AUTISM
What Is Autism?
Rather than supply a typical clinical description of what Autism is, and how it will affect the person diagnosed with it and their family / support people, below is the explanation of Autism that I have given to many Parents and others who asked that simple question that many have “What is Autism, what does it mean?” My description, or rather explanation of Autism, is from my observations, experiences from my work, discussions / assessments with those who have autism, and conversations with those people who have had their lives affected by supporting a person with autism.
Being In an Alien World (written from the point of view of how someone with Autism may see the World, and how they would explain having autism)
To some people with autism, the World around them is alien, in that they just don’t seem to be a part of it, or maybe more rightly described, the World doesn’t seem to be a home that they feel comfortable in. All the noise, motion, shapes, colours, and so many various personalities that confront a person with autism every day, all seem so over the top and just plain irritating and stressful.
Communicating with others does not just seem awkward and sometimes even unnecessary (after all, why would I want to discuss your World with you, when it doesn’t interest me in the slightest) but it is also yet another task that makes me have to consider what someone else is feeling or thinking about. Trying to understand and accept that another person’s feelings and ideas are just as important as mine is not easy. Yet sometimes when I do focus on other peoples feelings, it becomes simply overwhelming, and I find I either get very angry, sad, worried, or completely frustrated. What is in my World, in my mind, is all that I concentrate on, partially because it helps me block out an environment that is full of other meanings, emotions, ideas, that just get on top of me and make me loose my own thoughts.
My own interests though, are very important to me. I am usually happy to communicate about, or at least spend huge amounts of time interacting with, my own interests. These interests often become an obsession to me, and I would be quite happy to spend every waking moment just interacting with them. Collecting certain objects is common, and look out those who may try and interfere with my collections! However, as quickly and as strongly as these obsessions start up, they may also end, and they will hold little to no interest to me in future.
I really do not like things to go differently from how I expected them or how I had planned out they would occur. It pays not to go changing things on me at the last moment, as it isn’t just annoying, it makes me feel like I have completely lost control of what was happening to me, and I may get very upset or even angry. Many people don’t realise just how frustrating and upsetting this can be for me, and some even think I am just being ‘naughty’ or being a ‘spoilt brat’ because I didn’t get my own way. You need to realise that this is not how it is, instead let me give you an example so you might understand why I get upset with sudden changes to my routine. Imagine you were going on holiday; you drive for three hours solid to get to your destination of choice, to find when you arrive in the town you expected to arrive in, somehow, you have driven in exactly the wrong direction and arrived at a completely different town. You have nowhere to stay, and you don’t know anyone there to ask for help. Imagine how you feel – frightened, upset, and angry, no amount of smiles and comments of “don’t make a fuss about it” will make you feel any better. That is how I feel when something goes differently from what I expected.
Things are very ‘black and white’ to me, or putting it another way, I think very concretely, what I see and hear is what I accept as being so. So, if you use slang or jargon, instead of just being straight forward with what you tell me, I will not only get confused, but frustrated, and maybe angry too. Why use slang, when there are terms there for describing what it is you want to say or describe? It’s the same with rules, I like people to follow what is expected of them, rules are there for a purpose, and people should just follow them. When I know and understand a rule, I will rarely break it, and if I do I may upset myself as I remember breaking that rule.
