Post 2: If you've met one person with autism...

I hope you found the blog for week 1 useful. This week I started, and deleted, the blog post quite a few times as I couldn't decide which was the most important topic to write about next.  Eventually I decided to start by sharing a quote by Stephen Shone:

"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism".

As you probably know, autism is a spectrum condition.  It affects individuals in different ways, so we can't assume just because we know one person who is autistic and know their difficulties and the way to support them that this will work for another person we meet who is on the autism spectrum.

Some people, who have what is known as 'classic autism',  have no language, others may have echolalia (where the person repeats words or phrases, but may not understand the meaning).  Sensory processing difficulties are common in people on the autism spectrum, some may be hyper (over) sensitive to sound - they may find the noise from a strip light unbearable, while others are hypo (under) sensitive, they may have a need to bang doors or be in noisy places.   Any of the senses may be affected.  The National Autistic Society (NAS) have an informative page on their website on sensory differences , and how this can affect behaviour and may lead to sensory overload, sometimes resulting in a meltdown.

Have a look at this very short video created by the NAS to imagine how it may feel to be hyper-sensitive to sound:

I find the videos in the NAS "Too much information" series really relevant, and will refer to these again over the Summer.  They focus on a group of young people on the autism spectrum who sit and discuss their experiences of life on the autism spectrum.  This one is called "Experiencing sensory overload":

We'll look at sensory difficulties and sensory overload more when we meet up in September.

Developing a person-centred approach

Going back to the original quote, one of the most important lessons I have learned is to develop a person-centred approach when working with and supporting people on the autism spectrum.  That can start with something as simple (yet really important) as how they would like you to refer to their autism - do they refer to themselves as autistic, as having autism, as being an 'aspie' or being on the autism spectrum (we'll look at terminology a little more next week).  When you first meet a student that you are supporting you might want to ask what they find difficult, how you can support them best in that situation?  For example, if they find noisy, crowded places uncomfortable ask them where they would like to meet (but remember it needs to be a 'safe place' - more on this in the Peer Mentoring training).  Don't think that because you had a "tool-box" for one person that the same tools will work for another.

Useful resources

A really good way of learning about autism is to read books or watch documentaries by people who are themselves on the autism spectrum.  They are the 'native experts'.  My lovely work colleagues are also following this blog and have been suggesting some useful resources, which will appear in this section over the summer.  Please comment on the blog if you want to share any resources that you have found useful.

One recently published book is by Chris Packham, the Sping watch presenter, who was diagnosed with Asperger's aged 44, called 'Fingers in the sparkle jar: A memoir'

Another recommendation is 'Fall down seven times, get up eight: a young man's voice from the silence of autism' by Naoki Higashida.

This TED talk feels like a good way to round up this week's blog: Rosie King 'How autism freed me to be myself'


Contact
If you have any queries or concerns over the Summer you can contact me directly at lesley.english@cumbria.ac.uk 

For general queries relating to the peer mentoring scheme contact peermentoring@cumbria.ac.uk