Why It’s Not So Much More Case’s, But Rather More Open Conversation
In the past few years we have seen an increase in the number of people being diagnosed as Autistic. Even well-known public are talking about it. I myself am Autistic and this even got me talking, both to family, friends and colleagues.
Yet before we go any further with this discussion I think it’s better that we ask what it is that is actually going on first.
Is it that more people are being diagnosed as Autistic, or just that far more individuals than before are just talking more openly and honestly about the issue?
Now at the rate everything is going you would genuinely have thought that that in itself was probably more the case. Well before we all go down the ‘Autism being the new thing’ I would like to take a few moments to put my thoughts on this out there…. mainly because I see something different happening here.
If we can cast our minds back a few years ago we have had several well-known public figures, or people with public profiles as I refer to them, go public with their disability. Just last year we had Christine McGuiness the ex-wife of Paddy McGuiness go public, Food Writer Jack Monroe, Environment Campaigner Greta Thunberg got a mention. Melanie Sykes, Anne Hegerty, Love Island’s Niall Islam, Anthony Hopkins.
Even Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle went public with her diagnosis and Morning Live and Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding went publically discussed his after being diagnosed by Clinical Psychologist Sir Simon Baron-Cohen.
As someone who was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome/Autistic when around preteens this is something I find absolutely remarkable. As mentioned in previous columns whenever I have openly spoken about it Autism wasn’t something that was on the forefront of our minds or there on the tips of our tongues. It was very much a taboo subject of which a great many simply wouldn’t discuss, either in public or privately behind closed doors. Yes I am talking ‘that style of taboo’.
In fact if anyone dared they would be treated far differently from any of their peers
My official diagnosis came about in mid/late 90’s and this was when the only known disabilities where conditions like Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Partial to complete visual blindness, hard of hearing to complete deafness and being confined to a wheelchair. Problems like Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism were pretty much unheard of to just ignored. Basically if you were Dyslexic you were thick, if you had ADHD you were seen as troublesome and disruptive and if you were Autistic people looked at you as though you were some kind of social weirdo.
Some of this I found to my own unpleasant experience, and even I didn’t want to talk about it. For me, I had seen children my age and younger and seen how they were viewed, looked down at and treated by their peers. This was partially because I was, to some extent, in denial about my diagnosis but also I just wanted to feel at least some sense of normality and be very much like my friends and peers.
It was a conversation that I just didn’t feel ready to have, or let wanted. With friends, family or anyone.
However, as times have changed and as neurological disabilities such as Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia have become more known and seen on TV/film and stage etc it’s resulted in a positive domino effect. I’ll just give you a quick example; Jason Haynes from BBC series Holby City played by Jules Robertson.
Here was a character who was on TV, was Autistic and went on to have a job, a girlfriend and a child. For me, I was looking at someone who was like me and it felt incredible and soon many people were talking about it and as a result social attitudes changed. And by god it was bloomin’ brilliant.
After that many more Autistic characters were coming thick and fast. I just viewed this, and still do, as something of a triumph as it enabled me to both come to terms with and accept my Autism as something positive, not to be embarrassed or ashamed of.
So in my opinion it’s not so much that more people than before are being diagnosed, it’s more that many people are talking about it openly. And from what I’ve seen it’s leading the way for others further down the line to continue talk until it becomes part of our everyday being
