Chapter two Autism

 WHAT CAUSES AUTISM?

It's hard to say what causes Autism, there are so many different forms of Autism from mild to major. It affects people in different ways. In my case it was a lack of oxygen to the brain, Mum was neglected at birth. I've heard other causes are the MMR vaccines for Measles, food allergies, chronic yeast infections, infections from meningitis, and Mercury poisoning.

WHAT IS AUTISM?
In my research on the Internet, apart from Autism being a disability, it affects one in hundred people in Britain alone. Autism is mostly a hidden disability. People with Autism have Autism for life. People with Autism can learn skills in life but for life, we are mostly very slow learners. The kind of skills most people with Autism find very hard to learn is motor skills because of grip with our hands and reflexes, we find it hard to cope with too many things at once. People with Autism can find it hard to say what they need and how they feel. People with Autism find it hard to meet people, make friends, and relationships and social skills are hard for us. People with Autism can find it hard to understand people, people can find it hard to understand people with Autism.

When it comes to behavior problems, people tend to blame bad parenting, which is not true. Like I said in many reports on this website, in my experience anyway, it's more we feel anger when we can't cope with everyday living skills, we don't feel equal to non-disabled people. When this happens we feel useless, the odd ones out and we feel left out of society.
Not that I can have children anyway but just out of interest, my family thought Autism isn't genetic but I have learned on the Internet that it is but it's hard to say. Without being nasty, if what I am reading is true, it's just as well I can't have children, I'd hate to see my children going through the same me, even though I'd understand them through my own experience.
The thing I have just explained is what you need to accept of people with Autism.

 

As I have written in past reports on this site, most people with Autism are creative but I don't want to bore you with what I have already said, if I remember but sometimes I get carried away studying things. Sorry about that.
Some people with Autism manage to learn by watching others. 

Most people with Autism can only work on one thing at a time very slowly like me. Therefore, a lot of us need support in schools, colleges, work placements etc.
Many disabilities are link into Autism for eg, dyslexia. Never think Autism affects all people the same, we are all difference like yourselves, like I've said before it would be boring otherwise.

 

Different types of Autism.

 

The Autism Spectrum isn’t all that different from Asperger syndrome apart from people with Asperger's Syndrome don’t appear to have a learning disability, but they do. It can take a long time for people to know that Asperger Syndrome has a disability because it’s very hidden or can be. People with Autism Spectrum in most people have a major speech problem whereas people with Asperger Syndrome have more of a mild speech problem. These are possibly the problems of all forms of Autism.

 

·       Finding it hard to communicate with others.

·       Social interaction

·       Social imagination

By a guess, I have Asperger Syndrome. I have problems with Motor skills and gripping, which could be Dyspraxia or bad coronation,  you won’t really understand I guess unless you spend a lot of time with someone who faces it because it is a hidden physical learning difficulty but Asperger Syndrome I think affects a person mentally. Without sounding big-headed, it can make Asperger Syndrome can make people highly intelligent in other ways but slow in others.

 

 

PEOPLE WITH AUTISM CAN BE AFFECTED BY FIVE SENSES IN THEIR LIVES.

Sight, sound, touch, taste, smell yet again I guess we aren't all the same. Some Of us may be affected by all five senses, others could be affected by only so many, well there are only five of them. Strange because I've learned five senses in Creative writing, which is common sense because we have to explain the feelings of our characters. Perhaps that's why most people with Autism can write, joking that's not always necessarily so. When it comes to sight, people with Autism could be affected by color or lights. For eg, even bright color lights affect me, mainly when I'm having fits. I am jumpily when dogs jump, run fast towards, and bark at me. I'm also affected by flapping birds, I don't like them standing my shoulder, I get very nervous. I don't dislike any animals; in fact, I love them. If I live with them, I get used to them, but I don't have the time on my hands to have animals. Sometimes touch affects me other times it doesn't, it depends on how I'm touched, I guess that's the same for anyone really. The taste I like all food really. The smell is no different to anyone really. That's enough about me but If you have Autism or you know anyone who does really as long, as they know you're telling me, I'd be interested in what 5 senses affect the people you know with Autism. If You have Autism which five senses affect you? one or a few or all.  Sarajgorman@gmail.com on Facebook if you want to and can email me. A bit of extra support for people with Autism, families, and carers. The National Autistic Society http://www.autism.org.uk/ autismhelplinenas.org.uk

As I was researching, I found out that Asperger Syndrome and I think ADHD Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which is two common types of Autism.

FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH AUTISM.

A lot of people don't realize that there are a lot of people who disabilities who are famous. Like I have said in one of my reports on my website, there were a lot of people with disabilities who didn't become famous until they died. People like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Beethoven, Bela Bartok, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Strauss, W.B Yeats, George Orwell, Charles Dickens Lewis Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, and many more had Autism according to the Internet. There are and were famous people with many other disabilities too. These people were writers, artists, and composers, and worked in science and in many more things. How people have known this I don't know, perhaps they have been researching their lives to create these sites on the Internet. I'd be very interested to know what you do and don't believe. It's hard to say with the people who aren't with us anymore because in those days people weren't educated to know what disabilities are. We must be careful because it's too easy to think if people didn't cope with school education, they must have had some form of disability. Some people may have been bullied or have problems at home, which could be another reason for not doing well at school. It's isn't just about that can be how they were at the beginning of life, for eg, slow at speaking.

I get into a route too easy and takes me a long time to get into another one, which may seem boring to others, but my life can be the same every day in some ways but not necessarily in others.

 

I would like people who face the same but are similar to me to travel on the train from my own experience.

 When you live out in the countryside it’s hard to travel by train compared to a town or a city.

I lived in the countryside when I was in my teenage years and it was very hard to get about and make friends.

 My mother used to have to take me wherever and pick me up from wherever. Mind you, I never had many friends in school I was bullied a lot.

 

 However,’ people with Autism find it hard to cope with very busy surroundings. Most people with disabilities don’t drive, due to having disabilities, etc that prevent them from driving, such as myself.

Some towns are easier to get about than others. For example, although Wolverhampton these days is quite dull, grey, and dirty in a lot of ways because of it being small other ways it’s quite easy to get around even though I wouldn’t advise safety-wise anyone let alone vulnerable people to hang around there too long, which is no more different to most others places either.

Some people need help with getting out and about, copying with money, etc, which are other problems I have faced. Many people with disabilities don’t have social lives due to awareness of hate crimes etc, there’s not always enough money and support to make this possible for people. I used to go uptown every night on my own, when I was seeing my ex-boyfriend, I had friends, but some turned out to be the wrong sort of friends.  In 2012, I started drinking at my local pub when I left my ex-boyfriend been drinking ever since, I drink rarely uptown now. Saying that all pubs, clubs, and most other places are closed now due to the Coronavirus so we are now in a lockdown, which could last any length of the time.

 

The longer most people are not following the government rules the longer it will take, which makes it unfair for those who are following the rules or trying, which is to stay home, and only go for food shopping, medication, and exercise.

 

 The government doesn’t say much either way if you support vulnerable people in their homes, shopping etc needs to be addressed, etc, along the lines, of your carer, social worker, family member, parent, friend, etc.

In my case my Mother lives aboard, my Aunty lives an hour away from me and My Aunt’s friend cleans for me once a month.

 

Most employers don’t understand learning disabilities. Not enough employers follow the discrimination act, they should.

Not all people with disabilities use computers, even though I can.

 

The government is spending too much money on the least important things. They are robbing the poor instead of the rich, may not be that is the case as much now but pretty much was when I started this book in the 90s to early 2000s.

 

I used to be a Learning disability MP of Wolverhampton. If people with disabilities, families, carers and etc are not happy with anything or something. I don’t mind raising awareness of this. The government needs to be reading this book and my blog.

 

There are too many mistakes some employers make. People with disabilities etc who access services find it hard to focus on too much jargon, which is hard to understand, confusing, and too much of a language barrier. People who work in the learning disability etc field need to be learning about easy read, accessible information, sign language, brail, etc. 

 

 Like all people without disabilities etc, people with Autism want to live equal lives with other people. We want to make the most of life. Life lives like human beings in this society. People with Autism can find change and route hard to cope with, yet some things come easy than others, which can vary from one person to another. We still have a long way to go, let’s give those support who need it now not in twenty to thirty years’ time, and let’s empower independence for now and generations to come.  Most things people need support and others they don’t, every person can vary it’s down to you to find out.  Just like other people most of us enjoy hobbies, interests, etc.  We all have different disabilities, difficulties, and abilities.

 

Autism is mostly a hidden disability, that most people don’t understand. It’s unknown how many people are diagnosed with Autism, and that research is down to you to find out. Most people find it hard to explain themselves, meaning they are or may be trying to tell people. This can cause a lack of communication and understanding. Whatever the misunderstanding is or maybe it’s can leave the person whose facing, disability, Autism, etc in the dark. This very often affects people’s lives meaning different people in different ways. It can make them feel they haven’t got choices and control over their own lives.  

Society tends to say that people with disabilities are poor because of us not being able to manage money which may be the case in most of us but not all of us. In my view, this is very judgemental. For many of us, that’s but that’s due to not getting enough support and we don’t get the choice and control. We need a balance between the two.

 

We don’t always get the right services we need. They say that Wolverhampton has better Autistic adult services than children.

 

We don’t always get the right support with work, benefits, home, etc, which may well improve a bit since I started writing this blog and book.

 

 Traveling.   Autism affects a lot of people’s lives like with all disabilities. It affects different people in different ways. It may well depend on the type of Autism and the person who is facing it, it may well be the same with other disabilities. People who face the same disabilities and Autism may not have the same difficulties and abilities, only you can research that to know what to expect out of the people you support now and those you may support in the future. Excepted the unexcepted.

 

My experience is finding it hard to cope with crowded places with loads of people and even empty places. For example, busy airports, bus stations, train stations, etc. Travel information on the boards flashing on and off, which can be too fast for me to focus on and take in.

 This is where Anxiety can link to Autism, which can cause the person a sense of panic but not always the case, this can vary from one person to another. Not sure what others do the same if not like me find but I seem to have limits to how far I can travel alone, for example, my home area Wolverhampton, as far say Walsall, Birmingham City center, maybe I could get as far as Dudley, Tipton, West Brom. I like my independence because in the early years I was overprotected a lot etc.

Nighttime seems to be a dangerous time when it’s dark because support workers aren’t working, which you don’t expect them to when they have worked all day. All the same, it’s risky for a valuable person to be out at night but the same for other people too but then everyone has the right to life, whether people have disabilities or not. At one time we used to have events, charities, etc going in the evenings when I was in my twenties and thirties but slowly funding running, which were ran by charities like Mencap, we had like PHAP, the Happy Society, Good Year’s discos, Circle of Friends, the DABS Disco, etc.

 

Employment. Like I said most employers don’t understand learning disabilities. Not everyone takes notice of the Disability Discrimination Act. It’s than it was before the Discrimination Act, but we still have a long way to go.

It seems that some employers see people with disabilities etc as health and safety, which without support may be at risk but with support and the right tools, etc. It should be possible for us to work equal with other people, but the most common reason would be is funding which the government should be taking part in as well. Support should be provided in the workplace as well as services to support people with disabilities etc to get education and employment.

If you work, study or and train in the field of disabilities, etc, you should learn about what a learning disability is and other problems, which I will include in this book, what type of disabilities and other problems there are, and how they affect people’s lives, the support, and rights people like myself need, want, etc, accessible information, easy read, etc. How can you support people with disabilities etc to live their lives equal to you and empower their independence as well?  

 

 

Even though I haven’t been diagnosed, in some ways people with a learning disability our own doctors, nurses, etc how we feel and what we experience in life positive as well as negative in everyday lives.

Many people like myself face possible Asperger's, and I guess some of us face Dyslexia. Many people think people with Dyslexia can’t read and write, which is not true, and they just tend to see numbers and letters the wrong way round for example 78, 87, dog, bog, mixing up bs and ds, etc. We might not be a great speller even put things in the wrong place etc, but we might well have a good imagination, artist, being creative, storyteller, etc either of those or both I guess.

 

It’s possible I may have had ADHD through when I was on Phemabarotone, without knowing it at the time. Where I was feeling sleepy and not sleepy at the wrong times as a child. This makes me think that it may be caused by some medications or disabilities, mental health, health problems, etc people may have which health professionals need to investigate.  Like I said as soon as I came off Phemabarotone well so much time after, I start to get a bit calmer as the years went on. I hope this information is useful for parents, families, carers, etc, which could be even the side – effects of most medications, etc.

Many people with Asperger's and I guess other types of Autism and maybe other problems face Anxiety and Depression mainly when we feel we aren’t a part of the people around us. A sense of panic and fear, overcrowded places, etc. Not being able to handle our everyday skills, which can make most people frustrated. Not being able to get the balance between support and independence. We need the support with the things we can’t manage not the things we can. 

They say we are not good with imagination but if we have dyslexia we well could be. However,’ doesn’t necessarily mean we are not if we are not Dyslexic, therefore this could vary from person, which you may need to research elsewhere to find out for sure. I myself for example as a child found it hard to play with another child therefore, I would play my own pretend games with my dolls and soft toys. Also, the fact, that I was an only child at that stage made me more self to myself at that time in my life. My sister was born when I was thirteen and yet I found it hard to play her through her childhood.