Adam Harris appeared on The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O'Connor in 2015 to discuss life with Asperger's syndrome and most recently, he took part in the recent RTÉ documentary Autism and Me. Here, Adam writes about his hopes for Autism Awareness Month which takes place in April.
Autism and Me has helped people move beyond seeing Autism as just a word – now we need to build on that.
'Autism' is a fairly commonplace word these days. It is something we hear about a lot more. We have become more “aware” of it in the sense that we have heard the word and know it is something to do with “disability”. We have become aware of it because so many of us have the condition, have an Autistic family member or watch or read something which has an Autistic character in it.
This is all positive and ought to be celebrated – just reaching a point where everyone is aware that something exists is the first step towards building understanding and inclusion. But it is just that. It’s the first step. We really need to reach a point where making sure every person is included. This can often be the scary part for members of the public – do I need to be an expert or go to college to include someone with Autism? What should I do? What if I say the wrong thing? Are they all like that character in The Big Bang Theory?
And indeed so much of this comes from that fact that as a society we have always treated Autism as something a little less than mainstream – something off to one side or for the doctors and politicians to attend to. While the media frequently features stories on Autism, most of them are about policy or clinical research – few are about what really matters – people, their experiences and how they are included in Irish society.
When we dehumanise a topic we not only lose focus and forget the decision we make an impact on real people. We also absolve ourselves of responsibility – we forget that just like mental health or LGBT issues we are dealing with something which requires every person in society to play their part.
That is why I was so excited when I was approached 3 years ago by Christine Thornton, of Firebrand Productions, who told me she wanted to make a documentary on Autism. I would have been very reluctant to participate if I didn’t feel it was going to give Autistic people a platform to tell their own stories or was going to be sensationalised. Amazingly, not only did Christine want to give people with Autism their 'voice' but also wanted to highlight some of the real social issues experienced by members of our community.
3 years later we could not be any more happy with the response to the documentary. I run an advocacy organisation, AsIAm.ie, and since the 13th of March, when the show aired, we have been inundated with correspondence, requests and stories. We have heard from people who maybe are only recently diagnosed or who grew up not knowing of their Autism, who said they felt a sense of hope after seeing it. We have heard from schools and community organisations, who have recognised their need to know more and asked for us to provide training.
Most importantly, we have talked to so many people who had no previous experience or knowledge of Autism but who now feel their eyes have been opened and understand that they meet people with Autism every single day.
This is what we had really hoped for – bringing Autism into the mainstream, in a real way and starting a national conversation. April marks World Autism Awareness Month, an opportunity for the world to turn its attention to Autism and learn a little bit more.
We hope this April to build on some of the conversations which Autism & Me have generated. We want people to realise that Autistic people adapt constantly to a world not really built for us and so we need the world to meet us halfway. That, Autistic people too often aren’t given a voice or a means of participating and lending their skills to our society. Let’s make a decision together, this year, that we will all make an effort to understand better people with Autism, to be more conscious of this invisible condition and the challenges it may present and to be more open and adaptable to those who think differently.
Adam Harris
Autism Support Services:
Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities
National Council for Special Education
National Educational Psychology Services
Middletown Centre for Autism for parent and teaching professional training.
