but a waiting list in the public library for the title is something Sandy Row was not expecting when she wrote her book.

Turning down a literary agent’s offer of representation was just another milestone.

Sandy’s book: 'Surviving the Special Educational Needs System' (How to be a "Velvet Bulldozer") also shot up the sales charts of Amazon the online booksellers.

Years earlier, Sandy and her husband adopted four siblings, a girl and three boys rather than see them split up as a unit and all settled down to family life in their large re-furbished house and grounds in the Welsh mountains. It was some time after the adoption was completed that problems began to manifest themselves.

After years of misdiagnoses and Sandy relaised that the older three of her children are autistic and the youngest dyslexic.

Sadly, it took until they were 16, 17, 15 and 14 years old for their diagnoses to become clear and appropriate placements to be funded."Sometimes those in authority will ‘forget’ to tell you about your rights and you and your child are then at a huge disadvantage," said Sandy.

"I have had to show the tenacity of a bloodhound to track down all the information over the years; but it has all paid dividends for our family. The fact that I was also constantly asked for advice - professionals were referring their clients to me for information that they simply didn't have - strengthened my belief that this book was desperately needed." she said.

The name Sandy Row is a nom-de-plume designed to protect the privacy of her four children, who are also given different names in the book. Sandy said all four were happy to see their story told: "They knew that what was happening to them was wrong. Now they have gotten the help that was needed."

The nom-de-plume was derived from the name of a favourite cat and it was only when the book was published did she learn that a troubled street in Belfast carried the same name.

"It means the book was included on Amazon searches for books about Belfast and the troubles there," said Sandy; "but we can’t change it now."

Since she and her husband began battling for their children’s rights Sandy has been interviewed on BBC Radio at the request of the National Autistic Society; has advised a Channel Four production company on a programme about special needs provision and has written articles on the subjects of adoption and special needs.

Her detailed notes on her challenges to authority became the bestselling book that has been sub-titled the Velvet Bulldozer.

But to begin with, Sandy was a novice writer like anybody else whose biggest thrill was seeing her first publication as a half-page colour spread in a regional newspaper on the subject of a local festival, many years ago.

"I have a compulsion to read, and writing is a natural extension of that. I see something beautiful and I want to describe it," she said.

"To start, I was working in the wilderness and with no market. I started writing short stories as an antidote to re-building the house in the hills as a residential guest business. I sent stuff and got rejected; though one editor said she liked my black humour! I didn’t know enough about the craft at that time to be published; but it was a great pleasure to write."

A guest who was a writer became a personal friend and through her Sandy attended the writers’ summer school at Swanwick and joined the Romantic Novelists Association as a result of conversations with people she met at Swanwick.

"I learnt how to study the market and found Writers News incredibly useful for looking at the market. There is so much to know," said Sandy. "The critiques of short stories helped because I could compare some of it with what I had written down. Cmpetitions are of value to a writer because they give you structure and something to aim for."

Her extensive reading and exploration of her writing abilities became useful in getting attention when she turned her attention to educational rights for her children
"I was using my writing skills as part of the battle. So I decided to write it all down in a book and I decided to self-publish because I wanted to publish it now," she said.

However, for peace of mind she submitted the manuscript to two publishers before embarking on self-publishing.

One rejected it; but wrote: “May God bless you and your children.” The other, Jessica Kingsley, published the book in 2005 and it went into a second printing shortly thereafter.

Sandy had also contacted an agent who had agreed to take her on; but on reflection, She decided to go it alone, after all, and to represnt herself.

Between caring for her four children, a household and a busy hospitality business Sandy finds time to continuously update the book’s related website with new information to hand.

"I write when I can. I am still writing a lot to do with the children. I write in the goathouse with the door open winter and summer," she said. "I am an incredible fast typist, which helps a lot."

That, and being a writer with a firm fist in a velvet glove on behalf of her loved ones will continue to see Sandy Row mature as a powerful writer.

© Brendan Nolan 2006

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