Happy world autism awareness month!

It’s been an exciting day for me working with Act for Autism on their film project, which will help raise awareness and understanding of autism spectrum conditions.

I have spent the day talking about autism with students across Warwickshire, and everyone has been able to share openly about what makes their autism personal to them. People have been able to talk about their own experiences that are both good and bad, enabling them to see that having ASC isn’t always a bad thing. I have really enjoyed listening to how the students have compared experiences and talked about the similarities and differences of what they may go through in a variety of situations.

One of the questions that I found very fascinating was ‘Have you told your friends you have an Autism Spectrum Condition?’ Quite a lot of the students had said they have chosen not to share that with their friends and peers, so I began to question why. The main reason I got back was they felt they would be discriminated against. It was interesting to see they were happy to talk about their ASC in front of people who they hadn’t met before, yet they would feel unsafe to do this to people they know very well.

Back when I was at school I wasn’t a popular person. I had a very small group of friends, but I was happy with that. I knew of some of my friends who had ASC and I would hear all sorts of remarks made about the condition which I believed to be completely wrong. That is why I did my very first blog post back in 2014 to inform my peers about what autism really is. I was very pleased with such a positive response from what I had written. A lot of my peers didn’t realise what ASC is, or how common it is. My peers offered me lots of support and were very accepting of me and others with the condition, this included people who I wasn’t particularly close with and people who I didn’t always get along with.

Although many people are not as confident as me, I feel they should feel safe to talk about ASC with their peers and friends and to not worry about being discriminated against. You may recall that I posted a blog a couple of years ago talking about how successful people with autism can be. Take Stephen Hawking, a very successful person who was suspected to have ASC. He was very proud of himself and everyone around him was very proud of him too. You should always remember to be proud of yourself for what makes you unique. Sharing with your peers that you have ASC can help them to understand you more and to accept you. Be proud to be you!

Please take a look at the Act for Autism website by pressing the link below.

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