{"id":1204,"date":"2024-03-21T12:40:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T12:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/correspondent.theabbey.co.uk\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2024-04-24T14:08:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T13:08:25","slug":"an-insight-into-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/correspondent.theabbey.co.uk\/an-insight-into-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"An Insight into Autism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Carys Westcott VIJP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think of when you hear the word \u2018autism\u2019?  Do you think that you could immediately identify an \u2018autistic\u2019 person by the way they talk or act? How much do you know about autism? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This condition is one of many that affect a myriad of people in our society today and has particularly come to light in recent years as we hear of more and more people being diagnosed with it.\u00a0 With around 1% of the UK\u2019s population estimated to be autistic, a higher level of awareness of society’s role in understanding the condition better has been encouraged. This article briefly explores the subjective and objective aspects of autism and includes a short interview where I look through the lens of a carer living alongside autistic people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

autism \/\u02c8\u0254\u02d0t\u026az(\u0259)m\/<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

noun<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a neurodevelopmental condition of variable severity with lifelong effects that can be recognized from early childhood, chiefly characterised by difficulties with social interaction and communication and by restricted or repetitive patterns of thought and behaviour:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having read this definition, what do you believe an autistic person to be like? And does it have positive or negative connotations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that having a \u2018definition\u2019 for such a condition is not at all helpful.  It immediately activates schemas (memory shortcuts) in our head that draw a picture for us of what an autistic person might look or be like.  It may even lead to us actively searching for these characteristics in autistic people we know when they may have none of them.  Society loves to \u2018define\u2019 something because it suggests that we as people know everything there is to know about it when, in reality, we\u2019ve barely even scraped the surface.  We would far prefer to feign omniscience than to admit to the ambiguity that surrounds many such conditions, which is why qualitative research such as surveys and interviews are of paramount importance when furthering our knowledge on this condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government prevalence surveys estimate that around 1% of the population is autistic, yet this statistic is ultimately futile: if it is believed that there can be a guess for the number of autistic people in the country, then why do we have the \u2018autism spectrum\u2019?  Everyone fits in somewhere on this subjective scale, meaning that the needs of all people vary wildly, with some categorised by having \u2018additional needs\u2019, and who are labelled as typically autistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individuality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another significant point to note is that autistic people are all individuals. When someone breaks their arm in a certain place, it is fair to assume that someone else who has broken their arm in this same place will experience pain in a similar area and have many of the same accompanying symptoms\u2026 Autism is quite the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a multi-layered condition which is very much not one size fits all.\u00a0 Different autistic people have a myriad of different experiences and requirements, and it is not right to assume that, just because you have met one person on the spectrum, all other autistic people behave in the same way.\u00a0 In fact, some people have other conditions so severe – ADHD, anxiety and depression to name a few – that it hasn\u2019t even been considered that they might be autistic, and society perceives them in a different way as a result of this ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few signs and symptoms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the autistic experience is mightily divergent between individuals, recurring features of someone with autism include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n