Autism….the RIGHT help……..

Autism…..the RIGHT help……..

On Saturday I had the privilege of speaking at the Autism Show and, in the process, met some awesome people. I met carers, teachers, autism advocates and, obviously, a lot of people on the spectrum! A fantastic crowd and such an incredibly positive atmosphere pervaded the hall, anyone who still thinks autism is a condition associated with doom and gloom should have been there.

Mass ‘Aspie’ moment!

The organisers had worked hard to keep everything as low key as possible so as not to overload the senses of the visitors along with several sensory and quiet rooms for people to chill when it all became a bit much. It was busy, but with wide aisles and a calming baby pink carpet, it was as near the perfect environment as could probably have been achieved and, for the most part, everything was very calm.

I had the children and a few friends in tow as the children were part of my talk called: The more the merrier….Raising seven neuro-divergent children. I talked about the children when they were little and some of the challenges that be fronted us, but wanted everyone to see how positively everything has turned out now that they are a lot older. It’s hard to see the future when your child is young and so many people came up to me after saying how much better they felt about their own child’s future having seen mine. If we gave comfort to only one person then it was a success in our eyes.

We stayed on for a few hours after and were viewing the huge array of sensory toys on one of the stands when Osborn announced that he needed to lie down, “Go into one of the Sensory rooms” I offered helpfully. Not good enough apparently, he wanted to lie down right where he was! I wandered off back to the Autistic UK stand, and upon my return, I suppose I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was to see Osborn and Todd lying in the middle of the aisle! One by one the rest of the group joined in until there were 8 people lying together in a row on the floor, with Jo and I looking on commenting that ‘if there was one place they could do that then it was here!’. Not surprisingly maybe, there weren’t too many raised eyebrows from passers by as we casually told people that they were all having an ‘Aspie’ moment!

However, one of the most interesting things to come out of all the people on the spectrum that I spoke to, was the fact that they wished they were running, or at least, represented, in the organisations (and Government!) who were making decisions on their behalf. Pretty obvious to me that they are the ones who know best what their needs are and are, therefore, best placed to help make those decisions.

Maybe it’s time everyone sat up and listened to the Autistic community in order to ensure that the best help is being given and in the right way. Autism covers an enormous spread of challenges but, very often, the simplest changes make the most difference. Let’s all stand together to raise awareness and challenge the traditional approach to autism and put the autistic community themselves in charge!

Autism….the RIGHT help……..