“He is wired differently to you and me, this child of mine. He doesn’t like loud noises, or dark spaces, or strangers touching his head”. These are the first lines from a poem a mother penned about her son 11-year-old son who has Asperger’s syndrome.
Sophie Billington goes on to explain how her son Tristan’s brain works differently: “He can see in an instant the pattern, the layout, the solution to a puzzle”, but that “the world judges” and “sees only the outbursts and over-reactions”. It seems the poem struck a chord – going viral after being posted on Facebook.
Although autism is predominantly diagnosed in childhood, increasing numbers of adults are finding out that they too have autism. This issue, of later life diagnosis, was brought to light recently after nature photographer and TV presenter, Chris Packham, went public with his experiences.
About 1% of the adult population has been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum – with more people diagnosed with autism than ever before. And yet, generally, the focus on who has autism is still mostly on infants, children and young adults.
This is despite the fact that autism can be defined as a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder – characterised by differences in social communication and interaction with people and wider society – making it very much a label for people of all ages.
It really bothers me that the funding for treatment of autism in adults is only a fraction of the funding for children, despite the fact that their needs don’t suddenly disappear when they turn 21.
It’s especially hard as an undiagnosed person with autistic traits(debatable whether I’d meet a full diagnosis and too much of a coward/anxious to pursue an assessment) when it comes to the mental health agenda of pursuing increased socialisation. “You can bring a person with ASD (traits) to a social group but you can’t get them to interact well without support” springs to mind. Yet a lot of mental health workers believe it’s just a case of familiarisation that’s needed. When you haven’t got an intuitive grasp of the social rules/your social skills are lacking it’s hard to integrate. Then there’s the issue of how much you want to integrate and the whole antipathy of people getting too close to you emotionally.
I’ve found that, for many with autism, it really just takes increased exposure to people with positive social skills in an accepting, nonjudgmental environment. This is why inclusion classrooms are becoming so popular. Being around neurotypical peers helps folks with autism learn the rules, because it makes it easier to pick up on the patterns.