Debbi Spencer was born in 1969 in Perth Western Australia where she still lives with her husband and three children. Before leaving work on the birth of her first son Debbi worked as a secretary in the finance sector. Since then she has been a very busy stay at home mum.

When Debbi took her middle child to his first day of kindergarten earlier this year, she, like all parents, was nervous. However unlike most parents, Debbi is the mother of a child with autism. So when she picked him up at the end of the day, she couldn't ask him how his day went, who he made friends with or even if he had any friends.

Debbi was concerned about how her son would fit in with the other students in his class. Instead of sitting back and worrying she took matters into her own hands, and wrote a children's book entitled "Why Can't Charlie Talk?" to explain to the other children in his class why he communicates differently, and that it is differences that make each of us special.

As the parent of a child with Autism, Debbi has undertaken a very sharp learning curve on different and varied ways in which she could help her son to learn and communicate. In writing, "Why Can't Charlie Talk?" Debbi has given young children with autism their voice, and has been nominated for the Western Australia Disability Services Commission's "2004 Accessible Communities Award" for an outstanding contribution by an individual towards increasing community awareness and understanding of people with disabilities.